Selling your old jewelry or gold coins may help you out in times of recession, but don’t expect to get the best deal from the first pawn shop around the corner. Sometimes, it takes time and due diligence to find an offer that would satisfy your expectations, at least partially.
Basic Principles of Pricing Policy
To begin with, don’t expect to get the full market price for an ounce of gold because you will only get a fraction of the scrap value. Gold dealers melt down the gold, so they do not appraise for style or antiquity of the jewelry. In case you suspect you might have a piece of antique jewelry, you might want to appraise it and see if you can find a good deal selling it as antique. If not, you will only get the value of the gold’s weight.
Normally, dealers pay around 30% of the precious metal price to the smelter, person who melts the gold, and of course, the buyers themselves need to make a profit. Another criterion that influences the price is the karat of gold – pure gold is 24 karat, or 24k. Knowing that, you can estimate that a 1 ounce 10k necklace is worth less than 1 ounce necklace of 24k.
Do some prep work
If you spend some time preparing, you can expect to earn some serious cash, but if you have no idea how much your gold can be worth, including its weight, chances are you may make less than what you deserve. So, get those broken earrings, bracelets and chains and make yourself an informed seller.
Get a jeweler’s loop to inspect your gold (you can buy one for around $5). Take a close look at the inside of rings and earrings because this is where the markings of gold karat usually are. If you find any unfamiliar stamps, just browse online to identify how many karats your gold is. In case your golden items don’t have any marks, you may want to shop for a gold test kit, which will cost you around $12.
Next, remove stones or any parts that are not gold from your jewelry pieces, because if you don’t, the dealer will determine the weight of gold by subtracting the weight of stones and chances are that the subtraction will not be in your favor.
Weighing is equally important, provided you want to be fully informed and literate when you start shopping around and having different pawn shops and gold dealers estimate the weight and price of your gold. You can use small kitchen scales, the ones you use to weigh food portions. If you don’t have it, and have no one to borrow it from, you can buy scales, but make sure it weighs in grams. The rule of thumb, when weighing your gold items, is to separate them by karat and to weigh in batches.
You will not predict the price a pawnshop or gold dealer can offer you, but you can estimate the market value for your gold. You can find a few authority websites providing full market value for precious metals, but understand you are estimating a 100% valuation. Being a one-time individual seller, you can expect to get up to 80% in pawn shops, and up to 20-26% when sell gold online. Don’t even consider those gold parties because the rates there are never fair, and you get to pay to the hosts and the organizers. Gone are the days when you could trade off your precious items at gold parties and get a fair value.