Business ProfileforFederated Mint

On April 21, 2020, BBB challenged Federated Mint’s newspaper advertisement found in Today in Mississippi and the Herald-Whig for the state silver bars. BBB discovered two claims previously challenged that Federated Mint had stated they would either modify or discontinue in future advertisements. Based on BBB’s Basic Principles of the Code of Advertising, the two claims are as follows:

 1. “before they’re all gone”. This was challenged in 2016 and 2018. The company response in 2020 is to remove it, with this caveat: ON PRODUCTS FEDERATED MINT CAN REORDER, “BEFORE THEY’RE ALL GONE”, WILL BE REMOVED. THE PHRASE “BEFORE THEY’RE ALL GONE” MAY BE USED FOR PRODUCTS SOLD BY FEDERATED MINT THAT ARE IN LIMITED QUANTITIES OR THAT HAVE A PREDETERMINED LIMITED NUMBER OF UNITS TO BE SOLD. 

BBB requested further clarification of products that can be reordered versus sold by Federated Mint in limited quantities.
Company responded with "THIS SIMPLY MEANS IF FEDERATED MINT IS ADVERTISING A PRODUCT THAT CAN BE MANUFACTURED OR SOURCED WITHOUT LIMITS FEDERATED MINT WILL NOT USE THE PHRASE “BEFORE THEY’RE ALL GONE”. BUT, FOR PRODUCTS THAT HAVE LIMITED QUANTITIES IN THE MARKET LIKE; MORGAN SILVER DOLLARS, BUFFALO NICKELS AND THE LIKE TO NAME A FEW, ARE NO LONGER MINTED OR PRODUCED. THEREFORE, THEY HAVE LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE. IN THESE CASES, FEDERATED MINT FEELS IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE AND ACCURATE TO USE THE PHRASE “BEFORE THEY’RE ALL GONE” BECAUSE THE PRODUCT BEING ADVERTISED IS IN FACT LIMITED AND FEDERATED MINT CAN ONLY GET LIMITED QUANTITIES."

2. "Valuable". This claim was challenged in 2018, 2020 and 2021. This included “It’s like a modern day Gold Rush.” 

On May 14, 2020, BBB closed the matter. Federated Mint added a note in their response - FEDERATED MINT WOULD ALSO LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO THE BBB THAT SOME OF THE CHANGES PREVIOUSLY AGREED TO WERE OMITED FROM THE CURRENT ADVERTISING. THIS WAS NOT INTENTIONAL AND WE TAKE AD REVIEWS AND THE FEEDBACK FROM THE BBB VERY SERIOUSLY AND THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP IN THIS MATTER."

On September 24, 2020, BBB challenged Federated Mint’s newspaper advertisement for Unsearched Vault Bags. The company worked with the BBB and the matter was closed on October 23, 2020.

April 2021, Federated Mint has sent a mailer out to consumers that include this advertisement. None of the modifications that were agreed upon between BBB and the company are present in the ad. Also, the enclosed letter includes the use of the term “valuable”. This company repeatedly states to BBB they will modify this term from their advertisements, however continues to use it.

UPDATE: On May 7, 2021, BBB sent Federated Mint another advertising review on newspaper advertisements found in the Knoxville News Sentinel and The Seattle Times for the unsearched vault bags. BBB challenged the term "unsearched".

The claim "unsearched" was closed as unresolved. The company did propose "adding two statements indicating that each bag contains all the coins listed and the statement “each verified to meet a minimum collector grade quality of very good or better” twice, preceding the reference to “not searched for dates or mint mark”". However, it is BBB's belief these statements will be unseen as they were added to the "article" of the advertisement.