Terms of service

1. Who you are dealing with

Silver Plate Canada is a trading name of Electronic Distributors International Inc., Mississauga, Ontario. We are a metal buyer paying published rates, not an appraiser: your itemized receipt documents a purchase, not a valuation.

2. Shipping

• You pack and ship your parcel at your own cost, with the carrier you prefer. Use a tracked service.
• On request, we email you a discounted shipping label. Our commercial rate is well below counter prices, and the label cost is deducted from your payment. The label does not expire.
• Insurance in transit is your choice; add declared-value coverage if you wish. One limit is set by the carriers, not by us: declared-value coverage is limited or unavailable on jewellery, and on any article that is more than half precious metal by weight, which covers sterling silver, gold, bullion and most silver coins. Those items travel tracked rather than insured, in both directions. Silverplate is only a few percent silver and is not affected.
• Claims for parcels lost or damaged in transit are made with the carrier under the coverage you chose.
• You confirm that items you send are yours to sell, or that you are authorized to sell them (for example, as an executor).
• Do not mail raw bullion, dust or unmanufactured metal without talking to us first; carriers restrict these. Manufactured coins, jewellery and flatware mail normally.

3. Processing and payment (published-rate items)

• Every parcel is opened and documented on continuous video the moment it arrives, then sorted by material and weighed on camera.
• This is a formula sale: you are selling us your items at the posted prices in effect on the day your parcel is processed, and your payment equals the measured weight times the posted price. Silverplate flatware, holloware and knives, pewter, brass and bronze, and copper-nickel are paid at the prices published on the what we pay page. Sterling silver is a quote-only item and follows section 4 instead. Prices are subject to market changes; the prices posted on the day your parcel is processed are the prices you are paid.
• Payment goes out within 4 business days of arrival, by Interac e-Transfer or cheque, with an itemized receipt emailed to you: every category, every weight, every rate, every dollar.
• Weighted sterling pieces are paid on recoverable silver only; the deduction shows on your receipt.

4. Sterling silver, gold, dental gold, bullion and silver coins (quote-only items)

• These categories have no published grid. We contact you with a written quote before processing.
• Silver coin lots are quoted at their silver value by weight; we do not catalogue ordinary coins one by one. A clearly rare date is priced individually in the quote instead of being valued as metal, so nothing is melted blind.
• Nothing in these categories is melted or otherwise processed until you approve the quote in writing. If we do not hear back within 14 days of sending the quote, those items are returned to you by tracked courier at your shipping cost. Silence never means melt.
• Decline the quote and those items come back to you by tracked courier at your shipping cost. We tell you the exact return cost in writing before anything ships back.

5. Returns

• You can have your items back. Tell us and we return them to you by tracked courier at your shipping cost. We tell you that exact cost in writing first, and nothing ships back until you agree to it.
• There is a real window for this. Every purchase is held intact, not melted, for 30 clear days (section 7), so a change of mind after your receipt arrives can still be acted on. Once items have been processed they no longer exist as items, which is exactly why the hold is there.
• If you have already been paid for an item you want back, the payment for that item is returned to us before it ships.
• The same applies to an item that went into the box by mistake. Tell us as soon as you notice.
• Deciding before you ship is still the cheaper path, because return postage is yours either way. Not sure about a piece? Call, or email photos to contact@silverplatecanada.ca before you ship, and we will tell you honestly what to send and what to keep, including when a signed piece or complete set looks worth more whole than melted.
• Rare pieces are escalated, not flat-rated: if an item clearly carries collector or antique value well beyond its metal value, we pause, tell you, and quote it individually instead of paying the per-pound rate. You approve or decline that quote like any quote-only item.

6. Fees and payment methods

• Interac e-Transfer or cheque. No cash, PayPal, cards or crypto.
• Settlements of $250 or more are processed free. Settlements under $250 carry a $25 processing fee.
• If you requested our discounted label, the label cost is deducted from your payment and shown on your receipt.

7. Identity and lawful sourcing

• Silver Plate Canada operates a full anti-money-laundering compliance program as a dealer in precious metals under Canada's PCMLTFA, including identity verification on larger transactions.
• We keep a purchase register and hold purchased items intact for 30 clear days before melting. Where a municipal bylaw applies to the location your items were received at and sets a longer hold, we follow the longer period. We cooperate with police on lawful requests concerning stolen property.

8. Disputes, kept human

If you believe we got something wrong, email contact@silverplatecanada.ca or call us at (416) 799-7528. The processing video and your itemized receipt exist precisely so disagreements can be settled with evidence instead of arguments. If we cannot resolve it, these terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and disputes belong to the courts of Ontario.