We buy gold at Precious Metals, and we get a lot of questions about the whole process. The nightly news is talking about how to sell your gold and showing hidden camera investigations. There are ads for mail-in services playing on every TV channel, and many jewelry stores have signs in their windows saying “We buy gold!” and “Highest Prices Paid!”. So, I’m going to break down the whole process in a series of posts.
What are you selling?
First of all, before you go to sell your gold you should have some idea of what it is that you are selling. If you take your jewelry to a pawn shop, consignment store, or estate jewelry store, you can sell your jewelry as jewelry. The price is determined by both the value of the materials as well as the workmanship or labor that went into producing the piece. If you take your jewelry to a store that proclaims “We Buy Gold!” like Precious Metals Sudbury, you are selling your jewelry as scrap metal. I don’t care if your jewelry has never been worn or has been run over by a car; it is all scrap to me. I don’t care if it is your class ring or an earring you found on the street, it all gets melted down. The price is determined by the pure gold content and the current price of gold.
All of this means two things.
1. If you have nice jewelry, pieces that have little wear and are stylish, you should not sell them for scrap. Sell them on E-Bay or Craigslist (Remember to be safe! Meet in public and cash only.) or your local consignment store. Let’s say you have a nice necklace with a little precious stone in it or a gold bracelet from Tiffany & Co., the scrap price will typically be less than half of what you could get selling it on E-bay. This is especially true for brand name jewelry. ANYTHING by Yurmin, Tiffany & Co., Judith Ripka, or any other big name designer is worth trying to sell as jewelry.
2. You don’t have to know the exact weight and gold content of your pieces, but you should have realistic expectations. With the market hovering around $900 per troy ounce, the average 14K gold wedding band will fetch $20 to $70 at scrap pricing. There just isn’t that much gold in one small to mid-sized ring, especially when you take into account that the ring is only part gold. 14 Karat gold (which is the most common karat in the U.S) is 14 parts pure gold and 10 parts other metal (copper and nickel). You will only get paid for the gold. 14 Karat is 58.3% gold, just over half. 10 Karat gold is only 41.7% gold, less than half. Is your mother’s wedding band really only worth $30? In gold scrap, yes, in your mind, probably not. Don’t sell anything that you can’t part with, because the money will never cover the loss of a family heirloom. And, don’t think that by waiting for gold prices to go higher you will get way more money. If your ring is $30 at $900/oz, even if gold goes up to $1400, you are still only going to get around $50 or $60. Chances are, if you have trouble parting with it at $30, you’ll have trouble at $60, and you just shouldn’t sell it. I can’t pay you for your sentiment, and once you sell it, your memories are gone.
Next….Shopping around and what determines price?
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