<p>Looking to raise a little cash by selling some gold jewelry that I no longer wear and that has no sentimental value. I went to 2 local stores that buy gold and I’m headed to another and then I’m comparing the prices to an online dealer that I’m perceiving as reputable.</p>
<p>Any experiences to share?</p>
<p>I sold some very small pieces to a local jewelry store last summer. They had a “We buy gold” sign in the window. It was the most convenient for me.</p>
<p>I sold some gold pieces to a very reputable coin dealer. If you check around, they will quote the price they are giving that day over the phone. In my experience their price was higher than any online quotes and you are right there to watch it being weighed.</p>
<p>Coin dealers have to be sensitive to premium as coin traders are a lot more sensitive to premium than people that buy jewelry. Jewelry is a terrible way to buy precious metals as I’ve seen premiums that are several multiples of melt value.</p>
<p>My local coin dealer buys jewelry from the public. He will look at it closely and maybe weigh it and then offer a price - take it or leave it. He has also had to deal with stolen goods - he can pay someone for jewelry and if the police come by and see it and know that it is stolen, then he loses out on what he paid for it. That’s a risk that he has to take.</p>
<p>My in-laws have some gold in sheet form, so I’m interested in this question as well. I hadn’t thought about a coin dealer. There’s also a kiosk in the mall that specializes in buying gold–something about it makes me suspect they might not be the best place, but I have no idea.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with gold in sheet form - is this for a manufacturing process?</p>
<p>I would avoid doing transactions in a kiosk - you have little security, you don’t know how long the business has been there or how long they will stay in business and they deal with the generally uneducated public. The coin dealer at least has to deal with traders that know at least a little something about the business.</p>
<p>When my coin dealer buys jewelry from the public, he then tries to sell it to someone else - he puts it on display in one of his counters. That means that it would be possible to get the item back if the seller had a change of heart. My guess is that the kiosk and mail order places just melt the stuff down. I’m not sure what the jewelry stores do - perhaps they melt them down to use for creating more jewelry.</p>
<p>I used an online place called Empire Gold buyers. They called with the price they would offer once they received the shipment (they send a prepaid shipping label), and offer to ship it back if you’re not satisfied with the price. I had a check within 2 days.</p>
<p>Local pawn dealer says that he can beat jewelers, gold dealers, and mail order. I am not sure but what he doesn’t want to display in his store he sells to the wholesale dealer. </p>
<p>I am looking for a circular saw.</p>
<p>Don’t/didn’t have much, but did sell it to a local jeweler/gold dealer recommended by a friend. The “not much” that I had brought in a few hundred $$ and that was when gold was at about $1200/oz.</p>
<p>He looks at what you have, separates out any non-solid gold, separates the real gold by carat weight, weighs it and then writes up the value he will pay. If you are selling a gold ring/earring or whatever which also has a gemstone in it, the gemstone just gets weighed in as though it were the gold. This particular dealer will alert you if you have a gemstone that is too valuable for that approach, but I was not selling anything like that.</p>
<p>It is like “found money” if you are selling pieces you never wear and have no interest in “passing down” to the next generation.</p>
<p>In the area where we have our winter home, an extremely reputable family jeweler also buys gold. Further, they will do a free consultation of whatever you have (my friend has stuff from her mother, her husband’s mother etc). not just in terms of purchasing the gold, but also in terms of appraising other items. This place charges a fee to do written appraisals for insurance purposes (about $75, I think), but offers the free consultation so that you do not spend to appraise something not really worth it… This is the type of outfit I would go to, if I were the OP. Or somewhere recommended by a friend.</p>
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<p>Well, someone paid for it at one time.</p>
<p>My wife buys costume jewelry and I give her tubes of gold coins. Neither of us has any interest in selling the coins.</p>
<p>Well, of course I/we paid for it at one time. But if it has been sitting in a jewelry box unworn for years, it still feels like found money to me. Then again, I get a kick out of selling something on craigslist. So maybe it’s just some quirk or personality flaw of mine :).</p>
<p>I went to 3 places today:</p>
<p>1) wholesale jeweler place that was basically a pawn shop for just jewelry
2) local jeweler in a mall that specializes in estate pieces and buys gold
3) local jeweler, well established, nothing fancy</p>
<p>3) was 12.5% higher than 1) and 2) was in the middle.</p>
<p>I walked out of 3) with a check. It was twice what I thought I’d get.</p>
<p>Don’t spend it all i none place :).</p>
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<p>Sunk costs are irrelevant.</p>
<p>This is one of the key phrases from my days as an econ major. </p>
<p>Along with:</p>
<p>In the long run, we’re all dead.</p>
<p>Carry on ;)</p>
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<p>1040, Schedule D.</p>
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<p>2045 is supposed to be the year of immortality.</p>
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Beats me. It’s not gold foil–it’s thick. I think they may have brought it from Eastern Europe decades ago. For all I know it’s what a dentist used to make gold teeth or something.</p>
<p>… carrying on here…
I’m an Econ major too and glad that you reminded me that I have solid grounds for my POV. Now… help me out… did we learn about the principle of “Found Money” in econ? :)</p>
<p>The principle of found money…I don’t believe Samuelson mentioned that ;)</p>