Where to Sell Gold
If you are cash-strapped and need to cover the basic necessities by selling your gold jewelry or coins, it can be difficult to figure out where to sell it. One trend is to sell your gold jewelry through a “gold-party” staged in your home with a group of friends and co-workers. Another option is to sell it through your local jeweler, preferably someone you have already done business with. But the most common option is selling gold over the Internet. In this case, you need to research the different gold-buying refining companies before you go through with any transaction, in order to avoid the seedy cash-for-gold companies. That means checking their website and asking questions through their customer service representatives.
What Type of Gold Do you Own?
The first thing that you need to differentiate is the type of gold you are selling because different kinds of gold are sold to different kinds of dealers. Gold jewelry is not necessarily going to interest those who deal in gold coins or gold bars. Actually gold bars and gold coins (if they are not rare coins and have no value other than their gold content) are fairly easy to sell because, unlike most jewelry, they are pure gold. Selling gold bars is easiest if you use a local dealer since it cuts down on costs associated with shipping the heavy metal. When selling gold coins, make sure the dealer is a member of the American Numismatic Association.
The Value of Your Gold
Most people find the biggest obstacle in selling gold jewelry is not knowing its worth or what dollar amount to expect from a buyer. Part of this stems from being unfamiliar with terms jewelers use to gauge the weight of gold, such as pennyweights, grams and troy ounces.
Common scales measure 28 grams per ounce, while gold is measured at 31.1 grams per Troy ounce. In addition, some dealers also use a system called pennyweight to measure a Troy ounce while others use grams. Because a pennyweight equals 1.555 grams, you need to be sure the buyer does not weigh the gold by pennyweight and pay by the gram, since you will receive less than the gold is worth.
If gold is going for $1,130 per ounce, you aren't going to be paid $1,130 for every ounce of gold you have since the market quote is for pure gold only. But it is important to know the karats of your gold. Since 1 karat equals 1/24 of pure gold, the lower the karat, the less the gold content by weight. Jewelry stamped “14 karats” means its 14 part gold and 10 part alloy metals, making it 58.5 percent gold.
Gems in your gold pieces can be problematic. Diamonds in the earrings can be removed and saved and engagement ring diamonds should be given a value separate from the gold. But gold pieces with fewer stones can actually be worth more, since it takes time to remove the stones before the gold is sent to the refinery.
The Better Business Bureau suggests you obtain at least two or three appraisals prior to any sale and check with a local jewelry store or an online source, such as GoldPrice, to verify the current market price before you sell.
Finding a Gold Buyer
When it comes to selling your gold online, there are hundreds of established companies and new ones emerging regularly that are vying for your business. You have seen many of these companies advertising heavily on TV and claiming to offer higher payouts than any other company. The wrong choice in buyers can mean the difference between receiving a fair offer for your gold or less than 40 percent of the true value a top refiner will pay.
According to the Better Business Bureau, many of these mail-in TV cash-for-gold companies are the subject of consumer complaints for a variety of reasons, including pricing discrepancies and claims for lost shipments. One sure sign of a company you want to steer away from is if they ask you to send your valuables through regular, uninsured mail.
More Questions to Ask
When you feel you have narrowed down a list of potential buyers for your gold, there are still some things to check. Are their buying prices listed on their website? If not, ask how much they pay for one pennyweight of 14-karat gold jewelry and ask how much the company pays for each ounce of each karat. Separate your jewelry by karat value before approaching a buyer since some dealers will weigh it all together and pay you only for the lowest karat value.
