In this article, we’ll explore whether Apmex is the right choice for your investment needs. Apmex is a prominent online bullion dealer offering a wide range of precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. With over 20 years of experience and a vast selection of products, Apmex seems like a promising option.
However, we’ll delve into various aspects such as product offerings, fees, customer reviews, and complaints to help you make an informed decision about investing with Apmex.
What is Apmex?
Apmex is among the largest online bullion dealers in the US. They have been in the industry since 2000 and have a selection of more than 20,000 products including gold, silver, platinum and palladium metals.
Their headquarters is located at 226 Dean A. McGee Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73102. Similarly, their contact number is 1800-375-9006.
The company has expanded considerably since its inception and has thousands of reviews across different consumer platforms.
Their product selection includes IRA-eligible coins, numismatic coins as well as semi-numismatic products.
Apmex has partnered with 5 custodians so you can choose the one you find the most suitable for your financial requirements.
Moreover, the company has added various free resources on its website including investment guides and articles to help new investors learn more about precious metals.
Find the Best Rated Gold IRA Company of your State
The following Apmex review will give you a detailed overview of their products, fees, and reviews to help you decide if they are worth your money:
People Behind Apmex
Scott Thomas
Scott Thomas is the founder and president of Apmex. He founded the firm in 2000 and has been leading it since. Scott devised their highly profitable and effective marketing strategies which bolstered the firm’s growth.
In 2009, he received the Presidential Award from the American Numismatic Association. It is among the most prestigious awards in the industry.
Kenneth Lewis
Kenneth Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer of Apmex. He has over 20 years of leadership experience in retail and tech firms. Many of the companies he led are Fortune 500 companies.
He joined Apmex in 2011 as EVP of Operations and served 2 years as Chief Operating Officer before becoming the CEO in 2015.
Kenneth’s strategic and operational changes in the company have helped it enhance its growth considerably.
How to Sign up with Apmex
Apmex offers all kinds of precious metals to investors. Hence, you should be extremely cautious when shopping with this firm if you’re looking to set up a gold IRA.
To start a precious metals IRA with Apmex, you just have to follow these steps:
Step #1:
First, you must go to their website and get in touch with one of their representatives. They will assist you in selecting a custodian from their 5 partners.
Choosing the right custodian is critical because your setup and maintenance costs would depend greatly on your choice.
Step #2:
Once you have chosen a custodian, you would need to fill out the necessary paperwork and submit your IRA application.
This process shouldn’t take long. After you have submitted the paperwork and it gets approved, you would have a new self-directed IRA.
Step #3:
Now that you have an Apmex IRA, you would have to add funds to it. You can do so by directly funding it or by rolling over funds from an existing IRA.
Step #4:
After funding your Apmex IRA, you can start buying precious metals from their large product selection. Again, keep in mind to only purchase IRA approved products as adding any non-IRA products could result in serious penalties.
That’s it.
With just these 4 steps, you would have an Apmex precious metals IRA.
Apmex Products
Apmex has one of the largest collections of precious metals products. They offer gold, silver, platinum and palladium products of all kinds including IRA-eligible, numismatic and semi-numismatic coins.
The company provides pricing details for each and every product which can help you get an idea of how much you would need to spend.
You will find plenty of rare and collectible coins in their collections you might not find elsewhere.
Gold IRA Products:
The Apmex gold selection has a ton of IRA-eligible coins and bars for you to choose from. You will find all of the popular IRA coins here including American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf and more.
Some of the notable coins present in the collection are:
- American Gold Eagle
- Canadian Gold Maple Leaf
- Australian Gold Kangaroo
- Great Britain Gold Britannia
- Austria Gold Philharmonic
And several more.
Similarly, you will find gold bars of all sizes and variety in their collection including PAMP Suisse, Credit Suisse and others.
Silver IRA Products
The Apmex silver collection has all the popular silver IRA products:
- American Eagle Silver Coin
- Canadian Silver Maple Leaf
- American Eagle Silver Coin (Proof)
- Austrian Philharmonic Silver Coin
- Australian Silver Kookaburra
- Armenia Silver 500 Drams Noah’s Ark
You find coins of various years and sizes in this selection. Furthermore, there are multiple silver bars available in this collection of 1 oz, 10 oz and 100 oz sizes.
Platinum IRA Products:
Some of the notable products present in their catalog are:
- American Platinum Eagle
- Valcambi 1 oz Platinum Bar
- Canadian Platinum Maple Leaf
- Australian Platinum Platypus
- Credit Suisse 1 oz Platinum Bar
And many more.
Palladium IRA Products:
You will find a substantial collection of palladium products in their catalog too:
- Canadian Palladium Maple Leaf
- 1 oz Palladium Bar PAMP Suisse
And several more.
Their product is certainly fantastic but a lot of the products were unavailable at the time of writing this Apmex review.
Non-IRA Products:
While the bullion dealer certainly has a great collection of IRA-approved products, it’s the non-IRA section where they truly shine the most.
You will find rare coins of all sorts here including Pre-1933 US Gold Coins, Silver Dollars (1794-1978), Peace SIlver Dollars (1921-1935), and more.
Moreover, they have an Elite Picks section where they share the best rare coins of their collection.
You will also find licensed and movies-based coins in their selection.
So, if you’re an avid collector or a casual investor, their non-IRA selection might be a great fit for you.
Apmex Fees
Apmex says that they don’t apply any additional charges to the spot prices they show on their website.
However, if you pay the company through a check or wire transfer, you would get a 4% discount. This discount offer is unavailable with PayPal, BitPay, and credit card.
Apart from these transaction fees, your IRA fee would depend on the custodian you choose. Apmex offers you 5 custodians to choose from:
- Equity Institutional
- GoldStar Trust Company
- Kingdom Trust Company
- The Entrust Group
- STRATA Trust Company
Different custodians have different fee structures. For example, Equity Trust charges $50 for account set up fees while Kingdom Trust doesn’t charge any setup fees.
Furthermore, your Apmex fees would also be dependent on the size of your investment.
The minimum storage fee for your precious metals IRA is $15 and the storage rate is 0.55%.
There is no minimum investment requirement listed on the website of Apmex.
| Initial Setup Fees | Depends on Custodian |
| Annual Maintenance Fees | Depends on Custodian |
| Storage Fees | 0.55% ($15 minimum) |
Additional Highlights of Apmex
Apart from having over 40,000 products in its catalog and over 20 years of experience, Apmex has several qualities which set it apart from the competition. Here’s a brief overview of those qualities:
Multiple IRA Custodians:
Apmex has partnered with 5 different custodians for IRA custodial services. They are Kingdom Trust Company, GoldStar Trust, The Entrust Group, Equity Institutional and STRATA Trust Company.
All of them are highly reputed and popular custodial service providers. The IRS rules state that you must have a custodian for your precious metals IRA.
So, having the option to choose from multiple custodians is certainly helpful.
However, keep in mind that how much fees you pay would depend on the custodian you choose.
Storage Facilities:
For storage vaults, Apmex partners with Citadel Global Depository Services. Citadel offers first-class secure storage along with supplementary services such as independent audits and reporting.
The provider of secure storage of Citadel’s products is Brink’s Global Services, one of the most reputed storage providers in the industry.
There is only the option of segregated storage available here, which is a bit more costlier than non-segregated storage.
All of the products you store with them would have insurance.
What’s interesting is that the firm provides you with real-time reporting of all transactions and shows you the updated value of your stored metals. Such insight could come in handy.
Multiple Investing Guides and Resources:
Apmex provides its customers with multiple free resources and guides. You can visit their Knowledge Center and find guide on buying and selling precious metals as well as guides on how to choose the right coins.
These are well-written, detailed guides that can help you get started in precious metals investing if you have no experience.
Also, there’s a dedicated FAQs section which covers most of the basic questions a new investor might have. The Knowledge Center has a Latest News section which covers the latest events.
Certainly, Apmex has put in a lot of effort into educating clients.
Apmex AutoInvest:
The AutoInvest program is a tool to automate your precious metals investing. By using the program, you can set up recurring purchases of your desired precious metals products.
This way, you can add more precious metals to your portfolio automatically. It’s one of their proprietary services and isn’t available with any other bullion dealer.
Having the ability to purchase multiple precious metal products over time automatically is certainly an attractive one. However, the AutoInvest program isn’t applicable on every product. Very few products are eligible for this scheme.
Apmex Club:
The Apmex Club is a loyalty program which rewards customers for purchasing precious metals from this company.
Members of this club get exclusive offers and discounts. Also, they get alerts on their new promotions and offers before other customers.
There are a total of 4 membership levels:
- Select (Complete 2-5 orders / Spend or sell at least $5,000 in total)
- Premier (Complete 6-9 orders / Spend or sell at least $10,000 in total)
- Elite (Complete 10+ orders / Spend or sell at least $20,000 in total)
- VIP (Invitation only)
Apmex App:
If you want to buy precious metals on the go, you can use their mobile as well. The Apmex app gives you access to their entire product collection while giving you updates on their latest offers.
It is available on both Google Play Store and the App Store. The app is certainly popular as it has received over 18,000 reviews on the App Store.
Apmex Reviews and Complaints
Being an industry leader, Apmex has received thousands of reviews across different consumer platforms. However, what I found was a little worrying. The company has received mixed reviews from its clients.
While some consumers praise the company for its vast collection and helpful staff, many have faced problems with deliveries and premiums.
Here is a more platform-specific breakdown of Apmex reviews:
Apmex BBB:
On BBB, this precious metals dealer has received an A rating. The average customer rating of this company on that platform is 3.98 out of 5 stars.
Also, the company has closed 106 complaints in the last 3 years on BBB, 50 of them within the last year.
Apmex Trustpilot:
On Trustpilot, there are over 7,700 Apmex reviews. Based on these reviews, the company’s rating is 2.2 out of 5 stars.
This is certainly a red flag.
Even though 88% of their reviews give them 5 out of 5 stars, the platform has given them a low average because the company has received a lot of negative reviews recently.
Additional Apmex Reviews:
Apart from BBB and Trustpilot, there are plenty of platforms where you can find Apmex reviews. For example, ShopperApproved has over 170,000 reviews for this company and the overall rating of the company is 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Similarly, they have a 3 out of 5-star rating on Yelp, another popular consumer platform. There, the company has received 27 reviews in total.
Are There Any Apmex Complaints? Should You Be Worried?
The disappointing ratings of Apmex on different consumer platforms indicate that the company has received plenty of complaints from clients.
When I was looking into their reviews, I found several Apmex complaints.
Most of the complaints were about receiving the wrong product, overpriced products or changes in quote while selling metals.
Here’s an Apmex review to give you an idea of the kind of complaints this company receives:
Dan shares that he had sold a large number of 1 oz Canadian Maple Leaf coins to Apmex. The shipping process went well but the problems started when they received the product.
Dan says that after receiving his coins, the company began telling him that his coins had scratches and tried to reduce the quote. He tells other consumers to be wary of their salesmen.
However, it’s worth noting that the company has quite a proactive customer support. I found plenty of Apmex complaints to which the company had responded promptly.
Is Apmex Legit?
Pros:
- One of the largest product selections
- Multiple custodial partners
- Unique rewards system
Cons:
- Mixed reviews
- Received multiple complaints about pricing
Yes, Apmex is a legitimate company with over 20 years of industry experience. The company is an industry leader and boasts of having one of the largest product catalogs with over 40,000 products.
They sell gold, silver, platinum and palladium products of all kinds to their customers. You can find IRA-approved, numismatic, licensed, and semi-numismatic coins and bars in their collection.
Furthermore, the company has a Knowledge Center where they provide customers with investment guides and articles to help them get started in precious metals investing.
They have partnered with 5 custodians to provide multiple custodian options to clients. Furthermore, they offer real-time reporting on storage and have partnerships with FedEx and UPS to deliver your precious metals to your home.
Apmex has a phone app for customers who want to purchase precious metals on the go or find out about their latest offers and deals.
However, the company has poor ratings on multiple consumer platforms. There are multiple complaints against the company’s prices and handling of orders. This is why it’s difficult for me to recommend this company to you or other investors.
Opening a gold IRA can protect your wealth from economic downturns and recessions. The past performance of gold and other precious metals has been a great reflection of the same.
However, finding the right gold IRa provider requires caution. Their fees and service quality will determine your returns.
That’s why I recommend checking out multiple IRA providers before selecting one. Also, it’s good to consult a retirement advisor before making such decisions.
If you’re interested, you can learn about the best gold IRA providers here.
Have you dealt with Apmex? How was your experience? Share it below!