our history
2023:
2023 marked 15 years since UkBullionByPost parent company Jewellery Quarter Bullion Limited was incorporated – 25th November 2008. Jewellery Quarter Bullion Limited has grown rapidly in 15 years with multiple business within the precious metals industry, among others.
2023 also saw Jewellery Quarter Bullion Limited join the London Bullion Market Association as an affiliate member. Joining the LBMA is a great honour for the company and helps solidify our place as the UK’s number one online bullion dealer.
2021:
With the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for precious metals as a safe haven was still high and it was another busy year for BullionByPost.
Aside continued growth of the business and the rapid expansion of our Customer Support team, UkBullionByPost also became an Associate member of the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). This gives BBP more access for the assessment and grading of coins, as well as expert support in this process.
2020:
2020 was an unusual year for the company – and everybody – with the arrival of the Covid-19.
In the face of the pandemic, demand for safe-havens such as gold and silver increased markedly.
Jewellery Quarter Bullion achieved £300m bullion sales in the UK and Europe, with 75,000 new
registered customers in the process.
We would like to thank all staff members for their professionalism in these difficult times and
the hard work they have put in while working from home, with many deputising to assist the
customer services department and others working overtime to ensure that the business continued
to operate as smoothly as possible and provide the very best service for our customers.
So significant was the increase in bullion demand though that the company won the Sunday
Times International Track 200 Award (pictured right). This also meant hiring several new
multilingual members of staff for our customer support team, as well as additional support
across the business. In total we hired 14 staff in 2020, and 2021 already seems to be carrying on
where we left off…
2019:
2019 was an impressive year for precious metals – particularly gold and palladium – with gold
gaining 11% in value in Sterling and 13% in value in US Dollars for the year. With that in mind,
demand was high for the year and helped the company pass the 400,000 orders delivered mark.
2018:
2018 started off strong, with UkBullionByPost France registering its first 100,000€ order. The next
month saw the UK hit 300,000 parcels dispatched, and in August the Irish website had its first
50,000€ order.
In June the expansion work continued, with the launch of Orissimo.it in Italy, and three months later
came the launch of the Greek language website, XrysosOnline.gr.
The company featured in The Sunday Times repeatedly in 2018 – this time in the Profit Track 100 in
April, highlighting the company’s snowballing growth and success it is having, and in the Top Track
250 in October.
UkBullionByPost also made the finals of the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018, entered in the
categories of ‘Customer-centric Culture – Customer Focus’ and ‘Financial Services – Banking &
Investment’.
As of the end of 2018, JQB Ltd has 45 members of staff. With the expected launch of Inversoro.es
before Christmas, and further European expansion plans for 2019, many job vacancies are listed on
the UkBullionByPost website meaning the company will likely surpass 50 employees in 2019.
2017:
UkBullionByPost began its expansion in earnest in 2017. In March it launched the BullionByPost Ireland
website, in July it launched BullionByPost France, and in December it launched both the BullionBy
Post EU and BullionByPost USA websites.
In May, the company also dispatched its 250,000th UK order.
2016:
2016 was less about what UkBullionByPost did and more about the political climate, with the Brexit
Referendum taking place in June. The Leave vote winning saw a huge and unprecedented rise in
demand for gold, with staff working overtime to satisfy the extra orders. It will be no surprise that
during this period UkBullionByPost sent out its 200,000th package and received its 15,000th
eKomi independent review.
November saw a similar boon for gold with the election of Donald Trump as US President. The
result shocked the world, and the economic uncertainty of an untried politician such as Trump
led to yet another surge of interest in gold as an investment.
2015:
A quieter year, UkBullionByPost sent out its 150,000th order in July and by October the company had
listed its 2,000th product on the BBP website. Jewellery Quarter Bullion Ltd added several new staff
members, taking the total of employees to 25.
2014:
In 2014 the awards kept coming, with the Institute of Directors (IoD) naming Rob Halliday-Stein
as their Director of the Year and Young Director of the Year. June also saw BBP dispatch its
100,000th customer order, and this growth was recognised in August when UkBullionByPost finally
became the UK’s number 1 online bullion dealer, based on traffic statistics from Experian Hitwise
between August 2013 and 2014. To this day the company still holds this market accolade.
The company and its CEO were back into award-mode in the autumn, with Rob Halliday-Stein into
the finals of the Institute of Directors National Awards 2014 for the category of Director of the Year
– Medium sized Enterprise. UkBullionByPost also made the finals of the Customer Experience Awards.
Rather appropriately, the 10,000th eKomi review was submitted in November, and in December the
company was acknowledged in The Sunday Times’ Fast Track 100 list for rapidly growing companies.
2013:
January began with UkBullionByPost generating its 5,000th eKomi independent customer review
and by March the company received its first £1 million order.
The BBC approached BullionByPost in April to ask if they could use some of its gold bullion bars
for display during a Newsnight special on the rising value of gold and its investment potential.
BBP agreed, and sent 10 bars weighing 1kg each down to their London studios.
Growing customer numbers resulted in a summer move from the Jewellery Quarter to Centre City
Tower, near Birmingham New Street station (the company is still here today!), and in August, BBP
followed up its expansion with the first TV advert campaign.
By the end of the year the company had won the award for Best Financial Services at the eCommerce
Awards for Excellence as well as our MD being a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year at the Growing
Business Awards 2013.
2012:
2012 was a relatively quiet year landmark wise for UkBullionByPost, with the company looking to invest
in expansion. One avenue was a sister website, GOLD.co.uk. Rob Halliday-Stein bought the URL to that site
in April, ready to launch a differently marketed bullion website that focussed on large scale investment.
In September, UkBullionByPost’s growth and quality was recognised by The Royal Mint, who granted BBP
permission to purchase Royal Mint bullion and sell it as an Authorised Distributor; an accolade only held
by two companies in the UK.
2011:
By January the company had its 1,000th independent customer review via eKomi – a sign of the confidence
in UkBullionByPost and its commitment to excellent customer services.
In March, the company hired its Finance Director, and also marked the month with its first
£100,000 order. A few weeks later and the 10,000th parcel was also dispatched, and by July the company
had achieved its first ever £1 million sales week – an impressive feat a year since achieving that in a month.
2010:
The company continued to grow steadily, and by July it had registered its first £1 million sales month.
As a result, UkBullionByPost moved to new headquarters at 93 Vyse Street in Birmingham’s Jewellery
Quarter – dubbed “The Coin Exchange”. The nickname was a cheeky homage to the likes of
the Corn Exchanges of old, and helped attract both bullion investors and coin collectors to BBP.
Specialist staff, including an in-house web developer, were recruited, as well as managers for marketing,
HR, and operations in order to keep the business growing.
2009:
The UkBullionByPost website launched officially in June, selling just 10 products. These were
primarily from the Belgian refiners Umicore, with the 100g gold bar our very first product!
By July, the company has dispatched 100 orders and also registered its first £10,000 purchase.
The demand for gold and silver bullion snowballed, and in November the company had its first
£100,000 sales week and before Christmas it dispatched its 1,000th order.
2008:
UkBullionByPost was founded in 2008 by Rob Halliday-Stein, the managing director of the newly-established
Jewellery Quarter Bullion Ltd. Following the passing of his mother, Rob inherited £10,000 – money with
which is sought to invest in bullion during the financial crisis. Seeing the demand for bullion but having
personally experienced difficulty in buying any, Rob sensed an opportunity to start up an online British
bullion dealership that would be quick and easy to use, while being a secure service and a reliable aide for
investors of all calibres.
The company started as a home operation, quite literally on a living room floor in Birmingham’s Jewellery
Quarter, but quickly expanded to a three person team. The company operated on a word-of-mouth basis
initially, while the website and BullionByPost brand was developed, but the ethos of excellent customer
service kept customers coming back for more.
