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

Tennessee's Scrap Jewelry and Metal Dealers Act is tied to where the buying happens. Dealers register "with the chief of police and sheriff of each city and county in which the activity is carried on" (Tenn. Code 38-1-201), hold purchases at "the place in which such business is conducted" (38-1-202) and send their daily log to the sheriff and police "of each county or municipality in which the business is conducted" (38-1-203). Nothing in the Act addresses a buyer outside the state who buys by mail. We have no Tennessee 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.**

Anyone in Tennessee who buys antique, used or scrap jewelry and precious metals to resell, melt or sell as scrap must register with the sheriff and chief of police in each city and county where they buy (Tenn. Code 38-1-201). For every purchase the buyer keeps a log in duplicate with a description of each piece (metal type, content and weight if marked, stones, serial numbers and other marks), your name, race, sex, height, weight, date of birth, address and the number from your driver license, state ID, passport, military ID or an accepted immigration document, and the date and amount paid. You and the buyer both sign it, along with your statement that you are the lawful owner, and a copy goes to the sheriff and police by noon the next day.

The buyer then cannot sell, trade, melt or alter the items for 20 days from the purchase, though it may keep them in a bank vault or other secure storage during that time. It cannot buy from anyone under 18 or anyone who appears intoxicated. Pawnshops follow the same rules when they buy jewelry outright, and their own law requires a 20 business day hold on other goods they buy. Breaking the Act is a Class A misdemeanor.

The Act does not apply to a business that deals only in coins, which is why a coin-only shop can buy and resell coins without the log or the hold. The Act sets no cash limit or check-only rule for these purchases.

Public Chapter 1092 of 2022 removed Tennessee sales and use tax from coins, currency and bullion made of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other material when they are sold on their value as precious metal or as collectibles rather than their face value. Jewelry is still taxed at the 7% state rate. In most places the local rate of up to 2.75% applies only to the first 1,600 dollars of the price of any single piece, and the state adds a 2.75% single article tax on the part of a piece's price between 1,600 dollars and 3,200 dollars.

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

Tennessee does not tax wages or capital gains, so there is no state return to report a profit on gold, silver or platinum. Its one income tax, the Hall tax on interest and dividends, was phased out and fully repealed for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021.

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 Tennessee statute makes gold or silver coins legal tender. House Bill 2038 of 2026, which would have done so while barring anyone from being forced to accept them, passed the House 90 to 0 in April 2026, but the Senate never voted on it before the session ended. A 2025 bullion depository and legal tender bill, Senate Bill 985, never left committee. Buyers price your coins off the live metal market either way.