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That drawer in your kitchen probably has two old iPhones, a tablet no one touches, and maybe a busted gaming controller you keep meaning to deal with. You’re not alone. The average U.S. household is sitting on several unused devices at any given time, and most of them still have real cash value, especially if they’re less than five years old.

eBay is the obvious answer, but it’s not always the right one. Fees run around 13.25% of the sale price plus a transaction fee, and you’re responsible for listing, photographing, communicating with buyers, and shipping. For a lot of people, that’s more work than the payout justifies.

Selling an old phone or laptop is a solid way to raise cash, but listings take days and an offer still takes time to pay out. If the bill is due this week, that timeline doesn’t help.

Dave is a financial app built for that gap. Eligible members can qualify for ExtraCash® up to $500 in 5 min or less1, with no credit check, no interest, and no late fees. Then settle it later. Reselling still makes sense when you have time; Dave is what you reach for when you don’t.

1 ExtraCash amounts range from $25-$500, typically authorized within 5 minutes, with an overdraft fee equal to the greater of $5 or 5%. Multiple overdrafts may be required. Not all members qualify for ExtraCash and few qualify for $500. ExtraCash is repayable on demand. Must open an ExtraCash overdraft deposit account and Dave Checking account. Up to $5 monthly membership fee for ExtraCash, Income Opportunity Services, and Financial Management Services. Optional 1.5% fee for external debit card transfers. See dave.com.

If you have time to sell, specialized platforms can make the process easier and help you get more for your used electronics. Here are 12 worth knowing about.

Swappa

Swappa is a peer-to-peer marketplace where you list your device and sell directly to another person. It covers phones, laptops, tablets, MacBooks, gaming consoles, smartwatches, cameras, and audio gear. The platform manually reviews each listing before it goes live, which keeps out scammers and junk devices, and means buyers are actually looking to buy rather than just browse.

Fees are low. Sellers pay a flat 3% of the asking price, buyers pay 3% on top of that, and listing is always free. Compare that to eBay’s 13% and you’re keeping meaningfully more per sale. Payment comes through PayPal or Stripe before you ship, so you’re not waiting and hoping.

The tradeoff is that it takes some effort. You’ll write a description, take photos, and respond to buyer questions. Items can also take days or weeks to sell depending on demand. But if you have a recent-model phone or laptop in good condition and you want the most money for it, Swappa consistently beats the buyback sites on payout. It’s the platform most worth trying first before you accept a trade-in offer anywhere else.

ItsWorthMore

ItsWorthMore is a buyback service that buys your device directly, which means no listing, no waiting for a buyer, and no strangers to meet. You enter your device type, model, and condition, get an instant quote, and ship it in using a free prepaid label. The company covers phones, tablets, MacBooks, iPads, gaming consoles, cameras, smartwatches, and more.

What separates ItsWorthMore from most buyback services is that it sometimes increases the offer after inspecting your device, rather than dropping it. That’s genuinely unusual in this industry and explains why reviewers on Trustpilot consistently mention accuracy and honesty. The company has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and has operated since 2012.

Payment options are broader than most: PayPal, Zelle, direct deposit, check, or gift card. If you choose PayPal or Zelle, you typically receive funds within two days of inspection. One thing to know: if ItsWorthMore revises your offer downward, you have three days to accept or decline it. If you don’t respond, they treat it as an acceptance. Read the confirmation email.

Gazelle

Gazelle is one of the oldest and best-known phone buyback services in the U.S., in business since 2006. The process is simple: get an instant quote, accept it, and use their prepaid shipping label to send your device. Once inspected, you get paid via PayPal, check, or Amazon gift card, usually within a day of inspection. Gazelle also holds your quoted price for 30 days, so you have time to decide without rushing.

The catch is that Gazelle’s offers tend to run lower than some competitors, particularly ItsWorthMore and Swappa. The trade-off is familiarity and simplicity. It accepts iPhones, Android phones, iPads, MacBooks, and a few other Apple and Android devices, though the range is narrower than some newer services. Customer reviews are mixed, with some sellers reporting that the final offer after inspection was significantly below the initial quote.

Gazelle makes the most sense if you want a name you recognize, a fast process, and your expectations are realistic. Before accepting any quote from Gazelle, run your device on SellCell (see below) to compare what other buyers would offer.

Gizmogo

Gizmogo was founded in 2020 and has built a solid reputation for accepting an unusually wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, lenses, drones, smartwatches, headphones, and speakers. If you have something that other buyback sites won’t touch, Gizmogo is often worth a try.

The process mirrors the industry standard: get an instant quote, ship for free using a prepaid label, and get paid after inspection via PayPal, Zelle, check, or Amazon gift card. Payment typically arrives within one to two business days of acceptance. Gizmogo offers a 30-day price lock, so your quote is good for a month. The company also performs data deletion on every device received.

Reviews are generally positive, with sellers citing responsive customer service and quotes that hold after inspection. Some negative reviews mention delays in processing during busy periods. If the revised offer doesn’t meet your expectations after inspection, you can decline and have your device returned for free, which is standard practice across buyback services worth using.

BuyBackWorld

BuyBackWorld is a buyback service that covers a broad range of electronics: phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, cameras, drones, gaming consoles, and musical instruments. The instrument and drone acceptance is a genuine point of difference, as most buyback services stick to consumer tech.

The process is consistent with other buyback services: get a quote, ship free, get paid. Payment options include PayPal, check, direct deposit, or gift cards. If you have a device that doesn’t appear in the standard quote flow, BuyBackWorld offers custom quotes for unlisted products, which is useful if you’re sitting on something unusual.

Payout tends to be competitive, and in some side-by-side comparisons BuyBackWorld offers more than Gazelle for phones. As with any buyback service, your actual payout depends on condition. Be honest about scratches, dents, and functionality, because every service will inspect the device and adjust the offer if your description doesn’t match.

Mercari

Mercari is a general marketplace app where you list items and sell directly to buyers. It handles electronics alongside clothing, collectibles, household goods, and more, which means a wide and varied buyer pool. For electronics, it works well for phones, consoles, accessories, smartwatches, and smaller gadgets. Larger or heavier items can get expensive to ship.

As of January 2025, Mercari charges sellers a flat 10% fee on the item price plus buyer-paid shipping. Listing is free. Buyers pay an additional 3.6% buyer protection fee. There’s no separate payment processing charge anymore. Shipping is flexible: you can use Mercari’s prepaid labels at discounted rates, or arrange your own.

Mercari works best for mid-range items where you want a simple fee structure and a platform that isn’t purely electronics-focused. Items sometimes take a while to sell, and because Mercari holds payment until the buyer rates the transaction, there’s a brief delay before funds clear. It’s a solid alternative to eBay for anyone who wants to set their own price without committing to a full listing operation.

Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is where a lot of used electronics actually sell quickly, particularly phones, gaming consoles, and laptops. The platform has over a billion users, and for in-person local transactions, there are no fees at all. You keep everything you charge. That makes it the highest-payout option available if you’re willing to meet a buyer locally.

For shipped sales, Facebook Marketplace charges a 10% commission with a minimum of $0.80, which is lower than most marketplaces. The main practical issue is that you’re communicating with buyers through Messenger, managing the transaction yourself, and handling shipping independently. Scams do happen, particularly fake payment confirmations and overpayment schemes. For local sales, cash or verified payment apps and a public meeting place reduce the risk significantly.

Facebook Marketplace suits electronics well because the audience is enormous, buyers are local, and there’s no barrier to listing. If you have a phone or a console in decent shape and you want to move it in a few days, this is one of the fastest options available.

OfferUp

OfferUp is a mobile-first marketplace that works similarly to Facebook Marketplace for local sales, with a cleaner interface and built-in buyer and seller ratings. It’s popular in major metros and tends to attract more intentional buyers, especially for higher-value electronics. Local sales on OfferUp have no selling fees.

For shipped sales, OfferUp charges 12.9% with a $1.99 minimum, which is higher than Facebook Marketplace’s shipping fee. That makes it less competitive for mailing lower-priced items. It has a TruYou identity verification system that adds a layer of trust, which matters if you’re selling something expensive and want buyers who are serious and verified.

OfferUp performs particularly well for phones, tablets, gaming gear, and tools in cities with active user bases. If you’re in a smaller market, the local buyer pool can be thin. The sweet spot is high-value electronics sold locally to a verified buyer, where OfferUp’s reputation system gives both parties more confidence than Craigslist typically offers.

Craigslist

Craigslist is free, with no seller fees and no platform commission. You post, a buyer contacts you, you meet and exchange cash. That simplicity is the entire appeal. For bulky electronics like TVs, desktop computers, or large speakers that would cost a lot to ship, local Craigslist sales often make more practical sense than any shipping-based platform.

The downsides are real. There’s no seller protection, no built-in payment processing, and no dispute mechanism. Scammers target Craigslist electronics listings regularly. The standard precautions apply: meet in a public place, accept only cash or in-person Zelle or Venmo transfers that you can verify, never ship an item to someone you haven’t met, and don’t accept overpayment checks.

For people comfortable with those realities, Craigslist remains a practical option for selling larger electronics quickly without losing a cut to any platform. Electronics in the $50 to $300 range tend to move fastest. Anything high-value, like a MacBook or a camera, gets more scrutiny and is probably better handled through a platform with buyer verification.

Amazon Trade-In

Amazon’s Trade-In program accepts phones, tablets, Kindles, Echo speakers, Fire TV devices, laptops, gaming consoles, headphones, and a range of other electronics. The process is free: get an instant quote on Amazon’s trade-in page, ship using a prepaid label, and receive an Amazon gift card once your item is inspected. Amazon also sometimes offers a bonus discount toward a new qualifying device on top of the gift card value.

The key limitation is that trade-in value is issued as Amazon credit only, not cash. If you were going to spend that money at Amazon anyway, that’s fine. If you want actual money, this isn’t the right platform. Trade-in values also tend to run lower than dedicated buyback services. Amazon Trade-In is most useful for Amazon-branded devices like Echo speakers and Kindles, where Amazon actively incentivizes trade-ins with bonus discounts, and for people who just want to tidy things up and don’t care about maximizing the payout.

One thing to watch: Amazon can claw back instantly-issued credit if your device fails inspection or doesn’t match your description. Don’t spend the gift card before the inspection process completes.

Best Buy Trade-In

Best Buy’s trade-in program is worth using if you prefer to walk into a store and be done with it in fifteen minutes. You can also initiate trade-ins online and ship the device using a prepaid label. Best Buy accepts phones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles, and smartwatches. In fiscal year 2025 alone, the program facilitated over 777,000 trade-ins.

Payment comes as Best Buy store credit, not cash. If you’re planning to buy something at Best Buy anyway, the in-store trade-in can make a new purchase more affordable in a single transaction. If you want cash, look elsewhere. As with Amazon, the trade-in values here tend to be lower than dedicated buyback services or peer-to-peer platforms, because that’s how these programs sustain themselves.

The genuine advantage is speed and simplicity. Hand over the old device, get a credit applied to your purchase, walk out with something new. For people upgrading a device and already shopping at Best Buy, it’s an easy choice. For people who want the highest possible dollar amount from their old tech, it’s not the right tool.

SellCell

SellCell isn’t a buyer itself. It’s a comparison site that pulls real-time quotes from over 40 vetted electronics buyback companies simultaneously and shows you the highest offer for your specific device. Instead of checking Gazelle, then ItsWorthMore, then Gizmogo one by one, you enter your device details once and see every offer side by side in seconds.

The site is free to use, and SellCell backs results with a Best Price Guarantee: if you find a better quote within 24 hours elsewhere, they’ll pay you double the difference. Every buyer listed has been vetted and reviewed. You see customer ratings alongside prices, so you can weigh a slightly lower offer from a highly-rated buyer against a higher offer from someone with worse reviews.

Using SellCell before accepting any buyback offer takes about two minutes and routinely surfaces meaningfully better prices than whatever the first site you tried happened to quote. It won’t help you sell peer-to-peer, and it focuses primarily on phones, tablets, and laptops rather than all electronics. But for anything in those categories, it’s the most efficient first step you can take before committing to a buyer.

One more thing worth knowing before you ship anything: back up your data, sign out of all accounts, and do a factory reset. Every reputable buyer will wipe devices anyway, but you don’t want personal data leaving your hands in a recoverable state.

Your grandfather kept a small brown envelope in the back of his desk drawer. Inside: four coins, yellow and worn smooth, with a combined face value of about thirty-two dollars. You’ve been meaning to look them up. Look them up now. Pre-1933 American gold coins, British sovereigns, and a handful of overlooked foreign and commemorative issues turn up in estate sales, jewelry boxes, and old coin albums constantly, often priced at their gold weight alone. That is frequently a significant underestimation of what they’re actually worth.

The mechanics are simple. Every gold coin has a floor: its melt value, which is just gold content multiplied by spot price. With gold trading above $3,000 an ounce, that floor is high even on small denominations. But the ceiling is set by collector demand, rarity, and condition, and on many of the coins below, those two numbers are very far apart.

None of this requires a numismatic degree. You need to know the coin’s name, check the date and any mint mark stamped on the coin, and honestly assess whether the surfaces are original or have been cleaned or polished. What destroys value fastest is cleaning, removal from jewelry mounts, and the hairline scratches left by either. A coin that looks lightly worn with dull original surfaces is worth more than one that has been polished to a shine.

$20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, common date, circulated

This is the coin most likely to show up in a grandparent’s safe or at an estate sale and leave the finder speechless. The Saint-Gaudens $20 piece, minted from 1907 to 1933, contains nearly a full ounce of gold and is widely considered the most beautiful coin the U.S. Mint ever produced. Lady Liberty strides across the obverse holding a torch and olive branch; a bald eagle in flight dominates the reverse. President Theodore Roosevelt personally commissioned the design from sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Common dates from 1922 to 1928 in circulated condition bring $4,400 to $4,800 at current gold prices, trading at a small numismatic premium above melt. Uncirculated MS-63 examples reach $4,600 to $4,900. Most dates from 1922 onward are available enough that dealers buy them readily, which makes them genuinely liquid assets. The condition variable that matters most here is cleaning. A polished Saint-Gaudens has an unnaturally bright, almost glassy look and fine parallel scratches visible under a loupe. A naturally worn coin with original surfaces, even if dark or lightly toned, commands a better price. One more thing to check immediately: the date. Any coin marked 1933 is almost certainly a replica. The genuine article is one of the rarest and most legally complicated coins in existence, and there is essentially no chance of stumbling across a real one at a yard sale.

$20 Liberty Head Double Eagle, common date 1890s–1907, circulated

The Liberty Head Double Eagle preceded the Saint-Gaudens and ran from 1850 to 1907. It’s a more workmanlike design: Lady Liberty in a coronet on the obverse, a heraldic eagle on the reverse. Common dates from the 1890s through 1907 are the most accessible in the series and trade essentially as gold bullion with a modest numismatic addition, bringing $4,400 to $4,700 at current market levels. Each coin holds 0.9675 ounces of gold, so even heavily circulated examples have real metal value.

What separates a straightforward estate find from a problem coin is, again, cleaning. Liberty Head double eagles were beautiful enough that people routinely polished them, and a cleaned coin sells at a meaningful discount to an original-surface example. More importantly, check the mint mark on the reverse below the eagle. A “CC” for the Carson City Mint adds a substantial premium on any Liberty Head double eagle, because Carson City produced far fewer than Philadelphia or San Francisco and closed permanently in 1893. A CC double eagle that looks common on the obverse is anything but once you flip it over.

$20 Liberty Double Eagle with “CC” Carson City mint mark

Add a “CC” mint mark to a Liberty Head double eagle and you’re in a different conversation entirely. The Carson City Mint operated only from 1870 to 1893. Fewer than half a percent of all double eagles ever produced carry its mark. Common dates among the CC issues, particularly higher-mintage years from 1874 to 1876, bring $6,000 to $12,000 in average circulated grades, far above comparable Philadelphia or San Francisco examples. Rarer dates push well into five figures with significant wear.

The CC mark is a small two-letter stamp above the date on the reverse. Fakes exist: genuine Liberty double eagles with altered or added mint marks, as well as outright counterfeits. An authentic stamped mark has the same surface character and coloring as the surrounding metal. A fake added mark typically shows tooling irregularities or slightly different texture around the letters. Before selling any coin with a CC mark, get it authenticated by PCGS or NGC. The difference between a certified example and an unverified one is substantial, and dealers will pay much more for a slabbed coin with a verified grade.

$10 Indian Head Eagle, common date (1907–1933)

The Indian Head $10 Eagle uses an unusual technique called incuse relief, where the design elements are pressed into the coin’s surface rather than raised above it. It’s the only major American coin series built this way, and it makes these pieces immediately recognizable. Common dates from 1910 to 1916 in circulated grades bring $2,000 to $2,500 above the melt floor, which sits around $1,700 based on the coin’s 0.4838 ounces of gold. Uncirculated examples add more.

The incuse design creates a grading trap that catches inexperienced buyers and sellers. Because the fields are the high points of the coin, they show wear first, giving a lightly circulated example the look of a more heavily used one. A certified slab from PCGS or NGC removes that ambiguity entirely and protects both parties. Also worth noting: the 1933 Indian Head Eagle was never officially released, unlike the same-year double eagle. Any raw 1933 $10 piece needs professional authentication before any transaction, because genuine examples are extremely rare and fakes are common.

$5 Indian Head Half Eagle, common date (1908–1916)

The half eagle version of the Pratt incuse design is where this series becomes accessible to a much wider pool of estate finds and casual collectors. With 0.2419 ounces of gold, the melt value sits around $800 at current prices. Common Philadelphia dates in circulated condition bring $950 to $1,100, with uncirculated MS-62 to MS-63 examples reaching $1,400 to $1,600. These coins turn up in estate jewelry boxes more often than most people expect, partly because their size made previous owners treat them as keepsakes rather than serious gold.

The key scarce dates in this series are the 1909-O (the only year the New Orleans Mint struck this coin), the 1911-D, and the 1929 final-year issue. Any of those should be authenticated before assuming you’ve found a common date. The production gap from 1917 to 1928, when the Mint suspended this denomination entirely, also means coins dated within that window are either genuine rarities or fakes. Common dates from 1908 to 1916 are genuinely accessible, appear regularly in estates, and remain liquid on any reputable coin market.

$2.50 Indian Head Quarter Eagle, common date (1908–1929)

The smallest of the incuse series is frequently overlooked at estate sales because of its modest face value and small size. But it contains 0.121 ounces of gold and carries the same collector interest as its larger siblings in miniature form. Common Philadelphia dates in circulated condition bring $600 to $750. Uncirculated common dates reach $800 to $1,000 depending on strike quality.

Counterfeiting is a genuine issue in this series. The fakes are often convincing without magnification. Look closely at the area between the Native American’s hair and feathers on the obverse: altered or counterfeit coins frequently show irregularities in the metal surface here, including small depressions, tooling marks, or slightly raised areas that don’t belong. The 1911-D Denver Mint issue is the key date, with only 55,680 struck. A genuine 1911-D brings substantially more than common dates and is worth professional authentication. For everything else, a clean common-date quarter eagle is a solid, straightforward find.

$1 Indian Princess Large Head gold dollar, Type 3 (1856–1889)

The American gold dollar is probably the most consistently underestimated coin on this list. It’s roughly the size of a dime. It says “1 Dollar” on it. Previous owners put it in a dish of spare change or left it in a box of mixed jewelry without a second thought. All of that works in your favor. The Type 3 Indian Princess, the most commonly found version, ran from 1856 to 1889 and contains 0.0484 ounces of gold. Common Philadelphia dates in circulated grades bring $400 to $600, and nicer uncirculated examples reach $700 to $900.

Branch mint issues from Charlotte (C), Dahlonega (D), or San Francisco (S) carry meaningful premiums in all grades because their mintages were dramatically smaller than Philadelphia’s output. The 1861-D is a historically significant coin on the level of near-myth: struck by Confederate forces after the seizure of the Dahlonega Mint, with fewer than 100 believed to survive. Certain low-mintage Philadelphia dates, including the 1875 with only 420 pieces struck, are another tier entirely. If you find a tiny 19th-century gold coin, confirm the date and any mint mark letter above the date on the obverse before assuming it’s the common type.

British gold sovereign, pre-1914, circulated

British gold sovereigns turn up in American estate sales with surprising regularity. Millions were struck during the height of the British Empire and circulated globally; immigrants brought them to the United States as portable savings, and many stayed tucked in jewelry boxes for generations. Each contains 0.2354 ounces of 22-karat gold. Common circulated examples from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, featuring Queen Victoria or King Edward VII on the obverse and Saint George slaying the dragon on the reverse, bring $600 to $700 at current gold prices, close to melt with a small premium for age and history.

Branch mint sovereigns struck in Australia carry extra collector interest. A Sydney (S), Melbourne (M), or Perth (P) mint mark on the reverse generally adds 10 to 20 percent above a comparable London example because those runs were smaller. What to avoid is a sovereign that’s been mounted in jewelry: rim damage and edge wear from a bezel dramatically reduces both numismatic and resale value. A mounted coin is still worth its gold content, but it won’t command the premium of an unmounted piece in circulation condition. Look for natural wear consistent with use, original color, and no signs of polishing or re-edging.

British gold half sovereign, Victorian or Edwardian, circulated

The half sovereign is exactly half the gold of a full sovereign, 0.1177 ounces, and trades in the same collector and investor market. Common Victorian or Edwardian examples in circulated condition bring $300 to $400 at present gold prices, making them one of the most affordable ways to own a genuine 19th-century gold coin with real collector recognition. They’re popular at estate sales for exactly this reason: they’re recognizable, durable, beautiful in the hand, and easy to sell.

The same authentication notes apply as to full sovereigns. Mounted examples lose value. Branch mint marks from the Australian issues add a modest premium. And because these are small coins with a relatively large number of fake examples in circulation, buying from a trusted source matters, especially for pre-Victorian issues where the numismatic value climbs above the gold content and the incentive to fake them increases accordingly. A clean, unmounted Victorian half sovereign is a clean sale through any reputable precious metals buyer or coin dealer.

$5 Liberty Head Half Eagle with “CC” Carson City mint mark (1870–1893)

A Carson City half eagle is a materially different object from a Philadelphia half eagle of the same denomination and era, and the market prices them accordingly. Common Carson City dates in average circulated grades bring $1,500 to $3,500, with the 1891-CC, the highest-mintage CC half eagle, at the lower end and scarcer dates pushing well above. The historian Rusty Goe estimates that fewer than 9,600 Carson City half eagles survive across all 19 dates, combining to make even the most available example genuinely scarce by any normal standard.

The five-dollar denomination also matters for accessibility: these are smaller, less expensive coins than the CC double eagles, which means they appear more often in estate collections and old albums. The identification is the same: a small “CC” on the reverse above the denomination. Authentication before any significant transaction is non-negotiable, because the CC mark dramatically affects value and makes this series a target for fakes and coins with added or altered mint marks. A legitimate, certified CC half eagle will find buyers quickly through any dealer who knows the series.

$2.50 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle, common date (1890s–1907)

The Liberty Head quarter eagle series ran from 1840 to 1907. Common dates from the Philadelphia Mint in the 1890s through 1907 are among the most affordable entry points into pre-1933 gold, with circulated examples bringing $300 to $450 at current gold prices. Each coin contains 0.121 ounces of gold, so melt value has climbed considerably from where it stood five years ago. The design is clean and recognizable: Liberty in a coronet, 13 stars, the date on the obverse; a heraldic eagle with “2½ D.” on the reverse.

The word accessible comes with a practical caveat. These are small 19th-century coins found regularly in estate jewelry and old albums, often with no documentation. A circulated common date is worth melt plus a modest premium. A date from Charlotte (C), Dahlonega (D), or New Orleans (O) is worth significantly more, because those branch mints produced far fewer coins and stopped operating before or during the Civil War. The 1848 “CAL.” variety, marked to recognize gold from the California rush and struck in only 1,389 examples, is worth well over $10,000 in any grade. Date and mint mark research takes five minutes and can mean thousands of dollars of difference.

$5 Liberty Half Eagle from Charlotte or Dahlonega mint (1838–1861)

Charlotte, North Carolina and Dahlonega, Georgia were branch mints established to process gold from the southern Appalachian gold fields, a boom that preceded California’s by a decade. Both mints were seized by Confederate forces in 1861 and never resumed federal operations. Their combined production spans only about 23 years, and survivorship is low because these coins circulated in regions that saw intense disruption during and after the Civil War. A Charlotte (C) or Dahlonega (D) half eagle in circulated condition brings $1,000 to $3,000 for more available dates, with scarcer dates and better grades going higher.

The C and D mint marks appear above the date on the obverse, distinct from the reverse placement used by later branch mints. These coins look identical to Philadelphia issues of the same period in every other way: same design, same denomination, same basic appearance. The mint mark is the only distinguishing feature, and it makes an enormous difference. If you find a gold half eagle from the 1840s or 1850s with a C or D on the obverse, take it to a coin dealer before assuming it’s just an old common piece.

$1 Type 1 Liberty Head gold dollar (1849–1854)

The Type 1 gold dollar, the first of the three design versions, is the smallest coin the U.S. Mint ever struck for regular circulation: 13mm across, roughly the diameter of a pencil eraser. It was introduced in 1849 to make gold from the California rush available in a small denomination, and it was replaced in 1854 because it was so tiny people kept losing it. Common circulated examples bring $400 to $600, with Philadelphia dates from 1849 to 1853 the most available. Branch mint issues from Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans all carry premiums.

The Type 2, produced from 1854 to 1856 as the Mint’s attempted fix for the size problem, is the scarcest of the three types by a significant margin. The redesign used a higher-relief die that wore down almost immediately in circulation, so very few survived in any legible condition. A Type 2 in even modest circulated grade is worth substantially more than a Type 1 or Type 3 of the same date, and examples in real collector grades are legitimately rare. If you have a gold dollar with the Indian Princess design that appears wider and thinner than usual, with a smaller portrait that tends to look weak or poorly defined, that’s likely a Type 2. Have it authenticated.

1907 MCMVII High Relief Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle

This is the aspirational entry: unlikely to appear at a yard sale, but it does surface in well-hidden estate collections, often because previous owners stored it away without fully understanding what they had. The 1907 High Relief is the original, artist-intended version of the Double Eagle, struck with multiple die impressions to achieve sculptural depth that no other circulating American coin ever matched. Around 12,000 were produced before the Mint switched to a more practical lower-relief version. The date is expressed in Roman numerals, MCMVII, rather than Arabic numerals, which makes it immediately identifiable.

Middle-grade examples, where the coin shows some handling marks but remains fully original, bring $20,000 to $25,000, with gem uncirculated specimens reaching $40,000 and above. Anyone claiming to have a 1907 High Relief should treat authentication as non-negotiable. The design is well-known enough that it is frequently faked, and the difference between a genuine example in a certified holder and an unverified coin is enormous on both the buy and sell side. Bring it to a PCGS or NGC authorized dealer before making any decision.

$10 Liberty Head Eagle with “CC” Carson City mint mark (1870–1893)

The ten-dollar Carson City eagle is rarer than the five-dollar version across most dates, and the market reflects it. Average circulated examples of the more available dates, including the 1891-CC, which had the highest Carson City eagle mintage of any year, bring $3,000 to $5,000. Scarcer dates and better condition push into five figures. Goe’s research estimates fewer than 9,700 ten-dollar Carson City eagles survive across the full series. There is no such thing as a truly common CC eagle.

The identification is identical to the other CC gold coins: look for the two-letter mark on the reverse below the eagle, above the denomination. Liberty Head design, 13 stars, the date on the obverse. The coins are physically indistinguishable from Philadelphia or San Francisco issues until you find that small stamp. Before selling anything with a CC mark, get a certified appraisal, because the premium for a CC eagle over a comparable Philadelphia example is substantial enough that both unscrupulous buyers and counterfeiters have reason to misrepresent what you have.

If you think you have any of the coins described above, a certified coin dealer is the right first stop, not a pawn shop and not a general antiques buyer. The PCGS and NGC websites both offer authorized dealer locators. The few dollars spent on a proper appraisal almost always returns more than it costs.

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You sign up for Medicare, start paying your Part B premium, and assume you’re covered. Then you need a crown and your dentist’s office tells you to pay the full $1,500 at the desk. Or you break your hip traveling abroad and find out your Medicare card is essentially useless. Or a parent with dementia needs round-the-clock care and someone says the words “nursing home,” and Medicare covers almost none of it.

These aren’t edge cases. They’re the most common expensive surprises that Medicare beneficiaries run into. Original Medicare was built in 1965 to cover hospital stays and doctor visits. It was never designed to cover the full spectrum of care that people actually need as they age, and it hasn’t caught up.

The good news is that most of these gaps have solutions, if you know about them before you need them. Here’s what to look out for and how to fill the holes.

Dental care

Original Medicare does not cover routine dental care. That means no cleanings, no fillings, no crowns, no dentures, and no extractions for the average beneficiary. The exceptions are narrow: Medicare will pay for dental work that’s necessary before an organ transplant or certain cancer treatments, or to clear an infection before dialysis. Everything else is on you.

This matters more than most people expect. Skipping dental care doesn’t just affect your teeth. Untreated gum disease is linked to cardiovascular disease and poorly controlled diabetes, two conditions that are extremely common among people on Medicare. A cleaning today is a lot cheaper than a hospitalization later.

If you’re on Original Medicare and want dental coverage, you have three options: switch to a Medicare Advantage plan that includes it, buy a standalone dental plan, or pay out of pocket. Medicare Advantage plans vary widely in what they cover, so read the fine print on any plan before you sign up. Some cover only preventive care (cleanings and X-rays). Others include major restorative work but cap annual benefits at $1,500 or $2,000, which won’t get you far if you need implants or significant reconstruction.

Hearing aids

Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids or the exams used to fit them. This is one of the most consequential gaps in the program. Untreated hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline, social isolation, and a higher risk of falls in older adults. Yet the average cost of a pair of hearing aids runs between $2,000 and $6,000, and most people pay every cent out of pocket.

Medicare will cover a diagnostic hearing exam if your doctor orders one for a specific medical reason, but that’s different from the exam you need to get fitted for a hearing aid. The fitting exam: not covered.

Your options here include Medicare Advantage plans, many of which now offer hearing aid benefits, though the coverage often comes with restrictions on brands or requires using specific network audiologists. Since 2022, over-the-counter hearing aids have been legal in the United States for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, which has significantly brought down prices for people who don’t need a custom fit. They’re available at pharmacies and retailers without a prescription and run as low as a few hundred dollars. That’s not a perfect solution, but it’s worth knowing about.

Routine vision care and glasses

Medicare covers diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases like glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy. What it doesn’t cover are routine eye exams, prescription eyeglasses, or contact lenses, except for one pair of glasses or contacts after cataract surgery.

For most people, this means paying out of pocket for annual eye exams and new lenses every year or two. Depending on your prescription and whether you need progressives, that bill can run $300 to $600 or more. If you have a condition like macular degeneration or a history of glaucoma that requires more frequent monitoring, the costs compound quickly.

Many Medicare Advantage plans include a vision benefit with an annual exam and a modest allowance toward frames or lenses. Standalone vision plans are also available and often cost $10 to $20 a month. The coverage is not comprehensive but it takes the edge off regular costs. If you’re comparison shopping Medicare Advantage plans, pay attention to what each plan’s vision allowance actually buys versus what you typically spend.

Routine foot care

Medicare doesn’t cover routine foot care: no nail trimming, no callus removal, no corn treatment. You pay 100% in most cases. This surprises people who assume a podiatrist visit is just a specialist visit covered at the usual 80%.

The exception is meaningful: if you have diabetes with lower-extremity nerve damage, Medicare will cover a foot exam once a year. People with circulatory disorders or other systemic conditions that make routine foot care medically risky may also qualify for coverage. But for everyone else, if a podiatrist is trimming your nails because you can’t reach them comfortably, that bill is yours. Treatment for structural foot problems (bunions, heel spurs, hammertoe) and injuries is covered, because those are medically necessary procedures, not maintenance. Ask your podiatrist before your appointment which services Medicare will cover, and which it won’t.

Long-term care and nursing home stays

This is the gap that can wipe out a retirement. Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care in a nursing home or assisted living facility. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve paid into the system or how much you need the care. If you need help with bathing, dressing, eating, or managing daily life because of age or a chronic condition, Medicare won’t pay for it.

What Medicare does cover is short-term skilled nursing care after a qualifying hospital stay of at least three days. Under that scenario, the first 20 days are fully covered. Days 21 through 100 require a daily coinsurance payment of $217 in 2026. After day 100, Medicare pays nothing at all. The median cost of a private room in a nursing home in the U.S. is roughly $11,000 a month, which means a long stay can cost more than $130,000 a year.

Most people end up paying out of pocket until they’ve spent down enough assets to qualify for Medicaid, which does cover long-term nursing home care for those who meet the income and asset limits. Long-term care insurance is another option, but premiums are expensive and policies are harder to qualify for the older you are when you buy them. At age 55, premiums run around $950 a year for men and $1,500 for women for a modest benefit. If you’re thinking about it, buy it while you’re still healthy. If you have a veteran in the family who needs long-term care, VA benefits may also be an option worth exploring.

Care when you travel abroad

Medicare generally doesn’t pay for health care you receive outside the United States. If you get sick or injured in Europe, Mexico, Canada, or anywhere else outside U.S. territories, you’re on your own. There are narrow exceptions: if you live near the border and a foreign hospital is closer than any U.S. facility, or if you need emergency care while traveling through Canada on the way to Alaska. For everyone else in most situations, Medicare is a domestic benefit only.

This is worth taking seriously before any international travel. Air ambulance evacuations to bring you back to the U.S. for treatment can cost more than $100,000. Emergency surgery in a country with private hospital pricing can run tens of thousands of dollars with no reimbursement coming.

Some Medigap supplement plans (specifically Plans C, D, F, G, M, and N) cover 80% of emergency medical costs abroad after a $250 annual deductible, up to a $50,000 lifetime limit, but only for emergencies that occur within the first 60 days of a trip. That’s limited but better than nothing for short vacations. Some Medicare Advantage plans also offer some international emergency coverage, though rules vary by plan. For longer trips or more frequent travel, a dedicated travel medical insurance policy is the more reliable option. It typically covers emergency care, hospitalization, and medical evacuation, and annual plans are available for people who travel more than once a year.

Most acupuncture, chiropractic care, and alternative treatments

Medicare added limited acupuncture coverage in 2020, but only for chronic low back pain, and only up to 12 sessions per year (20 if you’re showing improvement). For everything else, acupuncture is not covered. The same applies to naturopathic care, massage therapy, and most alternative or integrative treatments.

Chiropractic care is partially covered, but the rules are strict. Medicare covers spinal manipulation to correct a subluxation, the specific condition where a vertebra moves out of position. It does not cover the X-rays your chiropractor might take, physical therapy-style exercises performed in the office, or maintenance visits once you’ve stopped improving. Many people assume their regular chiropractic appointments are covered, then get a bill for services Medicare wouldn’t pay for.

Ask your chiropractor before each visit exactly which services Medicare will cover and which it won’t. Medicare Advantage plans sometimes offer broader chiropractic or wellness benefits, so if these are services you use regularly, it’s worth factoring them into plan comparison.

What to do now

The Annual Enrollment Period for Medicare runs October 15 through December 7 each year. That’s the window to switch from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, change Advantage plans, or add or change a Part D drug plan. Changes take effect January 1 of the following year.

If you’re on Original Medicare and want to add dental, vision, or hearing coverage, you can buy standalone plans at any time. If you want to add a Medigap supplement plan to cover gaps like coinsurance and foreign travel emergencies, the best time to buy is during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period, which is the six months starting the month you turn 65 and enroll in Part B. During that window, insurers can’t charge you more or deny you coverage based on health conditions. After it closes, they can.

A free resource worth using: your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which offers unbiased, one-on-one help with Medicare decisions from counselors who aren’t affiliated with any insurance company. Find your local program at shiphelp.org.

Medicare covers a lot. What it leaves out can cost a great deal more if you’re not prepared for it.

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