High-Value Inventory, High-Value Data, No Second Chances
Store hosting, private email, recordkeeping and security for bullion dealers, coin shops and numismatic retailers — on infrastructure we own in the United States.
The Short Answer
Precious metals dealers carry an unusual combination: high-value transactions, customer identity records kept under a federal anti-money-laundering obligation, and an industry that mainstream platforms treat as a restricted category. We host the storefront, provide private business email from $1.95 per user a month, run your customer list on SMTP servers we own, and build the recordkeeping and security around it. We do not underwrite merchant accounts — we integrate with the processor you already use.
You Are A Restricted Category, Whether Or Not Anyone Told You
The major processors say so in writing
Stripe’s published restricted-business list covers high-value goods including precious metals and stones. PayPal requires pre-approval for precious metals sales. eBay maintains a separate bullion policy with its own conditions. These are the platforms’ own published terms — read them.
What that means in practice
Restricted does not mean banned. It means conditional, reviewable and revocable, and reviews tend to be triggered by exactly the thing your business does: a sudden high-value order or a spike during a price move.
Where we fit, honestly
We host the store, the email and the infrastructure on hardware we own, and we integrate with the specialist processor you use. We are not a merchant acquirer and will not pretend the merchant-account problem is ours to solve.
This is worth reading the actual policies for rather than finding out during a review.
- The program has to exist in writing A written program with policies, a designated compliance officer, training and independent testing. The written part lives in documents, and those documents need somewhere secure, versioned and retrievable to live.
- Customer identification records, retained and findable Identity records and transaction documentation have to be kept and produced on request. Hub for Teams at $7.49 per user a month gives you structured, access-controlled storage rather than a shared drive and a folder called Scans.
- Retention and retrieval you can stand behind Retention configured deliberately, backups encrypted and stored off site from $2.09 a month, and a restore we have tested. Produce-on-request only works if you can actually produce.
The AML Obligation Nobody Sells Against
Dealers in precious metals, stones and jewels above a modest annual threshold are required to maintain an anti-money-laundering program under federal regulation. It is a documentation problem, which makes it an infrastructure problem.
The Store Itself
Pricing that moves all day
Spot-linked pricing, live feeds and rapid catalogue updates put a load on a site that a static storefront never sees. That belongs on dedicated resources, not a shared box with neighbours you cannot see.
High-value checkout
Order values in this industry are large enough that a checkout failure is not a minor annoyance. We build and host the store, harden it, and connect it to your processor and your inventory system.
Security proportional to what you hold
SiteLock from $14.99 a month, hardened hosting, and monitoring. A dealer site holds customer identity documents and purchase history, which is a more attractive target than the metal.
- Restricted categories reach email platforms too The same category language that makes precious metals a restricted business for payment processors turns up in email platform policies. Most hosts cannot do anything about it, because the mail they sell is relayed through somebody else.
- Liberation Campaign runs on our own SMTP and our own software No third-party relay, so no upstream acceptable use policy in a position to override ours. Your customer list — built over years, mailed hard when spot moves — sends from servers we own.
- The honest limit Owning the relay removes policy risk. It does not change how receiving providers filter, so authentication and list hygiene still matter. Getting SPF, DKIM and DMARC right also happens to be your best defence against someone impersonating your buy desk.
We Own The Mail Servers, Not Just The Web Servers
Dealers watch payment processors closely and rarely think about the email platform until it stops working.
Email, And Why It Matters More Here
Business email on your own domain
Sales, buy desk, shipping and management, from $1.95 per user a month. Mail Pro at $7.95.
Impersonation is the real threat
Payment instructions for a five-figure order are a target. Correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your sending domain make it materially harder to impersonate your buy desk from a lookalike address. Most dealers we audit are missing at least one.
Customer email that will not be billed by list size
Liberation Campaign charges on emails sent rather than contacts stored, which suits a dealer list that gets mailed hard during a price move and rarely otherwise.
- Liberation Email from $1.95 per user/mo; Mail Pro $7.95 per user/mo
- Hub for Teams $7.49 per user/mo for AML program documents and customer identity records
- Managed VPS from $59/mo annual for a store with live pricing
- Liberation Campaign send-based: $10/mo for 10,000 emails, $20/mo for 40,000 — on SMTP infrastructure we own
- CodeGuard encrypted off-site backups from $2.09/mo
- SiteLock Fix $14.99/mo or Defend $49.99/mo
- Store builds and integrations priced as projects
What It Costs
Precious Metals & Coin Dealers FAQs
Do you provide merchant accounts for bullion dealers?
No, and we would rather say that plainly than waste your time. Precious metals is a restricted category for the mainstream processors and it needs a specialist acquirer. We build and host the store and integrate with the processor you use.
Is precious metals actually a restricted category?
Yes, by the platforms’ own published terms. Stripe’s restricted-business list covers high-value goods including precious metals and stones, PayPal requires pre-approval, and eBay runs a separate bullion policy. Read them directly rather than take anyone’s summary.
Who sends our customer email?
We do, on our own SMTP servers and our own software. The category language that makes you restricted for payments turns up in email platform policies too, and most hosts cannot help because the mail they sell is relayed through somebody else.
Do we need an AML program?
Dealers in precious metals, stones and jewels above a modest annual threshold are required to maintain one under federal regulation. Whether your business crosses that threshold is a question for your counsel — what we do is provide the secure storage, retention and retrieval the written program and its records depend on.
Can your hosting handle spot-linked pricing?
Yes, on dedicated resources rather than shared hosting. Live feeds and frequent catalogue updates behave badly on a shared box, and price moves are exactly when you cannot afford a slow site.
What is the biggest security gap you find at coin shops?
Email. Specifically, sending-domain authentication that is missing or misconfigured, which makes it far easier to impersonate a buy desk and redirect payment instructions on a high-value order.
Start With The Email And The Store
Tell us where your storefront, email and records live today. We will tell you what we would move, what we would harden, and what stays with your existing processor.
Custom Solutions
Take your business to the next level with Liberation's full suite of services & solutions.
Custom Management
Don’t like managing? We offer managed services for hosting, ecommerce, web sites, and more.
Our Promise Of Digital Independence
Liberating Your Digital World Is Our Passion
- U.S.A. owned and based
- We own and control our entire platform
- More security to protect your data
- No Censorship Guarantee
- 100% data ownership
- Your data is NEVER shared
Global Edge Network
Liberation’s global edge network provides enhanced performance & security.
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