Supply Updates Archive - COVID19
Synopsis
This is our COVID19 supply update archive. Here you will find details of when we received information from our wholesale suppliers and took delivery of bullion items. Click here to read our latest supply updates.
17th June 2020
Big Delivery of Silver, Plus Gold Too!
With restrictions being eased on businesses and the economy beginning to open again, physical bullion continues to flow and change hands in the market.
The big story today is we can announce that we have taken delivery of a wide range of silver bullion bars! Yesterday we received 500 x 1kg silver bars, 25 x 500g silver bars, 20 x 250g bars and 20 x 100g silver bars. This is approximately 16,700 troy ounces of pure silver! We are now in the process of adding these to our stocklists – we have also withheld some bars back for customers wishing to swap, for which we will contact you in due course. If you wish to change your order, please log your wishes on this google form by clicking here. This is completely optional, as we intend to honour all orders placed with us.
On top of this, we have also recently received more wholesale deliveries of gold and silver 2020 Britannias. Over 5,000 silver Britannias have arrived at our showroom in Blackpool, with more expected to come within the next couple of weeks. We are still receiving regular shipments of gold Britannias as well which we allocate to our customers on a first come, first served basis. Another 100 arrived in yesterday, and we are in the process of allocating these to orders. This means some larger orders are perhaps ahead of those where customers are waiting on smaller orders of 5 or 10 coins. We kindly ask for patience as we work through this process, as we are sure you can appreciate the demand has resulted in an increased workload.
Buying in backdated coins has continued at a strong pace and we are fulfilling orders every day. Recent buy-ins from the public include a delivery of over 1,000 secondary market sovereigns, over 200 pre-owned one ounce gold coins and various gold and silver bars. We anticipate this will continue to improve as our showroom is now open for drop-offs and pick-ups, and we can now offer timeslots for callbacks - please see our ‘contact us’ page for more information on this appointment-style arrangement.
For more information, please email us at [email protected] as we can respond quicker, working from 6am-10pm. Alternatively, you can use our google form to get in contact with us. Please note our telephone lines are open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm, and at this moment in time we cannot answer all incoming calls.
We hope these increasingly regular deliveries will bring confidence and reassurance to those waiting on their bullion to be delivered. Expect more good news from Chards in the coming weeks ahead!
27th May 2020
More 2020 Silver Britannias!
The old saying ‘good things come to those who wait’ is a common phrase we are all familiar with. Today, Chards can confirm that this is indeed the case as we have taken delivery of our second batch of 2020 Silver Britannias during lockdown!
We have been expecting this day for a while now, with the goods in transit for over 2 weeks to finally reach us! This delivery weighed 1.09 tonnes and required secure freight and logistics to arrive in Blackpool - so by no means an easy journey to make given the circumstances. More good news is expected to come in the near future, with more orders booked or en route.
Earlier this month, we received part of this wholesale order and were able to allocate these silver coins to a substantial amount of orders. We are sure you’ll be just as excited as we are to hear that more orders can now be fulfilled as result of this large delivery!
Our brilliant warehousing team are now in the process of allocating the coins to orders. As is normal, we are doing this on a first come, first served basis. As the volume is so great, we will spread the despatch over a few days, so please be patient with us as we begin to clear the backlog of orders. We anticipate opening the showroom for collections in June if customers wish to take advantage of this. Once we know the details of how this will work we will publish them here.
The outlook continues to be positive. News is coming in daily that shutdown restrictions are beginning to ease worldwide, so we are hopeful of more deliveries coming in very soon. As always, we will inform you if more good news come in, and you can always check in on this page here for more information.
19th May 2020
The Latest News
We expect to open our showroom for collections and drop-offs from 1st June 2020 (pending government guidance). To maintain a safe working environment for staff and customers alike, a new digital booking system will be deployed allowing one customer in the showroom at any one time. This system allows customers to go online and select the service they would like to choose and an available member of staff. We hope this process improves communication, increases trading frequency, and slowly gets us back to a new normal.
Products wise, we are seeing our supply chains open further. All our main products are on the move allowing us to fulfil orders for both new and pre-owned products.
Multiple suppliers on 3 different continents can take orders and/or supply our major products. This is a positive indicator to us and points to improved global supply of physical gold and silver.
Customers often ask why we cannot make immediate delivery of certain products whilst other dealers can. This is because we buy from dealers who are offering the best rates at the time who may even be overseas in the EU, the US or even Asia. We source products in multiple transactions and frequently purchase in different currencies to take advantage of the best prices and premiums on the market, allowing us to pass on savings to customers. Recently, we have seen double digit premiums on 2020 gold Britannias from our direct competition. Whereas, you can still buy from Chards from premiums starting at 4.2%. Our orders do take a little longer to arrive as international logistics are not operating at 100% and we hope customers understand the delays.
Delivery Updates
2020 Gold Britannias*- Our recent shipment covered all outstanding orders but due to high demand, we have ordered even more and we can expect to have a surplus to sell in the coming weeks.
2020 Silver Britannias* - These coins are scheduled to be despatched within the next 2-3 weeks. We cannot despatch all orders in one go as the volume would be too great, as such we will spread the despatch over a few days, asking customers to be patient with us through this process.
Silver Bars* - We are now awaiting a delivery of 1 kilo, 500g, 250g and 100g silver bars which will clear our existing customer orders whilst leaving a surplus for sale. There is still a slight delay on this product, and we can expect deliveries to begin to flow late June and into July. We pass this delivery window on in good faith and we ask customers to respect this and not hold us to exact dates.
Queens Beasts* - We are pleased to see these coins flowing again and have ordered additional quantities of Lions and Horses to cover the existing customer orders. We hope to change this product back to 'orderable' and await confirmation that the supply chain is robust and able to support regular orders for these products.
*Please note: Normal business practice is that we allocate stock on a first come first served basis and due to high levels of demand you might still experience a delay. We are providing this information to remain open and transparent about the situation. Stock is flowing, deliveries are continuing, and we will get to your order in due course. As and when the rest of the deliveries arrive, we should have surplus to sell as in stock and available for despatch.
8th May 2020
Headline News - Britannias Are Back!
We are excited to announce that we have received a substantial delivery of 2020 Gold Britannias this week! We will be able to despatch all outstanding orders and have a surplus available to anyone looking to buy!
We have been confident in our view that physical coins and bars would continue to flow and this delivery further confirms our view to date. Deliveries of 2020 gold Britannias, 2020 sovereigns, gold and silver bars and hundreds of pre-owned coins from our distance buy in service is testament to our experience and knowledge gained over 55 years of trading. We hope this recent delivery adds reassurance to existing and first time customers alike.
As is normal practice, we will give the option for customers waiting for a ‘minty’ or ‘newly minted’ gold Britannia to upgrade their order to a 2020 gold Britannia - you can expect an email about this in due course. There will be a balance to pay, which is the live premium difference between minty and 2020 gold Britannias and we can guarantee despatch next week. Again, this is your decision, and should you wish to wait for the original products ordered you can certainly do that for no extra charge.
5th May 2020
The Latest News
As we adapt to life and work during lockdown, it is time for another business update in relation to our main 'orderable' products. We like to pass on information from the market in good faith and would expect customers respect this and understand that mints, refineries and suppliers are still on a skeleton crew, so any dates, logistics and information is subject to change.
We have a dedicated team contacting customers made up of Rochelle (Business Manager), Lesley (Sales Manager), Bhumika (Customer Service Team Leader) and myself (Bullion Manager). If you do need to get in touch we still recommend email ([email protected]) as our team are managing this inbox from about 6am-11pm! If you wish for an urgent call back please log your order number(s) on our google form (please click here), choosing a contact method and flagging as urgent.
In Stock / Delivered Products
2020 Sovereigns - we currently have physical stocks of 2020 on site in Blackpool. These are CGT exempt coins and available for immediate despatch whilst stocks last.
Gold Bars - we currently have 20-gram, 1 ounce and 1 kilo gold bars in stock and available for immediate despatch.
2020 Gold Britannias *- part of our larger order turned up last week and we were able to allocate and despatch several orders in the system.
2020 Silver Britannias * - we received part of a larger delivery early last week and we have been able to allocate these coins to a substantial number of orders.
*Please note: Normal business practice is that we allocate stock on a first come first served basis and due to high levels of demand you might still experience a delay. We are providing this information to remain honest and transparent about the situation and that stock is flowing, deliveries are continuing, and we will get to your order in due course. As and when the rest of the deliveries arrive, we should have surplus to sell as in stock and available for despatch.
Deliveries Outstanding
2020 Gold Britannias - we are expecting our delivery of gold 2020 Britannias very soon and for security reasons we choose not to give the exact dates. Rest assured if all goes to plan with logistics you can expect contact from our team and delivery within a couple of weeks.
2020 Silver Britannias - we have been advised that silver Britannias are to be available this month, but we still await clarification if that means physical delivery to us. We do not want to get too excited until we are advised of quantities and exact delivery dates but at least the news is inching forward in a positive way. I will be providing more updates on this as and when deliveries are booked and/or arrive.
Secondary Market / Newly Minted / Minty Products - we are very happy to inform customers that we are still dealing with many of our top products via our distance buy in service. This service is allowing customers to deal with us from all over the UK and we are buying in hundreds of 1-ounce gold and silver coins that are being allocated against secondary market and newly minted/minty orders. If you are happy to continue to wait for your ordered item that is absolutely fine, and we will never ask for any further balance payments. If on the other hand you wish to switch to a product that is in stock or likely to have a quicker delivery schedule (such as 2020 dated coins) you are welcome to pay a premium difference linked to the spot prices on your original order. This is your decision and apart from making the offer we will not sway you either way. You also have the option to sell your coins back to us at the current rate of 100% of spot for CGT exempt gold and 99% for non-CGT exempt gold.
Silver Bars - Recently, we have been fortunate enough to source and sell 1 kilo silver bars (at competitive prices) and the smaller weights from our usual suppliers are subject to longer than usual delays due to the prioritisation of products. That said, we expect production to return to normal it’s just a question of time. In the meantime, the option to switch and sell back to us is open as it is with secondary market and newly minted products above.
General Business Update
We continue to follow government guidelines with staff remote working from their homes where possible. This does mean orders placed for in stock items will be despatched within 2-3 working days as supposed to our usual 1 working day. We also continue to answer your enquiries via phone, email and live chat messages as best we can, but the increased volume of enquiries and orders do mean you will experience delays, with replies taking 1-2 days.
We are aware of differing treatment between gold and silver, with refineries and mints prioritising gold over silver in some cases. The commercial and banking world is still in demand of physical gold and as such the production of silver bars is likely further down the queue. We also see gold coins as more readily delivered than the silver counterparts and we hope this begins to change following the UK government’s push to get workers back to work safely and the economy moving again.
We are glad to inform you that more products are continuing to flow and I will keep you up to date via email if anything improves or changes. You are also welcome to regularly check in on this operational update page too.
24th April 2020
We are thrilled to announce we have received 2020 sovereigns and 2020 gold Britannias on site today. We have received a substantial number of sovereigns with a surplus left to sell to customers and all the gold Britannias are going out on existing orders.
As is normal, we wish to offer all customers who are awaiting "newly minted" or "minty" sovereigns the opportunity to switch their orders to a 2020 sovereign - you will have received an email this afternoon from myself. There will be a balance to pay, which is the live premium difference between minty and 2020 sovereigns and we can guarantee despatch next week.
2020 Sovereigns - Reserved and Available for Despatch
Sovereigns are physically on site and reserved for newly minted and minty orders until 10am Monday. After this time, they will be available to all of our customers.
That's right!
We have British CGT exempt gold ready to despatch next week for anyone eager to take receipt of physical gold!
The option to upgrade is entirely optional and we will not assist in the decision any further other than making this offer. If you wish to wait for your newly minted or minty sovereigns that is absolutely fine, prices are fixed and the promise to buy back at 100% of spot is still open to all customers.
How Do I Reserve 2020 sovereigns?
We have set up a google document for those who wish to change their order - please click here to log your details.
If you are having difficulties filling out the form, please e-mail [email protected] with "2020 Sovereign Upgrade" as the subject title, followed by your order number.
Our team is working over the weekend with a view that we can begin to pick and despatch as soon as we open on Monday. Please note all orders cannot be despatched on one day and will be split across the week. If you have a preference for a day you wish to receive the coins, please make it known by completing the relevant section on this google form.
If you do not wish to change your order you do not need to log any information and we will continue to fulfil your order in time. If you have any further questions, e-mail is the best option at present due to staffing levels and telephone traffic. Please e-mail [email protected] and quote your order numbers and we endeavour to get back to you.
15th April 2020
Last week’s delivery of bars allowed us to fulfil most orders and leave some surplus stock to sell, much to the satisfaction of customers eager to take physical delivery. We are still trying to contact all customers awaiting a bar delivery, so please give us time to contact you. Going into this week we have more good news in terms of gold and silver products flowing more freely, this time in the form of coins.
We are now anticipating 2020 sovereigns, 2020 gold Britannias and more various gold bars and 1 kilo silver bars to arrive in the next few weeks. This is fantastic news as we can start shipping to customers who have ordered dated coins (please note that the deliveries will not cover the entire backlog of orders). News on silver Britannias is yet to change and as soon as we hear more, we will provide an update. For security reasons we prefer not to provide exact dates and we ask customers to remain patient as we work through the orders.
As is normal we are giving all newly minted and secondary market customers the option to change their orders to 2020 coins or in-stock bars. There will be a balance to pay (difference in premium) as we switch the products, but these products will likely be faster to deliver. This is entirely optional and we will not pressure you in any direction.
For any enquiries we recommend you get in touch with your named contact and bypass our customer service desk as it is still very busy. Those who wish for an urgent update can you please let this be known on our google form by entering your details on our google form by clicking here.
We post these updates to be as transparent as possible and we hope customers can reciprocate this with patience and understanding in these unusual circumstances without holding us to exact dates. We have also published a new blog to go into detail on the different bullion types building on content already on the product pages.
We advise customers that we cannot provide a fixed delivery date for any of the orderable items as the pandemic rolls on. Having said that, some countries are looking to roll back lockdown restrictions and ease controls so we are cautiously optimistic that there will be ongoing improvements in supply.
As stock arrives, customers can expect contact via phone or email and I will provide more updates as and when news is available.
7th April 2020
First Bar Delivery
We are pleased to announce a delivery of gold and silver arrived today which should come as welcome news to many. We have taken receipt of a number of bars which we have just finished checking into the vaults, with coins hopefully following later in the week.
Customers can expect their orders to be picked on a first come first served basis and once we have allocated all the stock, we will begin to call customers to select a delivery date. We aim to have this done by the end of business tomorrow.
We wish to give customers further reassurance and that we don’t just write words on webpages for the sake of it. As we have no reason to believe that the flow of physical coins and bars will cease, we continue to place regular orders with our suppliers. In the past few days alone, we have placed a seven-figure as well as multiple six-figure orders. Our intention is to take receipt of physical gold and silver and we only proceed on this proviso. We hope sharing some of this information and pictures of today’s delivery helps reassure some in these uncertain times.
Our customer service team have also broken all in-house records in terms of number of emails answered in the past couple of weeks. We are now on top of the backlog and working to a rough 24 hour turnaround (give or take). Voicemails remain outstanding with our team attempting to get in touch with all customers and for those in need of an urgent answer an email is recommended now to [email protected]. If you wish for an order update please complete our google form and indicate an urgent update is required. We thank all customers who have already filled in the form as it has really helped prioritise those in need of an urgent update.
28th March 2020
In a response to these market difficulties, we took the step of advising all customers of an inability to commit to a despatch date on the 20th March. We appreciate your order might have been placed prior to this and you were informed of a lead time as per our normal operations. If your order was placed after the 20th March we had already updated the website with a COVID-19 banner, an operational update refreshed daily, a popup for any affected products and basket and checkout updates to show which products could not be assigned a delivery time. Perhaps this needs to be improved; we would welcome the feedback in order to communicate more effectively in the future.
When products, such as 2020 dated coins, are good to order even with a lead time we denoted these as 'Available' as we have done so for years. On the 25th March, we took this a step further, changing stock status to 'Orderable' and 'In Stock' instead of 'Available'. All of this was happening at breakneck speed in response to the supply constraints as we attempted to build customer feedback into the site at the busiest time in recent years.
Since then our suppliers have confirmed that the mints are unable to produce at the rate required to satisfy demand. As such, lead times have become indefinite, premiums have shot up and backorders become the new norm. We fully expect production to ramp up once staff are back to work following relaxation on government-imposed restrictions and guidelines in the UK and EU. We have longstanding relationships with major refiners/suppliers and are in a fortunate position as most of our suppliers have continued to take orders from us at the live metal rates and they can do so until further notice.
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