We have to transfer some basic silver knowledge before we can talk about the right strategy to sell scrap silver. It’s really important to understand that items made of silver come in different alloys ranging from 40% to 99% purity. For instance, an item made of .400 silver is made of 40% pure silver and 60% other metals, an item made of .925 silver (also called sterling silver) is made of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals. Most of the times, the other metal is copper. Compared to silver, copper is way cheaper and ideal to be alloyed with pure silver.
In the US, four silver alloys are very common: 40% pure silver, 90% pure silver, 92.5% pure silver, and 99% pure silver. The best known example for 40% silver are Kennedy half dollar coins, minted between 1965 and 1970. Many quarter dollar coins, all Peace Dollar coins, Morgan Dollar coins and some other Half Dollar coins have been made of 90% silver – also recognized as coin silver. Merchandise made of 92.5% pure silver are jewelry, cutlery or medals. Bullion coins and bars are made of 99% pure silver and for investment purpose.
It makes a huge difference if you plan to sell silver made of 40%, 92.5% or 99%. For instance, 99% pure silver is almost 2.5 times as valuable as 40% silver. You can now understand that your silver’s purity is responsible for the amount of money you are potentially getting paid.
After learning the basics, you should be ready to sell your scrap silver. Tons of scrap silver is sitting around in the United States and lots of it is pouring into the precious metal market every day. “I cannot believe how much scrap silver is arriving every day in our facility. You would think it has to stop coming in but it doesn’t” – that’s what the refining department manager of one of the biggest US refineries said in an interview. So many items have been made of silver over the last 200 years. Hundreds of millions of silver coins have been minted, billions of jewelry items have been manufactured, and the amount of decorative silver from trays over cutlery to picture frames is overwhelming. With that being said, silver is anything else but rare. What does it mean for selling? Actually, not too much as you plan to sell and not to buy. For a buyer, the amount of silver available (= scarcity) is from huge importance to get a feeling weather the price may go up or down. For you as a seller, the current silver price is what matters.
Thus, your first step will be the price research. A quick look at the silver chart is very helpful. Traded in troy ounces, the value of your items can be calculated in no time.
One troy ounce = 31.1 grams
Once you understood the math behind pricing, you have to pick a buyer to sell your scrap silver. You have the choice between selling online and selling locally. There is not such a thing as a general recommendation whether it’s better to sell online of around the corner. Both can be successful, both can be total failure. The secret of getting paid a high price begins with understanding the value of your silver. If you know that your silver is worth one thousand dollars, selling for $300 may be off the table. That’s the secret sauce. Find out how much your silver is worth and you are perfectly prepared for selling.
Silver-Chart.com did the work for you. We compared over 50 nationwide operating silver buyers. The highest price for scrap silver was offered by a company called reDollar. No other company offered more money for our scrap silver lot. We are not getting paid for this recommendation, nor do we collect a kickback for a click on the link to their website. We figured that there is no better way to sell scrap silver for individuals in the US.
Selling scrap silver can be fun and rewarding. There is a pretty big community of gold and silver hunters. Those folks do nothing but searching pawn shops, estate sales, antique malls or thrift stores for valuables. The secret of being a successful treasure hunter is understanding the material you are looking for very well. Just because an item bears a certain marking doesn’t mean that it will contain the metal you are looking for. Fakes are everywhere and laymen are not always able to identify the treasure from the trash. It will need a lot of experience to make money on selling scrap silver.
For those, who want to learn more about the simple math behind the value-calculation, please keep on reading. You already learned that different silver alloys. Sterling silver, what is the most common silver alloy, calculates like that
Weight in Ounces multiplied by 0.925 (purity) and multiplied by the current silver price = Value
800 silver, what is a more uncommon silver alloy, calculates like that
Weight in Ounces multiplied by 0.80 (purity) and multiplied by the current silver price = Value
Getting paid at least 80% of the material value for silver would indicate a fair offer. With gold, at least 90% of the material value for gold would indicate a fair offer
Unfortunately, there is a well-known silver scam common in the United States. We would call it the “silver embezzlement” scam. That’s when a buyer is telling you that the items presented for selling are plated and only worth a few dollars. The scammer may offer “generously” 50 dollars to take it from you. You may believe the buyer agreeing to the small sum offered as many silver items don’t look very attractive. Once agreed and sold, you may be scammed out of hundreds of dollars.
You can easily avoid a scam like that by learning some more silver fundamentals. The easiest step is learning about markings and their meaning. Let’s help you with a quick list of “good” and rather “bad” markings indicating treasure or trash.
Silver markings indicating monetary value
800, 835, 900, 925, STERLING, 950, 999
Silver markings indicating no monetary value
60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 150, PLATE, COPPER, NICKEL, PLATA
| Silver | Melting Point | Copper | Manganese | Zinc | Cadmium | Tin | Antimony |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 1762 | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 935 | 1657 | 65 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 925 | 1645 | 75 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 900 | 1607 | 100 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 835 | 1540 | 165 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 800 | 1495 | 200 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 720 | 1434 | 280 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 600 | 1504 | 400 | X | X | X | X | X |
| 800 | 1472 | 150 | X | 50 | X | X | X |
| 800 | 1645 | 50 | X | X | 150 | X | X |
| 800 | 1517 | 150 | X | X | X | 50 | X |
| 800 | 1445 | X | X | 75 | 75 | X | 50 |
| 800 | 1472 | X | 15 | 110 | 55 | X | 20 |
| 835 | 1539 | C | 16 | 86 | 43 | X | 20 |
Keep in mind that there are fakes around. Just because a marking is present doesn’t mean that the item marked is truly valuable. Counterfeits are not uncommon but also not very common. It doesn’t hurt to rather keep an item in question rather selling it off for some change.