How & Where to Buy Silver Bars [2024 Buyers Guide]

Buying silver bars is a shrewd investment decision. Silver bars come with lower premiums than coins, are easier to store than coins, and will rise a greater percentage in price than gold bars.

But what exactly should you buy? And where? This guide will answer all of your questions about the best ways to buy silver bars.

Advantages of Purchasing Silver Bars

There are two primary reasons investors choose silver bars over silver coins.

1. Silver bars are less expensive than silver coins

Why? Premiums are lower because coins have more intricate designs and thus greater labor and machining costs. Coins may be prettier, but you pay extra for that appeal.

Here is an example of the difference in premium (what you pay over the spot price of silver) between silver Eagle coins and top brand silver bars. You can see that bars are decidedly cheaper. Their premiums are half or even a third of what you’ll pay for Eagle coins.

[Silver premiums fluctuate regularly. Table shows summer of 2019.]

2. Silver bars are easier to store than silver coins

Space is a consideration when it comes to storing your silver bullion, especially as you accumulate more and more ounces. A silver bar takes up less space than the same number of ounces of coins. Here’s what that difference looks like.

The great thing about silver bars is that they don’t compromise any of the core advantages of owning physical silver: they’re portable, private, liquid, and will last forever.

What Weight Silver Bars Should You Buy?

One of your first decisions when buying silver bars is what size to purchase. Silver bars comfe in different sizes and weights. The majority range from 1-ounce to 100-ounces, which is the suitable for most investors. Bars are produced as heavy as 1,000 ounces, which is what banks, exchanges, and ETFs usually buy.

As the table above shows, the bigger the bar, the smaller the premium. That’s because for the most part, it costs the refiner just as much to produce a silver kilo bar as a 1-ounce bar.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should buy the biggest bar you can afford. Here are the problems that can creep up with large silver bars. Big bars…

• Can’t be divided up once you own them. If you buy a 1,000-ounce bar, you’ll someday have to sell the whole thing—which you may not want to do. Smaller bars will be more practical to sell for the small needs you may have in the future. In fact, this is one of silver’s advantages over gold, so take advantage of it!

• Have fewer potential buyers. Not many investors can afford to buy a 1,000-ounce bar. If you have 10- and 100-ounce bars, you have a greater pool of customers and thus will be able to sell more quickly and easily.

• Come with higher counterfeiting risk. Most of the counterfeit bars that have surfaced are with very large bars. Counterfeiters prefer them because they’re worth a lot more.

• Could require an assay to sell. Any silver bar over 100-ounces could require an assay, which adds extra expense, is inconvenient, and will delay your payout. Also, if you take personal delivery of a 1,000-ounce silver bar, almost any dealer will require an assay before they buy it. You can avoid this hassle by focusing on 100-ounce bars or lower.

On the other hand, I recommend you avoid silver bars smaller than one ounce, as the premiums really spike. Lastly, remember to consider the reporting requirements that can come with large silver sales.

Choosing a Silver Bar Mint or Brand

As you begin to shop, you’ll quickly find out that there are a lot of different refiners in the silver market. The main guideline here is to buy silver bars that are made by a reputable refiner. So what’s a reputable brand?

To begin with, all reputable refiners will have proper stamping. You should see this information on any silver bar you consider buying:

• Content or weight (how much silver the bar has—for example, 100 ounces)
• Purity (how pure the bar is—for example, .9999 purity)
• Refinery (you want to see the manufacturer’s name stamped on the bar)
• Serial number (every silver bar should have a unique number printed on it)

There are some private mints in the world that don’t include all of this information, which could mean it’s not a pure silver bar or has low quality. You can avoid these problems and assure that your silver is real by buying a bar with proper stamping.

Without these markings, a silver bar will likely be harder to sell. A buyer may demand an assay. Or they may not be willing to buy it at all.

Here's a list of the most reputable mints in the world, including both sovereign (government) and private mints.

Another good indication you’re buying a quality bar is if it’s eligible for IRAs. That signifies it is a reputable brand and meets quality standards. There are silver bars that are ineligible for IRA that are high quality too, so don’t automatically assume it’s lower quality if it’s not IRA eligible.

If you buy established industry hallmark bars, you have set yourself up to easily sell your bars for a fair price when the time comes. Conversely, if you buy silver bars from suppliers that are not well known, the quality of the bars might be questioned. You want to avoid any delays in selling, or be forced to sell them for less than what they’re worth.

The easiest way to avoid getting ripped off is to buy a well-known and established brand.

Where to Buy Silver Bars

Silver bars can be bought in numerous places…

• Online dealers like GoldSilver.com
• Auction sites like eBay
• Coin or bullion shops near you (here’s a handy dealer locator if you’re in the US)

The best strategy here is to buy your silver bars from a reputable dealer. A trustworthy dealer provides sound education, helps you avoid pitfalls, and most importantly, sells high-quality products.

How do you know if you’re dealing with a reputable bullion seller? Look for these things…

• Strong Independent Reviews. Favor review sites that meet Google's policies of not being pay-to-play. For example, use TrustPilot or Shopper Approved, or just Google Reviews. The Better Business Bureau can work in a pinch, though ratings are highly suspect because of their pricing model.
• An Educational Dealer or Website. The biggest tip-off you’re dealing with a “salesy” dealer is if they promote only the most expensive products—for example, if they try to steer you away from silver bars and into rare coins, which have higher markups. Trust your gut here… if the dealer doesn’t feel right, there’s plenty more to choose from. A good example is GoldSilver’s commitment to education through our wildly popular YouTube series, “The Hidden Secrets of Money.”
• Larger Dealers. Look for dealers that have strong volumes, because they will have greater flexibility. A small dealer, in contrast, may have limited product selection or be unable to fill a large buy or sell order.
• Multiple Forms of Payment. Most dealers will accept a check or money order (or cash, if you buy from a local shop). Bank wires and credit cards come with extra costs, though the convenience is hard to beat. Some dealers now offer PayPal, BitPay and other digital means. Regardless of payment keep in mind that online dealers will wait until your payment clears before they ship your order.
• An Online Store. Once you’ve identified some reputable dealers, consider the advantages of online ordering vs. a brick-and-mortar store: it’s quick and easy, can be done any time of day, and allows you to lock in your market price at the precise time you want to buy. And believe it or not, many online dealers are cheaper than your local shop even after paying for shipping, since their overhead is generally much lower.

If you’re new, try comparing three dealers. Be sure to compare total cost—commission, credit card or bank wire fees, and shipping and insurance. And keep in mind that cost isn’t the only factor when buying silver bars: ease of ordering, delivery promptness, customer service, and buyback policies are all important to consider in where you shop.

One effective method for first-timers is to buy from two different dealers, so you can compare service, delivery, and cost. It also provides you with two vetted sources for future purchases.

How to Buy Silver

Purchasing silver online is easy with GoldSilver. Simply select which silver bars you want to buy, add them to your cart, and check out as if you were buying a sweater. During check out, there are two decisions you need to make when buying silver. One, how will you pay for your silver? GoldSilver accepts bank wires, credit or debit cards, personal checks, cryptocurrencies, and PayPal – each has a different clearing and processing time. Two, the destination for your silver – are you taking home delivery or keeping in secure vault storage? Keep reading for tips on making this important decision...

Where to Store Your Silver

This is an important consideration, not just because silver is valuable and thus needs to be stored safely, but also because… it takes up a lot of space!

At current prices, you can get roughly 65 times more ounces of silver than gold for the same dollar amount. As a practical example, you’d have to stuff 65 one-ounce silver bars in your pants pocket to equal one ounce of gold, and it would weigh almost five pounds! In other words, you’ll need a lot more space to store silver bars than gold. It’s also more difficult, expensive, and cumbersome to transport.

This can be a dilemma when trying to use home storage or a bank safe deposit box, since it takes up so much space. There are ways to do it, though, and we devoted a full article and video to the topic here.

Once your stash starts to grow, however, I recommend you consider professional storage. Your risks of keeping it all at home increase as you accumulate more metal. You don’t want to be wiped out if something happened to your stash.

Mike Maloney and I and thousands of other investors use the allocated storage program at GoldSilver.com. Your holdings are highly secure, 100% insured, and can be bought and sold online instantaneously. It’s your safest option once you have a reasonable amount of bullion stored close to you.

Silver bars are one of mankind’s most definitive forms of money—they’re a tangible asset, are highly liquid, and will protect your portfolio from various financial crises.

Owning silver bullion at this point in history is not only very prudent, but will return a huge profit in the next bull market.