Where should I purchase my silver bullion coins, bars & ingots?

Where should I purchase my silver bullion coins, bars & ingots?

1. Local Coin Shop - You can purchase silver bullion at your local coin shop pretty easily. You can just drop into the store and walk out with physical bullion within minutes. Nothing needs to be shipped in, you get it in person. Pros: You can pay cash. You can examine what you get in person before purchasing. You can develop a personal relationship with your dealer. Cons: Dealer may not have what you want in stock. Dealer margins might be higher than what you can obtain on-line. Most bricks and mortars dealers will not accept a credit card for payment.
   

2. On-line Bullion Dealers - There are several on-line bullion dealers like JM Bullion, Pinehurst Coins, Aydin Coins, Liberty Coin, Scottsdale Silver and many other that are very long standing and reputable in business. They do a good job with offering a broad selection and giving prices that are very competitive in the market place. Many offer their own exclusive minted bullion coins and bars. Pros:  The on-line dealer margins are fiercely tight due to the extreme amount of competition. You can acquire silver bullion at an extremely competitive price. Many on-line dealers offer free shipping. Cons:  You don't get your silver immediately. You can't pay cash. You risk having a package get lost in the mail and dealing with those consequences of dealing with claims and customer service. There is a long shot risk that the company goes under before delivering your silver.
   

3. Ebay Bullion Dealers - You can virtually find all the same on-line bullion dealers also represented strongly on Ebay. Surprisingly, their prices on bullion are extremely competitive. Ebay works pretty tight with these bullion dealers and doesn't charge them the usual 17% they do with their normal Ebay merchants. Pros:  When you buy using Ebay, you as the buyer are protected from fraud. You are also protected if the seller goes out of business or if the seller doesn't ship your package. Ebay is very good at protecting the buyer from almost anything wrong that can occur between a buyer and seller. You can use your charge card to purchase bullion on Ebay (except Amex). You receive Ebay points on your bullion purchases on your Ebay Mastercard that can be used to purchase future goods on Ebay (not bullion) when you purchase bullion on your credit card on Ebay. With the higher dollar amount purchases associated with investing in bullion, these points can accumulate pretty quickly and enable you to buy some pretty outstanding items on Ebay for free. You receive higher rewards benefits using the Ebay Mastercard than you would with other credit cards that offer rewards programs. Cons:  You don't get your silver immediately. You can't pay cash.

Conclusion: Our current favorite choice is to buy bullion on Ebay. We have purchased a lot from Ebay bullion dealers and have never had a problem with delivery speed or quality. The prices on Ebay sometimes seam unreal as in almost near spot on some occasional offerings. We also love that we can pay with credit cards (except Amex) and also love being able to accumulate the Ebay points that can be later used to buy some cool stuff (other than bullion.) Finally, having the protection of Ebay as a customer is also something that is hard to beat.

Where should I purchase my silver bullion coins, bars & ingots?

Article authored by Silver Expert Greg Arbutine on 7-13-24