Dealers often advertise pricing as 'spot plus' a dollar amount or percentage. Here's how to actually read and compare that pricing format across dealers.
Short answer: "spot plus" pricing means a dealer's price is quoted as the current spot price plus a stated premium — either a flat dollar amount per unit ("spot plus $2 per ounce") or a percentage ("spot plus 5%") — making it easy to see exactly how much markup you're paying above the pure metal value, and to compare that specific premium across different dealers for the same product.
A flat dollar premium ("spot plus $3") stays the same regardless of how high or low spot price moves — meaning as a percentage of total price, it becomes relatively smaller when spot is high and relatively larger when spot is low. A percentage premium ("spot plus 5%") scales directly with spot price, always representing the same proportional markup regardless of the current price level.
"Spot plus" pricing makes it straightforward to compare the same product across dealers on an apples-to-apples basis — if Dealer A quotes spot plus $25 and Dealer B quotes spot plus $35 for the identical coin, you know Dealer A is cheaper by exactly $10 per coin, regardless of what spot happens to be doing that day.
A dealer's "spot plus" premium often differs by product size — a 1 oz coin might carry a lower flat premium than a 1/10 oz fractional of the same series, reflecting the higher relative production cost on smaller pieces (covered in our bar size guide). Always check the specific premium for the exact size you're buying, not just the series' general reputation for pricing.
The "spot plus" figure typically represents the core product premium, but may not include shipping, insurance, or payment processing fees — always check whether those are itemized separately or already folded into the quoted spot-plus number before comparing total cost across dealers.
When comparing multiple dealers for the same product, convert every quote into a consistent "spot plus X" format if they aren't already presented that way — this strips out the noise of spot price itself (which is identical everywhere at a given moment) and isolates the actual variable that differs between dealers: their premium.
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