You are looking to sell gold jewelry? We explain how you can sell successfully!

Alan, I plan to sell some gold jewelry. I own some scrap gold, a Tiffany ring with certification, a 10K gold chain with a cross pendant, and an Chanel brooch. I’m not sure if the Cahnel brooch is really authentic, because it belongs to my mom’s jewelry and she has also no idea. Even no inkling where the brooche comes from. My taste changed and I don’t like to wear gold jewelry anymore. Furthermore we could need some money but it’s not urgent. How to sell gold jewelry, Alan? And how to sell it for a nice price.
Mia from Thornton in Colorado

Dear Mia, a change of taste is one of the main reasons why Americans sell their gold jewelry. Well, a need of money, divorces and inheritances are possible reasons too, but the change of taste is one of the arguments that we hear most often. And Mia, I guess your gold reflects a nice amount. I’m very happy to work with your gold, today. I will refer to how to sell gold jewelry and how to achieve a good selling price.
reDollar appraiser, Alan Jensen

Mia wants to know, how to sell gold jewelry.

Mia: As I told you, I have some gold here. We are not in a selling hurry but we finally decide to sell our jewelry. We also did some research work and we visited some gold buyers next to the Highway. We didn’t offer all our items but the supposed Chanel brooch and our old scrap gold bangles. One gold buyer offered $100 for the brooch and $300 for the bangles, another place offered $150 for the brooch and $420 for the bangles. We asked both buyers how they calculate the prices but there was no comprehensible explanation to us. Now we are worried. We don’t want to sell our gold for little money. We expect to get paid a high price. But what can we do now? Alan, how to sell gold jewelry without getting ripped-off?

Alan: We know that consumers often get confused when they try to sell their gold jewelry, especially if they consult different gold buying places with very different purchase offers. They wonder why the offered amounts differ so strongly. At the end, they better keep it because they don’t know what to do. Mia, I can show you a way to find out how much your jewelry is worth and furthermore I can tell you how to sell gold jewelry. Let’s start with your scrap gold. You have 3 matching gold bangles. I asked you to look for gold markings (so-called hallmarks) to find out the purity.

Mia: Yes, I did what you asked me. We found the markings and we also weighed the bangles. All gold bangles are marked as “14K ITALY.” We used our dad’s letter scale to determine the weight. It’s a digital scale as you recommended, showing 24.4 grams.

Alan: You need some basic knowledge to understand the value of gold. The marking “14K” shows you the quality of your gold bangles. The letter “K” stands for karat. 14K means that 14 parts out of 24 parts are made of pure gold. Spoken in percent, 14K means that your items are made of 58.5% pure gold. Summarized, you need the weight and the purity to know how much your gold is worth. The commodity value today is about $414.80 but you can’t expect getting paid the full value. A reliable gold buyer will offer you between 85% and 90% of the material value. So you can expect getting paid between $352 and $372 for your scrap gold. But how to sell scrap gold jewelry for that price? There is just one effective way: compare the gold buyers and maybe ask for $370 right away. But this works only if you know how much money you can expect. Information is power and you have a problem if you don’t know more about the value.

Mia: Your calculated price looks good to me. But I guess that it will be hard to find a buyer who is willing to pay that amount.

Alan: Yes, it could become a challenge. But Mia, our company for example, would offer you $363 for this gold. If you don’t find a local buyer, sell with us. You know, it’s hassle-free and convenient too. But let me talk about the value of your Tiffany ring. I like your ring, it’s a very nice piece of jewelry. The provided diamond certification is very helpful for me. I see that your diamond weighs 0.75 carat. The cut is excellent, the symmetry is very good and the polish is very good too. The clarity grade is determined as VS1 what means that your stone is of nice quality. You shouldn’t be able to spot inclusions without using a magnifier. The color grade shows F what means that your stone is nearly colorless. The GIA color grading scale says that stones determined as D, E or F can be declared as colorless. But I guess, there is one misunderstanding. You don’t own a white gold ring. Your ring is made of 950 platinum. Platinum is also a very fine precious metal and depending on the market situation, from time to time more valuable than gold. If you buy such a ring brand new in a Tiffany store, you have to pay about $8,000 or maybe $9,000. Even if you would buy such a ring theoretical brand new and if you would sell it on the same day, the loss of value is huge. I guess your ring can sell for about $2,300 or maybe $2,500.

Mia: Well, I was in hope to achieve a higher price but I really trust your words. I set my price target in a range of $2,700. Maybe I’m lucky and if not, I will sell it with your company. How much would your company pay?

Alan: I have to see the ring in person to make a final statement. But I believe in a purchase price of circa $2,400. But let’s talk about your 10K gold necklace. You provided a bill of sales to me saying this necklace is worth $600. I can’t see that value. I only see the gold value because it’s not a special item. I like the necklace but I think there is no demand from collectors. We buy countless necklaces like that, and we stopped trying to sell them as jewelry. Such necklaces have to undergo a melting process. The weight is declared with 17.04 grams what makes a current value of about $255.

Mia: Ok. I have to think about it but to be realistic, the necklace is really old-fashioned. Also for me it’s hard to believe that anybody is interesting in wearing that piece.

Alan: Mia, I like your brooch. I did some research work and I guess that it’s an authentic Chanel brooch. But that’s not a binding statement. And Mia, this brooch is not made of gold. There is zero value, if it turns out that this piece is not an authentic Chanel piece. If it’s Chanel, what I guess, it can sell for maybe $300. We would buy your brooch for $200. I guess that the guys you offered the brooch realized that it’s an authentic piece of Chanel because they also found out that it’s not gold. Why should they offer you money for a fake brooch, when it’s not made of gold? That makes no sense. I think they also thought that it’s Chanel.

Mia: This are great news for me. Let me think about everything for some days. For the moment, I’m sure that I’ll sell my scrap gold and my 10K gold necklace with you, but I would like to think about the diamond ring and the brooch. Maybe I’ll keep the Chanel brooch for my memories – even when I don’t wear it.