Monday, December 8, 2008

How do you sell gold?

I keep reading about people selling their gold jewelery for insane prices...I have a whole bunch of yellow gold jewelry I've received as gifts over the years (much of it from my bat mitzvah, including some bracelets that don't even fit around my wrists anymore), but I don't like yellow gold and haven't worn any in at least 10 years (as someone with an olive complexion, yellow gold looks hideous on me). So that means I have a bunch of gold jewelry that has been sitting around in my jewelry box for years, untouched.

I'm thinking that since the price of gold is so high right now, I might as well sell all my yellow gold and maybe even some white gold jewelry I got from an ex (which I feel weird wearing, so I never wear that either), and use the money to buy our wedding rings. If I can sell this giant yellow gold herringbone necklace I've had for years and worn like once, I'll probably have enough for two nice platinum or white gold wedding rings + change. And I hear the price of platinum has been going down too. I have a food scale at home I'm going to use to weigh everything tonight, but I think what I have is at least a couple of ounces. And an ounce of gold pays something like $750 right now.

Anyone know how to go about doing this? Do I just walk into a random jewelry store and ask how much they will give me for it? Which would pay me more- a pawn/consignment shop, or a nice place in the jewelry district of my city?

16 comments:

  1. Here's an article on selling gold:

    http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/ConsumerActionGuide/HowToSellYourOldGoldJewelry.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like not the whole URL came out properly, at least on my screen. Try this: http://tinyurl.com/2fc77k

    ReplyDelete
  3. Do not go to a pawn shop.Your best bet would be to go to a legitimate jewler, ie. where you may purchase your rings and offer the gold to them. They may give you a better price since you plan on spending the money in there shop.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would go to several places to get them appraised before selling them so you know you're not getting ripped off.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with Anon. A jewelry shop will give you a better price as you will then spend the money by them. Jere's what I suggest: Find the rings that you like in a local store and tell the owner that you would like to bring in some gold as partial/ full payment.

    ReplyDelete
  6. well there's a jewelry district in my city, so I'm going to head there sometime and ask a bunch of people what they would pay for my stuff I guess. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have no idea, but I'd definitely start with a jewelry store as my first contact.

    ReplyDelete
  8. An ounce of gold sells for about $750, but that's for pure 24 Karat gold. Your stuff is probably 14 Karat, which is a little more than 50% gold, or 18 Karat at best (75 % gold).
    So, if you had 2 ounces of 12 Karat gold, that would be one ounce of gold, when they melt it down - but don't expect to get $750 for that either.
    I'm sure I was ripped off when I went to one of the traveling gold buyers, but I'm lazy, and I wanted rid of my stuff fast.
    Do you not watch TV? I can't believe these gold buyers aren't advertising where you live! But, try a real store - on Samson St., I think - first.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I actually have some experience with this...my sister in law asked me to just get the best price for 8 ugly gold necklaces she had from the eighties. I compared "Sell Us Your Gold Jewelry!" places, pawn shops and jewelry stores. None even came close to even 1/4 of what my SIL paid for them.

    Best bet? Ebay. Put each item online as a separate listing. I sold 7 out of 8 necklaces (one was super-hideous), and got three times what I could have gotten at the other places.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No experience with this, but good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  11. gold is relatively cheap now. Wait a year or so and I bet it will be more expensive. So I would wait to sell it unless you need the cash right away

    ReplyDelete
  12. but don't blame me if it's down in price a year from now :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Its better to keep onto your gold so when the riots start after the market crash you will have something to barter.

    Just my anarchist theories talking

    ReplyDelete
  14. >Its better to keep onto your gold so when the riots start after the market crash you will have something to barter.

    If that was the case then it's better to have coins than jewelry,because coins are better for barter. so she should sell the jewelry and by gold coins instead

    ReplyDelete
  15. You want to sell to a jeweler, or someone else who will give you the jewelry value, not the bullion value.

    Most of the "We buy Gold" places only buy for bullion value, which is less than the jewelry value of the piece (unless it's a truly bad piece).

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey, AE and any other Off The Derech people, Off The Derech (the blogger, lol) and Jewish Atheist and I are starting an invite-only blog for people who used to be frum and are no longer or are going through that transition now. It's private so that we have a place to just hang out without dealing with Orthodox readers/commentators. If you're interested in becoming a reader, email me at outside.the.ballroom@gmail.com. We are also looking for authors; if you have a skeptic/atheist/OTD blog, you can author posts on the new blog (it's called Haven, Not Heaven.) Hope you come, it would be great to see you there! :)

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous comments are enabled for now