Are you looking for a way to raise quick cash? One way to do this is by selling your unwanted gold, silver, or platinum items to a scrap gold buyer.
The best items to sell this way are the ones that have no resale value as jewelry, like old class rings (minus the gemstone), used garden-variety wedding bands from an ex-spouse, or discarded dental gold.
There may be any number valuable items at the bottom of your jewelry boxes and drawers. Maybe you forgot you own them! A single earring, broken chain, or even worn out sterling silver flatware.
Will your selling scrap gold efforts be worth your time? To figure out how much your items are worth, without paying an appraiser $50 to $200 per hour, use these guidelines about gold prices:
First, look for the karat stamp of your piece. Then, go to goldprice.org to find out today’s price for a troy ounce (31.1 grams) of 24 karat pure gold. If your item is less than 24 karat, discount it proportionately. 18 karat is worth 75%, 14 karat is worth 58.3%, 10 karat is 41.7%.
Now subtract 10-20% for the refining fees, plus whatever profit the middleman buyer wants from reselling it.
To give you a rough idea: when gold prices were recently at their all time historic high of $1,035 an ounce, you could have gotten about $75 for a 14K wedding band.
How can you find a scrap gold buyer who is not only trustworthy, but will give you the best price for your gold or other precious metals?
A lot of people won’t think about where to sell jewelry too much, and will just go to the nearest pawn shop to see how much cash they can get when they’re interested in selling scrap gold.
Or they may respond to a TV or newspaper ad from a local jeweler or national gold buying company.
Since gold prices are at a record high, and the number of people who want to get cash quickly is increasing every day, several companies have appeared to try to cash in on this trend. Some of these companies take advantage of the average person’s lack of knowledge of the true value of their gold.
Regardless of who you sell your scrap gold to, it has to go to a precious metal refiner. They have the equipment and permits to purify the gold and recycle it into gold bars acceptable for industrial use.
So to get the most cash, it’s best to cut out the pawn shop or other middleman, and sell directly to a reliable refinery. They are not in the jewelry business or a go-between.
You can request that they send you a postage paid, insured envelope that you can track online when you mail it. Make sure to fill in your detailed description of what you’re sending. Photocopy your description, and take a photo of the items you’re sending. Don’t forget to remove jewels and any non-gold parts that are of value to you.
The reputable company uses non-damaging tests to assign the current market value of your items. They contact you to make you an offer first. If you’re happy with the amount, tell them how you want to be paid (check mailed, Paypal, direct deposit). If you’re not happy with their scrap gold price, they’ll pay to FedEx your items back.
Mail this post
March 4th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Hi, first of all how can anyone mail in there scrap gold without knowing exactly how many grams or pennyweight they have. Unless you live in a rural area you should never mail in you gold. Do a face to face transaction with a BBB rated company. Get at least two price quotes before you sell your gold. Also make sure your small diamonds are returned to you on the spot. Most all companies do not pay additional for diamonds smaller then 0.5 points. The diamond melee market is very soft at this time and diamond site hold are offering up to 20-40 dollars per carat which is just a rip off to the gold buyer or refiner. You being the consumer can perhaps hold your diamonds to be reset at a later time or pass down to someone in the family. If you were to go to a jeweler and purchase loose diamonds you will pay 400-1500 per caret for the same diamonds you are letting the mail in companies have for free. Gold buying companies are popping up everywhere and there has to be someone somewhere that is reputable company with a safe secure environment. Good Luck! CDC
March 8th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Hi Chad,
Thanks for your helpful information, especially about what to do with precious gems set into your gold.
Hopefully all my Texas visitors will contact you!
My suggestion–when visiting local companies to get a quote, ask them to tell you “exactly how many grams or pennyweight” you have, before deciding whether to mail in your gold to an online buyer.
Keep in mind: A BBB logo on a website simply means that the company has paid to become a BBB member, which in and of itself doesn’t speak to their integrity. Granted, it’s a good idea to phone BBB to find out if there are any complaints for a company in question. But no current BBB complaints for a company is still no guarantee that you won’t be ripped off. You may just end up becoming the first person to file a BBB complaint for that company.