About

Martin Whitehouse
CEO & Founder

MARTIN WHITEHOUSE

Originally from Birmingham I spent over 20 years working abroad mostly in Germany and Australia before returning home and settling here in the north east where I’m currently working on developing a Geordie/Yorkshire mixed accent.

Over the years I’ve developed my business skills in warehousing and distribution management running major distribution centers and also in market research working for Racing Victoria in Australia. This together with my long standing hobby of collecting numismatics has resulted in a perfect combination for starting this business, proven in my 100% positive feedback record across all 3 of my online shops.

I have various future projects in mind, some of which I have already completed like the production of the 100 gram silver bar capsule and this website, so I hope that you will stick with me as I grow my business and change the industry for the better.

ABOUT SILVER TRADER®

After years of trading and collecting numismatics and pre-decimal silver coins, in April 2013 I decided to challenge HMRC on the importation VAT charged on silver coins imported into the UK. After 18 months this culminated in the parliamentary Ombudsman finding the UKBF in maladministration on all counts for deliberately overcharging VAT on imported parcels into the UK. Although this might seem like a small victory, it is sadly only half the battle and I have now moved on to fighting this battle through the European Union for unfair trading practices.

The plus side of this little hobby of challenging the unfair rate of vat applied to silver was that I made some very good contacts and friends within the bullion industry who offered me exceptionally good rates on my silver purchases. Based on these contacts I decided to build up a small business operating as a sole trader.

I originally started with an online shop on Ebid offering bullion, collectables and numismatics to collectors. Then in April I opened up 2 more online shops on Etsy & eBay both with 100% positive feedback on all 3 platforms before I decided to take the next step of building my own website here at silvertrader.uk which is the only platform I sell from today. 

FAQ'S

  • All orders will be sent fully insured by us with Royal Mail.
  • Your parcel is insured until it is signed for at your designated delivery address.
  • All coins will either be delivered in the original mint tubes or in protective coin capsules.
  • Bars will be delivered in resealable bags unless purchased with a presentation capsule.

We have two payment methods, neither of which requires you to input your financial information on our website. Both methods require you to pay for your invoice offsite either with PayPal or directly through Bank transfer. Details of which can be found on your invoice.
We do not hold your financial information of any kind on this website. Our website is also secured with a 256bit Comodo SSL certificate ensuring everything is encrypted.

We are governed by regulations for retail clients. The Money Laundering Regulations requires that for orders over £5000 or for a total spend over £10,000 in one year “Certified” copy of your photographic ID and a recent utility bill has to be kept on file by us for the duration of 6 years.

We are obliged under the Money Laundering Regulations to gather information to prove who you are. We will never send or give this information to anyone unless in connection to the money laundering regulations. Our only obligation is to report suspicious transactions of possible money laundering to the relevant authority.

No due to security reasons we do not keep cash on the premises. You would have to make your order online through the website, either as a direct bank transfer or by checking out through Paypal with a payment card or through a paypal account.

PLEASE do not turn up and expect to buy goods. We do not keep any quantity of goods on location for security and safety reasons. We only have a sample range to show of our products and never allow customers on the premises.

Opening times are from 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am to Midday on Saturday or I fall asleep at the Computer screen!

Yes. We are always interested in buying your silver coins and bullion. You do not need to have purchased the items from us. You can post them out to us after first contacting us for a quote using Royal Mail special delivery and we will make you a very good offer. Please contact us first for a quote and directions on how best to send them. We do not however deal in scrap silver, sterling silver or 50 pence pieces.