Buying gold or silver online?

• dwccrew

  

  I see an advertising banner for Merit Gold and Silver on here and I am curious as to whether any of you have ever actually bought any kind of precious metals online. What company do you use and was it legit? I'd be leery of buying online after reading many stories of people buying what they thought was gold or silver only to be plated over some less precious metals.
• 1_beast

  

  Good question. I keep seeing banners for The Bradford Exchange. Curious how legit that is.
• gut

  I think your best bet is to invest in a mutual fund that buys physical gold. That may not do you a hell of a lot of good in the zombie apocalypse, but assuming you just want to speculate and diversify a bit that seems to be the best bet. A 1.5% mgmt fee or whatever might hurt, but then you have to consider the bid/ask spread you are paying buying physical gold, whether online or at a pawn shop.
  
  If you intend to hold for 5+ years (where the mgmt fee is going to outpace the bid/ask spread), then maybe it makes sense to buy your own gold to put in a lockbox somewhere. Otherwise I don't know how one should go about buying gold with certainty....I might go for coins from mints with a credible reputation and an issue with enough volume to research and validate.
• reclegend22

  

  I've purchased silver online through JM Bullion before. I was very happy with them.
• isidore

  gosh a ruddies......such elitism and greed on this site
  
  turn from your malevolence and greed and you can be redeemed
• dlazz

  isidore;1556863 wrote:gosh a ruddies......such elitism and greed on this site

  Shut the fuck up. You were supposed to be swallowed.