Bitcoin Forum

Just checking to see if anyone has had success with Coinabul, the btc / PM exchange.

Would you recommend them, what are your experiences like purchasing from them.
Their spot prices seem a bit high....?

Are there other ways to buy silver/gold with BTC aside from Coinabul? 

I am a big Silver Bug, and I like playing with Bitcoins, hence my cusrsory interest in Coinabul.

I'm also very interested in this site - I'd really like to support BTC accepting businesses as much as possible going forward (I believe that the key to making Bitcoin successful is to increase the volume of goods and services offered in BTC, since they're essentially backed by their utility).

Prices are kind of high - lowest I could find was about 24% above spot (American Eagle silver round) if my math is correct. How much is shipping? I could definitely see myself shifting 100% of my PM purchases to your site if you could get the price down to 10-15% above spot. (In fact, this would probably be my preferred method of "cashing out" of bitcoins.

Is there a review thread for your business on this forum?

I recently bought some physical silver localy, during the spot price dip on the last few days of the year. The larger your piece of silver the closer you can get to spot price... 1000oz bars should be nearly at spot price but who's trading in $30k blocks of silver? :)

I got a 100oz bar for aprox $1.50 above spot, and some silver Maples for about $3 above spot (bought a low volume). I could have bought it all in maples but wasnt interested in the "coin" more the comodity. Being local I was able to get it right away and the only thing resembling shipping was a drive across town. That same timeframe an order from Kitco or Apmex would have been 5% more plus shipping.

If you're going to compare Coinabul to any of those services you might as well skip it and use the other services...... as soon as they accept BTC. Different people got their BTC in different ways, over the past year you could have BTC at a cost of anywhere between $2 and $30, so your purchase is the realization of any profit/loss in your BTC as well. You just cant do that with buying it in dollars elswehere, the swing in the silver price is only around $25-$50 since the run up over a year ago.

So far Coinabul has been very quick in answering any questions I've had through his contact on the web page, I'm just hoping he's on a week off cuz I've not heard from him for 5days after plaing an order and asking a question again.... we'll see.

I ordered a single 1/10oz coin two weeks ago, and it has not even shipped yet.

I really want to be a customer of coinabul, but they are no such thing as a simple, quick metal/btc exchange. They are just a slow coin dealer that accepts btc as a novelty. There is allot of potential I think for a service that can operate like a digital pawn shop where you can trade btc and metal just like you trade btc and fiat on mtgox and other exchanges. Coinabul does not reach this potential at all. I wanted to support them by buying much more in the coming weeks, but I no longer have any desire to do so. Right now I could find someone local who trades dollars for btc or vice versa and then goto a pawn shop and buy gold, all in the same afternoon. If there was a digital equivalent to that it would be something great, but at this time the best bet is simply peer to peer exchanges online or in meatspace.

-D

I'll hold back my final judgement until I get my order, but here is the facts to date:

Order Placed: December 23, 2011

Order Shipped: Your item departed our SAN DIEGO, CA 92186 sort facility on January 07, 2012.

Delay: 15 days, altho over the holidays.

Price of item at order time: ฿47.95

Price of item at shipping time: ฿26.3364

I have used BitcoinMint and CoinAbul so far. I would suggest BitcoinMint, it took a week to receive my coins and he communicates very well. CoinAbul 'lost' my orders, failed to respond numerous times to emails and forum messages and took 2 weeks for me to receive goods. They did however try to right this by giving me a 1% coupon, 1%. Anyone want it?

Ouch.  I've read similar stories before (see below).

I placed an order on the 7th of March, 2012.

The status on the website is "Processing"

Same I put one on March 4... Looks like we're all being scammed. First time around I got my goods...this time not so.

I wish they would have a little more items in stock.. would work wonders with their shipping delays.. put my order in on 4/1/12.. inquired about when to expect items via their contact form.. no response.. inquired again.. finally got a response said it would be shipped 4/13/12.. checked just now.. still says processing.. Im sure ill get my items but I would like to get them while gold and silver are still considered precious metals  ;D

I wish they would reply to me...

I have sent them 3 emails asking about the status.. still no answer...

You can buy at apmex prices at spendbitcoins.com with apmex shipping times and Jeremy West that runs that site posts here and always takes care of me within 12 hours as advertised. I compared what it would cost to buy a 1oz Gold Eagle and after all cost (wire fee, coin, shipping) it was about $50 cheaper than coinabul without the long wait people are reporting here.

I'm not affiliated in any way to spendbitcoins.com I just use the service a lot and he does me right every time so I'm spreading the love. Besides competition is a good thing right.

Apmex requires your credit card number even if you go through spendbitcoins. :(  Trader Steve is a good option if you don't mind random rounds.

unless you dont wanna wait a month go with apmex (hope that makes sense)

I wish they would reply to me...

I have sent them 3 emails asking about the status.. still no answer...

What about BitcoinMint.US (http://bitcoinmint.us)?  We usually ship within 24 hours.   ;)

What about BitcoinMint.US (http://bitcoinmint.us)?  We usually ship within 24 hours.   ;)

woo hoo my order arrived from coinabul..

put one order in on the 4/1/12 arrived today..

put another order in on 4/15/12 arrived today..

great service from coinabul.. will def keep doing business with them

order placed on 4/16, got email on 4/21 said will be shipped tuesday.... still no email with tracking #.......

I placed an order with Coinablul in March. The delivery was not 5 days that is for sure. When I wrote an e-mail  to him he gave explanation and my delivery arrived in few weeks time.

Now i just placed my 2nd order and i am expecting same delivery time.

Thanks for the info Coinabul. I can't find this information on your website. Although when i submited my order there was 2 options to choose. First was the  insured express delivery the other is without insurance delivery. This is what is on your website:

Coinabul Insured Express service makes it easy for you to get your bullion. We automatically determine the fastest insured shipping method for your items and destination. This is the kind of shipping you will get:

Next Day Express
on domestic orders $1,000 or more

3 day Standard
transit on domestic orders $1,000 or less

2 day Express service
on international orders $1,000 or more

5 day Standard
on international orders $1,000 or less!


Maybe i am checking a wrong link..

Anyways, I am happy with your service. And i am happy to hear you improved on the delivery time too. I am measuring it now :) More than happy to give good news on the forum once i got my 2nd package.

I finally got my order today.... took 2 weeks..

I was thinking that a 5 gram bar would be bigger but damn! am I ever happy... kinda crappy that I lost almost 2 BTC in value over those 2 weeks... but w/e I GOT GOLD BAR!!!

I finally got my order today.... took 2 weeks..

I was thinking that a 5 gram bar would be bigger but damn! am I ever happy... kinda crappy that I lost almost 2 BTC in value over those 2 weeks... but w/e I GOT GOLD BAR!!!

my only gold before this was a 24 kt 'indian' gold 7 gram ring..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sandhu/2012-05-04160259.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sandhu/2012-05-04160307.jpg

I finally got my order today.... took 2 weeks..

I was thinking that a 5 gram bar would be bigger but damn! am I ever happy... kinda crappy that I lost almost 2 BTC in value over those 2 weeks... but w/e I GOT GOLD BAR!!!

my only gold before this was a 24 kt 'indian' gold 7 gram ring..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sandhu/2012-05-04160259.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sandhu/2012-05-04160307.jpg

Got my third coinabul order in the mail today, great product and packaging.
Unfortunately slow service, ordered April 3rd. Perhaps my choice of product was unusual or harder to get but a 2.5wk processing time is getting too long. I would think the whole idea behind a "secure warehouse" would be to house some product, why it takes more then two weeks to get out of storage is beyond me.

Perhaps the site needs to be updated to show available inventory, people won't place orders for items out of stock. Thus they could choose to either get what they want And maybe wait or get whatever is in stock.

Trying my hand at a local seller for my next purchase, in person transactions means the item is present when I send coins instead of a one month wait.

I'm interested in buying some gold
I live in italy and i want to know uf you have made successful international orders
Gold doesn't pays vat so no customs taxes i'm right?
Coinabul you can PM me answers?
thanks

Why does everyone need their silver and gold so quickly?  Aren't you guys going to just sit on them forever anyhow?

(... =snip=...)

What's not to like besides a shipping delay for a commodity you plan on hanging onto for years?

We've squashed the delays. Orders are now going through smoothly. Thanks for sticking with us through it!

Glad to hear it! Ordered my bullion 5 days ago and the order is still "processing."

Still, you guys are offering a unique and badly needed service to the bitcoin community. Good to see the kinks are getting worked out.

We've squashed the delays. Orders are now going through smoothly. Thanks for sticking with us through it!

If I'm not missing something buying here would be a horrible investment.

Incidentally, despite the tracking info still not being available last night, I received my order from 08-08-12 today.

Thanks again...
Thralen

Weird! Probably an issue on the shipper's end. If you think it was an issue on our end, send me an email, jon [at] coinabul.com.

I am guessing shipper's end also, my last two orders had the same issue. It's not like I'm going to complain about being surprised by my PMs in the mail though unless I miss delivery due to it. ;D

Thralen

Did you check the customer dashboard? I have tracking info for that order on my end. I see that you signed for it today.

Our shipping emails might just be getting spambox'd.

Thanks,
-Jon

No, I didn't receive your emails at all for this last order, and no they weren't in the spam box (I checked). To try tracking the order I was logging in to your site, clicking on "view order"->"track your order"
It shows my having signed for it now to me as well but as of the evening before I received the package it was only listing as "shipping info received electronically".

Could be an issue with the post office, with pre-printed postage they are not very good about actually scanning the delivery confirmation tags unless you hand them to them and wait for a receipt (I do that with my business shipping to ensure they get scanned) , might be a similar problem with signature tracking as well. Since it is first class mail (sorry I don't make enough BTC for large enough orders to qualify for the cut offs on the faster shipping) I would expect it to be several days in the actual USPS system before receiving it. Looks like it isn't making it in there somehow, like I said it is just possible that the receiving post office isn't scanning it in on receipt.

I'm not complaining here, just trying to let you know that the shipping procedure doesn't appear to be working as planned although the orders still get here.

Thralen

I don't know if it has anything to do with my using BTC or not, but I've place an order 2 weeks ago (for 5 oz of silver #200000349), paid for it in BTC but had to add a bit more because I was told the price was volatile(?) But the main thing, is I haven't heard back since, no confirmation, no reply to my emails or voicemails, not a sign that there's any awareness of my order.  I'm hoping my silver arrives tomorrow, but I would still VERY much like to hear back from coinabul, I was seriously planning to order a lot more in the future but this experience hasn't been confidence building.

I've purchased quite a bit from them, and while slow at times, they have never failed to deliver

I'm assuming it's some problem or other,  and they'll eventually deliver, but I'm quite frustrated at the lack of response or even order confirmation.  I notice the 5oz bar of silver I purchased isn't available any longer so I wonder if they even had it to sell me.

I have successfully completed two transactions with coinabul.

for a grand total of 3troy oz of silver. (another 4 or 5 pending, yet to order.)

1 from the uk, it arrived in approx 2 weeks.
1 from australia, it arrived in approx 3-4 weeks.

Never had an answer when using the contact form or emailing support.  Although they do seem very diligent on this forum, and the tracking information was alright.  I got to see it leaving the USA, in both cases this was within 5 days.

I am trying to buy some gold at the moment, but I cannot get to the site.  I will try again tomorrow.

I would recommend coinabul.  and everyone I introduce to bitcoin I send them enough to order an oz of silver from coinabul then sit down and order it with them.  It makes the process really real to people. This is going to be my xmas presents to my friends abroad. :)

Hey Jon, I used the webform for one message and I just realized I spelled John with an "h" when I emailed.

Thanks for the update, will I get some sort of notification when my order is shipped?

Thanks for the feedback!

Where are you trying to access the site from. I'm having no issues in the states.

Thanks,
-Jon

no problem.  I am from the uk. it seems okay now.  i have noticed a few bugs and reported them to the contact address but received no response. I sent these a few months ago and the bugs seem to still be there. :/

Successfully received three bars from Coinabul, but still waiting on a coin.

I originally ordered on 10/19. 

Unfortunately I forgot to put the apartment number, so it was returned to sender.  About three weeks later it shipped and was returned to sender by the post office.

After waiting more than 4 more weeks after it was returned to them, I have still not gotten my coin, and furthermore after calling them was told they couldn't locate the tracking number.

I have a pretty high level of patience, but this is far beyond reasonable, and is bordering on absurd.

I've been waiting longer than 2 weeks btw, and who is anyone to say how long it's acceptable for *me* to have to wait for something I've paid for?  WTF?   

Hi Jon, emailed you a few days ago.  I would very much like to hear back, get a confirmation of my order etc.  So far I've ordered with my bitcoin: this, a bfl asic, and 4bASICs... Nothing but delays all around. I can say, yes time does matter, at least outside of this community.   I've been waiting longer than 2 weeks btw, and who is anyone to say how long it's acceptable for *me* to have to wait for something I've paid for?  WTF?   

Sent you a PM, your order is at your local post office.

Well it turns out that my local post office is worse than terrible.  After it had been > 10 days since the last activity for the tracking number, I went to the post office and after I got to the top manager they told me they lost my package.  Figuring it was gone for good, I called up Coinabul and they suggested waiting another week to make sure.  A few days later, I found it stuffed in my mailbox, in spite of the fact that it was a signature confirmation required package.  Needless to say, I'll not be using the post office for anything important anytime soon.  Thanks to Coinabul for dealing with the support calls for this, which were always friendly and to-the-point.

Anyone had any experience selling to coinabul?

Anyone had any experience selling to coinabul?

In my opinion, they are to be avoided.  Do some online research of the principals of the company and come to your own conclusion.  As many users on here have indicated, they have very long delivery times and come up with a variety of excuses. 

Hello,

I first wanted to thank Coinabul for their excellent support when I was able to get in touch with them on the phone last week before placing my order. I spoke with Jay (both times I believe) and he was a great guy and gave me some very good advice as a first time Precious Metal buyer, so thank you very much for that!

I wanted to ask about my order though, based on previous posts it looks like I am jumping the gun a bit here but after sending a lot of Bitcoins and a recent theft over at MtGox I'm just a little on edge right now. I have emailed both Jon and Jay, but I'm not sure my Email was sent - having issues with gmail today...

I placed 2 orders for a Pamp 1 Oz Gold Bar, 1/4 Oz Gold Eagle, 10 Oz Silver Bar, Silver Liberty Coin, and Silver Eagle Coin on the 7th and sent the Bitcoins immediately. I'm sure there are no issues but I just wanted to verify that my Bitcoins were received, Spot price was locked (should be as BTC are up and Gold/Silver are down! lol) and so on. My Status still says "Processing" and I never received any type of confirmation Email, is this normal? Or should I have received a confirmation?

Sorry, I just want to be sure my Bitcoins were received and that everything is a go. Thanks for the support and the great service you are providing the community! Even with my new Yubikey and security, I still don't completely trust any of the exchanges out there and PM's are a great alternative and something I've been meaning to get into anyways :)

Those are the shipping times; processing time equals the time it takes to get from our secure warehouse to our shipping facility.

Hope that helps! Glad you're happy with the service!

Thank you so much for being a Coinabul customer!

-Jon

I ordered a very large amount of silver coins and paid for express next day shipping. It took 23 days to receive my silver coins, and during that time I never received a single email or call from Coinabul regarding the delay. The only contact from them were automated emailed regarding the order- despite me emailing support as well as leaving a voicemail every 7-10 days to see what the delay was about. After several months, I am still attempting to get a refund for the additional cost of express shipping- as it was a service that they clearly failed to provide.

The only positive thing I can say about Coinabul is that the coins were packaged extremely well and they arrived in perfect condition.

Just checking to see if anyone has had success with Coinabul, the btc / PM exchange.

Would you recommend them, what are your experiences like purchasing from them.
Their spot prices seem a bit high....?

Are there other ways to buy silver/gold with BTC aside from Coinabul? 

Did a little digging, coinabul is run out of a house in Cheyenne WY.  http://goo.gl/maps/g6psL  Gotta wonder about the 321 area code...wait, sat phones all have that area code.

Pretty sure this is a scam.  Ship just enough orders to have a semblance of credibility, pocket the rest.  Or delay orders long enough to turn a major profit when prices shift.

Either way, I for one will never use their service again.  Good news is, given my line of work it won't be long until I'm in Cheyenne myself.

It's been 2 weeks since I sent payment and still no tracking number. They don't like shipping to PO boxes and that's the reason they gave for the delay.

For what it's worth they have been pretty communicative though.

All major bitcoins businesses have been boycotted by most major US banks. So at the moment its quite difficult to find an institution or person that will exchange bitcoins. At the moment we are working on a solution.

To be honest it's taking a few weeks to process refunds.
...
I'll ask [Jay] again but most likely it will take  few weeks ... We haven't refunded some customers who have been asking for a few weeks.

I placed an order with coinabul for 4 ounces of silver because I had a fair experience with them in 2011 and I didn't think to check his current reviews. I placed the order seven days ago and haven't heard anything since. My hope is that he is just slow and non-responsive. I'm not in a rush to receive the silver, but I do expect him to ship it!

[21:27] <coingenuity> was there something you needed help with?
[21:28] <blasus> YES! It's been 2 months since I put my order in with your website sir. It would be awesome to get a refund
[21:28] <coingenuity> ah, it's a bit difficult at the moment - i assume you got an email from me about the banking situation in bitcoin?
[21:29] <blasus> The email seemed to express the difficulty you have with filling orders. Fine, but what is stopping you from issuing refunds?
[21:31] <coingenuity> the same inherent difficulty.... banking has basically shut down in bitcoin-land, so it's extremely difficult for us to move money in any direction, in or out, and any funds are stuck since every bank under the sun has told us "no accounts"
[21:31] <coingenuity> even IAFCU has shut down bitcoin clients as of the last few days...
[21:31] <blasus> So you cashed out your BTC and your accounts were frozen?
[21:32] <blasus> my BTC*
[21:32] <coingenuity> it's getting pretty hairy, but our negotiations are in the final stages and everything should start flowing smoothly in the next few days
[21:32] <coingenuity> we don't hold BTC for long periods, due to the extreme volatility + risk of holding huge amounts
[21:33] <blasus> So you did convert it into cash.
[21:33] <coingenuity> yes, when you purchase metal we are giving you the metal in our vaults...which must be continually restocked
[21:34] <blasus> When can I expect my order of 400 oz of silver?
[21:34] <blasus> Why are smaller orders getting filled faster?
[21:34] <coingenuity> but since banking was shut down for /everyone/ in bitcoin all at the same time, with no notice, all of our funds got stuck in-transit, and we can't pay FedEx without banking
[21:34] <coingenuity> they're not, anymore - the vaults are dry right now as we do our best to work around the problem
[21:35] <coingenuity> various governments are waiting on us to pay for inventory, as well...
[21:35] <coingenuity> so it's a shit situation, but as i mentioned our negotiations with the banking industry are coming along VERY well and have reached the final stages
[21:35] <blasus> bitspend had their accounts frozen and they were able to clear their docket or issue refunds in 48 hours
[21:36] <coingenuity> so as soon as those deals are put in contractual form, we're good to go for having our next batch of inventory out in the next few days
[21:36] <coingenuity> well, they got extremely lucky - we are not nearly as fortunate
[21:36] <coingenuity> anyway, negotiations are going well, and nearly complete... we should have everything sorted in the next couple of days.
[21:37] <blasus> Does that mean within the week? You will have cash flow within a week?
[21:37] <coingenuity> my apologies again for the ridiculous situation, it's been really stressful on me...
[21:37] <coingenuity> yeah, outlook is as soon as 3 or 4 business days
[21:38] <blasus> Can I quote you on that?
[21:40] <coingenuity> no, if the situation were something i could exert more influence on, that would be fine... but you know that we as a tiny $1bn market are at the mercy of a $100 TRILLION dollar industry..
[21:40] <coingenuity> so it's not as if i can go force them to do my bidding
[21:40] <coingenuity> but yes, the situation looks highly optimistic at the moment
[21:41] <coingenuity> to put it bluntly, in fact, i'm quite optimistic that we'll be a good solution for people with 'stuck' funds in bitcoin as the situation worsens in the coming months
[21:44] <blasus> Alright, thanks for your time. I will continue to wait. But you have 90.87 BTC or 400 oz of silver that belongs to me. If the situation is stressful for you please know that it is also aggravating for your customers. I hope you are doing your best to resolve your obligations. Thanks again
[21:45] <coingenuity> np - there's a reason i'm sitting in the office at 10PM on a friday  ;)

Did a little digging, coinabul is run out of a house in Cheyenne WY.  http://goo.gl/maps/g6psL  Gotta wonder about the 321 area code...wait, sat phones all have that area code.

Pretty sure this is a scam.  Ship just enough orders to have a semblance of credibility, pocket the rest.  Or delay orders long enough to turn a major profit when prices shift.

Either way, I for one will never use their service again.  Good news is, given my line of work it won't be long until I'm in Cheyenne myself.