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

Pennsylvania's Precious Metal Sale Regulation Law defines a dealer as anyone who "purchases precious metals from the general public for resale or refining," with no in-state limit, but it ties every duty to the county where a purchase happens: a dealer is licensed by "the sheriff of each and every county in which the dealer purchases precious metals," reports to "the district attorney of the county in which a purchase of precious metals is made," and holds each item "within the county of purchase at the location where purchased." The act says nothing about mail, online or out-of-state buyers, so it does not settle whether it reaches a purchase by mail. Coins, ingots and bullion are outside the act entirely. We have no Pennsylvania 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.**

Pennsylvania's Precious Metal Sale Regulation Law of 1984 (73 P.S. 1931 to 1942) covers anyone who buys gold, silver or platinum items from the public to resell or refine, including jewelry and silver services. Gold counts at 10 karat or finer, silver at .900 or finer and platinum at .750 or finer. Coins, ingots and bullion are excluded, as is anything under 5% precious metal by weight, so a coin sale at a Pennsylvania shop involves none of this. Each dealer needs an annual license from the sheriff of every county where it buys, and buying without one is a third-degree misdemeanor.

At the counter the dealer records your name, address, age, sex, race and driver's license number, and checks a government photo ID, if you have one, plus at least one other piece of identification (37 Pa. Code 501.6). You sign the form, which also lists every name, initial, serial number or other mark on each item and the date and time. The dealer keeps it 1 year and sends a copy to the county district attorney, or the local police if the district attorney allows it, by the close of the next working day.

Each item then stays at the shop, unaltered, for 5 full working days after that report is filed, and police can extend the hold 7 more days with written notice. A minor can sell only with written permission from a parent or guardian, which the dealer must confirm, and then waits 3 full working days for payment. The act sets no rule on how adults are paid. Some cities and townships add their own ordinances, so check local rules too.

Since 2006, section 204(65) of the Tax Reform Code (72 P.S. 7204(65)) has exempted investment metal bullion and investment coins from Pennsylvania sales and use tax. Bullion means refined gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other precious metal whose value depends on its content rather than its form. Investment coins are coins of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other metal from the U.S. or any foreign nation worth more than their face value; jewelry or art made from coins and commemorative medallions do not qualify. Jewelry and other taxable goods carry the 6% state rate, plus 1% in Allegheny County and 2% in Philadelphia.

When you sell: sales tax is a buyer's cost, not yours. You pay no Pennsylvania tax at the counter when you sell your gold, silver or platinum, whether to a local shop or to us by mail.

Pennsylvania taxes "net gains or income from disposition of property," including tangible personal property such as gold, silver and platinum, as one of its eight classes of income (72 P.S. 7303), at a flat 3.07%. There is no subtraction or credit for precious metals. A loss in that class cannot offset other kinds of income or carry over to another year.

Federally, the IRS taxes gains on physical precious metals as collectibles: up to a 28% cap when held more than a year, and as ordinary income when held a year or less. 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.

No Pennsylvania statute makes gold or silver coin legal tender. The state's main break for metal owners is the sales-tax exemption above. Either way, buyers price metal off the live spot market, not face value.