Today we’ll be investigating an American precious metals dealer: SD Bullion. What is SD Bullion? What are the products and services it offers? Can you sell back to this company? How does it compare to our #1 Recommended solution? Let’s Get started and find out!
Company: SD Bullion
Website: www.sdbullion.com
Owner: Mr. Tyler Wall (President)
Who is it for? People looking to invest in precious metals.
Overall rating: (4 / 5)
Essential to mention (before we go into more details of this review)
We strongly recommend doing your research online before choosing a company to invest in. There are so many reviews online of clients being ripped off and scammed. So please investigate thoroughly and compare different alternatives before you make your decision.
One example: 99.9% of companies got “pushy” salespeople trying to stress you into acting fast.
Here is the thing, the #1 Recommended Gold & Silver IRA Dealer on our top-5 list got No-salesy representatives… So they won´t bother or terrorize you with phone calls.
You are an intelligent person, so I am sure that you understand the benefits of dealing with such a company instead, right?
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With that being said, let´s continue with the review on SD Bullion!
What is SD Bullion?
Based in Ottowa Lake, Michigan, and founded in 2012 by Tyler Wall, SD Bullion is an American precious metals dealer.
This company’s size is decent. It has 169 estimated employees and $244.9M in annual revenue.
The website looks great and what I liked about it is the different charts that display the prices of various precious metals.
What are the products and services offered?
SD Bullion offers coins and bars in silver, gold, and platinum.
SD Bullion also offers:
SD Bullion Gold IRAs?
SD Bullion is a precious metals dealer and does not offer IRAs directly through them but through any of their partnered custodians:
- New Direction Trust
- Goldstar Trust
- Provident Trust
- The Entrust Group
- Kingdom Trust
- Equity Institutional
Something that I liked about the SD Bullion website and couldn´t agree more with, is that they point out the importance of doing you due diligence and researching different alternatives and compare them. What fee structure does each of them have? How are they rated by the consumer protection agencies and their customers?
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Can you store with the company?
SD Bullion offers safes and vaults you can buy to store the precious metals at home. It also offers a segregated storage facility with the following fees:
- Silver annual rate: .39%
- Gold annual rate: .29%
- Platinum annual rate: .29%
That facility is your only option when it comes to storage.
Can you sell back to the company?
Yes, SD Bullion buys silver, gold, platinum, and palladium. Here’s an excerpt from their website explaining this:
Our team actively buys and sells a wide assortment of physical Silver, Platinum, Palladium, and Gold bullion precious metal products. We value your investment as much as you do, and our industry expertise allows us to provide you with the best prices and bid offers when selling your precious metals, guaranteed. The same philosophy that allows us to offer the most competitive rates when selling precious metals guides our approach to buying bullion as well. Our sell bullion process is safe and efficient, so you can receive quick payment with our industry leading bid price offers.
Can you get the precious metals delivered home? International delivery?
Yes, SD Bullion offers to ship, and it’s free for orders over $99 if you’re from the US.
When it comes to international shipping, SD Bullion accepts the following countries:
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Greenland
- Hong Kong
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- United Kingdom
Is SD Bullion a Scam?
So, is SD Bullion a scam? No, it is not a scam, it is a legit company of course. It got real owners and a real physical address and it would not have survived this long if they didn´t conduct legit business, right?
However, if they are your best alternative out there is another story, and that leads us to what the most well-known and trusted, independent third party consumer protection agencies have to say:
SD Bullion Reviews, Complaints & Ratings
BBB (Better Business Bureau)
Rating: (4.8 / 5) (from 581 reviews & 75 complaints) Click here for details (opens in a new window)
Trustpilot
Rating: (4.5 / 5) (from 2012 reviews) Click here for details (opens in a new window)
BCA (Business Consumer Alliance)
Rating: CC (from 0 reviews?) click here for details (opens in new window)
Trustlink
Rating: N/A
Yelp
Rating: N/A
Conclusion from these ratings
The consumer protection agency that I always put the most weight on is Trustpilot, the reason for that is because only real customers can leave their testimonials there. As you can see above SD Bullion got over 2000 reviews there, and overall they are positive. That is enough for me to know this is a good and legit company.
Are there any Red Flags?
This company has several complaints on the BBB website and bad reviews that include a terrible experience in customer service, which is one of the essential things a precious metals dealer should do well.
Conclusion:
SD Bullion has great and above average ratings & reviews, but its complaints and some of the bad testimonials on Trustpilot make it fall behind compared to other options with close to zero complaints, at least in my opinion.
**See our Top-5 list of Gold & Silver Companies
Do you Own or Represent SD Bullion?
If you are a representative or associate of SD Bullion and have found something not to be correct in this review, please, feel free to tell, and I will make sure to update the info on this post. The easiest way to do it is in the comment section below, or simply by sending us an e-mail: contact@goldretired.com
Final Words and Verdict
Verdict: Legit
Overall rating: (4 / 5)
Okay, I think that’s everything that could be said about SD Bullion. This company has good ratings from many reviews and a great website with several products. But, there are some complaints…
As always, the decision is up to you to make!
So, What Gold company do we recommend?
You made a wise decision to read this review, and you are an intelligent person. I am sure that you will find the right company that suits your needs the best. I would advise you to compare different alternatives against each other before you decide. Below you got my absolute #1 recommended IRA custodian:
Learn about my #1 recommended gold & silver IRA solution instead!
That’s it for this review! I hope that you now know what SD Bullion is and whether you should consider it or not. If you have any questions or remarks, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Until the next one!
Michael
Owner of: Gold Retired.
I wouldn’t buy from SD again, over a month and they haven’t processed my order yet, however took thousands out of my account. Stay away, buyer beware! Now im wasting my time writing reviews to warn others. And i never leave reviews.
First of all, thank you for your comment.
This will help others to think twice and research an extra time hopefully.
Also, hope your situation with them sorts out good in the end for you,
Thank you again for your comment!
/Best
Same thing happened to me with a litany of excuses and aggressive and antagonistic customer service agents, multiple individuals, that essentially amounted to them breaching their contractual commitment to me to fill my order.
They are dishonest and self–motivated for gain, even if it means breaching their contracts/commitments/promises to their customers, as the gentlemen above has pointed out.
This is not a one time thing. This looks to be part of their business practices.
The check was mailed out on January 8, 2021, by USPS. Today is Monday, February 8, 2021
Quote from Agent at SD Bullion:
Lydia (SD Bullion)
Feb 8, 2021, 10:50 EST
Hello,
USPS as been delayed across the nation, and having a PO box does not mean that items are delivered sooner than those with street addresses. Again, we have not received your check, which is why the order was cancelled. Once we receive the check, it will be shredded and payment won’t be collected since this order has been cancelled.
If you have any additional questions or if there’s anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to call our bullion team at 1-800-294-8732. We are available from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. est Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. est on Friday.
Share this information around and leave comments on social media so no other person has both their money and time wasted by employees at SD Bullion.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, it will help others to think twice!
/Sincerely
It seems SDB takes advantage of 2 statistical facts – that only 10% of people read terms of use and the average person can only read 250 words a minute. My experience shows how the set up works:
This happened to be my first precious metals purchase, a relatively small order of coins (just over $500) in which I opted for a wire transaction to get the cheaper rate. My order confirmation said funds were required to be wired within 1-2 days, so I assumed that the order would be cancelled after this time period. Upon finding out how much wiring money was, I decided to reorder using a debit card and let SDB know that I would not be wiring money over for my original order. I notified them by email since it leaves a paper trail if things go awry. When they responded to my email, they notified me about the cancellation fee. The cancellation fee is listed in their terms of use which is roughly 3500+ words long. Well, surely it was my fault for not reading it, right? No. The terms is presented in a manner that puts the buyer under pressure. When placing an order, you are brought to the “place order” screen which has a 5 minute countdown timer (otherwise your locked in price expires). At the same time, you are presented with a link to the terms with a checkbox stating you have read it (or else you cannot place the order). Since the average person can read 250 words a minute, it would take about 14 minutes to read the 3500+ words of their terms. This is well over the 5 minute price lock countdown that you are given. I admit that I did not read the terms since I cannot read that fast… so I went ahead and hit the order button assuming there would be no surprises; that it would be like any other e-commerce purchase. I soon learned that SDB takes advantage of this unfair discrepancy of the short time given to read their lengthy terms. Customer service was not understanding when I told them what had happened; that the cancellation fees weren’t presented clearly enough. They only cared about collecting fees for their failure to present the terms in an fair way, a way that does not cause duress (the timer impairs your better judgement).
It wasn’t surprising to find that 37 complaints (27 in the past year alone) have been filed with the BBB against SDB. Most were filed for the same reason as my complaint and for larger purchases than mine.
If a business sees that there is a recurring theme for complaints (cancellation fees), they should look for a solution, such as presenting the 3500+ word terms of use before they set a 5 minute timer so less people are hit with fees. SDB also has an average 11% rating on sitejabber over the past 12 months. I can see why.
Luckily, I have a friend well versed in consumer protection. With a little coaching, my fees were dropped.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
Also, for sharing your experience of course, it is very good that you share it with us as others will see this and think twice before making any decisions.
Very detailed explenation of you and thank you for that also, it will help others for sure!
Happy to hear also that it worked out for you in the end and that you got your “surprise fees” dropped!
Thank you again!
/Best
I went online to place an order on 7/18. When I did it I entered my email incorrectly so of course I didn’t get a confirmation so I didn’t think the order went through and was glad about that. Then yesterday, 9/7, I got a bill in the mail for $352.84. 194.00 for market loss and 158.84 for cancellation fee. It also says if the total is sent to collections it will increase to 529.26. All for an order I didn’t think went through.
Could you please coach me on how to get the fees dropped?
Thank you!
Did you have to pay those fees for entering your e-mail incorrectly? I really hope they will sort that out for you because it sounds like really bad service if they don´t.
/Sincerely
I put in a order for 3 oz,’s of gold from SB Bullion. Due to an unexpected situation, I cancelled the order. The person I talked to informed me that there would be a cancellation fee of $35 or 5% of the order, whichever was higher, and 5% of $5704.40 was $285.12. I was floored and protested, but was at a point where I had to cut my losses. The next day, I looked at my credit card amount and they withdrew $326.34 !! I emailed and they were swamped with unprecedented demand. So I called and was told that there was another fee on top of the $2 which I was quoted. Never again. I consider this a blatant ripoff.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
It´s great that you share your experience with this company as it can help others making better decisions.
Please feel free to come back here and tell us if anything new comes up on your situation.
Thank you again!
/Best
I have placed several small orders with SD ,so far no problem. I will say that I never tried to cancel an order or change payment process. I have used the free shipping option and received my orders in less than a week.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
Happy to hear you have had a good experience with that company!
Please feel free to come back here and share your experience in the future as well.
/Sincerely
I have made numerous small purchases through SD Bullion, and haven’t had a problem. It appears every complaint relates to cancellation fees ( buyers remorse) and while it appears from these comments they don’t budge on that, with a product like expensive gold bullion, they likely would have a huge number of cancellations if they didn’t have a deterrent.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
You are making a good point actually, great to hear you have had a good experience with them so far!
Thank you again!
/Best
I have not had any issues
With this company.
I am satisfied with everything I have ever gotten from them.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
We are happy to hear that you have had a good experience with them!
Thank you again!
/Best
I have being buying from this company for years and never once have I had a problem. I have bought going on $15,000.00 from them and will keep on buying.
First of all, thank you for your comment!
Happy to hear you have had a good experience with them so far! How long have you been using their service? Have you tried other companies as well?
Thank you again,
/Sincerely
This is July 5. I have placed 14 orders with SDB since April 29th and have had NO problems on their end. In addition, I screwed up on a payment (1 too many transactions from my Money Market so the credit union cancelled the payment), so I called SDB Customer Service, expecting the worst from them. Nope. The agent was totally understanding, friendly, and helpful. We straightened out the situation and the order went into the queue.
The only problems I have had were with USPS taking 7 days to deliver a PRIORITY MAIL package and FedEx to deliver a 2-Day package that took 5 days. Neither is SDB’s fault.
I have NO ISSUES with SD Bullion and will continue to do business with them.
First of all, thank you fort you comment!
We are veery happy to hear that you have had a good experience with that company!
Please feel free to come back here and tell us about your next order and/or about something else regarding this, as it can help others!
Thank you again!
/Best