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

RCW Chapter 19.60 defines a secondhand precious metal dealer as anyone who buys secondhand gold, silver or platinum more than three times a year "whether or not the person or entity maintains a permanent or fixed place of business within the state." Its record rules then apply to every dealer "doing business in this state": your signature, physical description, address, a full copy of both sides of your ID, and a description of each piece, kept three years. The chapter never defines "doing business in this state" and never mentions purchases by mail, and its holding rule for dealers without a Washington shop speaks only of the city or county where the property was received, so we cannot say for certain whether it reaches a refinery elsewhere that buys from Washington residents by mail. We have no Washington 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. Under RCW 19.60.066, knowingly causing a false entry in a record a Washington dealer must keep is a gross misdemeanor.

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.**

Washington regulates walk-in gold buyers under RCW Chapter 19.60, which covers pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers and, since 2011, secondhand precious metal dealers who buy gold, silver or platinum more than three times a year. For each purchase the dealer records your signature, name, date of birth, sex, height, weight, race, address and phone number, a full description of each piece including any engraving, the price paid, and your ID, which must include one current government photo ID. Precious metal dealers also log the time and keep a copy of both sides of your ID. Records are kept three years, open to police, and sent to police as a daily transcript when they ask.

A dealer with a shop in Washington may not move what it buys out of the shop for 30 days; a dealer without one must keep it in the city or county where it was bought. Legal-tender and collector coins, bullion, and gold dust, flakes and nuggets fall outside the precious metal rules, so those precious metal record and hold rules do not reach them, and legal-tender coins and hallmarked bars are also outside the general secondhand rules. No dealer may buy from anyone under 18, from someone under the influence, or from someone it knows has a theft, burglary or stolen-property conviction in the last ten years.

Precious metal dealers need a business license from the local government where they operate, and state law lets cities and counties add their own licensing and stricter rules. Chapter 19.60 sets no cash limit or payment-method rule for purchases from the public.

For 40 years Washington left precious metal bullion and gold and silver coins out of its sales tax. A 2025 law, ESSB 5794, repealed that exclusion (RCW 82.04.062) effective January 1, 2026, so sales of bullion and coins used as money are now taxed like other goods at the 6.5% state rate plus local tax, as a 2026 proposed update to the Department of Revenue's bullion rule spells out. Bills in the 2026 session to bring the exemption back, SB 5894 and HB 2115, never made it out of committee.

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

Washington's capital gains excise tax (RCW Chapter 82.87) applies to individuals' gains on long-term capital assets, meaning anything held more than a year. The rate is 7%, plus 2.9% on the part of your yearly Washington capital gains above 1 million dollars, after a standard deduction the statute set at 250,000 dollars and adjusts for inflation. The list of exempt assets in RCW 82.87.050 covers real estate, retirement accounts and a few business assets, not precious metals or collectibles, and gains on physical property count in Washington if it was in the state when sold, and in some cases if a resident had it in the state that year or the year before. A 2026 law (ESSB 6346) adds a 9.9% tax on income above a 1 million dollar standard deduction starting January 1, 2028, with a credit for capital gains excise tax paid.

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

No Washington statute makes gold or silver legal tender. A 2025 bill, HB 2069, dealt with the taxation of gold and silver bullion and coins and would have made using bullion as tender voluntary, but it stayed in the House Finance committee. That has no effect on selling: buyers in Washington and everywhere else price metal off the live spot market, not face value.