It can be difficult to know where to sell your gold or silver jewelry or coins.
There are many options, but not all of them are created equal and you may find that it is best to sell different types of items at a few different kinds of stores.
The best places to sell your gold and silver without getting ripped off is online auctions, coin stores, jewelry/consignment shops and refineries. The faster you want cash, the more likely you are to get a lower price per ounce, but all three of these places will give you a fair price for your metals.
In this article, we will discuss reputable places to sell your precious metals and how to avoid getting ripped off.
We’ll also provide some tips on how to get the best price for your items, so read on to learn more!
Table of Contents
What To Expect When Selling Gold & Silver
If you’re looking to sell your gold or silver, there are a few things you should expect. First of all, it’s important to know that you won’t get the same price for your items at every place.
The price depends on a variety of factors, including the weight and purity of the metal. Some coins may have an additional pneumatic value that will bring the price up above the common amount expected for both buying or selling.
Be Prepared To Negotiate
Many buyers will start out by offering a lower price than what you might be expecting.
It’s important to be firm in your negotiations, show them that you have a clear understanding of the value of what you have, and not accept anything less than what you feel is fair.
Calculate the percentage of profit that you are willing to allow a dealer to make from your items ahead of time.
This should be anywhere from 10% to 15% to be fair, especially when the market is volatile.
When a dealer buys from you, they are not like a bank who simply exchanges dollars for a different type of denomination in the exact amount…they are a business who must make profit on transactions since they have overhead cost and take the risk that the spot market can drop immediately after they have paid you.
They will have to minimize this risk unless they intend to hang on to the items for a lengthy and more optimal period of time.
Be Prepared To Show Identification
You should know that selling your precious metals and coins to a brick and mortar dealer can result in having yourself I.D.’d unless they personally know you.
Most stores that are located inside city limits fall under Department of Justice guidelines and Police departments are required to collect receipts from businesses that buy certain identifiable items from the public due to theft.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, depending on if their police departments are well funded and personnel has not been thinned down.
You can expect to be fingerprinted, and name, address and contact information will need to be taken, especially if you tell the dealer that you got your items from your dead grandmother and you act like a tweaker or appear to be homeless.
You will be paid for your items, but the dealer must hold onto identifiable jewelry for 30 days in the event that a theft may have occurred.
Compare Prices
Finally, and most importantly, always do your research before selling. Compare prices between different dealers for the different types of items that you have to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible. They will hate you for it.
But, it’s your stuff and you should get what it’s worth!
Common Traps When Selling Gold & Silver Jewelry
Selling gold & silver jewelry is a great way to make some extra money, but there are a few traps that you should be aware of because it’s easy to get ripped off if you’re not careful. After 15 years in the industry, here is what we have seen:
Know The Difference Between a Troy Ounce vs Regular Ounce and Why it is Important!
It is necessary to know how a dealer is calculating the weight and value of the items that you are wanting to sell to them.
Therefore, know that there are two types of ounces that gold and silver weight can be measured in.
Most people are familiar with the regular ounce, which is 28 grams or 0.9645 pounds.
This measurement has been used for centuries to weigh everything from food items to farm animals!
However, this type isn’t always accurate enough when dealing with precious metals like gold and silver because their density is so high.
The second type of ounce used for measuring these types of items is called troy ounces, which contain 31.1 grams, or just over one ounce in weight. You can specifically ask the dealers to calculate your items using either type of weight that you are most comfortable with.
Some dealers will use measurements in pennyweights (dwt), which is a unit of measurement that is equal to 24 grains or one troy pennyweight (abbreviated as “dwt”). There are 20 dwt in a troy ounce, and often dealers use this measurement because it will appear they are paying higher prices per ounce, when in fact they are not.
So it may be a deception tactic.
Failing To Compare Prices
Do not be tempted to sell immediately to the first familiar place that you see in your neighborhood who is advertising that they are buying gold and silver.
While doing this may give you a starting point, do not make the mistake of failing to check out other different resources before selling.
Once you sell, the opportunity for a “do over” is gone.
Shopping around for the best price may actually net you as much as 25-30% more cash for your items than you thought you’d originally get, depending on what you have.
Not Knowing Your Items Value
Learn how to calculate how much weight you have in gold or silver and the specific purity of it. Being ignorant is the first “tell” that will enable a dealer to take advantage of you and offer a much lower price than what you would have otherwise gotten.
A dealer will automatically, and by instinct, raise their pay out line much higher if they realize up front that you know the exact value of what you have to sell in the present market.
Over The Phone Prices
Do not think that a buyer will quote you a price over the phone for several reasons.
This may not set well with you because it means that you must physically go to places to sell your metals, but keep in mind that a dealer does not want to be locked into giving you a price without first being able to see the items they might be buying.
A dealer also does not want you to be advertising what they are paying out to other dealers because they will lose out on having a competitive edge and this will result in driving up their cost of doing business.
Many competitors also pretend to be customers to try to find out what other places are paying for gold and silver.
The only way a dealer can protect themselves is by not quoting prices over the phone, so that they do not have to explain their offer face-to-face with you if it’s too low.
Bringing in your items to dealers can actually work to your advantage once you know what you have and the true value of it.
You may net a substantially higher price per gram if you bring in a higher volume to sell rather than just asking for a quote on a small thin gold chain.
Sounding Desperate For Cash
While your claims about falling on hard times may work for you in some instances, they simply do not work for dealers when they are paying out cash, and it may actually have the opposite effect.
Don’t go there.
There is nothing going on inside a dealers heart that would compel them to offer you a few dollars more per gram of metal.
They have heard too many sob stories before and are not impressed by emotions, and they do not want to end up in the same situation that you may have found yourself in by ignoring their need for sticking to a bottom line for their margins of profit.
Not Receiving A Pricing Breakdown
Last, if you think a dealer is discounting your items too severely, simply ask them to show you the math that they are using to calculate the value of what you have.
This will either cause them to blush and bluster a bit before having to raise their offer, or it will basically put an end to negotiations because you are exposing their greed.
A truly honest dealer will not hesitate to show you the math and tell you what percentage he will want to make from the transaction in order to buy based on his own risks of market downturn vs profit margin.
If you are being offered 10% to 15% less than spot price for jewelry, for crying out loud, take it…too many dealers will try to get you to take 30% less or even 50% less especially if they notice that you have no clue about what you have!
How To Estimate Your Gold & Silver Value
The best way to calculate the value of your precious metals is first by finding out what the “spot price” is for the market on the day you wish to sell.
This fluctuates, sometimes wildly, by the hour. You can google for this information.
Once you know what the spot price for pure gold or silver is, you can then use a gram scale to find out the gram weight of your items.
Separate By Purity
You must separate the items into groups based on the purity of them by looking for a stamp on a piece of jewelry, by looking up online the exact type of coins that you may have, or finding out the approximate purity of nuggets or base metals that you possess.
While you will get some assistance from a jewelry store to find out this information, keep in mind that they may try to convince you to sell to them if they realize that you are contemplating selling.
To avoid being pressured, simply tell them that your items are part of an estate that is going to be divided and that you will certainly keep them in mind.
Last, keep in mind that finding out the purity for gold nuggets is much more difficult than it is for jewelry that is clearly stamped or that can be tested using acids.
Nugget purity can often be determined by the region where they came from and by how much other material mixed inside it such as quartz is showing upon examination.
Nugget value is based more on weight and appearance in their raw natural form than it is on the actual percentage of purity.
Nuggets are highly desired by Jewelry stores.
Weigh Your Items
Once you have separated your items into groups by purity, you can then weigh them using a gram scale.
Take note of each weight and the purity of each group. For example, you may have:
- 96 grams of 10 karat gold
- 42 grams of 14 karat gold
- 12 grams of 18 karat gold
Calculate Their Value
You will need to do a little math to calculate the value of each group by multiplying the number of grams that each item contains by the current spot price for gold or silver.
For example, if an ounce of gold is currently selling for $1300, and you have a piece of jewelry that weighs in at 20 grams, you would multiply 20 by (1300/31.1) which gives you a value of $836 for that piece.
But not so fast!
You need to take into account the purity of each item as well. To do this, you will multiply the value that you just calculated by the percentage of purity for that group.
| Stamp | Purity |
|---|---|
| Sterling Silver (925) | 92.5% |
| 10K | 41.5% |
| 14K | 58.5% |
| 18K | 75% |
| 22K | 91.6% |
| 24K | 99.9% |
So, in our example above with the different purities, it would look like this:
- 96 grams of 10k (41.5% pure) gold = $1,665
- 42 grams of 14k (58.5% pure) gold = $1,027
- 12 grams of 18k (75% pure) gold = $376
- Total = $3,068
At this valuation, you can expect an offer between $2500 – $2800 from a reputable dealer.
A Word About Chains & Solder
Be advised that when anyone offers you cash for jewelry, they might also calculate how much solder weight is likely to be present in the items, particularly chains, and may use this to justify offering much too low a price for your items.
They will reduce a percentage of the gold weight based on this, because solder that is used to hold together jewelry will be burned up during the refining process causing a small loss of weight.
If you have quite a few thick and heavy gold chains, you may find that you are going to be offered a few dollars less per gram for them.
They may also reduce the weight based on heavy stones that are present.
So if you are certain that you want to sell, have them remove the stones before weighing out your items.
3 Places To Sell Your Gold & Silver For The Highest Price
Now that we know what our stuff is worth and what we can expect from a dealer, let’s talk about where to go to get the highest prices, which is going to be different than where you might go to simply unload your stuff as quickly as possible.
#1 Jewelry Stores/Consignment
Generally speaking, getting the highest price for your metals may depend a great deal on what types of items that you have, more than simply the daily spot value or gram weight of the items.
If you have jewelry that you do not want, and if it is attractive, eclectic and in fairly good condition, or if they are the types of items that are difficult to find in a common store, then your best price will likely come from selling to a jewelry store instead of sending it in to an online metal buying company.
Jewelry stores have a lot of clientele who are always on the hunt for the types of coins, nuggets or jewelry items that you might possess, or the stores themselves are in the market for inventory items that have become too expensive or difficult to find and buy brand new.
Additionally, you may be able to consign your jewelry items in a store, which means that they will sell the items for you at retail and pay you a commission when it is sold.
This could be an attractive option if you do not need money right away and want to get more than melt value for your jewelry.
A jewelry store knows their customer base and will pay higher prices for items that they can make a better profit on, rather than just shipping the metals out to get its melt value.
They will clean up items, repair them if necessary, replace broken or substandard stones and then retail them for sale as being “estate” items or “previously loved”.
A jewelry store will also pay for quality diamonds if they weigh at least .50 carats in size or larger.
If you have items that have diamonds or other precious stones in them, be certain to ask the store to remove them if they are not going to be paying you for them beyond the price that you are being offered for the metal.
Typically, a store will use their prong lifters to remove them on the spot for you unless they need to be cut out of a bezel setting first.
#2 Coin Stores
Do not confuse a coin store with a pawn shop.
A pawn shop will be certain to have a large amount of jewelry for retail sale in their cases, whereas a coin store will not have much jewelry items for sale, except for perhaps a few coins that have been set up in bezels such as pendants or a few money clips.
Even if you have no coins to sell, most coin stores are in the business of buying and selling all types of precious metals regardless of the form that they are in.
A coin store will know the true value of your coins rather than just simply the metal content and you may actually get more than you would by simply taking the coins to a jewelry store who will pay only for the metal purity and weight of a coin.
Coin stores do not wish to flip and sell the jewelry that they buy, but they usually do have a few dealers who are also hunting for items to buy below wholesale.
Coin stores will set those items aside for them as they buy them in order to get a little better return on what they paid you, because this is one way to keep their own customer base happy and returning.
This means that some items that you want to sell could net you up to 10% closer to spot price than usual, but don’t count on it being a regular thing if you have nothing to sell that is out of the ordinary.
Coin stores do generally buy and sell closer to spot price than jewelry stores do, and they do not seem to be looking to “cut a fat hog” like pawn shops do (who are trying to offer you the least amount of money for the most amount of your goods).
Coin stores seem to be purely about the business of buying and selling based on the spot market and condition and rarity of coins at any given time.
Inspecting and/or discounting the metal value of your jewelry for ways of getting more money out of it is just not something they are in to.
#3 Online Auctions
Many people are now using online auctions to sell their unwanted precious metals, and investors are buying it up.
This is a great way to get the most money possible for your items if they are in good condition and/or have some historic value, and often you will receive up to the melt value or more for your goods.
The downside to this is that you will have to package and ship the items off to the buyer, which could be costly, and there is also the potential for fraud.
You should always use a reputable online auction site with good feedback ratings in order to avoid any trouble, and always insure your items when
#4 Refineries
You can also sell your gold and silver to a refinery, but this is not generally recommended for the average person as you will only receive payment for the weight of the metal that you have minus a refining fee.
This is because they need to pay for the time and effort it takes to melt down your jewelry or other items and turn them into a pure form that they can then sell to other investors or companies.
You will be paid based on the purity and weight of the metal content only, so do not expect to receive anything for any stones or other materials that may have been in your jewelry.
Refineries are really only meant for those who are selling large quantities of gold or silver, such as businesses or jewelers.
What About Online Gold Buyers?
Companies have sprouted up in the last decade that advertise themselves as being a competitive way for you to get the most money for your scrap jewelry or coins. Simply put all your jewelry in the provided addressed envelope and ship it off to them.
Viola!
You now will receive a check within 24 hours or you will get your items back if you don’t like the price they offer.
Sounds good?
Check out CashforGoldUSA or Worthy online and see if what they offer is going to be your best bet.
While both of them will make you an offer for your diamonds and gemstones too, Worthy requires that the diamonds be at least half a carat and of very high quality.
They will also prefer to buy jewelry that is marked from high end retailers such as Tiffany & Co for example.
One advantage is that you will not be fingerprinted.
Wink wink.
Either way, it may end up being better than a wash if you use their services rather than somewhere locally, but you won’t know until you have completed your due diligence.
Final Thoughts
It stands to reason that you will want to sell when the market is crazy high rather than just flat or lower than normal.
If you are in a hurry to get your money out of your metals and/or gemstones, then this option of waiting for an optimal time to sell may not work for you.
Even so, do not make the mistake of thinking that since the market is great, that a dealer will automatically pay out accordingly.
They may be counting on your ignorance and will try to offer you last years lower market price by stating how volatile the present market is and what a huge risk they are taking for you.
Do your homework and know what you have and also what you need to get from it. It should be a win-win situation for both you and for a dealer who is not given to greed.
