How to Buy Gold Online Safely: Coins, Bars and What to Check First
Buying gold online is legal and ordinary in the U.S. — there’s no permit or reporting requirement for the buyer — but the price you pay is the spot price plus the dealer’s premium, and that premium is where most of what you lose on a resale comes from. The CFTC and FINRA’s joint checklist for buying physical metal applies the same whether you walk into a shop or order from a website: know the spot price, ask the premium in writing before you pay, and verify the dealer before you send money. Today’s spot price, by karat and gram: gold price per gram.
Buying gold online vs. from a local dealer
| Online bullion dealer | Local coin/bullion shop | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Often the lowest premium; easy to compare across sites | Premium varies more; some negotiate |
| Selection | Widest range of coins, bars and weights | Limited to what’s in stock |
| You get it | Shipped, insured, days to weeks later | Same day, in hand |
| Verifying the seller | Check the company’s physical address, how long it’s operated, and owner complaints | Check your state attorney general for complaints; “start in your local community with well-established dealers,” says the CFTC |
| Risk | Payment sent before delivery; fake or mirror sites | None once you’re holding the metal and have checked it |
Either way, the first and last question is the same: what is the all-in price per ounce or per gram, and how does it compare with spot?
The premium: what you actually pay over spot
A dealer “will always sell metal above the spot price,” per the CFTC and FINRA — that markup is the premium (the mirror of the spread a dealer buys back at, covered in where to sell gold). It is not a scam by itself; it covers minting, distribution and the dealer’s margin. What regulators tell you to watch:
- Get the all-in price — metal, premium, shipping, payment-method fee — in writing before you pay, not just the “spot price” advertised on the homepage.
- Compare the same product across two or three dealers; premiums on common bullion (American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs, generic 1 oz bars) are usually the lowest and easiest to compare.
- Be wary of “rare,” “limited edition” or “semi-numismatic” coins sold for investment. “Semi-numismatic” is, in the regulators’ words, “a made-up industry term that really has no special meaning,” and such coins are typically harder to resell at a fair price than plain bullion.
- Cash, check and wire discounts exist — so do credit-card surcharges. A card payment is easier to dispute if something goes wrong; a wire is not.
Coins, bars, grams or ounces: what to buy
- Bullion coins (American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, etc.) trade on a known weight and purity and are the easiest to resell later — competing dealers quote on them daily.
- Bars usually carry a slightly lower premium than coins of the same weight, especially above 1 oz, but check that the refiner is one major dealers recognize (assayer marks from LBMA-accredited refiners are the common standard).
- Buying “by the gram” (1 g, 2.5 g, 5 g) lets you start small, but the premium per gram is usually highest on the smallest sizes — fixed minting costs are spread over less metal.
- Buying by the ounce (1 oz being the standard unit dealers quote) usually carries the lowest premium per unit of metal.
Buying silver bars and coins
The same rules apply to silver, with one practical difference: silver’s lower price per ounce means the premium is a larger share of the total price than it is for gold — a small flat minting cost matters more on a $30 coin than a $4,000 one. Compare the premium over spot in dollars, not as a vague percentage claim, and for the same reason, buying in larger bars (10 oz, 100 oz) usually lowers the premium per ounce more than it does for gold.
Is it legal to buy gold in the U.S.?
Yes. Buying gold, as an individual, has no permit, registration or reporting requirement — that’s true whether you pay in cash, by card, by check or by wire. What the IRS does require is of the dealer: a business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction (or in related transactions) must file Form 8300, identifying the payer. That rule exists for cash specifically; it is not a limit on how much gold you can buy, and it doesn’t apply to card, check or wire payments.
Red flags before you pay
From the CFTC’s advisory on precious-metal schemes:
- Unsolicited calls, emails or ads pushing gold or silver as a way to “protect your savings” from a crisis, especially tied to a retirement account.
- Pressure to act fast or claims that a specific coin is about to be hard to get.
- A “free” storage or insurance offer that locks you into a specific dealer or depository.
- A seller that won’t give a physical address, or one whose address, phone number or years in business you can’t verify independently.
What this page can’t tell you
- Whether gold or silver will go up or down. Nobody knows, and this isn’t investment advice.
- Which dealer to use. We don’t publish or recommend specific online sellers; verify any dealer the way the CFTC and FINRA describe above before you pay.
- Today’s exact premium. Premiums move with demand and the spot price; always ask for the all-in price the day you buy.
For gold inside a retirement account instead of in your hand, see gold IRA. For the full comparison of ways to invest — coins and bars, ETPs, mining stocks, futures or an IRA — see how to invest in gold. When it’s time to sell, see where to sell gold.