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The Quick & Easy Gold & Silver Investment Guide

Team GoldSilver 
FEB 13, 2024

The ONLY 3 things you need to know to buy gold


This short guide boils down the process to few simple steps:

Let’s dive in…

#1 What to buy

When it comes to choosing physical precious metals, i.e. bullion, there’s only two things you need to look for…

  1. Low premiums
  2. Popularity

Premiums are the markup over the spot price, the underlying price of the metal itself that fluctuates throughout the day as it trades on global markets. We don’t set that price, supply and demand do. Premiums, on the other hand, are made up of manufacturing and wholesaling costs.

And not all products are made equal. The lower the premium on your bullion, the lower your cost basis and more exposure to the metal you get for your dollar.

That’s cost. Now let’s cover why popularity matters, too.

Purchasing popular coins and bars that are widely-held and distributed around the world provide you with liquidity.

Just like stocks, bullion is traded in a market. When it comes time to sell, time to take profits, if you own a collectible, rare, proof, or limited-release bullion it can be much more difficult to match you with a buyer.

It’s easy to remember this way: there is always a market for shares of Microsoft, you can sell them fast and at the price you want.

But when you try to sell a thinly-traded penny stock, your order will wait around for a buyer who may offer 10% or 20% less than you want for your shares.

The same rule applies to bullion. The higher the sales volume a coin or bar has, the more often it trades hands, the better the price tends to be.

So, which products are both popular and low-cost?

Let’s start with the #1 most popular bullion we sell on GoldSilver.com: American Gold Eagle and American Silver Eagle coins.

1 oz American Gold Eagle (Common Date)

1 oz American Gold Eagle (Common Date)

1 oz American Silver Eagle (Common Date)

1 oz American Silver Eagle (Common Date)

American Eagle Coins
Popularity: ★★★★★
Premiums: ★★★

The US Mint has produced an average of 450,000 Gold Eagles and 15 million Silver Eagles a year for over 30 years – by far, these are the most popular bullion coins in the world (read: liquid).

But looking at pricing, you may notice these coins have higher premiums than bars. Doesn’t that go against our criteria?

No – because investors are willing to pay higher premiums for these coins on both the buy and sell side, in part because they trade around the mint’s “seigniorage” which is the cost above spot at which they are issued to the market.

The “bid/ask spread”, i.e. the gap between the price you pay and the price you get when you sell, at the same spot market price, is extremely low for these coins. So if you own only one type of bullion, these are a best bet.

Bars, on the other hand, tend to be the absolute lowest-cost bullion you can buy.

If you’re looking to exchange the most currency for pure ounces of metal as possible, bars are the way to go.

When you sell a bar, you are typically offered a bit below spot, the raw value of the metal, and no premium. But that’s not actually bad, since you paid much less for the bar than a minted coin. Once again, spreads on generic bars tend to be among the lowest you’ll find.

There is no wrong decision. And a mix of eagles and bars is probably the best choice for most investors.

Both offer exposure to precious metals and can be sold fast, purchased in an IRA with tax breaks, put it in vault storage, transferred between vaults, or sent to your home to be sold back locally or mailed back.

That’s why our most popular products are one in the same. In fact, 100 oz silver bars are second only to American Eagles in popularity.

Here’s our other top-selling bullion…

100 oz Silver Bars

100 oz Silver Bars
Popularity: ★★★★
Premiums: ★★★★★

 1 oz Gold Bars

1 oz Gold Bars
Popularity: ★★★
Premiums: ★★★★

1 oz Silver Rounds

 1 oz Silver Rounds
Popularity: ★★★
Premiums: ★★★★★

Once you’ve decided what gold and silver you want to buy, the next step is determining where you want to keep it.

#2 Where to keep your bullion

Most people don’t realize, there is a choice. 

You do not have to keep coins and bars in your home... 

Or go through the work of installing an expensive safe and alarm system... 

Or making sure you’re at home to meet the delivery person when it arrives... 

Or the expense of properly insuring your bullion, which is typically not covered by homeowners insurance and can cost 2% a year or more to properly cover. 

Instead – you can avoid all the worry and extra security… 

And click, buy bullion, and have it stored for you in the safest place possible… a non-bank, third-party vault… by one of the most secure depositories in the world... Brink’s.

Secure Depositories in the world... Brink’s

We’ve made buying – and truly owning – bullion for storage as easy as ordering a pair of socks online. 

All you do is sign on to GoldSilver.com, choose your vault at checkout, and your metals are securely shipped and held for you in the Brinks vault of your choosing either in the US or overseas. 

Your metals are there when you need them. Guarded, audited, and fully-insured for market value against theft or disaster. 

But they don’t have to just sit there. 

Our private storage platform allows you to manage your metals online, 24/7. 

You can take advantage of changing markets quickly… 

Add to your holdings when metals are undervalued... 

Or take profits and sell immediately when they are overvalued. You can even do it on your phone from the golf course. 

It works just like a stock brokerage account… with one BIG exception. 

Unlike shares of a mutual fund or ETF that are paper assets… you can request delivery of your physical gold and silver, any time you want, and we’ll ship them to you. 

They are your metals after all. It’s your right. 

You have complete and total control of your gold and silver at all times. 

Your metals are outside of the financial system, protected by armed professionals, fully-insured, wholly owned by you and can’t be lent, melted, moved or used in any way without your permission.

 It’s the ultimate way to invest in physical precious metals. 

Of course, if you prefer to have your gold and silver delivered instead of stored... 

We’ll happily ship them to you. All parcels are fully insured and arrive at your door in unmarked packages. 

We’re proud of our vault storage program and have to mention it because we believe it provides peace of mind, liquidity, and flexibility. 

But the choice is always yours. Whether you choose vault storage or home delivery for your metals, GoldSilver.com will always buy back your metals. 

And we’re here to help every step of the way...

#3 Invest with a team you can trust

GoldSilver has been in business since 2005, one of the first bullion dealers online.

Over the years we’ve earned over billions in business and the trust of many thousands of happy customers.

But don’t take our word for it. Our customers review us regularly on the industry’s most-trusted, 3rd-party review platform, TrustPilot.


Every unfiltered review is posted online for all to see. Because we pride ourselves on the service we provide and answering any and all questions investors may have.


Contact US

 Call: 1-866-318-8166

Email: [email protected]

Live Chat

Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM Eastern

And we’re always working to make investing in physical gold and silver as easy as possible…  

From investing in technology with our ultra-secure vault storage program… 

To developing unparalleled investor education with new episodes of the highly-acclaimed Hidden Secrets of Money, critical investor briefings and webinars for understanding markets, and ongoing analysis of the precious metals sector in our news feed. When you invest with GoldSilver, you get:

  • Just the lowest-cost, highest-liquidity bullion – no numismatics or collectibles
  • Price Match Guarantee
  • Global vault storage options
  • U.S. and international delivery
  • Easy sellbacks (from storage or from home)
  • Many convenient payment options
  • Professional, highly-rated customer care team

If you’re ready to get started, shop for gold and silver now.