What Happens When You Sell Gold & Silver
When you sell, a dealer pays you the bid — and the bid sits near spot no matter what you paid. That makes the round trip simple: buy price minus sell price is your real cost of ownership, and almost all of it is decided on the day you buy. On today's numbers, a retail Silver Eagle round-trips at roughly a 17% loss before the metal moves at all; the same coin at posted member cost round-trips at about 6%. Gold is tighter (roughly 1–4%). Taxes apply to gains either way. You can't control the bid; you can control the ask.
Every guide on this site tells you how to buy metal well. Almost nobody — us included, until now — explains what happens at the other end. Yet the sell side is where the whole "premium" conversation finally cashes out, because a premium you can't recover isn't a cost you paid once; it's a cost you carry until the day you sell. This chapter walks the round trip honestly: what a dealer actually pays, why it differs by product, what the math looks like on real September 2026 prices, what the tax man expects, and how to lose less.
Bid, ask, and the spread — the three words that explain everything
Every dealer runs two prices on every product. The ask is what you pay to buy — spot plus a premium covering minting, shipping, overhead, and margin. The bid is what the dealer pays you when you sell — usually spot, give or take a little. The gap between the two is the spread, and the spread is the true cost of the round trip. If the terms feel new, the glossary and Metals 101 cover the basics; the real cost of premiums covers the buy side in depth.
The metal has to rise by at least the spread before you break even. Everything you do to shrink the ask shrinks the spread, because the bid barely moves.
Here's the part beginners miss: the bid does not care what you paid. A dealer buying a 2026 Silver Eagle offers roughly the same number whether you bought it at a coin show for $95, at retail for $82, or at dealer cost for $72. The coin is the coin. That single fact is why the buy price is the only lever you really own.
What dealers actually pay (typical 2026 ranges)
These are broad, honest guides for normal markets, drawn from published dealer buyback pages and industry explainers (see sources). Bids widen in panics and tighten in shortages — always get live quotes.
| Product | Typical bid vs. spot | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz recognized gold bars (LBMA-refiner) | ~spot to spot −1% | Easy to verify and resell in bulk; a dealer wants them but doesn't need to pay up. |
| 1 oz sovereign gold coins (Eagle, Maple, Krugerrand) | ~spot to spot +2% | Deep retail demand lets dealers bid a touch over melt; Eagles often lead. |
| Fractional gold (1/2 oz and under) | ~spot to spot +3% | Some of the high buy premium comes back — but nowhere near all of it. |
| Sovereign silver coins (Eagles, Maples, Britannias) | ~spot to spot +$1–3 | Recognized and in demand; still a fraction of the ~$10–15 retail premium. |
| Generic silver rounds & bars | ~spot −3% to spot | The bid is near melt; the good news is you paid near melt too. |
| 90% "junk" silver | ~spot −5% to spot +2% | Swings with demand; sometimes bid over melt in shortages. |
| Graded, colorized, commemorative & "TV" coins | Melt value, often below | Dealers buy the metal, not the story. The premium you paid is gone. |
Notice the shape of that table. The products with the lowest buy premium also have bids closest to what you paid, and the products with the highest buy premium have bids furthest from it. Boring metal has the tightest round trip. That is the entire case for buying boring — see best silver coins for beginners and how to buy gold at dealer cost.
The round trip on real numbers (5 September 2026)
To keep this concrete, here's the round trip computed from the public At Cost Metals catalog while writing this: spot gold ~$4,453.23, spot silver ~$66.46. For the sell side we assume a conservative, realistic independent bid — spot for gold, spot +$1 for sovereign silver, spot −2% for generic silver. The percentages are the point; the prices will have moved by the time you read this.
| Item | Buy at retail (non-member) | Buy at posted member cost | Assumed bid | Round-trip loss: retail → member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 oz American Silver Eagle (2026) | $81.68 | $71.94 | ~$67.46 | −17.4% → −6.2% |
| 1 oz generic silver round | $73.38 | $68.28 | ~$65.13 | −11.2% → −4.6% |
| 10 oz generic silver bar (per oz) | $77.46 | $67.97 | ~$65.13 | −15.9% → −4.2% |
| 1 oz American Gold Eagle (2026) | $4,644.09 | $4,625.74 | ~$4,453.23 | −4.1% → −3.7% |
| 1 oz gold bar (varied LBMA mint) | $4,578.71 | $4,513.21 | ~$4,453.23 | −2.7% → −1.3% |
Three things to take from that table. First, silver's round trip is brutal at retail — a Silver Eagle bought at $81.68 needs silver to rise about 21% before you're merely even, while the same coin at $71.94 needs about 6.7%. Second, gold is tight either way, because gold premiums are small in percentage terms; the at-cost advantage on a Gold Eagle is real but modest. Third, the sell-side assumption barely matters — swap our bids for a dealer paying $2 more or less and the ranking doesn't change. The buy price did all the work. Run your own product through the savings calculator to see where you land.
A fixed-dollar markup makes your round trip knowable in advance
One thing we've noticed tracking the At Cost Metals catalog across repeated snapshots this summer: on several core items the member-vs-non-member gap holds as a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage — $9.74 on a 2026 Silver Eagle, $18.35 on a 2026 Gold Eagle, $94.90 on a 10 oz generic bar — through weeks of spot moving several percent. We can't tell you why it's built that way, and it could change tomorrow. But while it holds, it means the retail-vs-member portion of your round-trip cost is a number you can write down before you buy, not a percentage that drifts with the market. What "at cost" pricing means and can you really buy metals at cost? cover the model itself.
Where you can sell — and what each route costs
- Back to an online dealer. Most large dealers run a "sell to us" desk: you lock a price by phone or online, ship insured, they verify and pay by check, wire, or ACH. Cleanest bids on recognized products; expect to cover shipping and sometimes a small wire fee. Minimums are common.
- A local coin shop. Same-day cash, no shipping, and you can watch the test. Bids are usually a little lower than online on common bullion and can be better on junk silver or odd lots. Bring two quotes.
- Private sale. Occasionally the best price — a stacker will often pay a little over spot for Eagles — but you carry the counterfeit, payment, and safety risk. Meet somewhere public; verify funds first.
- Pawn shops, "we buy gold" kiosks, mail-in TV offers. Frequently the worst bids in the market, sometimes 20–40% under melt. Fine for an emergency; a mistake for a plan.
- At Cost Metals itself. The company's public catalog posts member and non-member sell prices; we have not verified a posted buyback price list. If buyback matters to you, ask the company directly for its current policy and a quoted bid before you join, then compare it to two independent quotes on the same item the same day. Our honest review and legitimacy check cover the questions worth asking.
Taxes and reporting, in plain English
This is the part people forget until it hurts. In the United States, physical gold and silver are generally treated as collectibles for tax purposes. Gains on metal you've held more than a year are taxed at your ordinary income rate, capped at 28% federal — higher than the long-term rate on stocks. Metal held a year or less is taxed as ordinary income. Losses can offset gains, so keep every receipt: your cost basis is what you paid, including premium, which is one more reason to keep the paperwork.
Reporting is separate from taxation. Dealers file a Form 1099-B with the IRS for certain bulk sales of specific products — commonly cited thresholds include 25 or more 1 oz Gold Maples, Krugerrands, or Mexican Onzas; 1 kilo or more of gold bars; 1,000 oz or more of silver bars; and $1,000 face value or more of 90% silver coin. American Gold and Silver Eagles are widely reported as exempt from dealer 1099-B filing. Exempt from dealer reporting is not exempt from tax — your gain is taxable either way; the difference is only who tells the IRS. Rules change, states differ, and this is not tax advice: confirm current thresholds with a licensed tax professional before you sell in size.
Seven ways to lose less when you sell
- Win it on the buy. Every dollar of premium you didn't pay is a dollar you don't have to recover. This is 80% of the game.
- Sell what dealers want. Recognized 1 oz gold, sovereign silver, generic rounds and bars in original condition. Keep tubes, capsules, and assay cards — a sealed bar or an original Mint tube sells faster and sometimes higher.
- Get three bids, same day, same product. Spot moves; quotes expire. Compare all-in — after shipping and fees — not the headline number.
- Sell in size when you can. Many dealers step their bid up at 10, 20, or 100 oz. A drip of single coins gets the worst tier.
- Don't sell into a panic. Spreads widen in both directions during crashes and manias. If you can wait a week, the bid usually normalizes.
- Sell the ratio, not just the dollar. Stackers often swap silver for gold when the gold-to-silver ratio is low and back when it's high — a "sale" that keeps you in metal.
- Know your basis before you call. Walk in knowing what you paid, when, and what the tax looks like. Selling is a financial decision, not a mood.
The round trip is on your side when…
- You bought boring, recognized products near dealer cost.
- You kept original packaging and receipts.
- You sell in reasonable lots, with quotes in hand.
- You held long enough that the metal outran the spread.
It works against you when…
- You paid retail silver premiums and need to sell inside a year.
- You bought "collectible" or colorized products as an investment.
- You take the first bid, from the nearest kiosk, in a panic.
- You forget the tax and treat the whole check as profit.
Where "at cost" fits (honestly)
The at-cost membership doesn't change what a dealer pays you — nothing does. What it changes is the other end of the spread: you pay a flat membership fee, typically somewhere in the ~$99–$299 range depending on tier and term (confirm current pricing), and then buy at the dealer's posted cost, which the same-moment table above shows is closest to the bid on exactly the products that matter. Whether that's worth it is arithmetic, not belief: your expected ounces × the premium you'd otherwise carry to the sell side, versus the fee. Our tier comparison and how it works pages run that math; the honest answer is that a monthly silver stacker usually clears it and a once-a-year gold buyer usually doesn't.
This article is one chapter of the complete guide to buying gold & silver at cost. For where your metal lives between buying and selling, read home safe vs. insured vault; for what you actually own versus paper claims, physical vs. paper gold.
Frequently asked questions
Most buy at or near spot. In normal markets, recognized 1 oz gold coins and bars fetch roughly spot to a percent or two over; sovereign silver coins spot to a few dollars over; generic silver rounds and bars spot or slightly under. Damaged, obscure, or collectible-premium items are bought closer to melt. Always get two or three quotes.
The ask is what you pay to buy; the bid is what a dealer pays when you sell; the spread is the gap — your true round-trip cost. It's tightest on common 1 oz gold (often low single digits) and widest on sovereign silver, fractional gold, and collectibles bought at retail.
Usually only a small part of it. Buyback prices sit near spot regardless of what you paid, so most of a retail premium is a sunk cost. The buy price — not the sell price — is the part of the round trip you control.
In the U.S., physical metals are generally taxed as collectibles: long-term gains at your ordinary rate capped at 28% federal, short-term at ordinary rates. Dealers file a 1099-B for certain bulk sales of specific products; many common coins are exempt from dealer reporting, but the gain is taxable either way. Confirm with a licensed tax professional.
The public catalog posts sell prices only; we haven't verified a posted buyback list. Ask the company directly for its current buyback policy and a quoted bid, and compare to two independent quotes on the same item the same day.