Selling bullion comes down to choosing the right buyer, verifying your metal’s authenticity, and handling the transaction safely. Whether you’re liquidating gold bars, silver rounds, or platinum coins, the process is straightforward once you understand your options, what buyers expect, and how to protect yourself during the sale.
Where to Sell Bullion
You have several channels for selling, and each one trades off convenience against the price you’ll get.
- Local coin and bullion dealers: The fastest option. You walk in, the dealer tests and weighs your metal, and you leave with cash or a check the same day. Dealers typically offer a few percentage points below the current spot price to cover their margin. Visit two or three shops to compare offers, since buyback prices vary.
- Online bullion dealers: Companies like APMEX, JM Bullion, SD Bullion, and Kitco run buyback programs. You lock in a price over the phone or online, ship your metal to the dealer, and receive payment after they verify it. Online dealers often pay closer to spot than local shops because of lower overhead, but you’ll wait several days for payment and need to handle shipping and insurance.
- Peer-to-peer sales: Selling directly to another collector through forums, social media groups, or local classifieds can get you the highest price since there’s no dealer margin. The trade-off is more risk: you need to handle authentication, payment verification, and the possibility of disputes yourself.
- Pawn shops: Convenient but usually the worst price. Pawn shops serve a different market and rarely offer competitive rates for investment-grade bullion.
For most sellers, the choice is between a local dealer (speed and simplicity) and an online dealer (potentially better price). If you’re selling a large quantity, the price difference can be significant enough to justify the extra steps of shipping.
Check the Spot Price Before You Sell
Before contacting any buyer, look up the current spot price for your metal. Spot price is the real-time market price per troy ounce for gold, silver, platinum, or palladium. Sites like Kitco, APMEX, and Bloomberg display it throughout the trading day.
Dealers quote buyback prices relative to spot. A dealer might offer “spot minus $30 per ounce” on gold or “spot minus $1” on silver. Knowing the spot price lets you evaluate whether an offer is competitive. As a rough benchmark, expect local dealers to pay 2% to 5% below spot for common bullion products. Recognized brands and government-minted coins (American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, Australian Kangaroos) tend to command slightly higher buyback prices than generic bars or rounds because they’re easier for the dealer to resell.
Some products carry a numismatic premium on top of their metal value. If you have proof coins, limited mintages, or coins in exceptional condition, get them appraised separately rather than selling them at bullion prices.
How Dealers Verify Your Metal
Any reputable buyer will test your bullion before paying you. This protects both sides and typically takes just a few minutes. Here’s what to expect.
The simplest checks are visual and physical. The dealer examines the piece under magnification, looking at mint marks, surface quality, weight, and dimensions. A “ping test,” where the coin is struck lightly with a small metal object, can reveal whether the metal rings at the frequency expected for gold or silver. Counterfeit pieces made from base metals produce a noticeably different tone.
For more precise verification, dealers use electronic conductivity testers. These devices measure how well the metal conducts electricity, which varies by composition. A gold-plated tungsten fake, for example, has different conductivity than solid gold. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers are common in larger shops and can identify the exact concentration of gold, silver, and any alloying elements without damaging the piece. XRF is non-destructive and gives results in seconds, making it the standard tool at pawn shops, coin dealers, and cash-for-gold operations.
Acid testing is an older method that applies a series of acids to a small scratch on the metal to determine karat value. It’s mildly destructive, so it’s more common with scrap jewelry than investment bullion. Fire assay, which involves melting the piece, is the most accurate method and serves as the legal standard for gold hallmarking, but no dealer will use it on a coin or bar you’re selling since it destroys the item.
You don’t need to bring certificates of authenticity or original packaging, though having them can speed up the process and occasionally improve your offer. Keeping your bullion in its original mint packaging or capsules helps preserve condition.
Selling to an Online Dealer
The typical process with an online buyback program works like this: you call or submit an online request describing what you have. The dealer quotes a price, usually locked in for 24 hours. If you accept, they send you shipping instructions and sometimes a prepaid label. You pack and ship the metal, the dealer receives and verifies it, and payment goes out within a few business days, usually by check or bank wire.
The critical step is shipping. USPS Registered Mail is the recommended method for sending precious metals. It offers up to $25,000 of insurance per parcel, which is essential for high-value shipments. Standard USPS insurance will not cover lost precious metals unless they are sent by Registered Mail. FedEx and UPS do not offer insurance for precious metals to individual shippers, so unless you have a third-party commercial policy, stick with USPS.
Proper packaging matters for both safety and insurance claims. Double-box your shipment so one box fits snugly inside the other. Seal all interior and exterior seams with 1-inch filament tape, then tamperproof the outer box edges with 3-inch paper gummed tape. Wrap bars in bubble wrap or newspaper, and if you’re shipping coins in tubes, fill any empty space with packing material and tape the tube caps down. Include a packing slip inside listing your name, return address, the recipient, and a detailed inventory of every piece.
On the outside of the package, use nondescript abbreviations instead of words like “gold,” “silver,” “coin,” or “bullion.” You don’t want to advertise the contents. You’ll need to fill out Postal Service Form 3806, available free at any USPS location, to send Registered Mail.
Tax Implications of Selling Bullion
The IRS classifies precious metals as collectibles, which means profits from selling bullion are subject to capital gains tax. If you held the metal for more than a year, gains are taxed at the collectibles rate, which caps at 28%, higher than the 15% or 20% long-term capital gains rate that applies to stocks. If you held it for a year or less, gains are taxed as ordinary income at your regular rate.
Your taxable gain is the difference between what you paid (your cost basis) and what you received at sale. Keep purchase receipts, invoices, or account records so you can accurately calculate your basis. Without documentation, the IRS could treat your entire sale proceeds as gain.
Dealer Reporting on Form 1099-B
Not every bullion sale triggers a Form 1099-B from the dealer. A sale is only reportable if the metal is in a form for which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved trading by regulated futures contract, and the quantity meets or exceeds the minimum contract size. For gold, this generally means 1-kilo bars or certain quantities of specific coins. For silver, it typically means 1,000 ounces or more. Sales below those thresholds, or sales of metals in forms not approved for futures trading, do not require the dealer to file a 1099-B.
Dealers must aggregate all sales from a single customer within a 24-hour period when determining whether the reporting threshold is met, so splitting a large sale across multiple small transactions in the same day won’t help you avoid reporting. Regardless of whether a 1099-B is filed, you are still responsible for reporting any gain on your tax return.
Getting the Best Price
Timing matters. Precious metals prices fluctuate throughout the day based on global markets, so selling when prices are trending higher helps. That said, trying to time the market precisely is difficult. If you’re selling because you need the money or want to rebalance your portfolio, focus on getting competitive quotes rather than waiting for the perfect price.
Sell in larger quantities when possible. Dealers offer better per-ounce rates on bulk transactions because the same amount of paperwork and verification covers a bigger sale. If you have a mix of products, separate them by type and condition before approaching a dealer. Organized sellers get faster, better offers.
Government-minted coins and bars from well-known refiners (PAMP Suisse, Valcambi, Royal Canadian Mint, Perth Mint) are the easiest to sell and typically fetch the best buyback prices. Generic rounds and bars from lesser-known mints may sell at a slight discount because dealers need to spend more time verifying them or may have a harder time reselling them.
Finally, get multiple quotes. Call at least two or three dealers, both local and online, before committing. The difference between offers can easily be $20 to $50 per ounce on gold, which adds up fast on a larger sale.