A Guide To Scrap Gold
By Jack Landry
What is scrap gold? It is anything that has gold in it. This includes bent or broken jewelry, bracelets or chains that are inextricably tangled, broken and unwanted scrap, casting and grain, cluster rings, alloys, bracelets, gold bullion, gold chain, gold class rings, coins and bars, dental crowns and bridgework, old watches, and placer gold.
The list could go on but these are some of the examples of scrap material.
You have a couple of options if you have jewelry to sell and you want to sell it online. Selling online is an easier option than looking for dealers to buy it.
Depending on the quality and quantity of items you have, it may not even be possible to pawn to a jewelry store. You can hunt down pawn shops that buy scrap jewelry, but it is difficult to know if you are getting the most cash.
So what if you wanted to take an easier route and sell your gold on the web? Auction web site such as eBay let you sell to customers that are interested in purchasing your items.
The benefit of using eBay is that you can quickly sell your old jewelry. The downside is having to pay auction fees and shipping.
Another downside is that dealing with an unsatisfied person can be a huge waste of time. Classified sites like craigslist.org and backpage.com are another option for selling it.
The benefit to classified websites is dealing locally with buyers, rather than worldwide with eBay. You start by creating a listing for your items, and hopefully you will get some inquiries.
The downside with classifieds is that you may never know who you will be dealing with, so it’’s always better to arrange the meeting in public. The good news is, there are plenty of scrap gold buyers who will jump over each other to get your gold.
Here are some of the ways to sell:
Local jewelers. If you are in a hurry, then you might check your local jeweler to assess your scrap gold. Usually though, the offer is not very good.
Online dealers.
You may also opt for giving your scrap gold to online dealers who provide you with special gold kits or envelopes for you to send your gold. Better prices are offered but extra caution is needed when doing online transactions.
Auctions online.
Auction sites like eBay can be a good place to sell your scraps online.
Your best option is selling your metal and jewelry to a refiner.
These companies function by sending you a kit for mailing away your gold. The insured shipment is then processed by the gold buyer and then they mail you a check.
Buying companies are the easiest route for selling your items in a hurry because they deal with buying on a large scale. There are only a few refining companies that you should deal with, and usually the companies that advertise on Television.
When selling, the condition of the item is immaterial. As long as there’’s gold to be recovered, then it’’s the ideal candidate for scrapping.
More often than not, it is not practical to repair items such as broken or mismatched jewelries, so it is best that they be sold as scrap. The trick though, is that you will not be able to get the face value of the items, but only the value which is quite less.
The price is determined by a number of factors such as:
* Purity / Karat (10k, 14k, 18k, 22k, or 24k)
* Current price
* Dealer’’s offer
You can also check out scrap gold calculators that help you assess scrap price.
About The Author
Jack R. Landry has a PHD in financial services and has written hundreds of articles relating to consumer services and financial products. He recommends (http://www.ScrapGoldBrokers.com) if you want to sell your gold.