SD Bullion Review 2023 (Legit or Scam?)

Key takeaways from our review:

• SD Bullion clearly cares about their customers. They are quick to resolve complaints and have above-average ratings with online ratings companies and maintain an A+ rating at the BBB.
• While their gold IRA is weak, they do offer a wide range of products with a standout inventory of investment-grade bullion and coins.
• They offer their own fully segregated precious metals storage vault called SD Storage that has competitive pricing, great security, and great perks for customers.

Pros & Cons

What is SD Bullion?

SD Bullion is a gold, silver, and precious metals dealer that claims to have "the lowest price. period." Founded in 2011 by two doctors interested in precious metals investing, the company prides itself in their low-price guarantee and in making it easy to buy and sell gold and silver. They offer a wide variety of precious metals investment coins and bullion (bars) at competitive prices and claim to have processed over $2 billion dollars worth of transactions. They also can help you setup a precious metals IRA via partnerships with custodians and storage facilities. 

SD Bullion Products

SD Bullion offers investment-grade gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion and coins. They have a large catalog of products and have one of the widest offerings we've found on platinum and palladium products. 

Does SD Bullion have a gold IRA? 

Yes. While not a gold IRA specialist - and their website makes it seem almost like an afterthought - SD Bullion can help facilitate a gold IRA setup via partnerships with custodians and storage companies. They offer gold, silver, and platinum IRA-approved investment products.

For gold IRAs, check out our number #1 recommendation, Augusta Precious Metals. 

Custodians, Storage, and Security

Let's have a look at the gold IRA custodians behind SD Bullion.

Custodians

For gold IRAs, SD Bullion will steer you towards the New Direction Trust Company, but can also facilitate setup with Goldstar Trust, Provident Trust, The Entrust Group, Kingdom Trust, and Equity Institutional. 

Storage

SD Bullion offers its own depository, the SD Depository, a fully insured non-bank depository. According to their storage page, you can store any amount of metals you want at SD Depository. 

Storage prices start at $9.99/month and there are no minimum deposits, no set up fees, and no deposit fees. The first three months are free for new customers. They claim to have a "highly liquid" market, making it easy to withdraw and sell at any time.

Presumably you can use any storage option of your choice, but we can't confirm that in this review.

Security

SD Bullion claims to have private security for their fully segregated gold storage facility. With fully segregated bullion storage, your metals are stored safely away from other customers. 

SD Bullion Fees & Pricing

How To Start An Account?

To setup a consumer account with SD Bullion, go to this page and fill out all items on the signup form, then click "Create an account."

How to open a gold IRA with SD Bullion: 

The website mentions a 3-step process to opening a gold IRA with SDB: 

Step 1: Call the company at 1-800-294-8732 to speak to one of their traders about opening an IRA, or rolling over an existing IRA into precious metals. They will help you set up your self-directed IRA and will steer you towards opening an SDIRA with the New Direction Trust Company (but you have options).

Step 2: Fund the SDIRA. At this stage you'll need to get funds ready for your account. The custodian will walk you through this process.

Step 3: Purchase IRA-approved gold, silver, platinum, or palladium for your new IRA. You'll need to purchase precious metals at this stage and "place" them in your gold IRA.

SD Bullion Reviews & Ratings

Overall, SD Bullion reviews are positive online with ratings platforms. 

• On SiteJabber.com, they get 4.11/5 stars out of 310 reviews.
• They fare better on the Better Business Bureau, with 4.76/5 stars and an A+ score. SD Bullion is accredited with the BBB, and 96 complaints closed over 3 years with a 100% complaint response rate.
• On TrustPilot.com, they get 4.4/5 stars with a rating of "Excellent," with a 100% response rate to complaints. 

Negative complaints online focus on these aspects: 

• Scratched inventory arriving via mail.
• Cancellation charges and transparency issues around fees, insurance policies, etc.
• SD bullion customer service gets regular complaints.

Alternatives To SD Bullion

There's no shortage of gold dealership companies online. For gold IRAs, we recommend Augusta IRAs for high net worth individuals. For generalized gold dealers, some good alternatives are Pacific Precious Metals, Texas Precious Metals, and Provident Metals.

Verdict: Is SD Bullion Legit?

SD Bullion is a legit gold and silver broker with a simple gold IRA available. They have a wide range of physical precious metals and investment coins available, solid reviews and customer complaint response rates, and get high marks from us for having a solid inventory of platinum and palladium products (something of a rarity in the industry).

While not a specialist in precious metal IRAs, they do offer the option and make it relatively easy to set one up with. We recommend SD Bullion for your precious metals coins physical gold investments. 

For gold IRAs, check out our number #1 recommendation, Augusta Precious Metals.