Precious Metals Dealers: How to Compare Local and Online Bullion Dealers

Compare precious metal dealers on three things: the total delivered price as a percentage of melt value, the buyback price the same dealer quotes for the same product, and whether the metal reaches your hands, or a depository that confirms it holds the metal in your name, within a stated time. The reason is the spread. A dealer sells above the spot price, buys back below it, and sets its own spread. Retail metal dealers are not regulated at the federal level (CFTC), so the checking falls to the buyer, whether the dealer is a local shop or one of the bullion dealers online.

Key takeaways

• The spread is the dealer’s margin. A dealer sells above spot and buys back below spot, and each dealer sets its own spread (CFTC).
• Judge every offer on its total delivered price, including shipping, insurance, and any payment-method difference, as a percentage of melt value, and ask the same dealer what it would pay today to buy the same product back.
• Retail metal dealers are not regulated at the federal level. Get all fees and the agreed price in writing before paying, and check complaints with your state attorney general or securities regulator (CFTC).
• The U.S. Mint sells bullion coins only to Authorized Purchasers, at 3 to 9 percent over the LBMA gold price depending on coin size, so smaller gold coins start from a higher premium before a dealer adds its own.

How a dealer prices bullion

A dealer prices bullion from the spot price and adds its own spread on each side of the trade. The spot price is the cash price for immediate delivery, quoted in dollars per troy ounce. A dealer sells above spot and buys back below spot; the difference is the dealer’s spread, and each dealer sets its own (CFTC). The CFTC reports that some fraudulent dealers have charged spreads of more than 300 percent while other dealers may charge less than 20 percent. Those are the agency’s examples, not a typical range.

Above the dealer sits the U.S. Mint’s distribution chain. The Mint does not sell bullion coins directly to the public. It sells them to Authorized Purchasers, who make a two-way market with wholesalers, dealers, and the public, and not every Authorized Purchaser sells to consumers (U.S. Mint). The Mint’s published terms, read on November 10, 2026, charge Authorized Purchasers the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) PM gold price plus 3 percent for a 1-ounce American Eagle gold coin, 5 percent for the 1/2-ounce, 7 percent for the 1/4-ounce, and 9 percent for the 1/10-ounce, and the LBMA silver price plus $3.05 per silver Eagle. A smaller coin therefore starts from a higher premium per ounce before any dealer adds its own. To see what a product’s metal is worth at a given spot price, use the gold bar and coin value or silver coin melt value calculators.

What to compare between dealers

Ask every dealer the same six questions, and the answers become comparable.

Item	What to ask	Why it matters
Total delivered price	What is the full total, including the product, shipping, insurance, and any difference for paying by card, wire, or check?	This is what leaves your account. Divide it by melt value (weight in troy ounces × fineness × spot) to compare offers on one basis.
Buyback price	What would you pay today to buy back this exact product?	The CFTC tells buyers to ask this. It is the price you would exit at today.
Payment terms	Does the price change with card, wire, or check, and when does the price lock?	The payment method can change the price, and the lock time sets what you pay.
Delivery	When does the metal ship, who carries the risk until it arrives, and is the shipment tracked and insured?	When you pay before shipment, the delivery terms decide who carries the risk in between.
Storage, if offered	Who holds the metal, is mine segregated or pooled, and what statement shows my holding?	These terms decide whether you can confirm the metal exists and is held in your name.
Fees in writing	Will you put every fee, commission, and the agreed price in writing before I pay?	The CFTC calls fees that are not available in writing before a purchase a red flag.

Hypothetical example, round numbers: a product holding exactly one troy ounce of fine gold, with spot at $2,000, has a melt value of $2,000. A delivered price of $2,060 is 3 percent over melt, and a buyback quote of $1,960 is 2 percent under. Buying and selling back the same day in this example costs $100, or 5 percent of melt value, before tax.

Local precious metal dealers

Buying from local precious metal dealers lets you inspect the product and the receipt before paying, removes shipping risk, and gives you the buyback quote at the same counter. The CFTC suggests starting with well-established dealers in your local community.

To check a dealer’s complaint history, contact your state attorney general or state securities regulator (CFTC). USA.gov lists state attorney general offices, and the North American Securities Administrators Association lists state securities regulators.

A cash purchase over $10,000 brings one reporting rule, and it is the dealer’s obligation. A business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or related transactions files Form 8300 with the IRS and FinCEN. In a sale of collectibles, which include metal and coins, cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks, and money orders with a face value of $10,000 or less also count as cash. Breaking a payment into smaller pieces to avoid the report is called structuring, and it is a crime (IRS Form 8300 reference guide). The filing itself is routine.

Bullion dealers online: what to check

Bullion dealers online post their prices, which makes comparison quicker, but you usually pay before the metal ships, so the delivery row in the table above carries more weight. The CFTC’s checks for buying online: verify the dealer’s physical address and how long it has operated, and search the names of its owners and salespeople for complaints or criminal allegations.

The questions are the same whether you are comparing gold bullion dealers online or silver bullion dealers online. Only the Mint’s starting premium differs: a flat $3.05 per silver Eagle against 3 to 9 percent per gold Eagle.

Delivery, storage, and financed purchases

A financed or leveraged purchase falls under federal commodity law. Under section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act, a retail metals purchase that is financed by the seller, or bought on margin or leverage, must trade on a regulated exchange unless the metal is actually delivered within 28 days (CFTC 2013 interpretation). In a 2022 enforcement order, the CFTC found that a dealer’s financed metal stayed in a storage facility the dealer chose, under the dealer’s exclusive control, until the loan was repaid, and that this did not count as actual delivery. The practical test: if you never receive the metal, and no depository confirms it holds the metal in your name, check further before paying anything more. The CFTC also reports that some fraudulent dealers charged storage and insurance fees for metal that never existed. For how depositories and segregated storage work, see gold IRA depositories.

Coins sold as collectible

Bullion coins and bars share a standard purity and weight, while “numismatic” means rare or collectible. “Semi-numismatic” is, in the CFTC’s words, a made-up industry term: such coins are typically not rare, and they are likely harder to sell than bullion (CFTC). A reproduction coin made in or imported into the United States must be plainly and permanently marked “COPY” under the Hobby Protection Act rules (16 CFR 304.6).

Warning signs

Each pattern below comes from CFTC or FTC guidance, and each is a reason to stop and verify before paying.

• Unsolicited calls, emails, mailers, late-night commercials, social media posts, or sellers who appear at public events or offer to come to your home (CFTC).
• A salesperson who tells you what, how much, or when to buy. That is advice, and the person may need to be registered; check at cftc.gov/check, through FINRA BrokerCheck, or with your state regulator (CFTC).
• Free metal or bonus offers. Ask how the company earns its profit (CFTC).
• Fees that are not available in writing before you pay (CFTC).
• Anyone claiming to be a government agent who tells you to buy gold bars and hand them to a courier. The FTC says no government agent will ever ask this, and anyone who does is a scammer.

For scams aimed at retirement savings, see gold IRA scams.

Buying gold for an IRA

In an IRA, the dealer is one of three parties, alongside the custodian and the depository. The metal must be held by the IRA trustee or custodian (CFTC), and only certain bullion is allowed (IRS). For the IRA-specific checks, see how we review gold IRA dealers, the gold IRA due diligence checklist, and IRA-eligible gold.

When you sell back

The buyback quote from the comparison table is the price you would get today, and the gap between it and what you paid is the cost of the round trip. Tax is a separate layer: gold and silver coins and bullion are collectibles, so a net gain is taxed at a maximum federal rate of 28 percent (IRS Topic 409). How to sell gold covers the exit and the tax, and gold IRA spread and buyback works through the spread arithmetic.

Related research

• Gold IRA spread and buyback: the arithmetic behind premiums and exit prices.
• Gold bar and coin value: melt value by bar and coin size.
• Gold price per gram: converting troy-ounce quotes to grams and karats.
• Silver coin melt value: melt value for US silver coins.
• How to sell gold: the exit side, including the collectibles tax rate.
• IRA-eligible gold: which products an IRA can hold.