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

Any business that advertises it buys gold, silver, platinum or jewelry from the public needs a precious metals dealer license from the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions, backed by a net-worth requirement or a surety bond (R.C. 4728.02 and 4728.03). Pawnshops can buy metal under their pawnbroker license but follow the same rules. At each purchase the dealer records a full description of every item, including any marks, along with your name, age, address, driver's license or other ID number and a short physical description of you (R.C. 4728.06). Each business day it makes the previous day's purchases available to local police (R.C. 4728.07), and it keeps its records for two years (OAC 1301:8-6-03).

A dealer must keep what it buys in Ohio for five days, with the items held at the licensed shop for the first 72 hours, and until 30 days after it reports an item if the local police chief, with probable cause to believe the item is stolen, notifies it in writing (R.C. 4728.09, OAC 1301:8-6-03). Dealers cannot buy from minors, from anyone intoxicated or from anyone they believe is a thief (R.C. 4728.08). Coins, hallmark bars and registered ingots bought as collectibles rather than for their metal content fall outside the dealer law, and so do retail jewelers whose buying is incidental to their sales, though those buyers still keep a 12-month record with your ID and cannot buy from anyone under 18 (R.C. 4728.11 and 4728.12).

Breaking the dealer law is a first-degree misdemeanor, and a felony on later offenses (R.C. 4728.99).

R.C. 5739.02(B)(57) exempts sales of investment metal bullion, meaning bullion that meets the purity standard federal tax law sets for retirement-account metals, and investment coins, defined as any coin composed primarily of gold, silver, platinum or palladium. Jewelry gets no exemption and is taxed at the 5.75% state rate plus the county rate, which tops out at 8.25% combined in the COTA transit area of Licking County.

When you sell: sales tax is a buyer's cost, not yours. You pay no Ohio tax when you sell your gold, silver or platinum, to a local shop.

Starting with tax year 2026, Ohio taxes individual nonbusiness income above its zero-tax bracket at a single 2.75% rate (R.C. 5747.02). Capital gains on gold, silver and platinum are included, and Ohio law has no deduction or credit for them.

Federal rules still apply: the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles, with gains on metal held more than a year capped at 28% and gains on metal held a year or less taxed as ordinary income. Inherited pieces generally use their value on the date of death as their cost basis. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

No Ohio statute makes gold or silver coins or bullion legal tender. House Bill 206, introduced in March 2025 to create a state transactional currency backed by gold and silver held in a depository, was referred to the House Financial Institutions Committee in April 2025 and had its first hearing there on October 15, 2025; it has not passed the committee. Buyers in Ohio price your coins off the live metal market either way.