Tulving Newport Beach, CA

[Scorpio]

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[Scorpio]

contact for Tulving

http://www.tulving.com/goldbull.html

[lhslancers]

I'll have my assistant Muffy type my response later. Bluebood City. Gold minimums are way high and some of the Silver product maxes are too high for the average bear as well. And the website. Jeez. Who designed that mess? Vronsky. Al Gore 1994? Please. Decent pricing for the Hollywood set. :yes:

[sanyo]

never a problem for over 15 years

[hoarder]

Great. Very prompt (and abrubt) replies to email.

Prices include shipping.

There was a grading scandal many years ago, it seems big brother claimed he was fudging on PCGS grading or something, I think he paid a fine or settlement, but I think it was just a case of persecution. Hannes has total integrity in my book. Probably he was a critic of green toilet paper so they shut him up.

Shipping is very prompt and cion sorting without mistakes on 90%.

[silverwine]

I have used Tulving ever since I got involved in PMs. Very prompt service and the prices are very competitive. I have never had a problem with them. Having said that, in agreement with Ihslancers, his minimum are way too high. I have to go to other dealers if I want less. But when I do get a nice pot of cash, I usually go with Tulving.

[silverwine]

I'll have my assistant Muffy type my response later. Bluebood City. Gold minimums are way high and some of the Silver product maxes are too high for the average bear as well. And the website. Jeez. Who designed that mess? Vronsky. Al Gore 1994? Please. Decent pricing for the Hollywood set. :yes:

Ihslancers, I think Tulving should consider tacking on some sort of below minimum service charge to make up whatever he is loosing by taking small orders. I think he might get more business, no?

[hoarder]

Most likely Tulving is a family operation with no employees. Hiring an employee is much more of a liability than small order customers are an asset.
The less people you have to deal with the better.
If you're a large corporation you already have the consultants and legal staff to facilitate dealing with employees, which is quite a nightmare these days. For a one man operation (or family operation) to hire the first employee is a step that sometimes puts small businesses out of business.

Solution. Don't make small orders, Buy a bag at a time!!

Oh, how I miss the days when Hannes sold two bags for under 10K including shipping.

[lhslancers]

Great. Very prompt (and abrubt) replies to email.

Prices include shipping.

There was a grading scandal many years ago, it seems big brother claimed he was fudging on PCGS grading or something, I think he paid a fine or settlement, but I think it was just a case of persecution. Hannes has total integrity in my book. Probably he was a critic of green toilet paper so they shut him up.

Shipping is very prompt and cion sorting without mistakes on 90%.

Hoarder my understanding is that the problem was about a supposed two way market in numis product. If I am wrong please correct. I am sure he loses a lot of biz because of his high minimums. Never heard of a complaint from anyone who has dealt with him though.

[aclarky]

I've only had two purchases from him but they were perfect. Received them the next morning after funds were wired. The only complaints I have are the high minimums and his website is pretty lame. I will use him if I'm buying enough.

[SilverStreak]

An excellent company to do business --never had a complaint in about 15 years with them

[AgAuGal]

I did business with Hannes early on not since the minimum ounces were raised. Only one complaint (and not a big one at that). He did not tell me he was going to drop ship an order, I thought I was getting my orders from him directly (I was very young in the PM purchase world at the time). The order was delievered but it smelled bad, still does. A bit disappointed because it is the only time I purchased that type of silver.

Delievered what I asked for. So no complaints other than high minimums now which probably appears to the wealthy and smelly silver.

[AuNuggets]

Never a problem with Hannes, and we have placed many multi-thousand $$ orders with him through the years. Always prompt delivery, no lies or excuses, just good honest dealing, very responsive to eMail and phone calls. Only possible negative are his high minimums. There were times when I liked to place periodic 10 ounce gold orders to price-average costs. Raising minimum purchase levels while the overall market values were more than doubling doesn't seem to be a very wise marketing move. Double the minimums at the same time the market is doubling, and you then need 4 times the funds just to make a purchase. Agree also that the PMs web page could use a little cleaning up. I'd like to see him offering fractional European and Mexican (Francs-Sovereigns-Pesos) again too.

[Tn...Andy]

Oh, how I miss the days when Hannes sold two bags for under 10K including shipping.

Yep I miss those too....but I really miss the days when you could buy 3 bags for under 10k with shipping !

Never a complaint with my orders....but if you email Hannes, don't expect more than a 5 word answer.....and their website is a throwback to sites of 10 years ago. I imagine they have all the business they can handle and don't really care. IF you order thru them, you'll get it promptly and correct.....if you want a pretty website, go somewhere else.

[hoarder]

but if you email Hannes, don't expect more than a 5 word answer......He reminds me of a friend of mine...on the phone he says OKbye as one word and hangs up. Hannes is alright. I thank him for selling me all that cheap silver!

[grasshopper]

Tulving did in 3 days what NWT Mint couldn't do in 6 MONTHS. Tulving is now my new PM dealer. The only weird thing was not getting a purchase order number over the phone when I ordered, though I suppose I could have asked for it. Email replies from Tulving took anywhere from minutes to a few hours, while several NWT Mint emails went unanswered. Bye bye NWT Mint!

[GliderGuider]

Tulving did in 3 days what NWT Mint couldn't do in 6 MONTHS. Tulving is now my new PM dealer. The only weird thing was not getting a purchase order number over the phone when I ordered, though I suppose I could have asked for it. Email replies from Tulving took anywhere from minutes to a few hours, while several NWT Mint emails went unanswered. Bye bye NWT Mint!


Grasshopper, perhaps you should copy your post to the NWTM thread as well.

Or maybe not, that thread is pretty rank already.

[Got Goldies]

didn't tulving file bankruptcy in the past? Apmex seems much more reliable. And you can buy 1 coin. It dont matter.

[grasshopper]

Grasshopper, perhaps you should copy your post to the NWTM thread as well.

Or maybe not, that thread is pretty rank already.

Yeah, I figured there is enough toxic info in the NWT Mint thread already. On the positive side, they did give me money back on my purchase. I was also quite happy with the replacement coins they gave me as they were one of the lowest mintage years in the series. Still, a 6 month wait is unnacceptable, hence the move to Tulving. Oh, I paid with a check, so maybe I should subrtact 10 days? :D

[grasshopper]

didn't tulving file bankruptcy in the past? Apmex seems much more reliable. And you can buy 1 coin.

I don't know anything about a bankruptcy, but I sent these guys what I consider to be a lot of money (6 figures) and had no problem. That's reliable enough for me! Also, if high minimums mean I get better customer service because of the reduced number of customers then I'm all for them.

[hoarder]

I bought my hoard several years ago and have had to sell some now and then. The bags of 90% I bought from Tulving had been run through counting machine when I sold and none came up short.

Thanks, Hannes!

[AuNuggets]

Appears Tulving has just dropped his buy prices again, back to $5 under spot on Krugerrands while he left his sell prices where he jacked them up to last week, giving him a new spread basis on Krands of $19 per coin. APMEX on the other hand has held the line on their buy price of spot PLUS $2 and reduced their sell price on 10 or more coins (half Tulving's "minimum purchase") back down to $7.95 over spot.

Is this guy trying to retire, or what ? :no_ma:

[Krugerrand]

Appears Tulving has just dropped his buy prices again, back to $5 under spot on Krugerrands while he left his sell prices where he jacked them up to last week, giving him a new spread basis on Krands of $19 per coin. APMEX on the other hand has held the line on their buy price of spot PLUS $2 and reduced their sell price on 10 or more coins (half Tulving's "minimum purchase") back down to $7.95 over spot.

Is this guy trying to retire, or what ? :no_ma:
Minimum of 20 oz with a spread of $19 per oz doesn't sound very appealing.

Ten oz at $5.95 spread does, however. :applause_

[goldmoneybug]

I am about to wire transfer funds to complete my first online PM order and I'm a bit nervous about it.

I spent a fair bit of time researching prices among several web sites, as well as a local coin dealer and decided to go with tulving.com since they seem reputable and have really good prices.

The feedback on tulving.com all looks pretty good here.
The thing that makes me nervous is the informality of it all.

I placed the order over the phone and took notes as we spoke but, after getting off the phone, I realized that I was not offered any order or confirmation number or a hard copy of the order details.

I called back and spoke with Hannes Tulving about it and he sounded a bit irritated by such a request, saying he wouldn't have time for sending order details but I could call on Monday and get an order number.

I expressed concern that I had no written contract as recourse if something happening in shipping and he simply said he had never had a problem with shipping.

I'm thinking - most web sites pride themselves on 'locking in' prices and some of them take a credit card as insurance in case the buyer backs out.

Tulving doesn't bother with any of this and I appreciate not having to give the credit card so I suppose I haven't really locked in a price, or have I?

Suppose the price goes up on Monday - is Tulving bound to honor the order placed on Friday or can he opt out? What if the price goes down - am I bound to honor it? Is this a contract or simply an honor system?

I don't want to pester Hannes too much as such a newbie - he seems like a very busy but honest fellow and I'd like to establish a long term client relationship with him but just wanted to see what folks here think about it all.

Thanks!

[AuNuggets]

You will have absolutely no problems with Hannes. I've been dealing with him for years and have done multiple tens of thousands of dollar deals with him. If he tells you a price, that is the price you get...... buy or sell..... once the agreement is made over the phone. Doesn't matter what the market does, up or down, you are both legally bound to complete the transaction as agreed. Your word is your bond. Otherwise, the party defaulting could be subject to legal action by the other, though things are usually not carried that far. But if you renege on your side of the deal, don't expect to ever do business with that particular dealer again. Tulving is a one (sometimes two) man operation, very busy but very efficient and prompt to deliver as promised. You have a full paper trail of your wire transfer with your bank, so no real problem there and nothing to worry about. When you have dealt with him a couple of times, you will look back and smile at the concerns you are feeling now.

[Krugerrand]

Stinkin' 20 oz minimum order, argghh...

[ILoveAu]

As I mentioned in a different thread, I got my order a day after sending the payment. I gave him 5 stars on the poll for the prompt service.

edit: removed image

[goldmoneybug]

Thanks AuNuggets!

I really hope that Hannes gives ILoveAu a better coin. (Please keep us up to date on your experience!)

I don't consider myself the best judge of character (been ripped off more than once) but sense that Hannes is one of those people who are a rare and dying breed - an honest man.

BTW, some people have criticized tulving.com web site for being archaic.

I'm a web designer by trade and, yes, tulving.com is archaic in design but this is not a bad thing - what about the content?

I like tulving.com because it is basic and surprisingly accurate - honest info!

How many web sites with bells and whistles and javascript, flash, etc. lie to you and cheat you?
tulving.com has the plain text info (no flash - glory hallelulah!) and it is mostly consistent with Hannes' info, on the phone.

My only minor comment is that tulving.com does not publish their policy on spot prices after NY market close - it states that their spot prices are the kitco ask prices but the gold spot price that Hannes quoted me on the phone at 4:45 PST was $895.80 - slightly higher than the kitco gold closing price of $894.90. I can't fault Hannes for being out of sync with the claims on the web site but up to date on the current market spot prices.

Consider also that Hannes actually answers the phone at 7pm on a Friday! I've probably saved much more from tulving.com than is offered by CNI or apmex.com.

[ILoveAu]

Hannes said a copper spot on a bullion coin doesn't affect the value so he wouldn't exchange it.

[goldmoneybug]

I have some bad news to report regarding my order with Hannes Tulving - it fell through.

As detailed above, I placed my order after NY market close on Friday 1/11 and Hannes quoted me a price of $35,367.40 - $15 discount for wire transfer = $35,352.40.

I'm certain of this price since he stated it twice - before and after the wire transfer discount - and I wrote it down both times.

He had made a mistake in calculating the order total during our converstation, but corrected himself and I though nothing of it at the time.

After getting off the phone with Hannes, I called him back to get an order number and an email or fax of the order details.

He was annyoyed that I would ask for order details but said I could get an order number on Monday.

So today, Monday, I called back and he gave me an order number, then I tried to get him to go over the itemized amounts, which was all correct, but when we got to the total amount, it didn't tally with what he had told me on Friday.

I asked Hannes how it was that the total had changed - was he using today's spot prices or Friday's (which had been lower)?

Hannes replied that he was using Fridays's spot prices then became angry: "Look, I had a stroke a couple of years ago. Do you want to give me a hard time about this or do you want to cancel the order?"

Surprised, at his rudeness, I simply said cancel the order.

I don't think Hannes, is dishonest since the revised total he gave me today was accurate in terms of the Friday spot prices he had quoted me - I hadn't noticed the discrepancy on the total Friday because he was so rushed on the phone that I didn't get a chance to copy down each individual item price.

On the other hand, I can't help but think that if the spot prices had gone DOWN over the weekend, perhaps Hannes would have not been so rude, and eager to cancel the contract.

In light of his refusal to provide a written confirmation of order details, and his refusal to exchange the blemished coin to ILoveAu, I would say this is a dealer to avoid, unless you like living dangerously. Maybe it is worth it to some, but not to me.