Buying and Selling Gold and Silver with CMIGS
Prices
Because gold and silver prices change by the minute, all buy/sell orders for gold and silver must be placed by telephone so that prices can be locked in at the prevailing market. For buy orders, payment must be remitted the same day the order is placed. For sell orders, the gold or silver must be shipped the same day.
If you are only interested in selling gold and silver you own, visit our page dedicated to selling gold and silver to CMIGS.
Hours
CMIGS accepts orders Mondays through Fridays, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST. However, we sometimes take calls before 7:00 a.m., and we often take calls after 5:00 p.m. Orders must be placed early enough in the day that payment can be remitted the same day.
CMIGS Order Minimums
The minimum orders for bullion purchases at CMIGS are five ounces of gold, platinum, or palladium, or 300 ounces of silver. Orders up to $20,000 may be accepted without a deposit. Usually, payment by bank wire transfer is required for large orders. Sometimes, a deposit may be required before prices are locked in for large orders.
During volatile markets, CMIGS requires payment by wire transfer. (A new, emerging term for bank wire transfer is electronic funds transfer [EFT].)
Minimum orders for The Perth Mint Lunar Series Coins are one ounce of gold or 100 ounces of silver.
Although the minimum order for silver bullion is 300 ounces, CMIGS will sell
quarter bars ($250 face) in
junk silver coins,
which equates to about 178.75 ounces of silver.
Methods of Payment
A bank wire transfer is the preferred method of payment because a wire transfer enables us to provide the best service. We start the shipping process as soon as the wire is confirmed, which means that the order often is received by the buyer within a week of the order being placed, sometimes only a matter of days.
Payment by cashier's check is the next best method because it is easy to verify that a cashier's check has cleared. (We do not ship on receipt of a cashier's check. We must verify that it has cleared.) Verification that a cashier's check has cleared usually can be obtained on the third business day after the check has been deposited.
Yet, payment by cashier's check has its drawbacks: first, the time it takes the Post Office to get the check to us; second, the time it takes for the check to clear the banking system. A wire transfer provides for much faster delivery.
Besides, to obtain a cashier's check, a trip to the bank is required. So, why not send a wire while at the bank and speed up delivery of your order? Sending a wire normally involves signing a document that permits the bank to take the funds out of your checking or savings account.
However, many banks allow customers to send wires by phone or fax instead of personally going to the bank. Investors considering more than one precious metals investment may want to see if their banks provide convenient phone or fax bank wire services.
Large money orders are handled the same as cashier's checks. For small orders (less than $3,000), buyers may want to consider using Postal Money Orders, which can be purchased for up to $1,000 each at a cost of $1.25. We normally ship immediately on receipt of Postal Money Orders.
Finally, CMIGS accepts personal checks. However, verifying that personal checks have cleared has become a nightmare as more banks, citing "client privacy," refuse to verify that checks have cleared. And, the list of banks that will not verify check clearance continues to grow. If your bank will not verify that your check has cleared, we wait at least 14 days before shipping. Therefore, if you are eager for a "quick shipment," please be prepared to pay by wire transfer. (Some banks will not even verify that cashier's checks have cleared!)
CMIGS' 14-day policy on personal checks may frustrate some buyers because they often can learn online (or by calling their banks) that the checks they wrote cleared in only two or three days after CMIGS deposited. Those buyers ask why we simply do not ask our bank if the check has cleared. This does not work because it is a feature of the banking industry that the bank submitting the check (CMIGS' bank) does not know if a check clears.
The submitting bank only knows a check is bad when it comes back through a cumbersome system, nothing like today's near lightning-fast clearing system. Sometimes, though, we get phone calls informing us that checks are coming back, but we cannot rely on that happening.
The only time that "non-verifying" banks become cooperative is when we tell them that we suspect check fraud. Then, banks will even call their account holders to confirm that they wrote the checks.
When verifying checks, we not only verify that the check has cleared, but we confirm with the bank that the address imprinted on the check is the address on file with the bank. In cases where investors have checks without their addresses imprinted, we can ship only to the address the bank has on file. In such case, we go to extreme measures to verify that the check is validly issued.
If the check is large (or if we believe it necessary), we will have a bank employee verify with the customer that he or she actually wrote the check. Attempted check frauds have made these precautions necessary. As noted, when we tell the banks we are trying to avoid check fraud, they become more cooperative.
Although some precious metals dealers accept only wire transfers or cashier's checks, CMIGS recognizes that making a trip to the bank is a great inconvenience for many people. Therefore, as long as we can safely accept personal checks, we will do so. However, if your bank will not verify that your check has cleared, we wait at least 14 days before shipping.
Mail checks to:
CMI Gold & Silver Inc.
3550 N. Central Ave. Suite 1407
Phoenix, Arizona 85012
(For further privacy, checks may be made payable to CMIGS or CMI.)
CMIGS does not accept credit cards or debit cards.
CMIGS does not accept third party checks.
Shipping, Handling, and Insurance
For gold, platinum, and palladium orders of ten ounces or more, CMIGS pays shipping, handling, and insurance. CMIGS pays shipping, handling, and insurance on silver orders of 500 ounces or more. Gold, platinum, and palladium orders less than ten ounces and silver orders less than 500 ounces incur a fee of $30.
Methods of Shipment
Gold, platinum, and palladium orders usually are shipped by registered, insured US Mail. Silver usually is shipped by UPS, insured. However, a new US Postal Service program allows us to economically ship some silver orders via the Post Office.
When payment is received, CMIGS mails a copy of the invoice and a letter showing the scheduled day of shipment. When the order is shipped, CMIGS notifies the buyer by either phone or email and gives the expected day of delivery.
Shipping Gold and Silver to CMIGS
When shipping gold and silver to CMIGS, there is really only one way to go: registered U.S. Mail, using the Post Office's Flat Rate boxes. Registered mail is the safest way to ship, as the Post Office rarely loses a registered package. Still, we recommend you buy insurance because if your shipment is that rare one that gets lost, you will be covered by the insurance.
The Post Office's Flat Rate fee also provides the lowest shipping rates, much cheaper than either UPS or FedEx for silver, and usually for gold. But the big advantage of using Flat Rate boxes combined with registered mail is the high reliability of registered mail. The Flat Rate fee provides the lowest rates: $8.95 for up to 70 pounds shipped anywhere in the U.S.
Flat Rate boxes are free at your local Post Office. The boxes are sturdy enough to handle gold, but for silver the boxes need to be reinforced.
References
CMIGS has dealt with the same bank since 1973. Bank and other references are available on request.
Client Confidentiality
CMIGS strives to ensure client confidentiality. We do not sell or share our customers' names, and we do not computerize transactions. Not putting transactions on a computer protects our clients from record theft. It also makes it difficult for someone to come in and demand to see who has bought precious metals from CMIGS.
Furthermore, CMIGS does not even put clients' names on invoices, thereby providing even more investment privacy. This became policy in the mid-1970s as CMIGS pioneered the bullion precious metals industry in Phoenix.
One day a detective from the Phoenix Police Department's Burglary Division visited our offices. The detective asked, "Do you know what a nightmare you're going to create for the Police Department - and your clients - if copies of your invoices fall into the wrong hands?" Because of that policeman's visit, CMIGS quit putting clients' names on invoices and started writing their names and addresses on 5" X 8" cards that are stapled to the invoices. After clients receive their gold or silver, the cards are detached and destroyed.
Please call with any questions about doing business with CMIGS. CMIGS accepts calls Mondays through Fridays, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST. However, we sometimes take calls before 7:00 a.m., and we often we take calls after 5:00 p.m. Our toll free number is 1-800-528-1380.
