What Is an Online Gold Dealer?
The top online gold dealers are trusted vendors offering everything from investment-grade bullion, coins, collectible gold pieces, and more. Customers can easily compare prices across multiple sellers and make a buying decision based on price and shipping speed. The top dealers offer options to take physical delivery of the gold or store it in a secured vault. Customers also have the option of selling their gold back to the dealer.
How to Buy Gold Online
Like many other products buying gold online can be as easy as point-and-click. The best dealers have a well-organized website with easy navigation to find and compare products by category (i.e., bullion by weight, coins, out-of-mint coins, etc.). When you find a product you want, you click on it to review the details. As with any online shop, you can add it to your cart. You can then enter the quantity you want. From there, you can continue to shop or move on to checkout.
Once you start the checkout process with most dealers, your price is locked in for a short period, typically 10 to 15 minutes. You need to complete your purchase before the pricing expires, or you may see the price adjusted up or down based on how the market is moving.
Once you complete checkout, you will receive an email confirmation along with ongoing shipping notifications.
Can You Store Gold at Home?
Yes, you can store your gold in your home (except in the case of Gold IRAs). The question is whether you would want to. Nothing beats the security of having your gold stored in a highly reputable depositary, such as Brinks Global Services, which has vault locations throughout the country.
For those who prefer to keep their gold close to them, the ideal place to store gold is a well-hidden, at-home safe. If you do store your gold at home, be sure to check that your homeowner’s insurance covers its potential loss or damage. You may need to purchase additional coverage.
Is Buying Gold Online Safe?
Buying gold online is as safe as any other transaction you make over the internet as long as you know you’re dealing with a reputable company. The best dealers use SSL encryption and are PCI compliant. Plus, all their shipments are insured for their full value.
The most significant risk you face is purchasing from an illegitimate company that sells fake products, overpriced inventory, or simply runs off with your money. As with any online purchase, you are your first and last line of defense against scammers. You need to do your due diligence on gold dealers by researching them online.
How to Choose a Reputable Gold Dealer
Unquestionably, a company’s reputation is the number one criteria to evaluate and compare gold dealers. The single best measure of a company’s reputation is its transaction history, which can be assessed by customer reviews. Companies with a large number of reviews are typically more established (longer track record) or have built up their trust and reputation through a greater number of transactions.
Additionally, you should look for the following when evaluating a dealer’s reputation:
Track record: Generally, the more established an online gold dealer is, the better. You will find some dealers on our list who’ve been in business for less than 10 years, so you should also look at their online reputation based on customer reviews.
Physical company headquarters: You want to verify that the online gold dealer has a physical and traceable presence even if they don’t have brick-and-mortar stores. Avoid any dealer who only lists a P.O. Box.
Clear return and buyback policies: Most dealers allow for at least three days to return a product for returns. Check to see if there is a restocking fee and how much they charge. Legitimate dealers also have a buyback policy. Check on the requirements for selling your gold back to the dealer and whether they list their buyback prices.
Transparent pricing: Gold prices fluctuate by the minute, so it’s essential that the dealer provides clear pricing based on the most accurate and up-to-date prices. The best online gold dealers don’t charge commissions or extra fees, but it’s important to confirm that before finalizing your purchase.
Payment options: It’s important that a dealer accept your preferred method of payment. Most online gold dealers accept credit cards, checks, money orders, wire transfers, PayPal, and bitcoin. Just be aware that most charge a 3% to 4% fee for credit card purchases.
Methodology
A quick search of “online gold dealers” reveals dozens of results, which can be overwhelming when determining the best. Of the 13 remaining dealers, we applied our criteria of online reputation, length of track record, price transparency, payment options, shipping speed, absence of commissions and hidden fees, and customer service to narrow our choices for the best in six different categories. Depending on your specific needs and preferences, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
