Selling Your Gold for Top Dollar

There is one investment that hasn’t lost value during the recession. Gold. The tried and true symbol of wealth. Gold prices have recently reached an all-time high at over $1,000 per ounce! Since the price of gold has sky rocketed, many are scrambling to dig up their old treasures and trade them in for a small fortune.

What’s it Worth?

To locate the straight value of the metal alone, find the most up to date price of gold at GoldPrice.org—but, those hoping to cash in should consider if their gold holds more value than scrap. If it is in the form of a collector’s coin or vintage jewelry, it may be worth even more than the impressive price per ounce it is now touting.

Have items that you think will be worth more than just their weight appraised by an independent source. Take CAUTION!!! If the party appraising the piece is perhaps interested in acquiring it for themselves, they may lowball you on the true price and profit from your ignorance. Two legit appraisal sources are the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers and the American Society of Appraisers.

Where to Sell?

Here are the most common channels you can use to sell your gold and the Pros and Cons of each:

Sell Yourself with Online Auction—Selling your gold through an online auction house, such as EBay, may be your best option if your gold holds any aesthetic value. By marketing your goods to the global marketplace in this way, you are allowing the “invisible hand” of the capitalism decide the price.

Pros: Relatively easy to place an ad and the service fees for selling are minimal. You are more likely to receive true market value. There is no emotional or personal involvement with buyer that might sway you to lower your price.

Cons: You cannot use your practiced negotiation skills to sway the buyer to offer a bit more than they would otherwise. If your gold’s only value is in the metal itself, posting it on EBay can work against you. Buyer’s online count on photos and descriptions to place value on a piece and if it is not visually appealing, they may be immediately turned off. Most buyers on these sites are looking for personal investments and want something they will not have to send to a metal rendering shop to reap value. If you do sell your scrap through this avenue, you may end up getting less than what it is worth. 

Sell Locally to a Gold Dealer, Coin, or Jewelry Shop—Selling to a brick and mortor business that buys and sells gold.

Pros: If you have shop close by with a good reputation it could be worth your time to stop by and get a quote. This is one of the quickest ways to unload your gold and most of the time these shops will accept the gold in any form. You can often talk them up from their first offer.

Cons: If you have a collector’s piece you are unsure of the value, they may offer you less than it’s true worth so they can buy it on the cheap. Keep in mind that they will pay less than if you were selling directly to an individual. They must account for their cost in handling the sale. Essentially they work as the middle-man in the business of dealing gold. Do your research beforehand so you know the true value of your piece and how much is appropriate to charge as a handling fee in your area. 

Sell Privately with Ads or Word of Mouth—If you are old-school and want to avoid selling online, but do not want to give up a piece of the action for someone else to do the job, then you can do it yourself through word of mouth marketing and/or placing ads in local paper’s magazine, etc. to get your gold sold.

Pros: Offers an alternative to selling online. If you hold a unique piece of premium value, sometimes word of mouth or traveling in the right circles can be enough. If your negotiation skills are up to par, you can use them to increase the profit of your sale.

Cons: You could be missing out on a better offer if you are unable to market your gold to the right target. Could be a time consuming endeavor and a sale is not guaranteed.

Sell Direct by Scraping—Unless you have been living under a rock the past five years (and since you are reading this you have not) you probably have seen the TV commercials urging you to send in your unwanted jewelry and coins in return for cash. You essentially mail your gold to wholesale buyers who render it into marketable pieces. I’m not even going to mention who these buyers are, because I don’t want to promote them in any way.

Pros: Fast, easy, and no research is involved.

Cons: This is a flat out rip-off and you should avoid this route if at all possible. You could do better hawking your wares on the street. They don’t pay you, or even tell you how much they’re willing to give until after you have mailed them your gold. At that point you have a limited amount of time to reject their offer and request that your gold be returned. The payment is usually less than 25% of the true value. Let’s hope you can do better than that another way.

What Ado about Family Heirlooms?

Keep in mind that sometimes you cannot put a price on family heirlooms and these may be worth holding onto, even if it does mean forgoing the cash today. The future generations of your family will thank you and ultimately you will be glad that you just didn’t take the money and run. We are bound to run into another gold rush somewhere in the future. Save the treasure for your grandchildren.

What Next?

Find the market value of your gold and decide if you are willing to part for that price. Choose the most appropriate avenue to sell as was discussed above. Utilize your negotiation skills to give you the maximum return for you gold. Spend, or save, the money wisely!