Mint Coin Guide
Forward
Occasionally, the US Mint will create limited edition coins that have value to collectors. These coins are bought more for their designs rather than the value of the precious metal inside. The key elements to a coin being desirable are a limited mintage and a popular subject matter on the coin. The Mint posts its release schedule a year in advance. We are aware of the schedule so there is no need to ask us if we want a specific coin. If we have demand for it we will post it. Usually the market doesn’t start settling on a price until just a few days before release. We post as soon as we know our offer.
Step 1 – Reserving
To express interest in a deal and get a reminder email when it releases, you can create a reservation. A reservation is non-binding for either party: you are not obligated to sell us a coin and we are not obligated to buy it. You can find a table of available metal items on the “Deals” page located under the “Precious Metals” section of the hamburger menu.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Unlike a gift card reservation, we do not commit to honoring the terms of your reservation unless and until you commit your order.
Click the blue “Details” button on the item you wish to sell. This will open an expanded view of the item with details like the cost, some deal notes, and a link to buy it. For each item, the site knows the US Mint household limit and will automatically split your request into multiple reservations. Most items are limit 1 so if you reserve 5 you’ll receive 5 reservations for 1 coin each. You will need to place orders at the mint to fulfill these and add the order info for each in order to commit them. When they arrive you’ll need to request a shipping label for each coin and only ship one coin per label.
Step 2 – Buying The Coin
If you reserved a coin, you’ll get an email about 10 minutes before the scheduled release time. If we’re buying a coin it is because we think it will sell out so you should try to be ready to purchase if you’re going to try to buy one.
IMPORTANT NOTE
The US Mint website enters “queue mode” about 30m before a major release so try to get to the site a little bit before the release goes live.
Unless otherwise noted, we do not typically require that you pay for faster shipping from the US Mint so the budget shipping for $5.95 is fine. If you’re on the Mint’s email list and buy 3 items in a year on the same account then you get free budget shipping from the mint for the rest of the year. Shipping labels to reship the item to us are, of course, always free and provided by us but those won’t help the Mint send the item to you initially.
Step 3 – Committing Your Reservation
One hour after a coin’s scheduled release your reservation will expire unless you commit your order to us. If you’re reserving a coin after the release already occurred your reservation will expire around 15 minutes after you make it unless you commit your order (because if you’re committing after release you should already have a firm order ready to commit).
To commit your coin, open your reservation (Hamburger Menu > Precious Metals > Reservations > Details) and click the blue “Commit to Sell” button at the very bottom. Enter the details from the order you just placed. The Mint will give you this information during the checkout process and there is no need to wait for a confirmation email. If your order later gets cancelled we will automatically cancel your reservation free of charge. Orders are checked every 1-2 days and cancelled automatically so there is no need to reach out unless your order was cancelled more than two days ago.
IMPORTANT NOTE
When adding an address on the US Mint website it will suggest that you use a ZIP+4 instead of just a 5-digit ZIP code. Be sure to double-check the actual shipping ZIP code on your order before committing. Similarly, if you’re placing an order using a Mint account with a different email than you usually enter into forms, take care to make sure your browser has not auto-filled the wrong email address.
After committing an order it will enter “verifying commitment” status. It will keep this status for several hours on release day because the Mint website is locked down in queue mode and we cannot access it for checking orders. Your order is deemed committed when you submit the commitment form (provided you submitted accurate order info), so you’re all set. Your rate is locked in and we are mutually committed to do the deal.
If we are not able to locate your order on the Mint website you’ll receive an email letting you know your order info was not valid and giving you 24 hours to correct it. That email will include a link where you can provide a correction. You can correct a mistaken ZIP code or a mistaken email address but not a mistaken order number, because your commitment is for your specific order, not for a coin generically. When submitting a correction or committing a coin after release day, verification typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete.
IMPORTANT NOTE
To check order status, we use the US Mint website and you can, too! Just go here and instead of logging in, enter the data you gave us about your order. If you can’t pull your order up, neither can we!
Shipping Your Coin
Don’t open the box!
Because coins derive a lot of their value from the grade of the strike on the coin, all of our coin offers are provided on an unopened basis. We are expecting you to place our label on top of the US Mint’s label on the unopened cardboard box they shipped to you. If you do not reship your coin within a week of receiving it, AI may cancel your reservation and bill you the associated cancellation fee.
How will I know that the box is from the US Mint?
Conveniently, all packages from the US Mint have tracking numbers on them. The Mint will send you a tracking number when order ships. That same number will appear under the tracking barcode on your shipment!
We suggest telling others in your household to simply not open any packages that have your name on them during the week when you anticipate the coin arriving.
Help! I opened the box!
If you ignored this and opened the box, reach out to support with an image of the box and we will go over your options, which are unique to each deal. Those options can include: cancelling your reservation (with or without a cancellation fee), accepting the coin as normal, or accepting the coin at a lower rate.
Shipping
Mint shipping is a lot more chill than shipping gold bullion, if you’re used to that. For each order you receive, open the associated reservation and scroll to the bottom. Next to the text “Have you received the coin from the mint?” there is a blue button that says “Yes, Set Address & Get Label”
In the pop-up, enter the address where you’d like the coin to go if USPS fails to deliver it. Because we use a flat-rate shipping option from USPS for coins, it doesn’t really matter if this address is where you’ll mail the coin.
Once you set the address, you’ll see a blue box with a list of shipping options. Any option that we provide here is acceptable but only the cheapest option is free. If you choose a more expensive option we will bill you the difference as shown in the dropdown box. Click the blue “Generate Shipping Label” button and you’ll get a PDF with your shipping label. On the bottom of the label you’ll see the last 4 digits of your US Mint shipping label. If you have multiple orders you’re shipping at once this will help you stay organized.
Some users struggle with printing the PDF because it has no white space and their print settings scale it up to full page size. Every printer has different settings layouts but in general you’re looking for a settling called scaling and you want to either turn it off or set it to 100% scale. In Google Chrome’s print preview, this is under “more settings” and you set Scale to “Custom” then “100”.
Personally, I use special adhesive paper that is split in half down the middle so I open my labels in FoxIt PDF Reader and set up the print as shown here so that the label is contained on half a piece of paper. Your PDF reader software might offer similar options:
Insurance
With Bullion we buy outside insurance but for US Mint coins we cover losses ourselves. Our rules are therefore simpler: if you follow our shipping instructions and the tracking history shows that your item was tendered to USPS, we will cover losses in transit. If your package stops moving for over a week, reach out to support and we will reach out to USPS to check on the status. If/when we learn that the item is lost we will mark it payable for you and we will cover it out of pocket.
Frequently Asked Questions
My shipment was delivered to you today, when will you pay me?
Shipments are checked in every business day for 1-2 weeks after a sale. If you did not timely ship your item it might take longer as, once coins stop arriving every day, they are checked in less frequently.
Once your item is checked in we add it to your payout as though it were a gift card you just submitted, meaning you will be paid on the 2nd Thursday after the pay period in which the check-in occurred (or a day later if there is a bank holiday on payday week).
I committed my coin to you and now the price you’re paying other people has gone up. Can I get the new rate on my commitment?
No but if you have an uncommitted coin you can reserve that additional coin at the current rate.
I committed my coin to you and now the price you’re paying other people has gone down. Are you going to lower the rate on my commitment?
No but if you have uncommitted coin any future reservations would be at the current rate.
The Mint cancelled my order. Can I cancel for free?
Yes, just do nothing at all. We will check your order status every few days and if we see the Mint cancelled your order the site will cancel your order free of charge. Please do not cancel your order yourself because that will still charge you a fee.
Someone stole my item off my porch, am I insured?
Not through us, you aren’t. Try your homeowner’s insurance? We cover items shipped with our label only once they tendered to and scanned in by a USPS employee.
I’m starting a 3 month backpacking trip the day the coin is supposed to ship. Are you serious about needing to ship it within a week of receipt?
If you’re expecting to travel around the projected delivery dates, we suggest you ship it to friends/family instead or sit the deal out. If you do not ship within a week we have the option to cancel and, if applicable, bill a cancellation fee. Again, we think we have a reputation for being reasonable people. Will it matter if you’re a day or two late? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on market conditions.
When will you email me a shipping label?
Never, you’ll generate it yourself on the portal as described in that section of the guide.