Any dealer can look polished online. These twelve checks separate the ones with real track records and clear policies from the ones you should skip.
Buying bullion online means sending money before you receive anything. In most retail purchases, a payment dispute or a return window protects you if something goes wrong. With precious metals, many dealers ask for a bank wire or check for their best price, and those payment methods are difficult or impossible to reverse. That makes the dealer's reliability the single most important variable in the transaction, ahead of a small difference in premium.
The good news is that legitimate dealers leave a long, checkable paper trail. The checks below take about half an hour for a new dealer and work the same whether you are buying one tenth-ounce coin or a monster box. If you are brand new, start with our first-timer's checklist for buying gold online, then come back here for the deeper due diligence.
Look for a full legal business name, a street address (not only a P.O. box), and a working phone number on the site's contact or about page. Then search your state's (or the dealer's home state's) secretary of state business registry for that legal name. You are checking that the entity exists, how long it has been registered, and that the name on the website matches the name on file. A mismatch is not automatically a scam, since many dealers operate under a trade name, but you should be able to connect the two.
Search the business at BBB.org. The letter grade reflects factors such as complaint volume, how the business responds, and time in business; accreditation is a separate, paid relationship. What matters more is the complaint text. Read a dozen recent complaints and look for patterns: shipping delays during demand spikes are common across the industry, while repeated reports of orders never shipping, refunds never issued, or buyback payments withheld are serious warnings.
Trustpilot, Google reviews and long-running collector forums each skew differently. Review counts in the thousands tell you the dealer has real order volume. Sort by "most recent" and by the lowest ratings, and check whether the company responds and resolves issues. Be wary of a dealer whose only reviews appear on its own site.
Bullion demand surges during market stress, and that is when weak operations break: orders stall, phone lines go dead, and "delayed shipping" turns into "no shipping." A dealer that has operated through several of these cycles has, at minimum, survived them. Newer dealers are not automatically bad, but they have less history for you to check, so the policy and payment checks below matter even more.
When you place a bullion order, the price is usually locked at that moment. Because the dealer has already hedged or purchased metal for you, most dealers do not allow free cancellation. Instead, their terms typically say that if you cancel, or your payment does not arrive in time, you owe any market loss plus a fee. Find this clause in the terms of service and read it. It tells you exactly what happens if your wire is late.
Look for how many business days you have to get payment to the dealer for each method, and whether the order cancels automatically after that window. Short windows are normal for wires; checks often get longer windows but ship only after clearing.
Confirm who insures the package in transit, whether the shipment is fully covered until delivery, whether a signature is required, and how long you have to report a missing or damaged item. Packages should arrive in plain boxes with no reference to precious metals. We break down what transit insurance actually covers in our guide to gold and silver shipping insurance.
A dealer that buys metal back, and publishes how it quotes buy prices, gives you an exit. Check whether buyback quotes are shown on product pages or available by phone, whether the dealer buys products it did not sell you, and how and when it pays. Our guide on selling gold and silver back without getting lowballed explains the bid-ask spread you will see.
Most online dealers show two or more prices for the same item: a lower price for wire, ACH, or check, and a higher price for credit card, PayPal, or similar methods that carry processing fees and chargeback risk. That is normal and honest when it is clearly displayed. It is a warning sign when the "real" price only appears after you enter your card details.
Compare the dealer's price per ounce over spot against two or three other dealers for the identical product, quantity and payment method. A price far below every competitor is not a bargain; it is a reason to ask why. Our explainer on why you never pay spot price covers what a fair premium depends on.
Wire instructions should name the same business you vetted, at a bank account in that business's name. Treat any request to wire funds to an individual, to change wiring instructions by email, or to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency to a personal wallet, or a peer-to-peer app as a stop sign. When in doubt, call the dealer at the phone number on its website (not one in an email) to confirm instructions.
Reputable online dealers let you browse and check out without a phone call. If a "dealer" pushes you toward a specific rare or "exclusive" coin, warns about urgent deadlines, or calls you repeatedly, step back. The CFTC's precious metals fraud advisory lists false urgency and promises of outsized returns among the classic warning signs. Physical fakes are a separate risk, covered in our guide to spotting counterfeit gold and silver coins.
Use this table to record what you find. You do not need every box ticked, but any item in the right-hand column should stop the purchase until you have a satisfying answer.
| Check | Good sign | Stop and ask |
|---|---|---|
| Business identity | Legal name, street address and phone match state registry | No address, or name you cannot connect to any registered entity |
| BBB file | Complaints answered and resolved in writing | Pattern of non-delivery or unpaid refunds |
| Independent reviews | Large volume across several platforms | Reviews only on the dealer's own site |
| Cancellation terms | Clear market-loss clause you can find | No written terms at all |
| Shipping & insurance | Fully insured, signature on delivery, discreet packaging | "Ships at buyer's risk" |
| Buyback | Published buyback process | No way to sell back, or vague "call us" |
| Price tiers | Cash and card prices both shown before checkout | Card surcharge hidden until payment |
| Payee | Bank account in the dealer's name | Individual payee, gift cards, or changed wire details |
| Sales approach | Self-serve checkout, no pressure | Urgency, "guaranteed" gains, rare-coin push |
Already narrowed it down? See how the dealers we review compare on minimums, shipping thresholds and reputation data.
Compare Bullion Dealers →For your first order with any new dealer, start small. A modest first purchase lets you see how the dealer communicates, how fast it ships, and how the package arrives before you commit a larger amount. Once the first order arrives intact and as described, you have your own data point to add to everything you read.
A trustworthy bullion dealer is easy to verify: a registered business with a long public record, written terms you can find in a few clicks, transparent payment tiers, insured shipping, and a way to sell back. If any of those is missing, the lowest premium on the internet is not worth the risk.
This guide is for general information only and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Product specifications, dealer policies and rules change; confirm current details with the dealer, the issuing mint or the relevant agency before you act.
Dealer premiums, shipping thresholds and inventory change. Compare the final delivered price and product availability before placing an order.
Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission if you buy through these links, at no added cost to you. Dealer inclusion here is not a guarantee that any one dealer has the lowest price for your order.