Ease of selling gold/silver bullion ireland.

12gauge dave

How easy is it to sell physical gold/silver in ireland? I plan to buy physical bullion and store it at home. Im guessing when i sell it i wont get the going rate from dealer what percent below going price do they offer when selling.
Thanks

goz83

We don't seem to have an abundance of dealers here, but Irish Gold Bullion buy as well as sell. Whatever their mark up on selling is usually about the same percent they knock off when buying. So, if the are making €1 per ounce when selling, they are buying for €1 under spot price. Of course, premiums need to be considered too.

irish_investr

a lot depends on the quantity. The spread is generally 5-10% but could be much more if you're talking about less than 1oz.

Unless you are going to smuggle it from Estonia, silver is not worth it. Full VAT is charged in Ireland. Germany and norway have lower VAT, while Estonia has none. However there are import duties which remove a lot of the benefit of shopping abroad.

irish_investr

Be aware of the additional risk of physical bullion, you might not be able to sell it. The dealers currently will "buy back" gold but not much prevents them from just ceasing to buy.

FortySeven

If you are buying gold buy it from suissegold.ch. I have used them since 2006 and they are excellent. They deliver through FedEx and also collect with FedEx should you decide to sell. They buy bars back at 2% below spot price 1% on coins I think and will lock in the price both on sales and purchases.

If you are buying silver then the 23% vat is restrictive. I got caught for nearly 3000 in vat when I bought platinum, palladium and silver in one of my larger orders. Other times I have received silver from them without a vat bill, straight from a USA mint.

I have bought 100oz silver bars and stored them in their free allocated vault without issues. It is free for a year then 3% of the value per year after that. I've also bought coins from them. Their pandas are great value.

Geiger-edenmetal.de is another firm I have used for silver. You get the 7%( I think ) vat paid in Germany. They do a great selection of 'noahs ark' Armenian silver in 1/2oz up to a kilo. They have an export quota though so they can only sell so much to Ireland then they stop taking orders.

If there is any kind of arbitrage between sterling and the euro in gold prices then you can take advantage by buying from bairds in London. Their website is goldline.co.uk as far as I remember. Very decent company, have a fair bit of dealing with them. They will also buy back. Very good for sovereigns.

Don't buy or sell in ireland, premiums are ridiculous and spreads on sales are comical. Let your fingers do the walking. I used to buy a bit on eBay.de search for munzen. No vat this way but I haven't bought recently and I'm not sure how this global shipping with Pitney Bowes works.

Otherwise, if you want to go completely off grid, try the buy and sell on kitco forums.

Reasons for buying gold?

If you have to ask, don't buy it but I will leave you with my favourite quote.

Gold is the money of kings.
Silver is the money of gentlemen.
Barter is the money of peasants.
But debt is the money of slaves.

Norm Franz.
Money and wealth in the new millennium.

FortySeven

irish_investr wrote: »

Be aware of the additional risk of physical bullion, you might not be able to sell it. The dealers currently will "buy back" gold but not much prevents them from just ceasing to buy.

You can ALWAYS sell gold. It is the most liquid asset in the world, that's why it drops whenever markets get a shock. Traders liquidate gold positions to cover margin calls.

I carry an oz in my watch pocket at at times just in case. When travelling it is a comfort.

FortySeven

I am guessing you know this but I thought just in case.

No vat is payable on gold bullion. None, from anywhere.

Silver, platinum and palladium. 23% in bar form, 19% in coins( you may have to argue this, I did and won)

If anyone offers you storage make sure it is allocated.

There are options such as bullionvault too. I find it handy if I fancy a bit of trading but I prefer to be able to dive in my shiny like uncle scrooge. I only put play money in the trading sites.

FortySeven

Try to avoid large purchases of vat liable metals. I was invited to talk to the tax people in Galway. Got grilled for half an hour about why I needed 20,000 in pms and where I got the money from. I asked them if they hauled in everyone who spent 20,000 on a car and if not why me? We went round in circles for a while, I educated them somewhat in pms and after pointing out I had paid the vat and had done nothing illegal, I left.

They know though and I don't like that. Keep your transactions under the 10,000 money laundering limits and you'll be grand.

goz83

FortySeven wrote: »

Keep your transactions under the 10,000 money laundering limits and you'll be grand.

And just incase it's unclear....that's 10k per year, not per transaction OP

But I wonder if they would keep track.