Review. The top websites to buy gold and gold coins.
What are the best websites to buy gold and gold coins online?
Naturally, the first place to look when buying gold coins is online, specifically google.
After a recent search for “buy gold coins in the UK” to see what sites come up, we decided to go a little bit more in-depth and review some of the top sites where you can buy gold and gold coins online.
Buy Gold Coins decided to go through each site in detail and rate usability, navigation, coin selection, information, price, reliability, history and more, to find the best place to buy gold and gold coins.
Here are our top sites/dealers online.
BullionVault.
BullionVault lets private investors around the world access the professional bullion markets. You can benefit from the lowest costs for buying, selling and storing gold and silver.
BullionVault is the world’s largest online investment gold service taking care of $3 billion for more than 85,000 users.
Bars are stored in professional-market vaults in Zurich, London, Toronto, Singapore or New York. You choose where.
You can sell at any time, without penalty, and your money is wired the next business day. You can also withdraw your physical bars upon request.
BullionVault is very quick and easy to use.
It’s free to open an account with Bullion Vault and registration takes less than a minute. There’s no obligation to trade.
4 Grams of FREE Silver on Sign up! Visit BullionVault
GoldBroker
With GoldBroker you can buy physical gold and silver (high-quality bullion bars and coins) in secure storage, outside the banking system.
GoldBroker has a sophisticated online platform.
Clients own 100% of real tangible bars and coins.
You sign a contract with a storage partner and have direct and personal access to the secured vault to check your holdings.
The precious metals are kept in professional storage units, so your precious metals never leave the professional logistics chain, retaining their maximum resale value.
GoldBroker offers an alternative solution for investment and storage that eliminates any and all exposure to the risks associated with having intermediaries between investors and their precious metals, either at the level of ownership (direct) or storage (a storage account in your name).
Vaultoro
Vaultoro is an online exchange based in the UK that allows it’s users to trade Bitcoin or DASH for physical gold and vice versa, without the need to use a fiat currency or a bank account.
Vaultoro offers users instant access to the gold market.
This is a truly unique online exchange, specifically trading BTC/DASH and gold bullion. This type of specific asset combination makes Vaultoro stand out from other crypto exchanges.
Vaultoro also gives users the option to save your wealth without fractional reserves and without banks speculating with your savings.
Launched in 2015, Vaultoro has grown rapidly, boasting over 20,000+ customers over 95 countries providing a simple, transparent and convenient crypto/gold bullion service online.
Read out full Vaultoro review here.
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Bullion By Post
Advertised as ‘The UK’s No.1 online bullion dealer’ Bullion By Post, is one of the most popular online bullion dealer sites in the UK with a huge online presence.
Launched in 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis, Bullion By Post has grown rapidly by providing a simple, transparent and convenient bullion service online.
Almost all gold and silver enthusiasts would have at least heard of Bullion By Post due to the site’s excellent search engine optimisation and targeted advertising on various online platforms and forums.
Website, products and navigation.
The site itself is packed full various gold, silver, platinum and palladium products, as well as plenty of information about each precious metal product.
You will also find in-depth information about the history of gold and silver bullion, spot price charts, investment guides, investment calculators, allocated storage, gold pensions and more.
Although the site has a lot of products and information, the site is extremely user friendly and easy to navigate.
Homepage.
The home page focuses on the most popular products such as the Gold Sovereign and Gold Britannia Coins, as well as popular Silver coins such as the Silver Britannia and Silver Maple.
Gold and Silver Bullion bars are also presented on the home page in clear and concise 1 Ounce, 100 Gram, 1 Kilo and 5 Kilo denominations.
A simple click on either product will then take you through to the full range and prices. The prices of their precious metal products are linked directly to the current spot price and prices are updated constantly.
The homepage also has live price updates on gold, silver and platinum in ounce and gram denominations. This is a useful tool to quickly check the spot price before you potentially buy. Again a simple click through then brings up Bullion By Post’s own comprehensive price chart.
Simple tabs make the chart easy to navigate with options to change the metal type (commodity), time frame, weight and currency options. There is also an option to set price alerts so that any changes in price that you set can be sent directly to your e-mail address. This is a useful tool to be able to be alerted of any major price fluctuations which may affect your decision to buy or sell your precious metals.
Sell bullion.
The site also has a series of tabs relating to other key products, such as an option to sell your gold and silver.
This is a particularly useful feature as it has a very good breakdown of the majority of the main gold and silver coins as well as popular bullion bars and gives you their current ‘we pay’ price. However, you would need to phone them to confirm a price. The same with bullion bars. You would then simply post your coins or bars to Bullion By Post for verification and, they state, you will receive payment within 5 working days.
Other products.
Bullion by post also have an Allocated Storage Service, VAT Free Storage for Silver investors and Physical Gold Pensions, whereby Physical gold can be held in a pension via a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) or a Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS).
Investment Calculator
One of our favourite features of the site is their ‘Investment Calculator’. This feature allows customers to simply enter an amount that a customer would be looking to invest, along with a chosen metal (Gold, Silver, Platinum or Palladium).
The calculator then works out a range of suitable packages to suit the customer’s budget.
This is a great tool for when you have a certain amount of money to spend of precious metal and want to get the best value options from the site.
Not only does is give you various coin or bar options, it also gives you the price per gram so you can see exactly how much you are spending per gram of whichever precious metal you have chosen.
We really like this feature and would recommend anyone visiting Bullion By Post online to give the Investment Calculator a try.
“Protect your wealth with gold bullion” Booklet.
With our first purchase from Bullion By Post, we also received a physical booklet entitled “Protect your wealth with gold bullion”
This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise when opening up your first precious metals package from Bullion By Post.
This is a great guide, which includes information on the pros and cons of bars and coins, gold or silver, as well as Bullion By Post’s recommended top 5 gold and silver investments and top 5 gold and silver coins.
The guide also has information about refiners and mints, collectable coins, proof sets, VAT-free storage options, gold pensions and more. We found this guide easy to read and great for beginners in precious metal investing.
Price.
Bullion By Post offers competitive prices for physical gold and silver. They are not necessarily the cheapest when it comes to premium over spot price, however, the service, product range, information and efficiency of the site are factored into the purchase price.
Conclusion:
For UK investors, Bullion By Post is one of the most user friendly and reliable online bullion dealers, offering a simple ordering process and quick insured delivery. All parcels are discreetly packaged and delivered directly to your door.
We also like their free app which is very user friendly, and the ‘price alerts’ feature is very useful. Their customer reviews speak for themselves.
The Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the world’s oldest mint.
Steeped in history, the Royal Mint produces precious metal bullion coins, various medals, commemorative coins as well as minting and circulating coins for use domestically and internationally.
The mint produces all of the UK’s physical currency apart from banknotes, and is the sole body responsible for minting legal tender coins in the UK.
The Royal Mint also provides its services to over 60 different countries by producing national currencies or supplying ready to strike planchets, commonly known as blanks, which are round metal disks, prepared and ready to be struck into a coin. The Royal Mint makes coins and medals for more countries than anyone else, as the mint can produce 90 million coins and blanks a week!
Website, products and navigation.
The website is uncluttered and modern and is mainly focused on The Royal Mint’s latest coin collections or bullion products.
The site is simple in design and is relatively easy to navigate using the top tabs such as coins, invest, visit, discover etc. You also have a ‘search’ option to bring up specific products or information you are looking for within the site.
Although the website is reasonably easy to navigate, it can take a few clicks and scrolling to find specific products you might be interested in.
The site does not seem to have the same general information about precious metals, new or spot prices, that you might find on other bullion dealer sites, as the main focus seems to be solely on The Royal Mint’s brand, products, history and visitor centre (The Royal Mint Experience).
Homepage.
The royalmint.com homepage displays a scrolling page of their most recent products and services, usually their latest coin or collection, such as the ‘Tower of London’ coin, or latest investment bullion products.
Scroll down and you will find the ‘Discover The Royal Mint’ section, which is a selection of the Royal Mint’s latest coins or bars. Each product has an easy to use click button to add any product to your basket, as you would with most online retail sites. This makes the buying process easy and simple to use.
The only downside is that the majority of the bullion products have an estimated price due to the fluctuations of the spot price of gold and silver. The site does not seem to enable live price updates.
Scroll down further and you get to an ‘Invest in precious metals’ section, which includes a small amount of information on coins, bars and digital products, which then encourages you to click through for more information or set up an account.
Finally, underneath the precious metals section is a series of images and click through tabs to discover more information on coin collection services such as historic coins, historic coin sets, general coin collecting, UK currency and more.
Bullion Products.
The Royal Mint’s most famous and iconic bullion coins are the 1oz Gold Britannia, the Gold Sovereign and 1oz Silver Britannia.
Minted by The Royal Mint since 1987, the British Britannia contains one troy ounce of gold and has a face value of £100.
From 2013 the gold coins have been struck in 24-carat fine gold, which currently (August 2020) are valued at around £1657 for 1oz Gold Britannia.
Gold Britannias also are issued in fractional sizes of one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth of a troy ounce.
The Gold Sovereign has been produced by the Royal Mint in its modern form since 1817. The Gold Sovereign is one of the most recognisable coins in the world. It is struck in traditional 22-carat gold.
There has also been a range of ‘Lunar’ coins, featuring animals of the Chinese lunar years, which was launched in 2014. Lunars are made from 999.9 fine gold and 99.9% pure silver.
The Queens Beasts series was released in 2016, available in 1oz gold coin 99.99% pure, and a 2oz silver coin series of 99.99% pure silver, which is Royal Mint’s highest purity silver coin to date.
The Royal Mint has also recently produced a tribute to Elton John series, including a 2020 UK Half Ounce Silver Proof Coin and even an Elton John 2020 UK Kilo Gold Proof Coin with an RRP of £68,865!
Price.
The Royal Mint is recognised around the world and has a proud heritage. It is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of coins. This is reflected in the quality of its products and the price. Expect to pay more of a premium for its products, but you pay for the highest quality, trust and history.
Conclusion.
With more than 1,000 years of experience you can’t go far wrong buying from the Royal Mint direct. It has the latest products, a wealth of history, and an easy buying and check out process. We would highly recommend The Royal Mint as it is truly a company you can trust.
Chards
Chards are a coin and bullion dealer since 1964. Chards is a family owned business based in Blackpool with over 50 years of trading.
The company has now developed into a multi-million pound business, serving customers all over the world.
Chards have a specialist team who are trained in identifying fakes, grading coins and buying and selling all coins, bullion and jewellery.
Emphasising knowledge and transparency, Chards seems to have made its mission to create a great customer service, providing plenty of in-depth information on their website, as well as a personalised service via phone or in store.
Website, products and navigation.
The website has a classic, well laid out design with clear tabs and navigation around the site.
It has plenty of information, stating that the site actually has “about a 50 / 50 split of information pages and product pages”, which we really like. Clear and concise information is important when investing in precious metals and Chards do this well.
The site also has live spot prices for gold, silver, platinum and palladium as well as information, charts and a table of historic prices, record prices, gold and silver ratio. Plenty of information to look through.
You will also find a wide range of precious metal products including coins, bars, VAT free storage only products, vaulted storage, British and World collectable coins and more.
Homepage.
chards.co.uk homepage has a classic feel to it. Across the top section of the homepage you will find easy to use, drop down tabs going through their best deals, gold and silver products, British and World coins, selling options, investment calculator, live spot prices and information (Articles).
Hover over any tab and a simple table will appear, with more options to click straight through to a specific product, or information you are looking for. Very user friendly.
The homepage also has a clear search option at the top of the page for you to simply type in and search for any product, service or information.
Live gold and silver spot prices are on display to keep up with current prices.
The homepage also has a series of square images that represent recent products Chards have to offer, including in stock bullion, investment gold and silver, metal accounts, UK coins, collectable coins, new releases and more.
Again the layout of the website makes it very easy to click on each category which in turn, brings you more clear information about the product or service you are looking for.
Filter. (Price, Metal, Design, Weight / Size).
We especially like the filter option on the Chards website. This is a great feature that allows the user to narrow down their search to find exactly what you as a customer are looking for.
You can filter areas such as price, design, metal, issuing monarch, weight, size, variation, mint, finish, the filter options go on and on. This is a fantastic feature, especially for collectors or numismatists looking for a specific coin or product. This filter option sets the website apart from many of the others on this list.
Price.
Overall Chards offer very competitive prices on bullion and collectors coins. They state that, “We are happy to discuss our margins with anyone who asks and do not hide behind prices or complicated formulae”.
Conclusion.
An excellent website, well-structured with plenty of products available. We especially like the filter option on the site. Prices are very competitive, and Chards offer a more personal customer service then some of the other dealers.
Atkinsons
Atkinsons bullion and coins are based in Birmingham UK. A family run local coin dealer, Atkinsons have been dealing in gold and silver bullion for over 30 years.
Atkinsons offer “a simple, discreet, and secure online coin buying and selling service”. As well as an online presence they also have a physical store for customers to visit.
Atkinsons began working in the retail jewellery business in the 1980’s, and expanded quickly incorporating the gold and silver coins and bullion side of the business.
By 2010, Atkinsons had launched their Bullion & Coins website, and by 2013 the company invested in a state of the art transactional website, giving customers a great online experience with competitive live pricing.
The company aims to offer, “a safe and secure environment to buy quality bullion and coins at the best price”.
Website, products and navigation.
The website has a modern design with live gold and silver prices, and clear tabs across the top of the site, making site navigation very user friendly.
Each tab has a drop down box making it easy to find specific products or information, such as gold and silver bars and coins, pre-owned bullion, special offers, gifts and more.
The website also has a live chat feature which we really like. It gives the customer a more one-to-one experience and helps to answer any questions quickly and efficiently.
The site also features a live gold and silver price chart, which is always useful when deciding when to buy and sell precious metals, with the option to change metal, weight, currency and date range.
Overall the site seems to be more product focused. However, it does have a great news section which has plenty of information on precious metals, the markets, and is regularly updated with new news articles.
Homepage.
The Atkinsons www.atkinsonsbullion.com homepage is a nice, clean, simple design/layout, you are not immediately bombarded with too much information or images, which we quite like.
You will find clear navigation tabs which include Gold/Silver products, Pre-owned, Sell to us, special offers, gifts, live prices and news. There is also clear information on how to register an account, general help and advice and contact details.
The homepage features clear images of gold and silver coins and bars, whereby you can simply click through to any product and simply add to your basket, which is familiar to any online shopping experience.
There is also a ‘sell to us’ section on the main homepage, which brings you through to a section of the site dedicated to selling bullion to Atkinsons, either by post, or in store.
Scroll down and you get to a brief information section about the company, its history and the buying and selling of bullion online. Clear square image sections then offer further information about ‘The Atkinsons Story’, Selling gold and silver to Atkinsons, Blog section and a ‘New to Buying Gold and Silver’ section on how to buy.
Price.
Prices are updated regularly on the website. “The online trading platform allows a customer to fix the price of your products on completion of your order. This means that any further fluctuation in the market price will not affect the price of your order. You must then complete payment within 48 hours”.
Atkinsons also state, “We always aim to have the best price in the UK. Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, we aim to never knowingly be beaten on price”.
It seems Atkinsons have a fair and transparent pricing structure.
Conclusion.
We love the overall design of the website.
The online chat function is a fantastic feature and the fact they have a physical store makes the overall customer service much more personal.
Atkinsons have a good range of gold and silver products, and each product is clearly listed and priced, making it an easy to choose products and add to your basket.
The news section is concise, relevant and regularly updated.
Overall, you can tell this is a company that is passionate about precious metals, and the family run business comes across in the more personal customer experience.
gold.co.uk
gold.co.uk is part of Jewellery Quarter Bullion Limited, which is the same company that owns Bullion By Post.
As well as a website and strong online presence, they also have a trade counter and shop based in Birmingham City Centre, UK.
gold.co.uk offer a full range of gold, silver, platinum and palladium bars and coins from the world’s leading refiners and mints, all available at low premiums, ideal for investment. They also offer customers the opportunity to buy physical gold through their SIPP or SASS pensions.
gold.co.uk is an authorised distributor of PAMP, Metalor, Umicore, and Heraeus bars. The company is also the UK’s largest authorised distributor of Royal Mint bullion coins.
Website, products and navigation.
The website is packed full of bullion products and information.
The site has a modern design and is easy to navigate using the clear tabs across the top of the page, and the site also has a series of side bars for customers to click through products such as gold bars or coins easily.
You will notice live gold, silver, platinum and palladium prices on the top right of the page, which is standard on most bullion sites and also features the ‘investment calculator’, that is a fantastic tool for customers to find the best deals to fit their budget.
You can see customer reviews and ratings, which have vastly positive customer feedback, latest precious metal and economic news, an easy to read investment guide and more.
gold.co.uk has an extensive range of gold, silver, platinum and palladium products as well as extra services such as precious metal storage, sell to gold.co.uk options, VAT-free silver and a range of gold pension products.
They also offer free next working day insured delivery on any orders over £250 as well as free delivery on orders under £250.
The website has a good split of products and information for new and established precious metal investors to read through.
Homepage.
Although there is quite a lot of information and key products on the home page, it is well structured and categorised for easy navigation of the website.
There is a series of clear drop down tabs across the top of the homepage which include, buy bullion (gold and silver bars, coins etc), delivery, storage, sell bullion, VAT-free, pensions, corporate, guide and charts.
Hover over any tab and you are presented with a drop down box which makes is easy for any customer to find a specific bullion product or service.
The homepage focuses on their key or best-selling products such as 1kg and 1oz gold bars, gold coins such as sovereign, britannia and krugerrand moving on to silver bars and coins.
Scroll down and you come to their handy investment guide about deciding between bars and coins, and further details on choosing physical delivery of your precious metal or storage options.
The homepage also features information about the company, buying gold online, the investment calculator, which we really like, customer reviews, market updates, latest news and more.
Overall a great looking homepage with plenty of products and information without looking too cluttered.
gold.co.uk are Authorised Distributors for Umicore, Heraeus, The Royal Mint, Metalor and PAMP.
Price.
gold.co.uk offer real-time spot based pricing updated every 2 minutes on their bullion products. They offer low premiums on precious metal products that are ideal for investment. If fact, we feel they offer some of the lowest premiums around.
Conclusion.
The website is packed with essential reading for all precious metal enthusiasts and have a very good product range.
Low premiums make gold.co.uk a good option when it comes to buying bullion online.
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