How to Deal in Scrap Gold
Dealing in scrap gold is popular because the price of gold tends to rise as inflation lowers the value of currency. It can also be highly profitable, if you know what you're doing.
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Instructions
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Find out the current price of gold. Before you can buy and sell gold, you need to find out how much gold is trading for per ounce. This is typically referred to as the "spot" price of gold and can be easily found online at multiple websites that specifically track the price of gold on the New York and London markets.
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Determine the purity of the gold you receive. If you'll be working with scrap gold, you'll need to get a sense of what 10K (least pure), 14K, 18K and 24K (most pure) gold looks and feels like. Often this is marked, but sometimes it is not. There are gold-testing kits available that can assist in determining the purity of the gold. A testing kit will be especially useful for dental gold and other unmarked pieces.
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Weigh the gold item. Most gold weights are in grams, so weigh the gold on a digital scale that goes to two decimal points. From there, as you've already determined the purity, you can go to a conversion chart and determine how much gold is in the item.
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Identify suppliers who will purchase bulk gold from you. As you likely will not be refining the gold yourself, you will need to build a relationship with a refiner who can take your scrap gold and turn it into bar form. You can do this by visiting major gold refineries online like Dillon Gage or SilverTowne, or visiting local stores that buy gold and see if you can find out who they send their gold to.
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Tips & Warnings
Shop around when finding who to sell your gold to. Prices can vary widely, and it's generally best to cut out the middle man.
Don't rely solely on the marking on the gold. Something marked 14K is not that. Working with gold for some time will provide you with the visual vocabulary to spot these.
References
Resources
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