Assurances

Who am I, what is 'Predecimal.com' and what assurances do I offer for anyone considering doing business through this website?

I take my business very seriously and will attempt to re-assure anyone considering doing business through this website in the paragraphs below:

Who am I?

I am Chris Perkins and I am solely responsible for this website, all it's content, maintenance and design. I am British and spend most of my time in Germany and the UK. I was born on the London/Kent Border in the South East of England and have been selling coins of one kind or another for over 22 years. Should you ever need to find me, I will always be at one of the addresses shown in the Full contact details area of this site.

Who is 'Predecimal.com'?

I started a coin website way back in 1999 when I noticed the lack of British coins available online. The poorly designed few websites that did offer coins had very little stock and often no pictures. As a collector at the time I got annoyed with these sites and set about designing my own site, at weekends and after work during the day. (I used to work in London, for an IT company https://www.bromcom.com/). In fact, one of the first (very basic) guises of the current site was created on my work laptop while I was sitting in a launderette in Sidcup, Kent (out of work hours, obviously)!

After the odd name change over the years and the addition or lots of content, my coin site evolved into predecimal.com and I must admit I'm quite proud of what it has become.

Over the years I have established links with other highly reputable coin dealers and collectors, mainly in the UK and USA and I ocassionally offer some of their items for sale. Although I do not have anybody working for me and take full responsibility for everything on Predecimal.com.

What assurances can I offer to anyone considering doing business through this website?

A reputation is a tough thing to earn, especially online. Anyone can set up a website for any purpose and start charging money right away! So how do you know this is above board?

Over the years it has become more obvious to me that generally people are skeptical about parting with money over the internet or sending something to someone they do not really know. Personally I have also sent money to people and ended up loosing it!

When any business is carried out through this website it is entirely with me that you deal with and in an attempt to re-assure potential customers I can provide the following assurances:

1. Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but if you google my full name 'Christopher Henry Perkins' or search for it on Amazon, you'll find quite a number of coin related books that I have written or been involved with since 2004. That hopefully offers some reassurance as to who I am and that I'm very serious about coins and what I do. My books are among the best selling coin related books in the UK.

2. Over the years I have been a member of a number of trade organisations, specifically designed to provide assurances for the internet using public. In 2008 I was proud to have been proposed and accepted as a member of The British Numismatic Trade Association. Membership requirements are strict, and there is a code of conduct to which memebers must adhere. I allowed my membership to lapse in 2017 as I felt the benefits didn't really out weigh the annual membership fee. During my 9 years as a member there were no issues with my standing or breaches against their code of conduct. 

3. I am ocassionally the BBC 3 Counties radio, 'Coin expert'. I was last on air, briefly, in spring 2017 (that in itself doesn't prove I'm honest and trust worthy you may say!) If you need to verify my identity you are welcome to contact BBC 3 Counties radio via the BBC website. Unfortunately I no longer have my regular phone-in slot as DJ John Pilgrim moved on to producing, rather than presenting. Fingers crossed that another regular radio programme will happen in the future. Link to BBC website

4. I offer a full no quibble returns policy. If I supply you with something you are not entirely happy with I will take it back and send you a full refund. This is my own simple common sense policy and I strictly adhere to it. In 15+ years and thousands of transactions only a handful of customers have felt the need to take advantage of this policy.

5. The forum contains a few comments from previous happy customers, although it's full of many thousands of coin related posts, so they may be hard to find. You can look at the forum by clicking here.

6. If you are still skeptical about using me to buy from, or to sell to, or have any other questions relating to using my website, please contact me for a chat. I will be pleased to provide you with reputable London coin dealers or International collectors that will be pleased to vouch for my honesty and professionalism. Email.

Thanks for taking the time to read this page. Chris Perkins, 14th May 2003

(updated 19th December 2005, 16th December 2010, 28th July 2015, 16th November 2017 and 20th June 2022)