How To Barter With Gold & Silver: A Beginners Guide

The year is 2021.

The stock market is about to crash, taking your 401k with it.

The dollar is worth less than the Yen, somehow we gave all of our military equipment to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Russia invades Ukraine, and now Elon Musk might build an army on Mars and declare independence from Earth.

In other words, it’s the beginning of the apocalypse.

Thanks, boomers.

Starting to feel silly about calling people you disagree with a conspiracy theorist yet? Do you have any gold jewelry or coins that you can’t eat?

If so, you may be able to use them to barter for goods and services rather than selling them outright.

You may not realize it, but bartering can make your precious metals or jewelry go farther in exchange value than melting or trying to sell during a heavy uptick in inflation or during supply shortages.

Can you imagine how much toilet paper you could get for that 10th ounce gold Liberty coin that you have?

If you are willing to let go of some of your items because you are prioritizing your needs, then we will cover the basics about how to barter and what to use to get the most bang for your stuff.

Gold and silver, ammunition, as well as alcohol and food (notice the order) will be 5 of the things on the barter list in high demand.

You may not be the one needing these things because you were smart enough to read the political climate and stock up, but you may instead, be in need of services.

So in this article, assuming the internet is still around and you can read this, we will go over how to barter with gold & silver as you navigate the Exclusion Zone.

What Is Bartering?

Bartering is the exchange of goods and/or services without the use of a common medium called money.

When we barter, this simply means that you have something in your possession that I want or need, or that I have something that you want or need also, and so we come to an agreement and make a deal.

If you think back to the days when American Indians still owned the land, they would barter their animal skins and food to settlers for weapons, firewater, horses and other products that were impossible for them to get otherwise.

The word “Trades” came from an era where people used products made by their skills and tools for making deals with others who had different sets of skills and tools.

A carpenter would trade his woodworking skills for the goods and services of another. For instance, the carpenter might make a chair for the farmer in exchange for some eggs.

History of Bartering

Ever since the beginning of human societies, bartering or trading has been the primary way that our needs were met.

You have chickens who lay eggs, I have a cow who provides raw milk.

Some sort of trade can be negotiated.

People with no access to a cash economy, or where no monetary system existed or in economies suffering from a high inflation rate, used bartering as a means of survival.

Most bartering was reserved for trade between individuals, communities and countries.

What one lacked, the other provided.

Everything from cattle to food to fabric and animal skins were traded.

This has been going on since the beginning of mankind.

Some people would say that the “black market” is still a type of bartering, and they may be correct regardless of the legality of it. Whenever commodities become prohibited and scarce, black markets rise up to meet the needs or demand.

Bartering bypasses the system of taxation and is viewed as an creative alternative for those who wish to avoid taxes on goods.

Your government doesn’t like this because they have no way to track it and get a piece of the pie.

How Bartering Has Evolved

Bartering has always been dependent on a mutual coincidence of wants between two trading partners.

This was a drawback simply because often there was no one who had what you needed when you wanted it, and vice versa.

There was no internet, therefore bartering partners had to have ways to find each other.

Some communities developed a system of intermediaries who stored and warehoused commodities.

While this seemed like a good solution, it was fraught with risk.

When items became destroyed or damaged by natural elements, were stolen or were otherwise lost, someone had to be held responsible.

Bartering became more difficult as goods became more specialized.

Another element of difficulty was when hyperinflation took place in one country as opposed to another. In these scenarios, bartering became dicey.

Because it lacked a common unit of exchange and standardization, bartering did not carry the same value from one part of the country as another.

A system of monetary standardization became necessary so that everyone in an area would be dealing on a level field, value for value.

Yet despite the inherent limitations, the barter system still grows and has become usable to corporations and individuals in today’s world by using exchange organizations.

Look at Kitco, American Precious Metals, US Treasury bills, and Bitcoin for example.

Even the Stock Market is operating under a system of cyber bartering, although it can be very volatile and carries untold risks.

The ongoing and rapid globalization has made the once primitive barter system into a more complex, and sophisticated, form of trade.

You do not need, however, to risk what you have on an exchange platform, nor worry about Capital gains and other taxes.

But as we hurl towards a One World Order, currency will become obsolete and electronic “credits,” social and monetary, will become the technology of the day.

In the meantime, you can use what you have accumulated in terms of commodities to acquire the things that you want, and you can do it without ever exchanging cash.

Bartering In The 21st Century

Basically, bartering in the 21st century is really no different than that of ancient times because the only thing that has changed is the trade platform.

Where once you had to go to the open public square, now you use cyberspace.

Internet trading options such as Craigslist or Facebook and Offer It Up are examples of being able to communicate with others for the exchange of goods and services without necessarily using cash.

The key is, and has always been, communication with other people.

Even simply daycare can be a service of exchange offered by “mommycare.com”.

If you live in an agricultural area and venture out to contact farmers, you may have a service that you can offer in exchange for what they grow.

Communities use Facebook to let people know what they have, such as a used appliance, and are willing to exchange it to someone who can mow lawns or clean house.

The sky’s the limit, even in modern times, and will become more so as incomes become increasingly less able to meet the needs of the middle and lower income classes.

Best Types Of Gold & Silver For Bartering

The best types of gold and silver for bartering purposes are the items that have the most intrinsic value. This means that they are made of solid gold or silver, and not just gold or silver plated.

The weight and purity of the metal are also important factors to consider.

For instance, a one-ounce American Gold Eagle has a weight of one troy ounce and is made of 91.67% gold, with the other metals being copper and silver.

It is also important to consider how easy it would be to transport the items if you had to make a trade.

For instance, if you have a large collection of gold coins, it would be very difficult to transport them if you had to make a trade. It is much easier to transport gold bars, which is why they are often preferred for trading purposes.

Another factor to consider is how easy it would be to divide the items into smaller pieces if you needed to make change for a trade.

Let’s take a look at the different types of gold & silver that can be bartered:

Bartering With Jewelry

Let’s say that you have a ton of jewelry that you don’t wear anymore or that you inherited.

What value is it if you experienced an economic downturn or layoff or got fired?

You cannot eat that gold bracelet, can you?

There are people who have managed to keep their financial well being far above water and who will want to take advantage of a downturn in someone’s life who would be happy to trade that jewelry for something they have or something they do.

Let’s say you need to have a service of electrical, tile setting or plumbing, and it is costly.

You can call the companies who do such work and ask if they would be interested in exchanging some or all of the cost of the labor for their work.

Even drywall, flooring and painting services can be bartered for using your gold and silver jewelry as long as you can prove it is real and the weight is sufficient.

Bartering With Coins

Bartering with coins is no different than bartering with jewelry, except that coins are more easily recognized and their value is more universally accepted.

Gold is gold and silver is silver.

You can use coins to trade for goods and services just like you would with jewelry.

The key is to make sure that the coins are made of solid gold or silver and not just gold or silver plated.

There is a market exchange for these and always has been.

But if you know someone who grows pot (if that is your thing), or grows food, chickens, cows and you have gold, there is likely going to be business done because everyone loves precious metals.

You can use coins to exchange for furniture, appliances or whatever someone has and who wants to add to their collection for their own future use.

When To Barter With Gold & Silver

Now that you know the basics of bartering with gold and silver, it’s time to put your knowledge to use! You will want to take inventory of what you have and what you need.

Once you have a good idea of what you have to offer, start thinking about who you could approach to make a trade.

It’s important to remember that you are not limited to trading with people who have goods or services that you need – you can also trade with people who need what you have!

Bartering For Goods & Services

Believe it or not, we have actually bartered for goods and services with our precious metals quite often, even outside of apocalyptic scenarios.

We have found people to do yard work, housekeeping, plumbing and other services in exchange for a certain amount of gold or silver based on the current spot price. It is amazing what you can find if you put it out there that you are willing to trade your goods and services for gold and silver.

The best way to find people who are interested in trading with you is to contact smaller businesses and ask if they would be interested in bartering for goods or services. You may be surprised at how many people are open to the idea!

Bartering When SHTF

If you go on to “Prepper” sites, you will get an idea of what these people have accumulated to barter with.

Things like booze, medicine, freeze dried food, ammo, weapons and a whole plethora of items that you did not prepare for because you had your head elsewhere when the opportunity was optimal.

But if you have gold and silver, and if you know preppers, you may be in luck.

Preppers, and even other people who STILL live in denial with their heads up their you-know-what, would love to take your gold and silver off your hands and will think themselves wise for doing so.

Incidentally, when the SHTF happens, gold and silver will have a tremendous uptick in value compared to what it currently is because it is one commodity that is considered as being a “safe haven” during times of volatile inflation and societal collapse.

Tips For Successful Bartering

While gold jewelry is rarely made of pure gold, you will want to have a small scale available and divide your gold and silver jewelry into gram weights.

You also need to divide it into karat purity.

This will ensure that you know exactly the value of what you are trading with and can use just what you need.

Keep Smaller Divisions

While having one ounce gold or silver coins may be more convenient, the gold may be worth thousands for only one coin.

If you intend to use your coins for barter, or even if you didn’t when you acquired them, now is the time to change them for smaller denominations so that you can use them for smaller purchases.

While you will notice that the smaller denominations will net you fewer coins for the same money, it will be those little bitty 10th ounce Liberty coins that you can actually barter with for less expensive items.

You will not want to release a one ounce gold coin for a couple hundred dollars worth of goods and services right?

Keep Silver in Stock

Silver is good coinage to have on hand even if it is only in one ounce denominations.

We do not recommend silver bars unless they are less than 10 ounces given that the value of them will finally skyrocket when SHTF happens.

We recommend that you have a 50/50 amount of gold coins or jewelry to silver.

Don’t Expect To Barter With Big Box Stores

People like to point out that you simply cannot go into your local grocery store and expect to use the market value of your gold and silver coins to grocery shop with.

This is true.

What you can do, however, is find out where they get their local produce from, where you can find a nearby dairy farm, and who raises beef or chicken locally.

You can also find out who loves to cook and bake, because those people may be feeling quite secure in their economic situations and would love to acquire your gold and silver for what they already have and do for a living.

FAQ’s About Bartering With Gold/Silver

How much is a 24k gold bar worth?

The value of any gold or silver will depend on the daily “Spot Market” amount.

This is ever changing, hour by hour, and you can find out the value of whatever you have by going to www.kitco.com or www.apmex to find out the value of all precious metals.

Is it legal to trade with gold?

“The legalization of gold owner­ship today does not restore gold as a medium of exchange. As a matter of fact, the willingness of the state to once again permit gold ownership is precisely be­cause the state no longer views gold as a threat to its money monopoly.

Gold can now be owned as a non monetary commodity. Any ef­fort, however, by private citizens to re-introduce gold money as a medium of exchange will be promptly challenged by the gov­ernment as illegal competition against its monopoly of paper money. Gold ownership was not legalized in order to restore sound money, but instead, because the government no longer considers gold important.

Overconfidence, however, even by a monopolist, can lead to a miscalculation. So, any relaxation of power by the State, any resto­ration of freedom to the citizenry, should be acclaimed with joy and fully exploited.

The restoration of the legal right to own gold is the action of an overconfident money monop­olist. While the use of gold as a medium of exchange is still pro­hibited, the fact that we may own gold provides a means to protect our wealth from the ravages of inflation.”

https://fee.org/articles/gold-is-legal-but/

So to answer the question, yes and no.

Loose lips sink ships.

How much gold and silver should I own?

You should own as much gold and silver as you can comfortably afford to buy after you have paid your monthly bills.

Many people think that they should first pay off their mortgage, and while that is a great idea, it is not possible for most to do.

Second to that is to have a stockpile of freeze dried food for use in high inflation, and to buy gold and silver to barter with for goods and services.

If you were to not be able to pay your mortgage, at least you would still be able to eat while it takes the bank a few years to kick you out.

Does the government know if I buy gold?

If you buy more than $10,000 of gold or silver at one time, it will generate a “cash reporting transaction” that is supposed to be reported by the seller to the government so they can keep tabs on if you make a profit when you do sell.

But the key is in the selling.

Who you sell or trade with that is, and how much you use.

Can the government take your gold?

The government has taken gold from people before and can do it again during any economic crisis declared by them and under their own definitions. They did it in the 1930’s under the Executive Order 6102 Act in 1933.

Trust them not to do it again?

The only thing the government cannot take without your cooperation is your Bitcoin, unless you keep it on an exchange.

Do you pay tax on gold coins?

You will pay taxes on any profit of gold, provided that the gold is considered as “investment grade”.

Here is a site that says pretty much what you would want to know if you were to sell your gold to a business or company:

“• All denominations of precious metal bullion coins and numismatic coins, bars, wafers, etc.

• Precious metal “rounds” and commemorative coins

• Certificates such as those from the Perth Mint

• Certain Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s). Precious metal ETF’s are generally divided into three categories: physical-backed ETF’s structured as grantor trusts, such as the popular GLD. These ETF’s are generally taxed as collectibles. Second are securities “tied to” precious metals, such as mining stocks, mutual funds and mining ETF’s and Exchange Traded Notes. These are generally taxed as securities. Third are closed-end funds, which are also trusts which generally are treated as collectibles.”

https://goldsilver.com/blog/irs-1099-gold-reporting-private-gold-private-silver-bullion/

So there you have it. The question is the kind of gold you have.

We don’t see jewelry listed here.

Final Thoughts

Bartering with gold and silver is a great way to get what you need without using cash, which can be subject to taxation.

Be careful though, because the government can still take your gold if they deem it necessary.

If we’re ever in a scenario where bartering becomes necessary for all of society, it would be good to have an idea of how it works – because after all, we probably have more pressing matters to worry about.