New deal March 17th, 2022. The US Mint regularly releases limited-edition coins to collectors. The coin sets are often limited to one per household, but end up with a market value greater than the initial cost. PFS Buyers Club is a website broker that recruits regular folks to buy their allotted coin set with a set markup amount, with the agreement that they will sell only to PFS Buyers Club. For example, you might pay $300 for a coin and they’ll agree to pay you $350 for it – a fixed profit of $50.
On Thursday, March 17th at 12:00 pm Noon Eastern Time, there is a new guaranteed profit opportunity. A limited edition American Eagle Four-Coin Set will be released then, with a purchase limit of one per household. The cost of the Four-Coin Set should be either $5,332.50 or $5,240.00 (depends on the spot price of Gold). Shipping will cost $4.95.
PFS will pay you a fixed commission of $162.55 for each Four-Coin Set, on top of your cost for the set.
You’ll also earn credit card rewards on your ~$5,000 purchase (worth another ~$100 here at 2% cash back), or also possibly satisfying the requirements for some $500+ value credit card bonuses. This makes the total net profit safely over $250.
Note that the eventual value of the set may exceed that elsewhere – you may see a higher bid on eBay, for example – but if you want to make that bet, don’t promise to sell to PFS Buyers Club. Just buy it on your own and try to sell it yourself. Keep in mind that eBay seller fees can be quite high (12.9% of the final selling price + PayPal fees), and you’ll be responsible for other costs like the proper shipping with adequate insurance. PFS Buyers Club will send you a free prepaid mailing label (including insurance) and pay you via eCheck, paper check, or PayPal. I enjoy the low-stress experience.
My past experience. I used PFS last year for the first time, and everything went smoothly and I was paid my money in full without issue. The amount of communication was great and better than expected; I was kept up-to-date every step of the way. The total time commitment was about 30 minutes for $400+ profit, including the stop at the Fedex store to drop off the box with prepaid label. The eCheck option worked great – I printed the check out at home and deposited immediately via mobile app. PFS has a very solid reputation online, although some folks were unable to buy the coins from the US Mint before it went out of stock. I have done over six deals with them myself with no issues whatsoever.
If you want to jump on this, you can sign up to join PFS Buyers Club here. Sometimes these deals fill up, so I would sign-up (it’s free) and opt-in sooner rather than later. You can still opt out of the deal until an hour prior to the coins going on sale. They will provide very detailed instructions. Follow them carefully, and it was pretty easy for me as a first-time buyer. If you use that link, I will receive a referral fee the first time you successfully sell your coin for a profit. Thanks for those that use it, and for those that already used it last time! I would sign up, but I will unfortunately be skipping this round because I am currently on vacation and at that moment I will be on a dogsledding excursion!
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An interesting comment from Matt, on last years deal with PFS…
“Be careful with them. I have had issues with them in the past not honoring deals and then you are stuck with coins and no buyer. Even with a signed contract, Jacob at PFS was dismissive saying I couldn’t enforce it since I didn’t live in the same state.”
What’s even more interesting is that PFS would do this to someone, yet they have all that same legalize discussions on their website where PFS states:
“Liquidated Damages for Non-Delivery of Coin to PFS. To the extent that Member does not deliver the Coin to PFS, Member acknowledges and agrees that Member shall be in breach of this Agreement and that as a result, PFS shall sustain lost profits as a result of same. Accordingly, if Member fails to deliver the Coin to PFS, then Member agrees that Member shall be liable for liquidated damages as a penalty equal to the lost profits sustained by PFS from non-delivery of the Coin. PFS shall advise Member of the amount of the lost profits sustained by PFS from non-delivery of the Coin and Member shall remit payment of such amount of lost profits within five (5) days thereafter.”
That’s some messed up s%(@& right there!
While I’ll vouch for PFS and their legitimacy…if one does some research, there are other buyers out there paying twice or three times what PFS pays.
One example: Vinh from Miles per Day is paying $350 for the 4-coin set and also buying the other individual coins (not the 1oz though).
Again, with some due diligence and research there are legit coin dealers out there paying WAY more than PFS.
I’ve never had a problem with PFS, they seemed to be great. The reason I’m probably skipping this deal though is what I have been reading on another forum.
Some are saying they were getting “empty” boxes from the mint (like an inside job of stealing the coins). They had to tell the credit card company and fight to not get charged. I also read though that the mint sent collections to one person because they say it was delivered and it wasn’t paid.
For me personally I am probably skipping this, I never had a problem but I don’t need a $5000+ problem hanging over my head either if something like that were to happen. I’m sure in the future i’ll give it a shot (when it’s not such a big price to pay) but IF what they are saying is true on the other forum, i’d just be careful that’s all.
That’s interesting; The story posted there on the Morgan sets last year, the prices collapsed on Ebay, and ultimately his buyer was willing to offer cost to people that participated in that deal. Not as bad as simply getting hosed. But wow, those coins were ultimately selling for 1/4th on Ebay.
Some people disposed of their coins with Pinehurst Coins, and those Morgans are still only getting 85-140 each.
So I do think this is certainly not without risk.
I didn’t have any issues with PFS last year, in any case.
Weird. The Mint isn’t making Morgans this year. They don’t have any silver.
I wonder if the coins will stay low in price for long.
I’m trying this with PFS based on Jonathan’s experience but wonder if he has any comment about Miles per Day $500 offer. And does PFS notify members of these opportunities? (I signed up as a member last time Jonathan mentioned this. No notification … because I had never done a deal?)
I was contacted directly by PFS yesterday as a repeat past participant and came here to alert Jonathan but he (as always) was on top of it. I’ve done this 6+ times since Jonathan first mentioned it, never a problem, just the administrative of burden clicking, tracking and keeping it all straight like any miles/point scheme (which is growing tiresome as I age…) Thanks as always Jonathan
Does anyone have any positive experience buying coins from the Mint on these hot deals, and then flipping them over to a local coin shop for a decent profit? Surely they are valuable coin sets that collectors want. This option would avoid the Ebay fees.
They used to give at least $200 for 5K deals. They prob have too many folks willing to do for less. I’ll sit out this one. Not worth my time and locking 5K for.
I’ve had luck on the past few PFS deals, although the most recent one they were a bit slow on the crediting process. But it’s been generally a decent process. A little bit of a hassle/stress during the US Mint purchasing process due to the overload.
This commission feels pretty low, though. While technically I should be pretty well protected every step of the way, having $5k of goods floating around seems like a lot of risk for a fairly small commission. Maybe if I had a credit card lines up where I needed the bonus, but I’d just be getting standard low tier cash back. Doesn’t seem that exciting.
Agreed.
Does anyone know when the coin set will be shipped, and therefore when we would be charged for the purchase? In the past this has occurred several months after the purchase date.
Wow, my purchase sailed through the Mint this time around! Usually it takes a while to get the order to go through.
Same here. May be people are little worried about the pay off amount compared to the price of the coins
Had a little trouble with the Mint site when it seemed not to take the (saved) credit card at first. But ordered again and it went through. By 12:09 (possibly much earlier) the 10,000 available were sold out. My first time playing this game, hoping for the best …
I also have had no problems with PFS. I did three deals with them last year and everything was super smooth. I did two deals with PointsMaker trying to chase a few extra bucks and one deal went through fine, but one deal did not. Fortunately I was able to cancel my order with the US Mint before being stuck with the coins. For that reason I will not deal with PointsMaker as they did not hold up their end of the bargain as I was almost stuck with thousands of dollars of coins.
Was able to get it. I also saw a note under the product that it was backordered with an estimated shipping date of June 23, 2022, so it may be quite a wait. Time will tell how accurate that estimate turns out to be in practice.
Given the expected delay in actual shipment, let me pose a question. Is anyone aware of the ability to switch the credit card that’s eventually billed? The card I checked out with has been pre-authorized, but I think those authorizations are time-limited. I’ve had an issue in the past with big gaps between order and shipment which required calling the Mint and re-confirming that it was OK to charge my card before they would continue processing the order. My thought here is that given the typical short notice of the PFS offer, I did not have time to coordinate securing and using a new credit card I’ve had an eye on. Currently it has a $200 bonus for $1000 spend within the first three months, as well as a 2% flat rate of cash back, so those familiar can likely figure that one out. However, there are two problems with that. I often don’t spend $1000 in total credit card transactions in the span of three “normal” months. Big purchases like this make securing the bonus quickly a cinch (provided the credit limit allows and the purchase is approved). The other problem would have been that even if I already DID have the card in hand to use with today’s transaction, the order may still not ship within the first three months of billing if I was counting on those charges to secure the time-limited bonus.
So, would anyone like to speculate on my chances of applying for this card, receiving it in the mail (no real concerns about approval), and then getting the Mint to change it to the actual payment method on the existing confirmed order?
I’ll plan to use the Live Chat feature at the Mint to inquire further on this when it becomes available, but I always value the experience of others.
Thanks!
My order just shipped.
Where did you see the date? My order just shows BACKORDER with no date. And I don’t see a date on the general pages?
I got message it shipped. generated a USPS tracking number. Not out yet but a tracking number is generated.
Twas really easy compared to the last few time, out of the Mint by 12:05 and done with PFS a few minutes later. The Mint will charge when shipped. In retrospect, a 3% PFS payout does seem pretty cheap given the dollar at risk, a 10% finders fee has pretty much been the world’s standard since day one. But its a easy few bucks, at least this time it was.
Anyone else whose order went through now on BACKORDER status? This is pretty opaque and nebulous. Chatting with the Mint today confirmed an estimated ship date of June 23, 2022 for orders with backorder status. I was not able to get clarity on how this broke down, as the rep suggested he’d seen some orders go through, but many were on backorder. I’m not sure why the Mint sells limited edition stuff that they only have in partial stock. So they didn’t have 10,000 sets actually available. I’m sure they have a reason for this. Now there’s some suggestion that if the delay is too long, PFS will ask me to cancel. Oh well.
I did one deal last year and it was fine.
But will skip this one. 5k is a huge risk for $165. I don’t trust the post office that much. Last week we had a package at our door for a house on another street. Walked it over and he had a package at his door for a next door neighbor! Plus I just saw a bunch of postal employees were busted for stealing credit cards recently.
Well, got an email today from PFS as my coins had been backordered and they lowered the deal to $5,370 which amount to less than $33 for the transaction – WTH? I get it’s delayed but if I had decided to back out of the deal, I would have been tied up legally according to others in the past. No thanks. I will either cancel or seek another buyer. Geez, I didn’t think the timeliness of orders would be an issue if they have buyers.
I understand why you are unhappy not to get the original $162 but I have a hard time faulting PFS. I presume they don’t have a guaranteed buyer for something that may not be available until June. I assume you can decide to back out now since PFS changed the offer. So you aren’t hurt except for the time you spent placing the order.
I haven’t reread anything PFS said originally but it would be good if they had some information about cases like this. (“If the shipment date is not ‘soon’, we may revise the offer and allow you to cancel.”)
You should respond to PFS and let them know that their e-mail is UNACCEPTABLE.
You locked in with them and they LOCKED in a price with you according to their terms (https://pfsbuyersclub.com/Deal).
NO WHERE did they mention that a price drop was in their terms if the item was later changed the “BACKORDERED”.
This should be a warning to everyone else about PFS (Sorry Jonathan)…They are not straight shooters and will change the terms to their liking. There are other buyers who will LOCK in a price with a buyer and PAY the buyer that price even with changes/issues.
At this point, everyone who is getting stiffed by PFS on this deal should just go ahead and let them know their “updated” terms are unacceptable and that they are going to cancel their order…I’d LOVE to hear what PFS threatens anyone who does so… (BTW, they can do nothing to you…especially when they already changed the terms – but remember, these guys are SLICK Manhattan lawyers and will write you back threatening everything under the sun if you don’t comply).
W A R N I N G !!!
Did PFS give you any options besides accepting $33 for completing the deal? What did you decide to do?