Where to sell silver bars is the easiest silver question to answer, because bullion is the easiest silver to price. A bar or round tells you its own weight and fineness, so any two buyers can be asked the same question about the same metal. The work is in checking what you have, knowing what it is worth as metal, and choosing a buyer who prices bullion as bullion.
Where Can I Sell Silver is an independent referral service, not a buyer, pawnshop or dealer. When you call or send the form, your details go to an independent buyer in New York who makes any offer.
What counts as silver bullion
Bullion is silver made to be held as metal rather than used or worn. It comes in three main forms:
- Bars: cast or stamped, from small sizes up to large bars such as 100 troy ounces or a kilogram, each marked with its weight and fineness.
- Rounds: coin-shaped pieces made by private mints. They look like coins but have no face value.
- Bullion coins: struck by a government, with a face value. The American Silver Eagle is the best known in the US: by federal law (31 U.S.C. 5112) it is 40.6 millimeters across, weighs 31.103 grams, contains .999 fine silver, and is inscribed ‘1 Oz. Fine Silver’ and ‘One Dollar’.
Read the bar before you sell it
Most bars and rounds carry three things on their face: a weight, a fineness and the name or mark of the refiner or mint that made them. Many also carry a serial number. Write all of it down.
| Stamp | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| 1 oz, 10 oz, 100 oz | The weight in troy ounces, the unit silver is priced in |
| 1 kilo, 1000 g | The weight in grams: 1,000 grams is about 32.15 troy ounces |
| .999 or 999 | 999 parts per 1,000 silver: fine silver |
| .9999 | 9,999 parts per 10,000: a finer grade some makers use |
| Refiner or mint name | Who made it, which affects how easily a buyer can resell it |
| Serial number | Identifies the bar; note it with your records |
Fineness is written in parts per thousand, the way the FTC’s guides ask silver to be described. A bar stamped .999 is 99.9% silver; a sterling piece stamped 925 is 92.5%.
Work out what your bullion is worth as metal
Melt value
Weight in troy ounces x fineness x spot price per troy ounce.
A 100-ounce bar at .999 holds 99.9 troy ounces of pure silver. If spot silver is X dollars per troy ounce that day, its melt value is 99.9 times X dollars. A one-kilogram bar is 1,000 grams divided by 31.10348, about 32.15 troy ounces, so at .999 it holds about 32.12 troy ounces of silver: 32.12 times X dollars. Twenty one-ounce Silver Eagles hold 20 troy ounces of .999 silver: about 19.98 times X dollars.
No price is printed here because spot changes daily. Look it up the day you sell, and ask any buyer which spot price their offer is based on.
Why bars are the simplest silver to price
A buyer’s offer is usually below the melt value of what you sell, because the buyer pays to refine the metal and needs a margin. With bullion there is usually no refining to pay for: a well-known bar or coin can be resold as it is. That is the general reason bullion is the silver whose offers are easiest to compare, and why bullion dealers often price it against spot rather than by weighing and testing. How close any offer comes is up to the buyer and the market on the day.
What can change an offer on bullion:
- The maker. Bars from widely recognized refiners and government coins may be easier for a dealer to resell than unbranded or little-known pieces.
- The size. Large bars and small ones may be priced differently per ounce.
- Condition. Bullion is bought for metal, but heavy damage, cuts or signs of tampering lead to testing, and can lead to refusal.
- Packaging and paperwork. Original packaging or an assay card may make a piece easier to resell. Keep them.
Where to sell silver bullion
Silver bullion buyers fall into a few groups, and the silver buyers page compares them all. For bars and rounds:
- Bullion dealers buy and sell bars, rounds and coins every day and price them against spot.
- Coin shops buy bullion as well as collectible coins, and are worth asking if your lot includes older coins.
- Refiners may suit very large quantities and bars from little-known makers that a dealer cannot easily resell.
- Online buyers take shipped bullion. Read how shipments are covered against loss, how the metal is checked on arrival and what happens if you refuse the offer.
A jeweler or general secondhand shop can buy bullion too, but bullion is not their business. You lose nothing by asking a bullion dealer or coin shop as well.
Selling a 100 oz silver bar
A 100-ounce bar is a large single piece, and buyers treat it with care. Expect a buyer to check the stamps, the dimensions and the weight closely, and possibly to test it, because a bar that size holds a great deal of silver. Bring any paperwork that came with it. Ask how the buyer pays for a sale of that size, and when, before you agree. If you have several large bars, ask whether selling them together or over time changes how the sale is reported; see taxes below.
How to sell silver bars step by step
- List each bar, round and coin with its weight, fineness, maker and serial number.
- Work out the melt value of the lot with the day’s spot price.
- Keep everything in its original packaging. Do not clean bars or coins.
- Call two or more bullion buyers and ask each for an offer on the same list.
- Ask which spot price each offer uses and how payment works.
- Choose, and keep the receipt with the list of what you sold.
Records worth keeping when you sell
A sale of bullion is easy to forget and sometimes needs to be remembered later, at tax time or when someone in the family asks what happened to the bars. Keep a simple file:
- What you sold: each item’s weight, fineness, maker and serial number.
- Who bought it, the date, and the price for each item or group.
- The receipt. In New York City it should carry the buyer’s DCWP license number.
- What you originally paid, if you know: the purchase receipt or a note of the year and price.
- How you were paid.
If you inherited the bullion, note when and from whom. A tax professional will want to know.
Selling silver bars in New York City
In New York City a business that buys used goods needs a DCWP Secondhand Dealer General license, posted where you can see it, with its number on the receipt. A buyer of precious metal must have a scale approved by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, reading to 0.01 troy ounce or finer, and must tell you the troy weight. You show official ID and sign in front of the buyer, and the sale is recorded. A business that buys exclusively online is exempt from that license. See sell silver NYC.
Taxes and reporting on silver bullion
The IRS instructions for Form 1099-B say a dealer reports a sale of precious metal only in certain cases. A sale of metal in a form the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has not approved for trading by regulated futures contract is not reportable. Even for a form that is approved, a sale smaller than the minimum quantity needed to satisfy an approved contract is not reportable; the IRS example is a single gold coin, where all approved contracts call for at least 25 coins. In plain words: some larger sales of certain bullion coins and bars may be reported by the dealer on Form 1099-B, and most small sales are not.
Separately from reporting, a profit on coins and other collectibles may be taxed as a capital gain, at a maximum federal rate of 28% for collectibles (IRS Topic 409). Ask a tax professional about your own sale.
Have bars, rounds or bullion coins to sell? Call or send the list in the form and an independent New York buyer can make you an offer.
Questions people ask
Can I sell a silver bar?
Yes. Bullion dealers, coin shops and refiners all buy silver bars. Bring the bar in its packaging, with any paperwork, and know its weight and fineness before you ask.
Are silver bars easier to sell than coins?
Bars and bullion coins are both easy to price because their weight and fineness are stamped on them. Older circulated coins can take longer, because some are worth more to collectors than their silver.
Do I need a receipt from when I bought the bars?
It is not needed to sell, but keep it: it shows what you paid, which matters for working out any gain. Ask a tax professional about your sale.
How do I convert a kilo bar to troy ounces?
Divide 1,000 grams by 31.10348. A one-kilogram bar is about 32.15 troy ounces.
Will a buyer test my silver bar?
A buyer may check the stamps, size and weight and may test a bar, especially a large one. Ask how they check bullion before you agree to anything.
Are generic rounds worth less than Silver Eagles?
As metal, a one-ounce round at .999 holds about the same silver as a one-ounce Silver Eagle. Some buyers price government coins differently from private rounds, so ask how each item on your list is priced.
Describe your silver