Because gold is over $900 an ounce again many are considering once again to sell off their scrap gold for cash. They are drawn in by the commercials that everyone has seen by now on TV offering a big lump sum of cash for you gold. But in reality, it is not possible to get full value for your gold and many companies won’t even offer close to retail value. This is due to many reasons but one of the main reasons is that many people do not even know how much their gold is worth. In the following article I will explain how you can find out the value of you gold and how you can sell your scrap gold safely and easily.
In order to avoid all the con artists and scammers out there today there are a few things that you must understand. And the first of these is that you have to check out each and every company thoroughly before even thinking about dealing with them. This way you will have a much better chance at finding the right dealer or refiner that wont rob or rip you off.
How long have they been buying gold? It should be at least 10 years or more. It’s not that all new gold refiners are scammers but it is a lot safer to assume that a company that has been in business for ten years doesn’t make a habit out of ripping off their customers. If that were the case there would be plenty of complaints built up that you could find with a simple search of the company name in Google.
The next vital step is to find the companies website and check out their buying gold policies and how much they pay. Find out their address while your there and check to make sure that it actually exists. You want the company to own their own refinery and not just be a middleman gold dealer.
Check their website for a phone number. If they don’t have one listed try to find one elsewhere. If you can’t find one at all you should probably avoid them. Once you do get their number call them up and find their gold buying policies. See how they treat their customers and what their first offer might be.
One of the most important things you have to know is what your gold is actually worth. The price changes every day so you will have to find a financial site that lists the current spot price of gold like CNN money. The formula for figuring out how much different karat’s of gold is worth can be found all over the internet and there are even some calculator’s available.
One you have your company that you want to sell to and the price of your gold, you need to understand that you don’t have to take the refiner’s first offer. In fact many times you can get a better price by declining and contacting them. Just make sure that you do contact them though if you don’t like their offer because some will smelt down your items after a certain time period.
Ninety percent of the actual value is a good selling price for you if you can manage to find a refiner that offers a price as good as that. Really anything above eighty percent is a decent offer and you should take it if you don’t find any higher than that.
A good tip for avoiding con artists is making a point of avoiding gold refiners that don’t own their own refinery. Not only is it a good way to avoid scammers, but you can also get a lot more cash for you gold this way. The alternative is selling to gold dealers which in turn sell to gold refiners but they have to turn a profit so you make less on your sale.
Finally, make sure your gold is insured while in transit to the company and that they return it insured, if their quote is not accepted by you. If you do not buy insurance you can lose everything either by accident or by purposeful fraud. It’s worth it to spend the extra couple bucks to make sure that everything goes as planned rather than be out hundreds if your gold scrap goes missing.
If you follow these pointers in the selling of your scrap gold jewelry by dealing with reputable dealers and refiners, researching different companies, and accepting only the best offers, you should be well on your way to getting a nice lump sum of cash for your gold. It should also save you headaches in the future as well as lead you to making wise decisions.
Jack writes articles on a website where he teaches people how to sell gold for cash and how to avoid cash for gold scams. If you want to learn more about popular gold buyers visit the site.
Tags: finance, Gold, money, personal finance, precious metals