Last Night I talked about how I've bought a lot of physical gold over the years etc, this morning I had some questions in my inbox about what I buy, how I sell it, what dealers do I use, and other thoughts.  Therefore here's a response I sent to one member, however I'm posting it here so that if others had the same questions hopefully this will address some of your questions

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Hello Richie, good morning and nice to hear from you!  Thanks for the comments about my mom, she's been pretty sick for a while, she's been to the hospital a handful of times in the last month or two, she's getting old and we are worried about her long term health.  We all have to deal with it one day with our parents as you know, but it's always hard.

Anyway yes I've been buying physical gold for years, since 2001.  I like the physical gold for long term investment vs the ETF GLD.  The benefit to owning GLD is that you can of course sell it with a click of a mouse and you don't have the hassle of selling it back to Kitco or the coin shop, etc.  

The limitation of physical gold is that it's not easy to sell.  However the fact that physical gold is more difficult to sell can also be a good thing, and it's been a good thing for me over the years since gold is in a secular bull market.  Here's why:  I have bought a lot of physical gold over the years all the way back to the 300's, 400's, 600's, 800's, 1000, 1200, 1500's etc and I still own most of the gold that I've bought over the years.  However I did sell quite a bit last year in Aug when gold topped out at $1900 when I was calling for a top as it was way extended > 25% above its 200 day MA.  I also sold some in previous years when gold got very overbought in the short term.  However I then bought back what I sold after corrections finally occurred, such as late last year in Dec and this year in Jan.  However otherwise, I buy it on major pullbacks/dips and I don't chase rallies.  

One of the main reasons that I still own this gold is not because I'm such a good long term investor, as you know I tend to be a short term trader, but because I can't just click my mouse and sell it like I can a stock like GLD!!  The fact that it's more work to sell the physical metal (i.e. I have to drive an hr to the local coin dealer, or call Kitco) has prevented me from selling at times when I probably would have sold out if I ONLY had GLD stock.  This cause me to only sell when I'm really sure that some sort of top in in place, vs GLD where it would be too easy for me to sell early.  This has allowed me to benefit during the 10 year bull market in gold, vs missing out on the gains by short term trading the ETF. 

however for physical gold, I only buy on good pullbacks, I never chase!

Now as far as sources where I buy the gold, I've bought from  kitco.com  in the past a few times, I've had a good experience with them, they will also buy your gold.  I've also bought gold from  Miles Franklin  a few times and have had great experience with them as well.  

As far as selling my gold/silver, I've sold some on Ebay and to the companies listed above, however I've also sold quite a bit to a local coin dealer, they are a distributor and will buy any amount that I bring them i.e. I can sell them 1 ounces or 500 ounces, they will take it no matter what.  Of course selling to a local dealer you have to sell 1 - 2% below spot, whereas if you buy from them you have to pay 1- 2% over spot prices, but of course that's how they make their money.  If you sell on places like Ebay, you can get more for your gold, but it's also more of a hassle.  

As far as what I buy, I've generally bought mainly 1 ounce bars, either Pamp Swiss or Australian Perth Bars.  I've also bought some 10 ounce bars from time to time, however I don't own a lot of them because it's easier to sell the 1 ounce bars and  you can't break out a 10 ounce bar obviously.  I've also bought a lot of coins, I like the Canadian Maples, and I bought a bunch of the new US Gold Buffalos over the past year years, though you pay a premium for them.  

I agree 100% with your point about not wanting to buy rare gold coins because it adds a complication i.e. you now have two values, one is the value of the gold content, the other is collectible rarity value.  Personally I only buy the newer coins that only have their value in their gold, vs 100 year old coins that are worth more because they are rare, that way there is no complication and know exactly how much it's worth.  Yes you can buy a rare gold eagle from the 1920's for $20,000, but that price fluctuates a lot and what happens if things really got bad around the world?  My bet is that the gold would be worth it's value, but people might not pay as much extra for the rarity collectible value. 

Anyway one day gold will hit a major top and it will be time to sell most or all of our gold, I think that time is still 2 - 3 years away perhaps.  Hopefully gold will hit $3000 an ounce by then

I hope this helps