International Precious Metals Review 2026 : Scam Risk?

Updated: August 5, 2026

OPRS may receive compensation when readers open an account through partner links elsewhere on this site. International Precious Metals is not an OPRS affiliate partner and no tracked link to the company appears on this page. The analysis below relies on the company’s BBB profile, Wayback Machine snapshots, and IRS publications.

International Precious Metals was one of the older names in the US retail coin business, active as a mail-order dealer of American Eagle bullion, rare US coinage, and generic silver and platinum products. It ran on the domain preciousmetals.com from a single Silsbee, Texas address for most of its trading life.

This page was originally an OPRS review published in 2023. The refresh reflects the current public record, which now points to a wind-down rather than an active trading business. We have kept the URL, updated the facts, and removed the tracked outbound link that used to sit at the end of the old review.

The editorial stance is now factual and documentary, not promotional. Readers arriving at this page from an old search result or an inbound link should understand what IPM was, what its BBB record shows in 2026, and where to redirect their gold IRA research.

Before you route a rollover to any dealer

The OPRS list of gold IRA operators to avoid names the dealers we currently caution against based on complaint history, state actions, and disclosure gaps. Three of the 27+ dealers reviewed by OPRS make the 2026 trusted short list, and the caution list is the fastest way to see who does not.

See the OPRS dealer caution list

Table of contents show

Company identity and corporate record

International Precious Metals traded under the corporate name IPM Jepson-Bluhm, LLC, with Barry Jepson listed as chief executive on the Better Business Bureau profile. The published business address is 3545 Highway 96 Bypass, Silsbee, Texas 77656, and the published customer phone number is 800-781-2090.

The BBB file for the entity was opened on January 1, 2005, and the business itself is stated to have started operating on January 1, 1995. The current LLC vehicle was incorporated on December 20, 2012. The BBB categorizes the company under coin dealers and bullion coin dealers.

No matching filings appear in the SEC EDGAR full-text search for the Silsbee entity name across 2020 to 2026. OPRS also did not identify any open enforcement action from the CFTC or FTC targeting IPM Jepson-Bluhm, LLC in the public press-release feeds of either agency. The record on file is a state-registered LLC that operated a mail-order coin business, not a securities issuer or a federally sanctioned bad actor.

Current BBB status: out-of-business alert

The Better Business Bureau profile for International Precious Metals now displays two alerts. The first is an explicit “Out-of-Business known or suspected” label. The second is that the company is “Not Rated,” and the rating page states plainly that this is because the business is out of business.

The profile also notes that International Precious Metals is not a BBB Accredited Business. Earlier public-facing marketing on the company’s old website claimed BBB accreditation with an A+ rating. The current profile does not support that claim. Readers who see the old A+ figure quoted anywhere online should treat it as a stale artifact of pre-2024 marketing, not a current standing.

The BBB profile is public and can be pulled directly. OPRS recommends reading it at the source rather than trusting a snapshot in any third-party review, since BBB status can be updated at any time.

Website status: HTTP 502 since April 2026

The company’s own website at preciousmetals.com no longer serves a working storefront. Requests to the site return an HTTP 502 “Unable to Connect to the Origin Server” error page from the front-end host. The DNS record still resolves to a live IP address, but the origin application is unreachable.

The Wayback Machine CDX index confirms the pattern. The most recent archive.org snapshot that captured a working 200 response from preciousmetals.com is dated April 13, 2026. The next captured snapshot, on May 24, 2026, already records a 502 response, and the site has continued to serve that 502 through the date of this refresh.

A copy of the last working homepage is preserved on the Wayback Machine and is linked in the sources list below. That archived page shows the old marketing narrative in full, including the “founded 1995” claim, the 800-781-2090 phone number, the Silsbee mailing address, and a footer copyright dated 2022. OPRS refers only to the Wayback capture and does not link to the live domain.

What the old product line looked like

Per the last working homepage, IPM sold US Mint bullion (American Gold Eagle, American Silver Eagle, American Platinum Eagle), pre-1933 US numismatic gold, generic silver rounds and bars, and platinum and palladium products. Marketing copy referenced a personal-service, low-pressure sales team and touched on IRA-eligible metals without publishing a specific custodian or depository partner list.

The old published fee schedule referenced an approximately $100 first-year account-setup fee (dependent on the chosen custodian). Annual fees ran from $50 for smaller accounts to $500 for larger accounts, with no added commission on top of the fees paid to the trust company. Those figures were self-reported in pre-2024 marketing copy and cannot be re-verified against a currently reachable IPM fee page.

OPRS does not treat those numbers as authoritative for 2026 pricing. Readers should assume any minimums, fees, or buyback quotes previously advertised by IPM are moot, and screen live-trading dealers against the criteria in our custodian framework instead.

What this means for anyone who paid IPM

A reader who wired funds to International Precious Metals for a coin, bar, or IRA-titled order that has not been delivered is in a documented scenario. The BBB alert, the dead website, and the absence of a reachable customer service channel together read as a wind-down, not a normal short outage.

The OPRS recovery playbook for a scammed or non-delivered gold IRA walks through the exact steps. In short: file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General consumer protection division. Add a written BBB complaint on the existing IPM profile so the file record is updated. Dispute the payment with your card network or bank if the wire is still inside the chargeback window. File with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) if the loss is significant.

The playbook does not promise recovery. It documents the correct paper trail so that any later action by state or federal regulators can attach to a formal complaint record. Readers with IRA-titled metal that was supposedly sitting at an IPM-referred depository should ask that depository directly for a written custody statement, since IRA-titled metal is held by the trustee and not by the dealer.

What this does not mean

An “Out-of-Business known or suspected” BBB alert is not the same as a fraud finding. It is a status label based on undelivered mail, unresponsive contact attempts, or public signals suggesting the entity has stopped trading. OPRS did not identify any open federal enforcement action against IPM Jepson-Bluhm, LLC in the CFTC or FTC public releases at the time of this refresh.

Readers should not conflate “out of business” with “convicted of fraud.” The public record supports the first statement. It does not support the second. The Wayback captures show a working coin-dealer storefront up to April 2026 and a dark origin server afterward. That is the pattern of a business that stopped operating on its own, not one that was shut down by regulators.

OPRS’s editorial position, based on that record, is that International Precious Metals should not be recommended for a new account in 2026 because the company appears to have ceased trading. The right question for a reader today is not “is IPM good,” but “which currently active dealers meet the OPRS screening criteria for a rollover.”

Where to redirect the gold IRA research

A reader who arrived here from a “gold IRA,” “TSP rollover,” or “401(k) rollover to gold” search has three modern OPRS references to use instead. They carry more current facts than a review of a wind-down dealer can.

The OPRS list of gold IRA dealers to avoid is the front door for anyone comparing operators today. It names the ones we caution against and points to the three we cleared in the current review cycle.
The OPRS custodian selection framework lays out the disclosure, fee, and depository criteria a working dealer must meet before it belongs on a shortlist.
The OPRS gold IRA rollover guide covers the 60-day rule, direct versus indirect transfer mechanics, and the paperwork sequence for a rollover from a 401(k), TSP, 403(b), 457(b), or existing IRA.

FAQ

Is International Precious Metals still in business?

The public record points to no. The Better Business Bureau profile carries an “Out-of-Business known or suspected” alert and lists the company as Not Rated for that reason. The company’s own website at preciousmetals.com has served an HTTP 502 origin-server error continuously since at least May 2026 per the Wayback Machine archive index.

What was the BBB rating for IPM before the shutdown?

Older marketing materials referenced an A+ BBB rating. The current BBB profile shows the company as Not Rated and Not BBB Accredited. Any A+ figure quoted in third-party reviews reflects the pre-shutdown status, not the current standing on the BBB profile.

I paid IPM for coins that were never delivered. What now?

File a written complaint on the existing BBB profile so the file record is updated. Contact the Texas Attorney General consumer protection division. Dispute the payment through your card network or bank if the transaction is still inside the chargeback window. File with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) if the loss is significant. The OPRS recovery playbook walks through the sequence.

Is there an open federal enforcement action against IPM?

OPRS did not identify an open enforcement action from the SEC, CFTC, or FTC targeting IPM Jepson-Bluhm, LLC in the public press-release feeds of those agencies at the time of this refresh. That absence is not a guarantee of one never being filed. Readers should search the primary agency sites directly for the most current record.

Should I open a gold IRA with International Precious Metals in 2026?

No. A business that appears on the BBB as “Out-of-Business known or suspected” and whose website has been down for months is not a candidate for a new IRA-titled rollover. Screen active dealers against the OPRS custodian framework and check them against the OPRS dealer caution list before wiring any funds.

Where is IRA-titled metal held if the dealer disappears?

IRA-titled precious metals are held by an IRS-approved non-bank trustee at an approved depository, not by the dealer. The rules are in 26 CFR §1.408-2(e) and are summarized in IRS Publication 590-A. A reader with IRA-titled metal at an IPM-referred depository should ask that depository directly for a written custody statement, since the metal follows the trustee relationship, not the dealer’s operating status.

Sources cited

OPRS is not a financial, tax, or legal advisor. Company status, BBB alerts, website availability, and enforcement records change over time and should be re-verified from the primary sources cited above before any purchase, complaint, or account action. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Our review of International Precious metals