How to sell gold and silver for a fair price

At a glance

Bullion coins and bars	Offers usually close to the spot value of the metal
Jewelry and scrap	Paid on the gold or silver content, less the buyer’s margin
Before you go	Know the weight, the purity and today’s spot price
How many offers	At least two or three
What to bring	A government-issued photo ID
Taxes	Gains are taxed as collectibles, at up to 28%

1. Work out what you have

What you’re selling decides who will pay the most for it.

• Bullion coins, such as the American Gold Eagle or the Canadian Maple Leaf, are the easiest to sell. Our coin guides list how much gold each one contains.
• Bars carry the maker’s name, the weight and the purity. Bars from well-known refiners sell easily. An unfamiliar bar may need testing first, which can lower the offer.
• Gold jewelry is usually stamped with its karat, such as 10K, 14K or 18K, or with a number such as 585 or 750. Marks like GP (gold plated) or GF (gold filled) mean a layer of gold over another metal, which is worth far less.
• Silver marked “sterling” or 925 is 92.5% silver. Silver plate is a thin layer of silver over another metal.
• Collector coins with rare dates, or coins graded and sealed by a grading service, can be worth more than their metal. Have them appraised before you sell them as bullion.

2. Work out what the metal is worth

Check the spot price on the day you plan to sell. For bullion, the gold or silver content is part of the coin or bar’s specifications. For jewelry, you need the weight and the karat:

Karat	Gold content	Also stamped
24K	99.9% or more	999
22K	91.7%	916
18K	75%	750
14K	58.3%	585
10K	41.7%	417

Then multiply the weight by the gold content and the spot price. Precious metals are priced in troy ounces, and a troy ounce is 31.103 grams, a little heavier than the 28.35-gram ounce on a kitchen scale. So 20 grams of 14K jewelry contains 11.66 grams of gold, or about 0.375 troy ounces. With gold at $4,300 an ounce, that gold is worth about $1,610. This is the melt value, and it’s the most a scrap buyer could pay.

3. Know how buyers set their offers

For bullion, dealers quote a buying price, called the bid, against the spot price. Popular coins and bars from well-known makers usually fetch close to spot, and the gap between a dealer’s buying and selling prices is its margin. Our guide to what gold really costs explains that spread.

For jewelry and scrap, buyers pay a share of the melt value, because they have to refine the metal and still make money. That share varies a lot from buyer to buyer, which is why a second or third offer matters. Scrap buyers usually pay nothing extra for gemstones or designer names. If a piece might be worth more as jewelry, have it appraised or ask a jeweler about selling it as it is.

Proof and collector coins are the hardest to judge. Much of what you paid over the metal value often isn’t paid back.

4. Choose where to sell

Buyer	Best for	Watch out for
Local coin shop	Bullion coins, bars and collector coins	Offers vary from shop to shop
Online bullion dealer	Bullion, especially larger amounts	You ship first and get paid after they check it
Jeweler	Jewelry that’s worth more than its gold	Many pay scrap value only
Pawn shop	Quick cash for small amounts	Offers tend to be lower
Mail-in gold buyer	Scrap jewelry, if nothing is nearby	You see the offer after your items are gone
Pop-up buyer at a hotel or event	Rarely the best choice	Offers often well below the going rate

Coin shops and online dealers buy bullion every day, so they usually pay the most for it. With an online dealer, you normally lock in a price by phone or on its website, ship the metal insured, and get paid once it arrives and passes their checks. Read the terms on shipping costs, insurance and what happens if an item doesn’t match its description.

A pawn loan isn’t a sale. You get cash, and you get the item back only if you repay the loan plus interest and fees on time.

Pop-up buyers set up for a few days in a hotel or at an event. The Better Business Bureau warns that they “often pay much less than the going rate.”

5. Compare offers

• Ask each buyer how the offer was worked out: the weight, the purity and the price per ounce or gram.
• Ask for the weight in grams or troy ounces, and watch the item being weighed.
• Keep different karats apart. The BBB’s advice is “Don’t let your items of different karat value be weighed together.”
• Ask about fees for testing, shipping or payment, and get the final offer in writing.
• Don’t clean coins before selling them. Cleaning can scratch them and lower what a buyer will pay.

Metal prices move during the day, so compare offers made close together, or ask a dealer to hold a quote while you decide.

6. Getting paid and the paperwork

Expect to show a government-issued photo ID. Many states require businesses that buy gold from the public to record who sold it, and some make them hold items for a period before melting or reselling them. Virginia, for example, requires a photo ID and a signed statement of ownership, and dealers must send a record of each purchase to local police and keep the items for 15 days after the police receive it.

For a large sale, a bank transfer or a check from an established business is safer than carrying cash. Keep the receipt with your purchase records.

Selling gold held in an IRA

If the metal is in a gold IRA, you don’t sell it yourself. You tell your custodian, the depository releases the metal to the buyer, and the money goes into your IRA as cash. Nothing is taxed until you take money out of the account. Custodians and dealers may charge fees for the sale, and our guide to gold IRA fees covers them.

Taxes when you sell

A profit on gold or silver is taxed as a gain on a collectible, at up to 28% for metal you’ve owned more than a year. Some sales are reported to the IRS on Form 1099-B, depending on the product and the amount. Our guide to how gold is taxed explains the rules and how to report a sale.

Frequently asked questions