Is Hero Bullion Legit? A Data-Backed Review of the Cheapest Silver Bar Dealer We Track

About this review. BullionMetric records the price and stock status of every listing at the major US online bullion dealers, most days of the week. Everything below comes from 79 days of tracking between July 13 and October 11, 2026, measured against an independent reference spot price rather than each dealer's own displayed spot. Company and policy facts come from Hero Bullion's own pages and the review sites linked in each section. How we track premiums →

Disclosure. BullionMetric has no affiliate or commercial relationship with any dealer named on this page, and no dealer pays for placement or rankings. If we join affiliate programs in the future, we'll say so on this page and on our affiliate disclosure page, with the date it began.

The short answer

Yes, Hero Bullion is a legitimate online dealer. Hero Bullion, LLC was incorporated in February 2020, uses a mailing address in Plano, Texas, holds an A- BBB rating (not accredited), and averages 4.8 to 4.9 stars across Trustpilot and Shopper Approved. On price, our data is unusually clear: from August 22 to October 11, Hero was the cheapest dealer we track on 100 oz silver bars on 45 of 45 days, and on 10 oz silver bars and Silver Britannias on 44 of 45. On gold, among dealers that usually have stock, it's cheapest on Maple Leafs, Britannias and 1 oz bars, but not on random-year Gold Eagles, where SD Bullion was cheaper. Hero's headline in-stock rate looks low at 21.4% of listings, but that's a deep catalog talking. Its core silver products were in stock nearly every day we checked.

That's the summary. The rest of this page is the evidence, including the parts that don't flatter Hero.

45 days, 45 wins on 100 oz bars

We track 11 dealers. On most products, the cheapest one changes from week to week. Sometimes from day to day.

Not here.

From August 22 to October 11, we checked Hero's silver prices on 45 days. On every one of them, Hero had 100 oz silver bars in stock. And on every one of them, its typical 100 oz bar price was the lowest of any dealer we track.

It wasn't just bars:

"Cheapest" means Hero's median in-stock premium that day was the lowest of every dealer with the same product in stock. We only counted days when at least three dealers had it. Two dealers isn't a contest.

You might wonder why the window starts on August 22. Fair question. Before that date, our own tracking of Hero's silver catalog was patchy. Between July 13 and August 21 we captured only parts of it, on some days, and none of it from August 10 to 16. That's our gap, not Hero's. If you've seen figures suggesting Hero is "only in stock about half the time" on silver, that's where they came from. Once our tracking was complete, the stock problem mostly went away.

Two rows in that table deserve a closer look.

Silver Eagles. Hero doesn't list a random-year Silver Eagle at all. Not one. It lists specific years instead, mostly 2005 through 2022, and those ran a median $10.38 an ounce over spot across the 90 days. Other dealers' dated Eagles ran $20.77. The typical random-year Eagle elsewhere ran $12.08.

Read that again. Hero's dated back-years were often cheaper than everyone else's random-year coins. If you don't care which year you get, you just have to pick one. (It's also why Hero doesn't appear in the random-year Silver Eagle table in our silver premium guide.)

Hero also lists a plain "1 oz American Silver Eagle" with no year stated, at a median $7.09 over spot. The listing doesn't say whether it's random year, so we've kept it out of every comparison here. Read the product page before you buy it.

Silver Maples. Close call. Hero's random-year BU Maples ran $6.50 over spot. Kitco's ran $7.02. But Kitco had them in stock on 58 of 79 days to Hero's 34, and it was cheaper on more days. Call it a tie, with Kitco the steadier bet.

What the gap costs you

Percentages make dealers comparable. Dollars are what leave your account.

So here's each of Hero's strongest products against the next-cheapest dealer that had it in stock most days. Not the cheapest listing anywhere. The cheapest one you could usually buy.

Those are 90-day medians, so any single day's gap could be wider or narrower. The direction held almost every day.

Against the big catalog dealers, it's wider still. A 100 oz bar at APMEX ran a median $8.74 an ounce over spot. At Hero, $3.62. That's $512 on a single 100-ounce bar.

Gold: where Hero wins, and where it doesn't

Gold is a different story. Not a bad one. Just less one-sided.

At first glance Hero looks like a gold winner too. Its median premium sat below the other dealers' median on every gold coin we tested. But on most gold products, on most days, the lowest listed price belonged to BullionExchanges. And BullionExchanges had just 4.9% of its listings in stock over the last 30 days.

A price you usually can't buy isn't a price.

So we asked a tighter question. Among dealers that actually had stock (more than 20% of listings in stock over 30 days), who was cheapest? And we compared random-year coins only. A dealer whose Gold Eagle shelf is full of pricier dated coins will look expensive for reasons that have nothing to do with how it prices.

"Days cheapest" counts the winner's days against the days it had stock. GoldenStateMint is left out because we haven't verified that its stock signal reflects real availability. BullionExchanges and SilverGoldBull are left out because fewer than 10% of their listings were in stock.

So it splits cleanly. On Maple Leafs, Britannias and 1 oz bars, Hero is the one to beat. A Gold Maple at Hero ran about $64 less over spot than at Provident Metals, the next-cheapest dealer that usually had stock.

On random-year Gold Eagles, Buffalos and Philharmonics, SD Bullion was cheaper. Money Metals edged Hero on Krugerrands. On ten random-year Gold Eagles, buying at SD instead of Hero would have saved you about $187.

Hero still finished second on all four. Worth a quote. Not the default.

"Isn't Hero always out of stock?"

It's the first thing people notice, and on paper it looks right. Over the last 30 days, only 21.4% of Hero's gold and silver listings were in stock.

*GoldenStateMint is a private mint with a narrow retail catalog. Our tracking records its listings as in stock, but we haven't verified that its stock signal reflects real availability, so we don't report a rate for it. †Kitco has 23 silver listings in our tracking and no gold, so its rate rests on a small catalog.

That 21.4% is a catalog effect, not a buying problem. Hero lists 1,095 gold and silver products in our tracking, including dozens of novelty bars, back-year coins and one-off designs that are rarely in stock. Every one of them drags the rate down.

The products people actually buy tell a different story. On the days we checked, Hero had at least one listing in stock:

• Junk silver, generic rounds and dated Silver Eagles: every day tracked.
• 10 oz bars and Silver Britannias: every day but one.
• 1 oz gold bars: 78 of 78 days. Krugerrands 75 of 78. Gold Eagles 72 of 79. Gold Maples 71 of 79.

The real gaps were narrow. Silver Maples were out for one stretch of 10 tracked days. Gold Britannias went out for 15 tracked days in a row, Gold Buffalos for 14, and Gold Philharmonics for 13. When Hero runs out of a gold coin, it tends to stay out for a week or two instead of flickering. And its overall in-stock rate barely moved. Since full tracking began in late August, it held between about 20% and 24% every week.

What to do about it: confirm stock at checkout, and keep a second dealer in mind for gold coins. For Britannias, Buffalos and Philharmonics, that's usually SD Bullion.

Who shouldn't buy from Hero

No product group had Hero's median premium at or above the field's. That's rare. But "below average" isn't "cheapest," and Hero isn't for everyone:

• You want random-year Silver Eagles. Hero doesn't list one. Money Metals Exchange and JM Bullion were the cheapest dealers that usually had them.
• You're buying random-year Gold Eagles, Buffalos or Philharmonics. SD Bullion was cheaper. See our SD Bullion review.
• You're buying Krugerrands. Money Metals Exchange was cheaper more often. See our Money Metals Exchange review.
• You want Pre-1933 $20 gold. Hero had it in stock on only 17 days. JM Bullion was cheapest most often.
• You collect graded coins. We track 42 graded products at Hero and 2,690 at APMEX. If you're buying for the slab, start with our APMEX review.
• You want deep gold selection. About 70% of Hero's catalog is silver. It lists 332 gold products. APMEX lists 3,722, and JM Bullion 1,300.

One more thing worth knowing. Hero sells "off quality" coins: bullion with spots, scuffs or other cosmetic flaws. Over the 90 days, off-quality Silver Maples ran a median $4.00 over spot, off-quality Britannias $4.18, and Hero's undated off-quality Silver Eagle $5.38.

That's close to junk-silver pricing for a modern 1 oz coin. We kept these out of every comparison above, because no other dealer we track lists them the same way. But if you stack for weight and don't mind marks, they're worth a look.

Can you trust them?

Price only matters if the coins show up.

Company. Hero Bullion, LLC was incorporated on February 7, 2020, and says it launched on July 1, 2020. Its BBB profile lists four members: founder Jacob W. (Jake) Haugen, John J. Merrick, Neal B. Denny and Shaun Ek. We found no parent company. The Plano, Texas address (1200 Jupiter Rd #940282) is for mail only. Hero reports a 12,000-square-foot facility, opened in April 2024, where it pours its own silver bars. By its own count it shipped its 100,000th order in June 2023. (Our Story, About, BBB)

BBB. Rated A-, not accredited, with 5 complaints on file. Accreditation is an optional paid membership, so the grade tells you more than the missing badge.

Trustpilot. 4.8 out of 5 across 402 reviews, 92% five-star. The profile is unclaimed. Complaints mention tarnished coins, slow shipping and the site struggling during a market dip. (Trustpilot)

Shopper Approved. 4.9 out of 5 across 37,602 reviews, 91% five-star and 241 rated one or two stars. Note that 14,082 of those were left at checkout, before the order arrived. (Shopper Approved)

Reddit. In the r/Silverbugs thread that ranks for "Is Hero Bullion legit?", commenters said yes, with smooth orders and prices below SD Bullion's on Maples. The one tip: pay for signature-required shipping rather than standard USPS.

Legal. We found no lawsuits, attorney-general actions or regulatory actions naming Hero Bullion in web searches or a CourtListener search of federal court records as of October 13, 2026.

Shipping, payment and returns

Source: Hero Bullion FAQ.

One line in that table matters more than the rest. Paying by card costs about 4% more than eCheck or wire. On silver, that's $2 or more an ounce, which wipes out much of Hero's edge. If you're at Hero for the price, pay by eCheck or wire.

Hero also runs a "silver at spot" starter pack: five 1 oz Radial Buffalo rounds, one pack per household, with an account required to enforce the limit. The spot price is the eCheck and wire price. Card costs about 4% more. (Hero Bullion Starter Pack) It's a real deal. It's also five ounces. For buying silver near spot in any amount that matters, see can you buy silver at spot?

Should you buy from Hero Bullion?

Find your line:

• Silver bars, 10 oz or 100 oz: yes, check Hero first. Cheapest on 89 of 90 tracked bar-days since August 22.
• Silver Britannias and generic rounds: yes. Cheapest on 44 of 45 and 41 of 44 compared days.
• Silver Eagles, any year: yes, if you'll pick a back year. Hero's dated Eagles were often cheaper than other dealers' random-year coins.
• Gold Maples, Gold Britannias and 1 oz gold bars: yes. The cheapest reliable dealer on all three.
• Gold Eagles, Buffalos and Philharmonics: get a second quote. SD Bullion was cheaper more often.
• Krugerrands: compare with Money Metals Exchange.
• Graded and numismatic coins: no. 42 graded products tracked.
• First purchase ever: a good fit, with two cautions. Pay by eCheck or wire to get the listed price, and read the market-loss policy before you order.
• Card only: a weaker fit. The 4% card markup eats much of the advantage.

The verdict

Hero Bullion is a legitimate, six-year-old dealer. And on silver, it's the cheapest one we track.

Not occasionally. Every day we checked from August 22 to October 11, nobody beat its 100 oz bars, and almost nobody beat its 10 oz bars, Britannias or rounds. On a 500-ounce bar order, the gap to the next reliable dealer was about $1,700.

The scary in-stock number is mostly a catalog effect. Core products were there almost every day. The real limits are narrower: no random-year Silver Eagle, a thin graded selection, gold coins that sometimes go out for two weeks, and a card price about 4% above the wire price.

So here's how we'd use it. Make Hero your first stop for silver bars, Britannias, rounds, Gold Maples and 1 oz gold bars. Get a second quote from SD Bullion on Gold Eagles, Buffalos and Philharmonics. Pay by eCheck or wire.

And before you place the order, check today's prices across every dealer we track. A 90-day median tells you who's usually cheapest. Today's price tells you who's cheapest now.

Related: How much over spot should you pay for silver? · How much over spot for gold? · Where is the cheapest place to buy silver? · Is JM Bullion legit? · Today's prices: Silver Britannias · Silver Maple Leafs · American Silver Eagles · Junk silver · Silver rounds

How we measured this

BullionMetric records the listed price and stock status of every tracked product at US online dealers most days. Eleven dealers are tracked: APMEX, BGASC, BullionExchanges, GoldenStateMint, Hero Bullion, JM Bullion, Kitco, Money Metals Exchange, Provident Metals, SD Bullion and SilverGoldBull. BullionExchanges and SilverGoldBull have no silver products in our tracking. That's a gap in our coverage, not a statement about their catalogs.

The figures cover July 13 to October 11, 2026, 79 observation days for Hero. No prices were collected from September 29 to October 2 because of a data-collection outage. Hero's silver catalog was only partly tracked from July 13 to August 21, so silver day counts use August 22 to October 11 (45 days). Premiums are measured against an independent reference spot price, the midpoint of each day's price range.

Included: in-stock listings only, premiums between 0% and 300%, 1 oz coins and rounds weighing 0.95–1.05 troy oz, 1 oz gold bars, 10 oz and 100 oz silver bars, and 90% junk silver. Excluded: graded and certified coins, proofs and special finishes, privy and limited editions, listings marked off-quality, damaged or cleaned, gift packaging, and multi-coin tubes, rolls and boxes. "Cheapest" on a day means the lowest median premium among dealers with the product in stock, on days when at least three dealers had it. "Random year" includes listings sold as random year or with no year stated; listings for a specific year are compared separately. Full methodology →

Last updated: October 13, 2026. Premium data through October 11, 2026.