You already learned a lot about the importance of owing a digital scale when you are somehow dealing with gold, silver, jewelry or coins. It is extremely important to know the weight for both buying and selling. If you are about to buy jewelry, you want to know the weight of your items to get an idea if it is a lightweight piece or heavy what may impact your decision to buy. But that’s not everything. Most important is knowing the weight to get an idea if the gold value is in an acceptable ratio to the asking price.

If you plan to sell gold, knowing the weight is important as most buyers are able to determine if you are offering a bad, fair or great deal. Using your digital scale is a very important part to properly describe the items you plan to sell. If you don’t yet own a scale, simply buy a gold scale from us. Get ready to sell your gold. That’s your options.

Sell Gold To Online Gold Buyer

Selling gold to an online gold buyer can be either an extremely fruitful or an extremely bad experience and there is almost nothing in between. If you follow some simple steps, striking a really great deal is possible. First, you have to understand how online gold buyers work. There are MANY that just want to take advantage of you and your gold and a just a few that really offer great deals. Most important is the purchase price transparency. It’s a good indicator if an online gold buyer is publishing their current buy back prices on the website. Make sure that those quotes are final and no fees or deductions apply. Gold is a commodity and every buyer should be able to tell you how much they are paying per gram, per ounce or per pennyweight.

Everyone who is refusing to provide you a binding quote is a scammer. Period. There is nothing to argue about that. Excuses are just made to politely explain why they don’t want to tell you. It’s so easy. A very common excuse is “We need to see the item” before we can tell you how much we pay. That may apply to about 5% of the gold every day traded but not to the other 95% of the items trading hands. Yes, fine jewelry has to be inspected physically but only fine jewelry and not the every-day gold items that most people plan to sell. Be VERY careful if a buyer is refusing to tell you details about their purchase price philosophy. You better walk away from a place like that.

Sell Gold Using Online Gold Calculator

Using an online gold calculator (Source: redollar) for doing a first research on how much your gold is worth is smart - very smart. The gold calculator is able to calculate the current value of your items in grams, pennyweight, and even ounces. It doesn’t need a lot to operate the calculator. You need a digital scale for gold, probably a magnifying glass, and some common sense. Spot the gold stamp (10k or 416, 14K or 585, 18K or 750) to know what to select in the gold calculator’s drop down menu. Select the weighing unit and enter the weight. That’s it, you know how much your gold is worth. It’s highly recommended to use a gold calculator before comparing buyers. Only if you know the real value of your items, you are able to negotiate. Would you sell US dollars for Euros or Pound Sterling without knowing the actual exchange rate? No, of course not. Keep that in mind if you plan to sell gold. Do NOT sell gold without using a gold calculator or knowing the actual cash value of your items.

Sell Gold Through Online Auctions

Basically there is only one really important online auction platform: eBay. On eBay you are able to sell gold merchandise like coins, jewelry, watches on other things. eBay can be a good option to sell gold if you know about some obstacles. Knowing that being a long-time member on eBay for selling very valuable items is very important. Buyers will look at your profile to find out how long you are selling on eBay and if the items sold have been reviewed positively. If you never sold gold on eBay before, you may end up with getting paid less than you were hoping.

Shipping on eBay

If you sold gold on eBay, shipping is the next step – and probably the most stressful step. Please understand that it is YOU the seller that is 100% liable for any loss or damages occurred during the shipping process. You have to ensure that your package is 100% insured against a potential loss. You have to pay for that insurance – even if the buyer is not asking for special insurance. If the gold won’t make it to the buyer, you will have to send a full refund. In that worst case scenario, you would be out of the money and the merchandise. Pack the gold you sold, extremely well using a solid shipping box and make sure that the carrier you are using is insuring gold merchandise.

Fraud on eBay

Yes, you may be encountered with fraud if selling gold on eBay. The good news is, it’s happening very rarely. The bad news is, that gold and other luxury items are facing a higher risk of being targeted by con artists. According to an eBay power seller who is mainly selling precious metals, watches and other expensive goods, the risk of fraud is overseeable and eBay is doing a good job in protecting sellers as well. For instance, you may be fully covered if a stolen credit card was used to pay for the gold you sold. If you can proof that your gold was delivered to the fraudulent buyer, eBay will cover your loss. No questions asked.

Returns on eBay

eBay is a very buyer-friendly marketplace. Even if you disallow returns in your selling terms, eBay will force you to take the return if the buyer wants to return the item bought from you. Period. You can appeal but it will not help you. Thus, keep in mind that if you sell gold on eBay, there is a 30 day risk that you will be forced to take the gold back.

Fees on eBay

You will face roughly a 15% fee to sell your gold on eBay. That’s not too bad. Compared with a reliable online gold buyer who is giving 90% of your gold’s value, it’s still not great (if you add shipping, handling, and risk for loss or damage this is more like 20%). You have to weigh the pros and cons on that.

Sell Gold At Live Auctions

If you plan to sell gold trough a live auction, you need to have some very special items. Sotheby’s and Christie’s are great auction houses hosting uncountable live auction events every year. The deal breaker for that may be the minimum selling volume. Those auction places have a 5,000 dollar minimum consignment policy in place – for every single item. Most people that plan to sell gold simply get declined by the auction house. Another drawback is the waiting time. Usually, the process from start to finish takes a good six months. But don’t get discouraged: if you own very valuable jewelry, watches or artwork, selling trough a live auction event is a great, great way to achieve a very high selling prices.

Sell Gold To Refinery

If you plan to sell scrap gold, a gold refinery may be a good way. But before you get too excited: most gold refineries are closed to the public as they only deal with registered business customers. This is due to money laundering laws. Most gold refineries simply don’t want to deal with the hassle of dealing with the public. Depending on where they are located, holding periods may apply. Furthermore, most cities require reporting every transaction with the sheriff. Some gold refineries accept walk-in clients but they won’t pay the same gold rate as they would pay to a wholesale customer. In most cases, a gold refinery is not the place where you would sell gold.

Sell Gold To Local Pawn Shop

I like to call local pawn shops emergency rooms. Why? Simply because they are here for emergencies – ONLY for emergencies. I have not heard from a pawn shop paying top dollars for gold. I would sell gold to a pawn shop if I would have no other option and if I would need the money right away. It’s very well know that you may loose between 25% and 50% of your gold’s real value but if you have no choice, you may do it anyway. It’s always recommend not to sell in a hurry, that’s when you are loosing most money. Try to think ahead and know your upcoming payments to avoid getting in such a painful situation.