With gold prices continuously on the rise, more and more people are looking for ways to trade in their old gold jewelry for cash. Even if the jewelry is broken or damaged, the gold still has value and can be sold as a precious metal. The rate that you receive for the gold will depend upon the weight of the item being sold. One of the best things about selling gold is that you do not need to have any special contacts, no special permits and no particular educational background. Selling gold is literally something that everyone can do, with very little effort involved. If you have unwanted gold jewelry and would like to sell it for cold, hard cash, keep reading to learn how to sell your gold jewelry for weight value.
Precious metals, including gold, are not weighed the same as other items. For most items, an ounce is just over 28 grams. Gold an other precious metals use a unit of weight known as a troy ounce, which is equal to 31.103 grams. It is important to keep this in mind when determining how many ounces of gold you have.
Prepare your gold to be weighed. Carefully remove any stones or non-gold items from your jewelry. In the case of gold watches, you will also need to remove then inner workings of the watch, leaving only the gold frame. If you do not have proper tools to remove the stones, a jeweler can do this for you, although he will probably charge a small fee. You can set your gemstones aside to be sold at a later date. Since you are selling your gold jewelry for weight, it will probably be melted down, meaning that it doesn’t matter if stones are removed.
Weigh the gold. After stones and other items have been removed from the jewelry, leaving you with pure gold, you can weigh the gold using your digital scale. If you do not have access to a digital scale, you can place the gold in an envelop and ask the post office to tell you how many grams it weighs. However, digital scales can be purchased for as little as $10, so it is worth the investment to buy your own.
Research the price of gold. The gold market operates what is known as the “spot price.” You can get the current spot price by looking at kitco.com. It should be noted, however, that most individuals rarely pay spot price. The spot price reflects the amount that is currently being paid by banks and institutional investors, who purchase gold in quantities so large that the average person would never be able to afford the order. Even though you will never get the spot price in your dealings, it is still a good benchmark to determine if your offer is right on or if it is off the mark.
Find a buyer who will pay for the weight of your gold jewelry. This is fairly quick and easy. Almost any pawn shop in your local area will buy gold according to how much it weighs, although they will initially try to offer you much less than what it is worth (haggle for a good price). You can also sell your gold by mail to refiners such as Cash4Gold.com and GoldKit.com. A third option is to sell it to a local jeweler. Jewelers will sometimes buy gold to fashion into new items, although they will usually offer to sell the item on consignment, which may take longer than you are willing to wait.
Tips
If you receive an offer that you feel is too low, tell the person precisely how much your gold weighs and what the current spot price is, and let them know that the price offered is not acceptable. Sometimes selling gold can be a back-and-forth negotiation that ultimately reaches a price everyone is happy with.
References
Tips
- If you receive an offer that you feel is too low, tell the person precisely how much your gold weighs and what the current spot price is, and let them know that the price offered is not acceptable. Sometimes selling gold can be a back-and-forth negotiation that ultimately reaches a price everyone is happy with.
Writer Bio
Jerry Garner has been writing semi-professionally for more than 15 years. The body of Garner's work includes informative articles, news and current events and historical essays. He is an avid sports fan and frequently writes about outdoor activities online.