Where to Sell (or Buy) Gold, Silver & Platinum in Georgia

Georgia's precious metals dealer law, O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 37, defines a dealer as anyone "engaged in the business of purchasing precious metals or gems" from the public, with no reference to where the dealer is located, and O.C.G.A. 43-37-6(b) makes it unlawful "for any person to advertise or transact business as a dealer in precious metals or gems" without registering. The duties themselves are local: O.C.G.A. 43-37-2 requires registration "for each separate place of business" with the police chief of the city where that business is located, or with the county sheriff or county police if it sits outside a city, and O.C.G.A. 43-37-4 has the dealer report each day's purchases to that same local officer within 24 hours. The only mention of mail is a record-keeping option for dealers who buy dental scrap from licensed dentists by registered or certified mail. We have no Georgia premises; your items travel to our refinery in Oregon and the purchase happens there.

After you accept, you complete a simple online verification before we pay. Send only items that are yours to sell.

You get an itemized offer listing each piece with its weight and purity. Turn it down and we mail everything back with free return postage.* Accept and payment goes out the same day.**

Georgia's Dealers in Precious Metals and Gems law (O.C.G.A. 43-37) covers any business buying gold, silver or platinum, cut and polished stones, or goods made from them from the public. Each shop registers with its city police chief, or with the county sheriff or county police. At every purchase it writes into a permanent record book the date and time, your name, age and address, the number from your driver's license or other photo ID, a description of each item, the price paid and your signature, and keeps that book for at least two years. A written report of each day's purchases goes to local law enforcement within 24 hours.

The shop may not sell, melt or otherwise alter what it bought until 7 calendar days have passed, and police who suspect an item was stolen can order it held 15 more days. Dealers cannot buy precious metals or gems from anyone under 17, and can buy melted or smelted metal only from another registered dealer. Violations are a misdemeanor. The chapter does not apply to transactions involving only numismatic coins or other coinage, so a coins-only sale falls outside it.

Selling outright to a Georgia pawnbroker brings its own record book: your ID number and a description of your appearance are logged and kept four years, and pawnbrokers may not buy from anyone under 18 or from someone they know is not the true owner. Separately, anyone purchasing native gold or gold bullion within Georgia must keep a register of each purchase and file a copy every quarter with the probate judge of the county where the purchaser lives (O.C.G.A. 12-4-120).

O.C.G.A. 48-8-3 exempts sales of gold, silver or platinum bullion and sales of coins or currency, provided the dealer keeps records of each exempt sale. Department of Revenue Rule 560-12-2-.108 defines bullion as bars, ingots or coins whose price depends on metal content rather than form, and coins or currency as anything that has been or may be legal tender in the U.S., any state or any foreign country. Jewelry and works of art containing bullion or coins stay taxable, at the 4% state rate plus local add-ons of up to 5%. The coin exemption is written to expire on December 31, 2029; the bullion exemption carries no end date.

None of this applies when you sell. Sales tax is a buyer's cost on a retail purchase, so nothing is deducted from what a Georgia shop or we pay you for your metal.

Georgia taxable income starts from your federal adjusted gross income (O.C.G.A. 48-7-27), and that section has no subtraction for gains on gold, silver or other precious metals, so a gain you report federally carries into your Georgia return. The Department of Revenue lists the 2026 rate as a flat 4.99%. A 2026 bill that would have barred state taxation of transactions in gold and silver specie passed the Senate but did not become law.

Federally, the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles: gains on metal held more than a year are taxed at your ordinary rate up to 28%, and metal held a year or less is taxed as ordinary income. Inherited metal generally takes its value on the date of death as its basis. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

Senate Bill 424, the "Transactional Gold and Silver Act," would have provided for gold and silver specie as legal tender in Georgia, set up a state bullion depository with an electronic payment system, and barred taxation of transactions in specie. It passed the Senate 29 to 21 on March 6, 2026, and its last recorded action was its second reading in the House on March 10, 2026. It was not enacted, so buyers, including us, still price your coins off the live metal market rather than face value.