BGASC is a bit different from the majority of gold investment companies you’ll come across. Like many precious metal dealers, they have a focus on client satisfaction, quick delivery, and competitive prices. What sets them apart however, is a vast selection that strongly appeals to both investors and collectors alike. But how does BGASC actually perform in the real world? Is their selection all it’s cracked up to be? And most importantly, should you trust them with your money? We took a deeper look into BGASC to find out.
WHO IS BGASC?
BGASC is a family-owned company that was founded based on an interest in coin collecting. The owners, Martin, Victoria, and Thomas, grew up collecting coins together, and eventually decided to form a company to sell gold and silver coins themselves. BGASC, which literally stands for “Buy Gold and Silver Coins”, was established in 2003 out of Calabasas, California. Their vision was to supply fellow collectors with a vast selection of coins, from an honest company that they could trust.
As their name would suggest, you can in fact buy gold and silver coins from BGASC. They carry bars, rolls, and storage supplies, as well. Their products are sourced from the United States and Canada, in addition to other nations commonly associated with collectible coins. They regularly add new stock of both newly released coins and older, historical examples that they come across.
They’ve gradually grown and increased their customer base to become one of the largest coin and bullion dealers in the country. Their wide selection means that investors of all experience levels and budget can find something to fit their needs.
BGASC also aims to educate the public about coin collecting. To this end, they provide a comprehensive selection of price charts. These interactive charts show both live and historical prices, tracking gold, silver, and platinum. In fact, you can analysze bullion prices all the way back to 1988. The costs of BGASC’s products also fluctuate automatically throughout each day, based on live data.
We’ve touched on BGASC’s extensive range of products. So what exactly do they offer?
WHAT DO THEY OFFER?
We’ll start with BGASC’s newest product, their precious metals IRAs. They’ve only recently began offering this service to their customers, and we like what we’ve seen so far. Their website is a great resource for more information on this. They provide a detailed look at the types of metals that are permitted, the sign-up process, their preferred self-directed IRA custodians, and a list of FAQs.
They have a large selection of IRA approved gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, so you should be able to find whatever you have in mind. BGASC also offers a buy-back service for when you want to liquidate your holdings. They offer competitive prices based on the live market value and they’ll arrange for your metals to be shipped directly from the depository, so it’s a pretty easy process.
For IRA custodians, they have partnered with GoldStar, New Direction, and STRATA. Their storage partners are Delaware Depository, International Depository Services, Texas Bullion Depository, and Brink’s Global. These are established entities that we’d feel comfortable working with, and they all have a trusted reputation among their customers.
The rest of BGASC’s products are conveniently grouped by price on their website, so you can directly go to the items that fit within your budget. Their ranges are: under $20, $20-$100, $101-$250, $251-$500, $501-$1,000, $1,001-$10,000, and over $10,000. Want something small? You can get a mid-2010’s American Silver Eagle for around $20. Looking to invest more significant amounts? Pick up a few 1 oz. Credit Suisse gold bar for around $1,200 each.
After browsing their website, it was evident that BGASC’s selection is indeed very impressive. They have quite the wide range of coins, bars, monster boxes, bags, and storage supplies. The “Best Sellers” and “Featured Products” sections on their front page are always worth checking out too.
BGASC’s pricing is extremely competitive compared to their competitors. The live pricing updates ensure that what you’re paying is always based on the fair market value. Another nice feature is that when your order is placed via their website, the price is locked in until your payment is received and processed.
BGASC primarily uses USPS for shipping, although they make exceptions for some of the heavier/special items. BGASC offers free shipping on all orders over $5,000, while orders under that amount are charged a flat $6.95 fee. They also insure every package they ship to protect against damages during shipment. Orders are usually shipped the next day after order placement, Monday through Friday. For security reasons, BGASC doesn’t ship to maildrop locations, freight forwarders or 3rd party private postal locations like UPS stores. Finally, BGASC has a 3-day return policy, just in case you end up changing your mind.
Note that if you happen to be in Minnesota, you’re out of luck. BGASC does not ship to that state.
WHAT DO WE LIKE?
The first thing that stood out to us was BGASC’s easy-to-use website. Almost immediately, we appreciated the simplicity of the site design. With the way it’s all laid out, you don’t have to worry about wasting time trying to find a specific product. Filtering product listings is easy, and you can drill down search results by price, metal, product type, and more.
Their vast selection is another attribute that sets BGASC apart from the rest. When we took our look at their listings, we were able to find some incredibly obscure examples including a 1932 Yugoslavian Dukat and a Spanish Gold Cayon from 1556-1598. They have many commemorative coins and error coins available and the more you look through their site, the more rare examples you’ll find. Not only that, but they sell supplies such as museum grade flips, tubes, monster boxes, money bags, and coin holders. They do a great job at truly being a one-stop coin collecting shop.
BGASC’s history and mission fill us with a strong sense of trust, and we appreciate their unique company profile. The fact that they are family owned and have a personal interest in precious metals demonstrates their passion and that the company is more than a mere money-making operation. This is also reflected in the amount of sheer knowledge possessed by their staff. They will gladly help guide you to products that are more likely to grow in value, and ones that you should store away for long-term appreciation.
You won’t have to worry about paying a ton for shipping with BGASC, as they offer very competitive shipping rates. It’s free when you spend over $5,000, but the low flat rate of $5.95 means you won’t be hurting if you’re making a smaller purchase. Their 3-day return policy is great too, and helps relieve the stress that can come with a substantial purchase.
Finally, we liked their outstanding reputation across multiple review platforms. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) bestowed them with their highest rating of A+. They have an impressive 5-star rating from TrustPilot, with a whopping 4,090 reviews. At Shopper Approved they also have an excellent record, with an overall satisfaction rating of 4.8 out of 5 from over 1500 reviews. BGASC also has a dedicated section on their websites that features first-hand testimonials from actual customers. We were wowed by their overall fantastic reputation and how much their clients like doing business with them.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Let’s begin with BGASC’s precious metal IRA offerings. BGASC has a relatively simple process for opening a precious metals IRA, and another nice thing is that they don’t charge any extra fees for the service.
First, you’ll need your self-directed IRA account to be managed by an IRS-compliant IRA custodian. As we previously mentioned, BGASC has a strong selection of IRA custodian partners to choose from. If you have your own custodian already, just let BGASC know which one you want to use. No matter what custodian you go with, your next step will be to inform them that you want to open an IRA and add to it with precious metals from BGASC.
Once you’ve set all that up, you’ll need to deposit funds into your new IRA account. Your IRA custodian can help with this. After your account is funded, BGASC will get a notification from your custodian of the total amount.
Finally, you’re ready to place an order. IRA-eligible precious metal transactions require special handling on BGASC’s part, so you’ll need to call them to make your purchase. Whenever your metals arrive at the storage location, your IRA custodian will let you know.
When purchasing regular precious metals from BGASC, the process is much simpler. It works much like another other average online store. You add items to your cart, go check out, and then wait for purchase to arrive at your door.
BGASC accepts credit cards, debit cards, paper checks, and bank wires. For paper checks, there’s a $250 order minimum and a $100,000 order maximum. Bank transfers have similar limits, with a minimum order of $2,500 and a maximum of $100,000. If you order by phone via bank wire though, there’s no maximum. Finally, credit and debit card payments have no minimum amount, but the maximum order value is $15,000. These limits are in place to help prevent fraud.
THE BOTTOM LINE
BGASC has carved out their own unique niche in the world of precious metal investment companies. Most of their rivals were created primarily as money-making ventures, whereas BGASC has been built on passion and a love of gold and silver coins. Despite their specialization, BGASC still manages to offer a great deal of appealing products to both collectors and investors. In particular, their newly introduced precious metals IRAs should help them continue to grow and expand their customer base.
Based on their trusted reputation, fair prices and policies, and mammoth selection, we’d have to recommend BGASC to anyone considering purchasing precious metals. This goes for coins, especially. If you’re a collector, you need to log on to their site immediately. If not, then BGASC still has something for everyone.
If you’re interested in learning more about BGASC, or are looking to open a precious metals IRA account, visit them at www.bgasc.com or call 1-888-992-4272.