Many of the people that call us to ask about acquiring precious metals naturally also ask about the process of selling them. I believe it’s only responsible to address these questions head-on. In this article, I will list some of the considerations you’ll need to make when you want or need to liquidate all or part of your precious metals portfolio.

I’ll start by stating the obvious: you will want to make sure that you’re receiving the best price possible. You have spent many years building up your wealth, so you want to get the most out of it. You will also want to consider how fast the liquidation process is—will it take hours, days, weeks… 

Is it easy to sell my precious metals?

Physical precious metals have high liquidity, which means they’re easy to buy and sell. Generally, gold and silver coins and bars hold their value well through resale, and there are literally thousands of dealers and coin shops nationwide that will gladly buy gold and silver from anyone. 

The most sought-after coins are usually those issued by a government and minted at globally recognized mints—the list is long and includes mints such as the US Mint, Perth Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint, St. Helena Mint, and the Royal British Mint.

Often, there is a correlation between premium and liquidity. As an example, you may pay a little more up front for the American Eagle coin made by the US Mint, but when you want to sell it, it will likely fetch a better price than a bar made of the same metal with the same weight. Gold and silver bars are privately minted, and while they will often be a bit cheaper to buy than government-minted coins, they may be slightly less liquid or harder to sell to a dealer other than the one you bought them from. 

Storage conditions may also affect the resale value of your precious metals, especially for coins. You should ensure that your metals are stored under optimal conditions, which is one of the reasons Precious Metals IRA accounts protect the value of your coins and bars by having your gold and silver stored in a climate-controlled depository. This also means that anyone choosing to hold metals outside of an IRA at their home should keep them in their sealed containers to prevent humidity from causing discoloration.

Where can I sell my precious metals?

When deciding where to sell your precious metals, there are two main factors to consider. First and foremost is the price—you want to ensure that you’re getting the highest price possible. Second, you want the process to be as quick and hassle-free as possible. While you have many options, we hope that you, as one of our clients, will consider us first when you wish to sell all or some of your metals. We like to provide our clients true peace of mind in case life happens so they can sleep better at night knowing they have an exit strategy in place for not only themselves but also their loved ones.

Other options include your local coin shop, other precious metals dealers, or even online marketplaces. When considering your options, bear in mind the prices offered by the buyer and the amount of risk involved in the transaction. For instance, coin shops typically pay the lowest prices and will be looking at acquiring only minimal amounts of inventory.

How do I sell my precious metals?

I cannot cover in an article all the different options you have when you want to liquidate your metals as there are thousands of dealers that can do that for you. However, since we believe our liquidation process is as good as our acquisition process, I can give you an idea of how we help you liquidate your metals and how long it takes so that you have a measure to compare others to.

We are committed to our promise of a quick, secure, and straightforward ordering process—and we show the same commitment to buying back gold and other precious metals from our clients:

Liquidation of a Gold IRA account

If you want to liquidate precious metals from your Gold or Silver IRA through us, you have a few options, including asking for delivery of the coins directly to you. 

One of the reasons that I wrote this article is the real-life situation of clients who needed to liquidate fast due to an emergency. To address emergency cash-outs, we were able to work out a process with the IRA custodians so that once you confirm in writing (it only takes a DocuSign signature) your liquidation request and acceptance of our offer of market price, the IRA custodians allow us to forward the payment for the metals to arrive in your account before the metals are even shipped to us. This fast-track liquidation ensures you can get your funds in just 1 to 2 business days, and this is the fastest liquidation process in the industry, period.

Liquidation of metals you hold outside of an IRA

If you want to sell precious metals held outside of an IRA, such as metals you hold in your home or a local safe, you will benefit from our industry-leading Buy-Back Policy. Just call us and we will make you an offer for your metals. Once you’ve accepted the offer, we’ll provide you with a free shipping label that includes insurance coverage so you can ship the metals safely to our account at the Delaware Depository. 

When the depository receives the metals, it usually takes 1 day for them to confirm the metals’ authenticity. We will then send you a check or a wire transfer for the funds. This process is industry-leading for speed and, most importantly, unlike most dealers, we lock your price to give you peace of mind. This means that once we send your offer and you ship the metals, your price is locked and you will receive our agreed offer amount once our depository has received the metals, regardless of market fluctuations.

While it’s important to have metals in your portfolio for complete diversification and financial security, it is equally important to know how you can liquidate and what is considered a professional, client-focused process. 

I wish you health and safety during these trying times.