Orion Metal Exchange Review

Orion Metal Exchange Review

Orion Metal Exchange is a company that specializes in precious metals investment. No matter whether you're looking at a personal or retirement portfolio, there are services available for you. There are also options for liquidating your existing precious metals holdings.

But Orion Metal Exchange has also only been in business since 2019. Their BBB accreditation was earned in 2021. With so little time on the market, can you really be sure that the owners have their feet under them? How have their past customers responded to their services? What should you know before you give them a call?

  • Product Type: Precious Metals
  • Owner: Jacob Blalock (CEO and Co-Founder)
  • Rating: 4/5

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About Orion Metal Exchange

Orion Metal Exchange Review

Orion Metal Exchange was founded in 2019. The company is a precious metals dealer that helps clients to choose investment-grade bullion for their portfolios. The people involved in the company have over 50 years of combined industry experience, bringing their expertise into a new venture.

The company's biggest focus is on precious metals as an avenue for investment. Unlike companies that sell more inexpensive coins and novelty items, Orion is built for serious investors. Their items are poised to grow over time, and they help to hedge against stock market crashes.

For those seeking precious metals for a retirement plan, the company has a variety of options. In fact, they have an in-house IRA team that is specifically built to help with retirement accounts.

Every new customer is given their own personal account representative. This is the person you'll be talking to and working with for your entire time with the company. A personalized representative has a better chance to get to know you, and the two of you can build a rapport. As they learn about you, they'll be able to tailor their recommendations to your needs.

One of Orion Metal Exchange's big selling features is that they give you a guaranteed real-time price. While they aren't the only company to do this, it does set them above some of the competition. It's common for companies to refuse to give price quotes until you call them and ask.

After you've made a purchase, your relationship with Orion can still continue into the future. Each client is given important updates on the global market and any economic shifts that could impact their investments. You get access to important analysis of the changing price of precious metals.

Some of the company's additional qualifications include:

  • A top rated choice for precious metals purchases, according to Consumer Affairs.
  • Authorized dealer for coins graded by the Professional Coin Grading Service.
  • Compliant with the Standard of Integrity set out by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.
  • Supportive of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets and its work on regulations and tax codes.

Services Available

Orion Metal Exchange Review

Orion Metal Exchange does more than just sell you precious metals. They want to be an ongoing partner in your investment journey. Because of the expertise they bring to the table, they are often favored by new and inexperienced investors.

As time goes on, Orion Metal Exchange wants customers to keep returning and adding to their portfolio. But there are a variety of services that go hand in hand with this.

The company does note that after making a precious metals purchase, you need to secure those assets. They have several services to help you manage this.

Investor Accounts

This is a company built around serious investing, whether you're using a retirement account or a personal portfolio.

One of Orion Metal Exchange's key focuses is on precious metals IRAs. You can store precious metals in a retirement account, as long as you comply with IRS regulations. There are many companies that offer setup services for gold IRAs, but Orion Metal Exchange is rare because it has a dedicated in-house team of experts.

Another service that the company provides is storage recommendations. They don't mention which storage companies they work with most often, and they don't appear to have any official partners. But they say that they can recommend a number of different vaults on both a US and global basis.

Assuming they do have a wide range of storage options in mind, this recommendation service is super convenient. They can tell you whether there are vaults in the region of your choice, or with the price range of your choice, or with the security measures and individual options of your choice. That makes it a lot easier to figure out which storage facility is right for you.

Some people choose not to keep their precious metals in a vault. While investors don't recommend keeping your assets at home, Orion Metal Exchange can recommend a variety of home safe options. If you're investing in an IRA, you're required by law to use an IRS-approved storage facility, though.

Gold IRA Services

Orion Metal Exchange Review

As mentioned, the company has an in-house team dedicated to precious metals IRAs. These people are experts in the legal requirements, paperwork, and custodial options available to you. Self-directed IRAs can be complicated to set up and fund, so the paperwork assistance is super helpful.

Orion Metal Exchange states on their website that they can act as the custodian for your IRA, but that might not be true. A custodian is a licensed institution that is responsible for maintaining your holdings and filing your taxes. Sometimes custodians and precious metals dealers are part of the same parent company, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

What's more likely is that Orion Metal Exchange will communicate with your custodian for you. Their IRA experts will walk you through all the paperwork for opening your account. Then they'll file that paperwork with the custodian.

They may also take responsibility for giving you account updates, so you never need to interact with another party. For example, you'll be given an account statement at the end of each fiscal period. This will tell you the value and amount of your holdings.

After you've set up and funded your self-directed IRA, you'll need to choose products to purchase with the funds. Orion Metal Exchange has a wide variety of different products available. You can browse silver, gold, palladium, and platinum.

Buyback Policy

Orion Metal Exchange announced that they were making an extension to their buyback policy in June of 2021. Originally, their policy stated that they would buy back precious metals from their own customers whenever the time came to liquidate.

But they then updated that policy to say that they'd allow any investor to liquidate the precious metals in their retirement account -- even if Orion Metal Exchange hadn't been the original dealer.

It doesn't look like Orion Metal Exchange has a program where you can sell your coin collections or scrap metal. But they do specifically make liquidation easier for every person with precious metals in their IRA. And they will still make offers on coins that aren't eligible for an IRA.

There isn't any transaction fee charged when you liquidate your assets. There also aren't charges if you want to adjust or exchange your holdings instead of taking distributions.

This is unique to Orion Metal Exchange. It's rare for a company to buy metals back without having any fee associated. It's even rarer for them to be willing to buy metals back from individuals who never shopped with them in the first place.

According to the CEO of the company, the change was put in place because of changing market forces. There had been a massive increase in demand for precious metals. This had led Orion Metal Exchange to need to constantly replenish their inventory. It also meant that Orion wanted to offer fair liquidation prices in a market where demand was high.

Available Products

Orion Metal Exchange Review

The company mainly specializes in coins across the four typical precious metals. You can browse the website by gold, silver, palladium, or platinum.

You'll find that there are gold coins available in a wide variety of different weights. For example, a gold American Eagle can be bought in 1 ounce, 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce, and 1/10 ounce. The same goes for global coins like the Canadian Maple and the Royal Canadian Polar Bear.

There are also some proof American Eagles available for purchase. These tend to be more expensive than the standard coins.

The selection of gold coins is somewhat limited. But Orion Metal Exchange sells investment-quality bullion that is likely to retain its value and grow over time. The website also says that IRA-eligible gold bars are available, but you have to call to find out what they have in their inventory.

There is a similar selection of silver coins. Most of them are from the US Mint or Royal Canadian Mint, but some are from other global mints. As with the gold products, there are silver bars advertised, but you must call to ask about the availability.

There are more platinum coins available than you'll find with most of the competition, making Orion an ideal choice for anyone who wants to invest in platinum. The only palladium coins available are a one ounce American Eagle and Canadian Maple, along with bars advertised as "call for availability."

Is Orion Metal Exchange a Scam?

Orion Metal Exchange Review

Orion Metal Exchange is not a scam. Despite being such a newcomer to the industry, they have an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and accreditation. There have not been any complaints filed with the BBB. But 27 customers have left reviews, which universally give the company 5 out of 5 stars. That bodes well for the customer service!

The praise doesn't stop there, either. On Consumer Affairs, the company is rated 4.9 stars with more than 150 total votes. Trustpilot also has an average rating of 4.9 stars with 124 total votes. The Facebook page for the business has just 11 reviews, but all of them give 5 stars.

All together, that's hundreds of satisfied customers. Some companies struggle to gain positive online reviews even after decades in the business. It's striking that Orion Metal Exchange has managed to do so after just a few years.

But there are a few things to keep in mind. Orion is a relatively new company despite the expertise of its founders. There are precious metals IRA companies that are more securely established. In addition, Orion doesn't publish a lot of details on its website about the IRA setup process.

Pros & Cons of Orion Metal Exchange

Pros

  • Universal praise from hundreds of customers across multiple third party platforms.
  • In-house IRA team to help people create and fund a precious metals IRA.
  • Able to recommend secure storage partners all over the world, so there's lots of options to choose from.

Cons

  • Not a ton of information available on how the IRA setup process works.
  • Very new company, though that hasn't stopped them from getting a positive reputation.

Final Thoughts

Orion Metal Exchange has become extremely popular in the gold IRA industry. And they've done it within an extremely short period of time. It's astonishing how many positive reviews they've received, along with how few complaints there have been. That seems to show that the founders truly do have the expertise and know-how that they claim to.

This does seem to be an easy company to work with. They offer services both for retirement and personal investment portfolios. The in-house IRA team can help you with the paperwork for your account, and the precious metals experts can recommend ideal assets for your needs.

There's nothing stopping you from investing here. In fact, all of the past feedback seems to indicate that you'll be pleased by your experience.

However, this company doesn't quite make our list of top recommendations. There are a few reasons for that. For one, the website doesn't have many details about how this specific company operates. It doesn't explain what policies separate it from the cutting-edge competition.

Another thing is a minor point of confusion. The Orion Metal Exchange website says that they can be your IRA custodian. But we haven't been able to find any information about whether they're actually a licensed financial institution approved by the IRS.

What they might mean is that they'll handle all custodian communication for you. But they don't explain which custodians they work with most often. Also, they don't list any storage partners on their website. Instead, they encourage customers to call for recommendations for the best vault for them.

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