Q&A What's the best way to sell gold jewelry

Q. I have lots of gold jewelry I would like to sell. Should I try one of the
companies advertising on TV saying they’ll  buy old or broken gold jewelry?

A. Maybe not. When Consumer Reports Money Adviser compared what one of those companies offered for a gold band a couple of years ago with what a local jeweler and an on-line gold buyer would pay, the TV company paid a much lower price. Instead, take your gold to a reputable jeweler in your area for an appraisal. Note the carat of the metal, and ask the jeweler to tell you the weight in pennyweights or troy ounces. Use this online calculator to figure out the value based on the price of gold that day.Then quickly (because prices fluctuate) call several jewelry or coin stores and ask how much they pay for gold. Aim to get about 85 percent of what you calculated it’s worth.

Comments

[Tiffany]

If you're looking to get rid of your old and unwanted jewelry, I highly recommend oldgold4cash(oldgold4cash.com)
Gerilynn I totaly agrue with you most refiners dont deal with the public. But I was amazed with this company, they explained everything to me step by step, and I was shocked to see how much they paid ,I sent my jewlery to cash4gold and goldkit they only offered me $ 400 thank god I declined and contined to shop around. Old Gold 4 Cash not only gave me $1100 for the same items but they sent the money to my bank account in less then 3 hours.So my advice to you is shop around and then go to oldgold4cash.

[liz]

Seller Beware - the post from Tiffany sounds like an ad - She claimed that she sent her jewelry to two different companies which both offered $400, and that she declined both offers before mailing it to company #3 which she says paid her $1100 - almost 3 times as much. That's a lot of mailing and waiting for it to come back and mailing it out again. I honestly doubt the variance in prices offered between the first two companies and the one that is being recommended. it just doesn't make business sense.

[rr]

To Gerilynn - remember that the online companies are only paying the "melt" value of the gold. The piece you described may be worth more than that. Try a couple of local jewelry stores that buy gold and see what they say.

[rr]

One thing I'm curious about is how the online gold buyers handle the possibility that the items sent to them may be stolen. I was looking at Cash4Gold's site (I'm assuming that most of the online buyers do something like this) and they basically state that if not notified within about 10 days that the seller wants to unwind the deal, then it's final. My assumption is that they then melt the gold down.

How do they guard against being - potentially - a convenient way for someone to dispose of stolen jewelry?

[Anne]

I have been gathering up some of my old gold the last few days and I am scared to death to send it in the mail. Has anybody ever shipped any out and the company said they never received it??

[Vickie]

I'm confused. I have been invited to a jewelry party at friend's house. The representative from the company is also buying gold. We are more than welcome to bring some gold and she will pay for it on the spot. I asked the lady giving the party what she did with the purchased gold and she thought the representative (who made her own jewlery) was melting it down using it for her own private jewelry business. Could this be right? I asked the price we would be getting and all I got was that it was fair market price. What would that be? I would love to make a little xtra cash, but do not want to be taken advantage of.

[Steven Madar]

Here is how to determine the best way to sell gold jewelry.
1.examine the condition, broken or looks like new?
2.In style or outdated?
3.Is it antique or signed by a manufacturer ie...Tiffany?
4.How much do you have

If you have a fine jewelry peace its best to sell it as such, find a reputable jewelry shop or well known buyer of fine jewelry - do not sell as scrap! NOTE: Many beautiful pieces of jewelry are scraped due to low demand for that particular style, however signed pieces are almost always worth more.

If the gold jewelry is broken and outdated it should be sold to precious metal dealers or refiners, Reputable buyers will publish their paying prices online!

TIP: never ever drop your valuables in a mail box, there's no proof its ever been mailed! Only ship via FedEX Insured
TIP: A professional buyer will test and weigh the items for proper valuation in front of you.
TIP: Do not feel obligated to sell, they provide free quotes.

Get other helpful information at www.JewelryScrappers.com

[Pawn Shops]

I agree with the previous comment. If the public knew the markup on jewelry they would think jewelers are crooks! Doing business with a pawn shop on the other hand is a great way to get decent jewelry at a better price.

[lbt]

I am trying to decide between Gold Fellow and US Gold Buyers, any recommendations?

[Mel]

I didn't really know the best way to sell my jewelry, but I did have some appraisals. I contacted a few of the online jewelry buyers and went with an outfit based in San Diego, CA. Their website is: Jewelry2Cash.com for anyone who may be interested. I liked the fact that they were one of the few who offered a free price quote and their back and forth communication throughout the entire process was top notch. They also had an A+ rating with the local BBB, which made me feel much more comfortable, when mailing my items to them.

[James Patrick]

I live in Los Angeles and there are quite a few gold and jewelry buyers here. I had some coins, (a Krugerrand and a Maple Leaf)a lot of scrap gold jewelry, a Cartier watch and a 1ct diamond. Most places I went to gave me pretty low offers on all of it. I eventually got my the best price at a place on Melrose Ave in Hollywood called Gold Exchange USA - I think it's the same place Cali Guy posted about. Super friendly staff, great prices, knew their stuff. I don't think they do mail in but if you live close by in LA I'd say go to them. goldexchange-usa.com.

[Hal]

Great thread! That link to the calculator above is something I'd been looking for.

Another tool I've found interesting, and just plain fun to watch, is the free widget ExactPrice http://www.learcapital.com/exactprice

It tracks the spot price for gold, silver, and platinum in real time and has yearly, 30day, and 24hr graphs. Interesting to look at. Particularly lately with the the way the stock market has been acting.

[Richard]

I personally decided to perform a comparison test between all of these online gold buyers. I sent the same weight of 14K Gold to Green4Gold.com , Goldkit, and BrokenGold. Goldkit was the first to issue a check. I logged online in to my accounts at Green4Gold.com and BrokenGold and both amounts were way better than Goldkits measly offer. Green4Gold's offer beat out BrokenGold's by $20. From this experience I would opt for a company who offers an online login account, in which you may accept or decline the offer. So far to my knowledge only Green4Gold and BrokenGold offer this service.
In addition Goldkit's 'return check' procedure was a big pain. In the end everything went pretty well in general.

[ASE Metal Recovery]

I have to agree with previous posters. Call around. Do your due diligence. Accepting 40% to 60% of the melt price for your gold is absurd when there are so many reputable companies willing to purchase at a much higher price. While we do not note our prices on our website, certainly we are glad to give anyone a quote via phone or email based on current market prices.

[MarkB]

I wouldn't believe a word of any of the posts here that reccommend particular companies. Any of them could be posted by the companies themselves - buyer beware. The best general advice is to bring your gold to a local jeweler or two and get appraisals, and then get offers from local stores and online. There is a huge mark-up on jewelery, so expect to take a bath on the deal. And don't sell a nice rope chain or other jewelery for scrap gold content - it may be worth much more as a complete piece.

[Ella]

What about BUYING gold? Can anyone recommend a safe, reputable place to purchase gold bullion?

[Brian Roach]

is 14 k gold filled items worth any money

[Ben]

What I cant stand about the pawn shops and jewelers is that they pay so little and you feel like a lowlife dealing with them. I also can't stand the online places that refuse to tell you what they will pay until you ship your stuff to them. I did some due diligence and finally found the SIlver and Gold Exchange at http://SilverAndGoldExchange.com and saw they had a live price chart on their site showing exactly what they are paying for pretty much every type of gold and silver. I sent them some of my stuff as a test and they actually paid me more than I expected. I recommend you at least check them out. They have some good educational stuff on the site also.

[E. Harding]

Contrary to what Kyle says, most online/ TV companies (goldkit, goldpaq, cash4gold,) actually only pay for 10- 20% of the value of the gold scrap you sell them. Goldfellow, which has carried on a massive online advertising campaign during the spring of 2009, only pays you 44 cents on the dollar for your gold.The following video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eOmDnx_gKw&feature=channel_page) will most likely be a good introduction to some of them. The best- paying companies out there, I believe, are Kitco (although I am not sure whether Kitco accepts scrap from individuals or not), usgoldbuyers, and green4gold (although green4gold has virtually no reputation other than its bbb report.

[Gold Buyer]

You are never going to get market value for your gold. A lot of people forget that it is a business and there are expenses. About 2% of the gold immediately evaporates upon melting, market price may drop, rent, assay fees, permits, labor, taxes, etc etc. Also market prices are based on 1,000 ounces of bullion (bars, coins etc) on a trading level.

[Bob B.]

What's the best way to buy gold bullion as a hedge against inflation. Which are the most reputable companies, ie. Monex, etc. There are many different similar companies advertising on TV that sell bullion.

[frank pipolo]

I am still confused with all of this. Pennyweights, spot pays, I just dont know. I love the fact you just send your gold off with cash for gold and dont know what you get in return. What about if you dont like the deal? Can you get it back?

[Mikey Ruterman]

My wife and I were quite satisfied with US Gold Refining (usgoldrefining.com). We, like many people, scoffed at the notion of sending precious metal via the mail, but they emailed us a UPS 3-Day Select shipping label within minutes after filling out their request form. Apparently they also offer the more traditional service in which they send the necessary packaging to return whatever items that are being sold. The UPS option really expedited things, plus it is insured to $500 - more than enough to cover the value of the mangled, broken gold we had on hand. We just picked up a padded envelope from the local drugstore and it worked perfectly. They even have a simple tracking system so that you can see the up-to-date status of your package. Would recommend http://www.usgoldrefining.com/ for those looking to off-load whatever random gold might be lying around.

[Alexis Thorogood]

With the tough economy and my work hours cut way back,I needed to sell some gold to pay bills. With gold at $904.00 per ounce I kmow it's historically high,

I took several 14Kt. gold rings that weighed 14 grams. I took them to a local pawn shop. They offered me $8.00 per gram a total of $112.00. I then went to a local Chicago jeweler who offered me $12.85 per gram. This still seemed low.

I then talked to a friend who had sold some rings to Goldking4cash.com. They paid her $15.00 per gram for her gold last week. I selling to them! My friend got her money in one week. Her friend that recommended them, sent in some what she thought was random 10kt and 14Kt braclets she had inherited. One was antique and valuable. The honest people at Goldking4cash.com called her to bring to her attention the value. It had been sent accidently. She got it back, then sent it right back to their estate jewelry dept. and got $350.00 for a braclet anyone else would have paid her the melt value of $75.50. Check them out. They pay more, pay faster, and they're honest. Thanks sharon for steering me to them-Alexis

[thomas]

you can always try www.pmex.net