Many visitors who land on our website are already well informed about types, sizes, and brands of silver bars, and simply want to know where they can buy silver. If you are one of those people, view Silver.com, who is an online dealer which offers many silver products in all types and sizes. Below we will discuss some of the advantages of buying silver online.
All online dealers will require that you issue payment before they release shipment, so it is very important to work with reputable and reliable dealers. Nothing is more concerning than sending a large payment to a company and awaiting shipment while your money is already gone, so we recommend working with a trusted dealer so you can rest assured that your transaction is final and secure.
Advantages of Buying Silver Online
When evaluating your options for buying physical silver bullion, you essentially will have to weigh the advantages of purchasing online vs. the instant gratification you can receive by buying locally. We advocate buying silver bars online for the following reasons:
- No Sales Tax – one of the best benefits of buying online is that assuming you are buying from an out of state online retailer, they will not have to collect sales tax on the purchase. This is contrary to local retailers that will have to charge you sales tax assuming your state taxes precious metal purchases.
- Wider Selections – local coin shops typically are small businesses with only a few employees and very limited capital. This pales in comparison to the larger online retailers, which have multi-million dollar inventories including a huge selection of products. Where your local dealer may only have 5-10 different silver bullion items in stock, an online dealer like JM Bullion has dozens and dozens of popular silver products.
- Lower Prices – due to economies of scale and efficiencies relating to online business, online retailers can almost always beat the price of your local dealer, even after shipping and insurance are included. If you are in a state with precious metals sales tax, this gap widens as the online, out of state retailers will not have to charge you the tax.
- Discrete Shipping – One concern many new investors have relates to how their products will be shipped, and if there is insurance on the contents of the package. All of the major online dealers ship in discrete packaging which gives no inclination of the valuables inside, and the shipments are always fully insured in case of loss or theft.
Because of the four items above, we prefer to buy our physical silver bars online. The cost savings and selection differences can be quite significant, while the in-transit shipping times of a few days really aren’t long enough to be taken into consideration.
Buying Silver Bars Locally
Besides buying silver bullion online, customers can also visit local bullion shops to place orders in person/hand-to-hand. Buying local does have its advantages, including speed, reliability, and trust, but there are also quite a few potential disadvantages that we touched on above, including small selection, high prices, and potential sales tax ramifications.
Advantages of Local Transactions
- Speed – if you have the need for speed, local purchases are your best bet. Even though most online retailers can get products in your hands within a few days, that will never compare to the instant, hand-to-hand transaction you receive at a local coin shop.
- Trust – the other major advantage of a local transaction is that you are doing business face to face, and can see the products you are purchasing before you shell out your cash. This is the opposite of what happens online, where you issue payment then await your products after.
To learn more about buying locally, read our full article here: Buying Silver Bars in Person. You can also see listings of individual, local coin shops in some of the major US cities at the links below: