Need Cash: Tips on selling your gold and silver

Have you ever considered selling your gold or silver, but just don’t know where to go, how it works or who to trust?

Me too!

I recently met up with Andrea (of Cents Saved) at a Safeway event and even though I have met her before I just learned that she is a gold buyer. She is a buyer for Gold and Silver Buyers the #1 gold buyer in the state of Colorado and also listed in the top 10 of the Fortune 500 companies.

So I jumped on the chance to get information from her on how the process works, who to trust… and so on. Because I have old gold (like high school old) that just isn’t of use to me anymore, but I have heard horror stories of being taken advantage of, or shipping the gold to one of those “mail” places and never hearing back from them so I have been too scared to even take a chance!

Whether we’re single, divorced, married… I’m sure you may have a few pieces of jewelry lying around that has lost its sentimental value that could be cash in your pocket! What about some stuff that has been handed down to you, like an old watch or something?

Here are some tips that you need to keep in mind when selling gold and silver:

Where to sell it

Sell your gold and silver to a refiner to cut out the middle man. Gold and Silver Buyers is a refiner.

How to find a refiner

The best place to find a refiner is to talk to the local mom & pop jewelry store (not a retail store in the mall, but an actual jeweler).

What about those places in the mall or coming through town and setting up in a hotel for a day?

Stay away from hotel buyers and mall locations only because their percentages they offer the seller is a lot lower than a refiner (8%-20%).

What about those places that offer to send you an envelope and then offer immediate payment.

Proceed with caution. Things get lost in the mail whether it’s the gold you’ve mailed them or the check coming back to you. Also, if you don’t agree with the price that they offer you, you have to wait for them to mail your items back. More opportunity for mistakes to happen and things to get lost or mixed up. Jewelry has much more sentimental value than monetary value so shipping your items off somewhere is a big risk and I have a facebook reader who was ‘taken’ by a mail-in gold place. I asked her the name of the place and she told me but since I didn’t deal with the directly, I’ll just tell you that their business name starts with a MONTH of the year (also my birthday month:). But she also mentioned that their ads had been taken down

Value

Jewelry can have up to a 5,000% markup so as soon as you walk out of the store with it, it may not be worth what you paid. JUST LIKE A CAR!

Payment

Andrea said that many places now offer a VISA card in lieu of cash or check so make sure to verify that you before you complete a transaction. If you need the cash, don’t go somewhere that pays in a card.

Will they taken broken jewelry?

Yes, most places accept broken chains, bent rings, missing earrings. And I’m sure they’d love to take that ex’s jewelry off your hands too.

What type of items can I sell?

Gold or silver coins, gold or silver in any condition, flatware, silver platters, platinum, dental gold, gold watches, gold or silver class rings… (source)

What about jewelry with diamonds or other jewels in it?

Yes, but note that the gold can be worth much more than the stone. Andrea says…

G&S Buyers can buy diamonds that are a 1/2 carrot or more, but they are shipped off to our appraiser in Texas.  It usually takes about a week for the appraisal to come in.   They have 2 options they can ship the ring all together and have the diamond looked at before they say yes or no.  Or they can have the store remove the diamond and buy just the gold and than ship the diamond off.  It’s completely up to them.

As far as all the other stones if they are big enough to take out we can remove them as long as they have prongs and are not flush with the ring.

She also notes that taking out stones can be a deduction because the gold is worth so much more than the stone.

Here are some fun facts from Andrea:

•  Old Flatware sets, if they are sterling, can bring anywhere from $450-$1000.  They can look for any markings on them that say sterling or 925 (that’s the number for silver… like 10K, 14K, 18K for gold).
• They used to make a lot glasses made of silver that they would normally drink wine out of those usual bring about $50-$75 per glass.
• US Coins that were minted before 1964 are 90% silver, coins minted between 1965-1970 are 40% silver,  they can add up fast!

I have kept coins since I was a waitress when I was 18 (for 18 years) and I never cashed in on my change tips. And I have instilled in the boys the importance of saving change. Each of them independently has a coin jar of their own.

But we will be going through some of these to see if we have any coins that fit this bill for sure!

To find more about how and why we save coins go read my piggy bank savings post here and here.

I am definitely thankful to have these super helpful tips from Andrea! It really makes me excited to test out this process and I will be doing so within the next few weeks once my schedule settles down. I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Do you have any further questions or concerns that I can get answered for you?