How we rank the cheapest bullion

TroyDesk is for one question: what do you actually pay to get one piece of bullion delivered, if you pay the way stackers usually pay?

We are not a dealer. We do not take orders. Prices on dealer sites change; always confirm there before you buy.

We also rank 1 oz American Gold Eagle on /gold-eagle, same qty-1 check/wire + shipping rules.

We also rank 1/10 oz American Gold Eagle on /gold-eagle-tenth. Check/wire is delayed gold spot × 0.1 plus last verified premium.

We also rank 1 oz American Gold Buffalo on /gold-buffalo, same qty-1 check/wire + shipping rules as the 1 oz Eagle. A missing premium stays on Snapshot pending.

We also rank 10 oz silver bar on /10-oz-silver-bar. Check/wire is delayed silver spot × 10 plus last verified premium.

We also rank a generic 5 oz silver bar on /5-oz-silver-bar and a generic 100 oz silver bar on /100-oz-silver-bar. Check/wire is delayed silver spot times the ounces, plus the last verified premium. Shipping uses the same thresholds: Hero Bullion from $149, most dealers from $199, and Bullion Exchanges from $499.

We also rank a generic 1 oz gold bar on /1-oz-gold-bar. Check/wire is delayed gold spot plus the last verified premium. A priced ounce of gold clears every free-shipping threshold.

Silver bars vs Silver Eagles counts how many ounces the cheapest in-stock delivered 10 oz bar, 5 oz bar, 1 oz bar, Silver Maple, and Silver Eagle buy at $500, $1,000, and $2,000. Under that, one bar’s premium per ounce includes the 100 oz bar, which does not fit in those budgets. It uses these premiums, this spot, and these shipping thresholds. Out-of-stock rows are skipped. The pieces are whole, each at the quantity-1 check/wire price, with shipping added once.

Quantity 1

Every row is a single coin or bar. We do not use the “As Low As” number that only applies if you buy a tube or a monster box.

Check / wire only

We use the dealer’s (e)check / wire / cash column for the first quantity tier (the one that includes qty 1). Card and crypto are higher. If you pay with a card, you will pay more than we show.

All-in

All-in = that check/wire price + shipping for a small order.

On “1 coin,” shipping is $0 when the piece itself meets that dealer’s free-shipping threshold. “$199+ order” and “$500+ order” treat the cart as at least that size, and a piece that already clears the threshold stays free. Otherwise we add the dealer’s published fee:

Those fees are for typical U.S. domestic checkout. Dealer policies change.

Where the wire price comes from

We do not scrape eight dealer pages every hour.

Check/wire on TroyDesk is:

delayed silver spot + last verified dealer premium.

Spot is an indicative mid-market number, not that dealer’s quote. Premiums are checked by hand a few times a week. If a dealer is on sale or out of stock, our row can be wrong until the next check.

BEST badge

BEST is the lowest all-in among dealers that are in stock and have a premium on file. Out of stock and preorder do not get BEST.

Rank is not for sale

We may earn a commission if you buy through a link. That does not change the order of the table. See Disclosure.

Do this before you buy

Open the dealer page. Confirm qty-1 check/wire, shipping, and stock. Our number is a desk estimate, not a quote.

Rolling a retirement account into metal is not a qty-1 coin order. Published IRA fees: vaultfees.com