In Jim Cook's Archive

BAD DEALS

You must be especially careful in the coin and bullion business where 90% of the dealers fail every decade.  It’s particularly dangerous when dealers have made some money.  They often speculate or go heavily on margin.  Bad business practices and poor management can lead to failure.  Troubles with the I.R.S are another problem.  For example, one of California’s largest dealers has a $375 million tax lien against them.  You never know when the I.R.S. will pounce and grab the customer’s money.  Over the years I’ve heard from hundreds of people who didn’t get their gold and silver.  They asked for my help, but in most cases the dealer who stiffed them had no assets left.  It’s going to happen again.  A lot of people are not going to get the coins or bars they ordered.  Their money will be gone.

A lot of companies also push hard to get you to buy products that are in their best interest to sell and not in your best interest to buy.  They also convince people to switch silver into high-priced rare coins which are not likely to outperform silver.  Those who refused to follow our advice on margin buying have been decimated.  Those who chase the lowest buck on the Internet are taking a chance on a dealer who may not survive.  Often ridiculously low prices are a come-on for leverage, pool accounts, rare coins or some other trick.  It always amazes me to see someone sending a wire for six figures across the country to an unknown Internet dealer who is probably behind on his car payment.  Some of these dealers have failed and reopened several times.

It’s particularly important to buy from somebody who will be there when you sell and who will give you a fair market price when you do.  For thirty-seven years we have always delivered what we sold and repurchased that same material when our customers wanted to sell.  Most of our clients have substantial profits.  I don’t think any other gold and silver dealer in America can say that.

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