Can You Really Make Money Selling Your Old Gold?
It's difficult to turn on a television or drive down a highway without encountering a pitch to sell your old gold for cash. Such advertisements make it look as if a bonanza is waiting in your jewelry box, and all you have to do to cash in is sell it to the nearest dealer, but to really make a profit selling gold requires research and good timing.
Other People Are Reading
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Easier Is Not Always Better
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It can be tempting to follow an advertiser's plea to stick your old gold in a pre-paid envelope and wait for your check in the mail, but don't expect to get the best price that way. A Consumer Reports comparison in 2008 found that sellers were likely to get significantly higher prices for their jewelry if they took it to a reputable local jeweler.
Getting an Appraisal
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The first step to making money from your gold is asking a jeweler to estimate its value, a process called an appraisal. The jeweler should tell you the carat of the metal and its weight in pennyweights and troy ounces. That information will help you get an unbiased assessment of the value of your piece based on that day's price of gold, either from an on-line calculator or another jeweler.
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Shopping Around
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Once you know how much your gold is worth, you can call several jewelers and coin dealers and ask them what they are paying for gold that day. Do this quickly because the price of gold fluctuates frequently. Consumer Reports suggests aiming to get about 85 percent of what you calculated the piece was worth.
Seller Beware
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If you do opt for the ease of a mail-in gold buying company, be sure to carefully research the buyer before you seal your envelope. Many of these companies---even those that advertise heavily on major television networks---have been named in anti-fraud lawsuits and investigative media reports that have found they pay significantly less than bricks-and-mortar businesses.
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References
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- Photo Credit Gold Ring image by Sujit Mahapatra from Fotolia.com
