Selling

[optionT]

When the time comes to sell silver and gold, what are the best options?

A scenario I was thinking was to rent a booth aT one of the local coin shows and unload some of the metal that way. Has anyone done that or is that even possible for someone who doesn't have a coin store.

[Skirnir_]

eBay or Apmex may be a good bet for exotic or 'dinged' coins. In my observation, BullionDirect offers the best way to sell, whether through bumping bids or placing asks, so long as one's bullion meets the category's specifications. For larger lots of the same item, some of the wholesale dealers like Tulving, Colorado Gold, etc. might offer the best price because of economies of scale.

Furthermore, friends don't let friends liquidate in quantities greater than $10k.

[Son-of-Liberty]

I am hoping to trade much of it rather then sell. I think people will be much more willing to accept silver and gold as payment when the currency has proven to keep going down and the metals continuously up.

Nothing like a currency crises or two to get peoples minds right.

[madfranks]

When the time comes to sell silver and gold, what are the best options?

A scenario I was thinking was to rent a booth aT one of the local coin shows and unload some of the metal that way. Has anyone done that or is that even possible for someone who doesn't have a coin store.

At most coin shows you should be able to rent a table, and you don't have to be a dealer, I've seen some tables manned by simple collectors either wanting to show off their collections or sell them off. The downside is you might have to pay a couple hundred dollars to rent the table.

[hoarder]

Forget the coin show table. All that will accomplish is teaching you what a bunch of idiots numismatic people are. Put an ad in Craigslist or respond to others Craigslist ads.

[gunDriller]

nothing that involves a member of the general public - or a predatory burglar - from knowing your home address etc.

[Son-of-Liberty]

One thing that popped into my head at first was having a garage sale and selling some silver there. But then I got to thinking and realized that if you did that you wold be setting yourself up for a burglary.

I would think the craiglists option would work. Just meet at a coffee shop or something to do the transaction and don't try and sell your whole stash at once. Could probably get a bit more then spot.

Does anyone know if you bought property in silver, would the old owner have to pay tax? I would think not because there is no realized gain, it is a trade. Would tax only be due when the silver is sold?

[madfranks]

If you're looking to sell a significant amount, don't do craigslist. Meeting an anonymous stranger at your place or even somewhere in public is just too big a risk, IMO. And if you sell it off in small chunks, you'll be driving to dozens of places meeting dozens of strangers, which costs a lot of time and hassle. If you're selling a lot of stuff, I think a table at a coin show is a fine idea. I go to every coin show I can, and there are always plenty of people looking to buy bullion. Not all numismatists are idiots, like hoarder suggests. Folks looking to fill their coin albums or type sets won't be interested in your table, but people looking to increase their stack of metal will be.

[optionT]

Thanks for all the input!

Someone I know is going to sell a "chunk" some time next year and wanted to get cash. The craigslist route is a good idea but the other person doesn't feel comfortable selling that amount that way. The idea of getting a booth/table at a coin show sounds like a good, he'll probably go that route.

Hopefully silver will be around $65.00 sometime next year too!!

[1970 silver art]

When the time comes to sell silver and gold, what are the best options?

A scenario I was thinking was to rent a booth aT one of the local coin shows and unload some of the metal that way. Has anyone done that or is that even possible for someone who doesn't have a coin store.

It depends on the type of gold and silver that you are selling and it also depends on how fast you want the cash. As others might have mentioned, ebay is very good to sell "collectible" gold and silver bars and coins that will get "collector's premiums" for them. The downside to selling on ebay (based on what I heard) are the high fees from ebay and paypal and the possible hassles of an ebay buyer as well as knowing what type of "collector's premiums" that certain gold and silver bars and rounds will sell for. Then again if the gold and silver that you have are high premium PM's (for example, can sell certain silver bars and rounds for a silver premiums of $20 over spot and higher), then you will end up getting more for it even after ebay and paypal fees.

A person can set up a both and sell gold and silver at a coin show without having a coin shop. At the coin shows that I attended earlier this year, there were some dealers there that do not have a regular coin shop and they only sell at the coin shows. As far as I know, the only cost to you to sell your PM's at the coin show is the fee that you will have to pay to rent a table there. The only downside that I can think of when selling at a coin show is the competition from other dealers there. The larger the show, the more competition that you will have if they are selling the same type of gold and silver that you are selling. If the local coin dealer is an option for you, then you can sell there, however, some of them might offer you a deal that might be a steep discount to what the current spot prices are. If there are several local coin dealers in your area, then you might have to shop around to get the best prices if that option is available to you and if you decide to sell there.

[gunDriller]

i used to sell computers on USENET in Silicon Valley in the early/mid 1990's.

i didn't always make a lot of money, but the USENET community was night & day different than today Craigslist generation.

i had Zero no-shows.

Zero low-balls - nobody ever tried to 'bargain me down.'

it was like a "warp" in the Universe - so different from today's Craigslist/eBay generation.


maybe early adopters of the Internet were just different from the masses.

[slowbell]

I'm surprised nobody recommended going to a local gold and silver shop. The local guy I've bought from has been in business for over 20 years, he's honest, friendly, and it's a family run business. Bullion coins are reasonably prices, small spread on selling. I've only sold a couple of times, got spot for krugs, and spot +5 for eagles. He was happy to take my coins.

I also asked him once about fakes. He said 1 fake, could ruin his rep and put him out of business. He took that very seriously (though I still use my fisch tester, and he doesn't take offense to that.)

If I need to sell, I'll go to him any day.

[Shami-Amourae]

When you sell to a in-person dealer can you do it in cash and not have to report it to the IRS?

[milehi]

When you sell to a in-person dealer can you do it in cash and not have to report it to the IRS?

I'm in good with my local guy and get cash when I sell, although I've never sold more than $3500 worth; others get a check to his bank across the street. When silver was in the high 40's and gold touching 2k, I chose "in store credit" which I used the next summer.

ebay sucks. The fees are greedy high. One time I sold some Silver Strike casino tokens and some little bitch gave me negative rep because the plastic cases were scuffed, eventhough the transaction was seamless.

I don't do craigslist anymore for PMs, but when I did, I'd meet the person at their bank or a branch of my credit union.

[mamboni]

I'm surprised nobody recommended going to a local gold and silver shop. The local guy I've bought from has been in business for over 20 years, he's honest, friendly, and it's a family run business. Bullion coins are reasonably prices, small spread on selling. I've only sold a couple of times, got spot for krugs, and spot +5 for eagles. He was happy to take my coins.

I also asked him once about fakes. He said 1 fake, could ruin his rep and put him out of business. He took that very seriously (though I still use my fisch tester, and he doesn't take offense to that.)

If I need to sell, I'll go to him any day.

Those are superb buy prices offered by your coin dealer - he's a stand up guy. What state are you in?

[slowbell]

Those are superb buy prices offered by your coin dealer - he's a stand up guy. What state are you in?

CA. He's very stand up. I'd recommend him, through PM, of course.

It's why I like bullion. You ought to get spot for your coins. That why there's a premium, I don't mind eating that, because that's what it's there for, to cover the cost of minting, dealer mark up (they have to make a living).

I won't sell any bullion for less than spot. Anything less, is a scam, and I wouldn't trust that guy.

[1970 silver art]

I won't sell any bullion for less than spot. Anything less, is a scam, and I wouldn't trust that guy.

All of the local coin shops (LCS) in my area (Southeast TN/North Georgia) have their buy prices for less than spot silver. Gold is the same way. That is normal for the LCS's in my area. In early 2011, When I sold a bunch of holiday-themed silver art bars that I no longer wanted to a local dealer, I got between $1 to $1.50 under spot for most of them. That was the best offer in my area. I could have sold them on ebay but the only problem with that is that, at that time, most of those holiday-themed bars and and other .999 generic silver art bars would not have netted me that much more per bar after ebay and paypal fees.

The LCS route to sell them at that time was easier and quicker for me. The price that I got for them ($1.00 to $1.50 under spot) really did not matter to me at that time because I paid between $14 to $25 for each of those bars at that time a few years ago and spot silver at that time when I made those multiple sales was between $43-$47. All that I ended up doing with those profits from those sales was buy the rare silver art bars that were on my silver art bar wish list and that worked out fine. I do not sell very often but I wanted to sell at that time in early 2011 because I was "upgrading" my silver art bar collection and I focused my concentration on finding and buying the rare silver art bars and Coca-Cola silver art bars that I really wanted.

I think that most local coin shops buy .999 generic silver at under spot. As I mentioned, I wanted to sell to a local coin shop and $1.00 to $1.50 under spot was the best price in my area at that time because other were buying at $2 and sometimes $3 under spot at certain local shops. If people want to sell to a LCS, then it is best to shop around if there are multiple LCS's in your area.

EDIT: I have never sold any silver art bars or anything else on ebay but I had an idea of what it would cost me in fees because I had (and still have) a tool that calculates the total fees when selling a particular item on ebay and that helped me at time to get an idea of what I would pay in fees and that is how I knew that I would be better off selling those unwanted bars at the LCS as opposed to selling them on ebay. With that said and as I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, Ebay is IMO still the best place to sell high premium rare silver art bars and other "collectible" gold and silver coins IF you have a good idea of how much they can get on ebay. Generally speaking, $15 over spot IMO is the minimum point to where I think that it is worthwhile to sell "collectible" silver on ebay after you factor in ebay and paypal fees (ex: at 12% of winning bid) if a person decides to immediately flip it after they bought it at a low enough .999 generic silver premium. $20 over spot (and higher) is a optimal sale price IMO if a person wants to sell a "collectible" silver bar or coin on ebay. I am saying that in general terms but it can also depend on several factors such as what "collectible" silver coins and bars that a person is selling and how they sell them on ebay. This is a situation to where you have to know the collector market and to know what you own. I wanted to mention this as an FYI so that other people reading my post will have another option to sell high premium collectible PM's because the LCS will only buy "collectible" PM's at at metal value (minus a discount) and not at "collector value".