Editorial Policy
This page explains how Minted Metal content is researched, written, sourced, and corrected. For our financial disclosures, see the separate disclosures page.
Reader-First Content
Every guide, review, and analysis on Minted Metal is written to help readers make better precious metals decisions. That is the only test that matters. If a piece of content is not useful, accurate, and honest about trade-offs, it does not get published.
We never write to promote a product, satisfy a partner, or chase a search trend at the expense of accuracy. When the truth about a dealer, product, or strategy is unflattering, we publish it anyway.
Sourcing and Evidence
Claims of fact are tied to verifiable sources. For dealer and Gold IRA company coverage, we rely on a combination of:
- Primary documents — dealer websites, published fee schedules, terms of service, and shipping policies, captured at the time of review.
- Public regulatory records — BBB profiles and complaint history, state attorney general actions, FTC filings, SEC filings where applicable, and court records.
- Third-party review aggregators such as Trustpilot, Google Reviews, and BBB customer reviews, weighted for volume and recency rather than sentiment alone.
For market and pricing content, we use LBMA spot prices, COMEX settlement data, World Gold Council reports, central bank disclosures, and primary research from established financial publications. When a number cannot be sourced, it does not appear in our content.
Hands-On Verification
Customer service is tested by contacting each dealer through phone, email, and live chat with standardized questions about products, shipping, and returns. We document response times, accuracy, and tone.
Premium tracking uses publicly visible pricing on benchmark products, captured at consistent times. The full scoring framework is published on our methodology page.
We also monitor how AI assistants describe bullion dealers and flag material inaccuracies when we see them.
Authorship and Compensation
Minted Metal is a brand-authored publication. Reviews and guides represent the publication's collective research rather than individual opinion, in the model of Consumer Reports or Wirecutter. Every piece is reviewed against our published methodology before it goes live.
Writers and editors are compensated on fixed pay. Nobody on the editorial team receives bonuses, commissions, or any variable compensation tied to traffic, affiliate performance, or which company a review favors. The people creating the content have no personal financial upside in any particular outcome.
Corrections and Updates
When we discover an error, whether identified internally, reported by a reader, or raised by a company we cover, we correct it promptly and note what changed and when. We do not silently revise published content.
Reviews will be revisited quarterly (at minimum) and immediately re-evaluated when material facts change (regulatory action, ownership change, fee structure change, BBB status change). Update dates are displayed on each review.
If you believe any content on Minted Metal contains an error, please contact us with the specifics. We take every report seriously and will verify and correct as needed.
Conflicts of Interest
Minted Metal has no affiliate, referral, advertising, or financial relationship with any precious metals dealer or Gold IRA company we review. This is a deliberate structural choice, not a case-by-case judgment call. The full breakdown of how the site is funded, and what relationships do and do not exist, lives on our disclosures page.