I can’t be the only one who feels haunted by those catchy commercial jingles about buying or selling gold for those tempting cash prices. As for myself, my vivid memories of grilled cheese, cereal and soup as staple foods for months at a time in college make it easy to for me to see why people being tempted by an offer of any amount of money for gold pieces not being used anymore. Catchy commercials with jingles getting stuck in your head to remind you of very tempting scrap gold prices makes it hard not to inquire, at the very least. Let’s discuss the pros and cons to these tempting scrap gold prices being offered.
PROS
- There’s certainly a large list of buyers to choose from! There’s no shortage of gold buyers ready and willing to take that gold off of your hands.
- With a discerning eye for a reputable company, you will get cash. If you know what you’re gold is worth ahead of time, then you can be confident that you’ve gotten back no less than that (+ some “handling fees” along the way).
- The gold market prices change daily, this can be advantageous: open lines of communication with a gold buyer, ask them if you are mailing your pieces in, will they be using a market spot price from the date you send the pieces or the date they receive them?* This can either be a negotiating point or one to plan around.
CONS
- Most of the gold in today’s jewelry and other household items you may be recovering scrap from, like solder or computer chips, are not likely to be more than 22 karats (22k) and more likely to be 18 karats (18k).
- You can still sell 18k pieces, but the rate for sale will be a fraction of the gold market listed price for the day, without proper calculations a buyer can use lots of smooth talk and numbers to whittle down the purchase price.
- The overall buying process can be somewhat unnerving when using the mail; you mail your pieces with a detailed description to the buyer then wait for a price quote. If and when they respond, and if the price quote isn’t agreed upon, any fair company will return your gold pieces to you. You’re expected to put in your confidence first, though, by sending off your gold for appraisal.
Neither of the lists were meant to sell or sway you from, at the very least, inquiring about scrap gold prices; there are some very important clues to best approach the trade. Along with the topics mentioned, you, as a seller of scrap pieces, should take time to remove any other gems or precious metals from the piece to be sold.
One reason is to prevent any false devaluation of your piece, motivated by the enticement of more profit from the included extra the buyer did not have to pay for, but can then sell on a precious metals or gems market. The other is to avoid any concern with an often offered service by the buyer to ‘remove any extraneous metals or gems and return them’ to you, often ‘at no charge’. Just these few considerations can make your decision about scrap gold prices in those tempting commercials a lot easier.
*market prices = 24k gold/troy ounce; where 20 pennyweights = 1 troy ounce; and 1 pennyweight x 1.555 = 1 gram*