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

HRS chapter 486M defines a dealer as anyone whose business "includes the buying of previously owned articles," with no reference to Hawaii premises, but every duty it sets is built around a Hawaii county: records go on a form "authorized by the chief of police in each county," and each article must be kept "in the county where received or purchased" for 15 days. Nothing in the chapter addresses a buyer who receives items by mail outside the state. We have no Hawaii 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. Hawaii makes it a misdemeanor to give a dealer information for its purchase record that you know, or have reason to know, is false (HRS 486M-7).

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.**

Hawaii covers every business that buys previously owned goods, pawnshops and secondhand dealers included, under HRS chapter 486M. The moment a shop takes an item it must record your name, home address, date of birth and age, your signature, your Hawaii driver's license number (or the number of another government photo ID), a photograph of you, a description or photos of each piece with all its markings, an estimate of the metal's fineness and weight, and the price paid. Police can ask for copies of those records, and in Honolulu they are filed online. Only shops licensed on or before January 1, 2002 and open continuously since are excused from the photo and online filing rules.

For 15 calendar days the shop may not melt, break apart or sell gold, silver, platinum or gems it bought, and every item must stay in the county where it was bought for that period. Bullion coins and bars fall outside the state's definition of precious metal, so the melting ban does not cover them, but the 15-day county hold applies to every item a dealer receives. Dealers may not buy from anyone under 18.

Where a county requires a secondhand dealer license, it names the place the business is carried on, and pawnbrokers need a county license (HRS 445-171 and 445-135). Chapter 486M sets no rule on how a dealer pays you.

Hawaii's general excise tax (GET) is not a sales tax. It is a 4% tax on the gross receipts of a business making retail sales (HRS 237-13), plus a 0.5% county surcharge that all four counties now levy, for 4.5% in every county. The law puts it on the seller, but shops may pass it on, and most add it to the receipt (the Department of Taxation sets a maximum pass-on rate of 4.712%). Chapter 237 has no exemption for bullion or coins; bills to add one were introduced in 2020, 2021 and 2024, and none became law.

When you sell: GET applies to a business's income, and the law excludes casual sales from "business" (HRS 237-2), so selling your own gold, silver or platinum to a dealer, in Honolulu or to us by mail, carries no Hawaii excise tax for you.

Hawaii's income tax has no exclusion, subtraction or credit for gold, silver or platinum. For individuals, HRS 235-51(f) limits the state tax on net capital gain (gain on property held more than a year) to 7.25%; gains on metal held a year or less are taxed at your regular Hawaii rates.

Federally, the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles: gains on metal held over a year are capped at 28%, and gains on metal held a year or less are ordinary income. Inherited pieces generally use the value on the date of death as their cost basis, so they often carry little taxable gain. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

Hawaii has no statute making gold or silver coin legal tender in the state, and neither its income tax nor its general excise tax gives coins any special treatment. That changes nothing about what you are paid: buyers in Hawaii and on the mainland price your metal off the live spot market, not face value.