APMEX is one of the largest

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain mana ...

retailers in the United States, providing a two-way market for buying and selling

Precious Metals Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustr ...

in the United States. It has a selection of over 20,00
products
that include Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, numismatics and semi-numismatics. APMEX sells products for investing and collecting. What started as buying and selling from an

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

account and eventually a local coin shop in a strip mall has grown into an online retailer with over 200 employees and more than $11 billion in transactions since 1999. To help customers stay informed, APMEX provides educational resources about collecting and investing, along with investment tools and market reports on their website.

History

Scott Thomas, Oklahoma native and founder and president of APMEX, inherited his grandparents' coin collection he helped develop growing up. Upon their passing, Thomas started going through this collection and discovered that they were valued at around $100,000 and sold them on eBay. This pastime turned into a business of buying and selling old coins and transitioned into a booth at an

Edmond, OK Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest cit ...

strip mall and eventually a brick-and-mortar coin store. Thomas's coin shop's online presence grew to where he decided to launch an e-commerce website in 2004. The company was previously called American Precious Metals Exchange but shortened to APMEX in 2000 before the website launched. The

2008 recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

increased demand for Precious Metals so much that APMEX saw $1 billion in sales in 2009. In addition to an expansion in international shipping to over 60 countries, this gave them the nudge to upsize operations and moved into the old

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

building in downtown

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

in 2010. In 2011, APMEX leased 10,000 square feet on the 50th floor of the 40 Wall Street tower—paying for their security deposit in three-kilo bars of Gold. The move was to make a statement regarding the weakness of the U.S. dollar. This was the first time

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

accepted physical gold for payment and APMEX's CEO at the time, Michael Haynes, was quoted as saying that "Trump is a smart guy, he'll realize that taking gold is a better idea than taking cash." APMEX's headquarters allows them to hold all of APMEX's products and 200+ employees within its over 80,000 square feet.

Timeline

*2000 - Edmond Coins founded in Edmond, Oklahoma, and American Precious Metals Exchange is formed. *2004 - APMEX.com is created. *2007 - The 1 oz Silver APMEX Bar is introduced as the first product in the line of APMEX-branded products. *2009 - APMEX opens international shipping with orders to Canada. *2010 - APMEX relocates to the former Federal Reserve Bank of Oklahoma City. *2011 - APMEX launches the MintDirect® program. *2012 - APMEX launches Citadel Global Depository Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that provides maximum-security storage managed by

Brink's The Brink's Company is an American private security and protection company headquartered outside Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption ...

. *2013 - APMEX launches exclusive partnership with

. *2014 - APMEX becomes an Authorized Purchaser for U.S. Mint Gold and Platinum bullion coins, adding to the previously acquired Silver bullion. *2018 - APMEX launches new line of Silver bullion - 9Fine Mint. *2020 - APMEX launches exclusive partnership with PCGS. *2020 - APMEX launches new line of Silver bars - Pioneer Metals. *2021 - Launches fully shoppabl
mobile app
for

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and

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ecosystems

Leadership

Scott Thomas – Founder and President
Ken Lewis
– Chief Executive Officer
Doug Sterk
– Chief Financial Officer Phil Barrett – Chief Marketing Officer

Brand Differentiators

APMEX offers services like custom spot price alerts, a loyalty program for repeat customers and quick shipping due to relationships with UPS and FedEx. Additionally, APMEX releases products in partnership with companies through their APMEXclusive product program and their own mint, 9Fine Mint. APMEX also offers alerts and tools for customers to learn more about the Precious Metals market to become more educated investors and stay up to date with the company's latest releases and restocks. APMEX released the industry's first fully shoppable app in 2021 that allows customers to buy Precious Metals products on the go and with ease. Users can shop, manage their portfolios, check live spot prices and catch up on the most recent market news.

Product Assortment

Bullion

APMEX provides Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium bullion in a variety of forms, including coins, bars and rounds. They have partnerships with over
dozen mints
worldwide.

Numismatics & Semi-Numismatics

APMEX offers a variety of products for those interested in

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

, as well as a wide selection of semi-numismatic coins for collectors. They have in-house

numismatists A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

with years of experience to identify and verify products received. APMEX is not a 3rd party grading service. They do not have the ability to correctly judge uncirculated coins from circulated coins.

Logistics

APMEX houses all its product at its OKC headquarters. They have employees working to inspect returned or APMEX purchased products, pull products from inventory, package them, and ship them. UPS and FedEx pick up parcels from the location and a secured team drops off remaining parcels to

USPS The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

References

{{Authority control American companies established in 2000 Retail companies established in 2000 Internet properties established in 2000 Precious metals Bullion dealers