Sell your gold - guide discussion

MSE_Jenny · 12 March 2013 at 1:08PM

Hi

This is the discussion thread for the

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

megamezzosoprano · 13 March 2013 at 10:59AM

Martin's guide is, as always, excellent and detailed, but misses, IMHO, a few key points:

1. The price of scrap gold varies from day to day, like share prices. What's more, it's on a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment, so do check the trade scrap gold price before setting out to sell. Presman Mastermelt's website http://www.mastermelts.co.uk/pages/scrap.asp does NOT deal with the public, but shows their much-respected scrap price.

2. Don't dismiss antique dealers as an option, particulary if you have old gold. You may actually have an item that can be repaired or sold as is, and is therefore worth more than scrap price. Just ask if they are interested in buying jewellery, and see what they say - don't mention scrapping gold until they do! Having worked in the family antique business, we always prefer to buy items to sell on if we can, rather than scrap.

3. Remember, everyone in business needs to cover their costs of dealing with the process of scrapping gold. Antique dealers, jewellers, pawn brokers, all have rent to pay on their shops, so they will need to pay less per gram than they will receive to scrap it. Equally, they take the risk that the price of gold may fall from the time they pay you on Saturday morning to the time the gold is scrapped up to a week later. How much they choose to pay, of course, sorts the sheep from the goats!

4. Without wishing to preach, remember you can only sell your gold ONCE. It is a one-time fix for cash, not a solution you can rely on every month.

Hope this is helpful!

monk49 · 13 March 2013 at 1:04PM

I used Gerrardsonline a couple of years ago. I live in North Surrey so as I had a lot of Gold, £2000 worth, I decided to visit their premises in Hatton Garden, London by taking the train from Woking. I had a batch of gold from my girlfriend and another batch from my mother. It was interesting to see how they tested the unmarked gold to find out carats. I was offered cash or cheque. I took two cheques (1 for girlfriend and 1 for mother) so i did not risk loss or being mugged on the way home. Cheques cleared no problem. They publish their gold rates online daily and these were the rates I was paid.
I was very pleased. I got the best rate i could find anywhere and it was all very easy except I had a problem finding their office.
I perhaps spent 10 minutes walking up and down the street to find them but maybe I should have looked more carefully the first time I walked past the correct entrance.

jeweller · 13 March 2013 at 1:41PM

Just a point I wanted to raise. Large amounts of jewellery etc. that are going to the melt are not scrap, and if properly identified can be worth vastly more than their scrap value even if damaged. Most large buyers of precious metals are only concerned with the bullion value, and do not have the time or the inclination to research what they take in. Take the time to do a little research yourself, and if you know little or nothing about hallmarks, there's plenty of help out there and there's no charge, websites, such as 925-1000.com are a great source of information and also have a forum where experts give free advice and information and are happy to share their knowledge, however, they will NOT give valuations or selling advice, but may well identify your items for you, and armed with that information you will be in a far better position to achieve a fair price for your precious items. It also means that the more special pieces end up in the hands of those who will appreciate them, and not just be melted down for just a few pounds worth of gold or silver.
Think of it this way, if you had a classic car that you wanted to sell, would your first stop be to weigh it in at the scrapyard?

CJPen · 13 March 2013 at 1:47PM

It says on the post that you can get a valuation. There are different values to items depending on what you are wanting the valuation for. If you walk into a jewellers and ask how much they will pay for your gold item they will be offering you the scrap gold price and may or may not offer extra for the stones - before items can be scrapped the stones have to be removed and this is time consuming if the stones are being removed to keep so usually small stones are just hammered out of the settings and thrown away - hence why you are not given a price for the stones. If you want to know "what it is worth" most people mean that they want to know the replacement price and that involves a Valuation for Insurance which is a totally different price and it is worked out in a very different manner. Yes, the item will be weighed but also very detailed weights and measurements are taken for the gold parts and each individual stone. The quality of the stones are assessed, often using multiple gemmological instruments that gemmologists have been trained to use to assess a) what gemstone it is and b) whether it is of natural or man-made origin. Items are also photographed and presented as a complete document along with a replacement price which, depending on the type of item and its age, may be a new replacement price, second hand replacement price, antique replacement price. There are also Valuations for Probate which are needed following the death of the owner and this is a price that is what the owner could have expected the piece to sell for on the date of death - again presented in a printed format with appropriate details. I would suggest that a local jeweller who is a member of a registered trade body would be a good place to start. The best part of selling jewellery to a local jeweller is that you do not have to take risks with posting items and them going missing in the post and that the prices offered are fair and usually instantly paid - unless the items are unhallmarked and require testing in which case the jeweller may give you a receipt and ask you to call back when the items have been assessed for their carat quality. I hope this helps :-)

timeou · 13 March 2013 at 2:17PM

Jeweller^^^^

Do you know what CHAP 24k stamped on a bracelet means? Is it real? there are no other hallmarks present.
Thanks

jeweller · 13 March 2013 at 3:22PM

Very likely plated I would think. Pure gold is used for plating purposes. A bracelet made of 24ct gold would be very soft and not wear well.

But try 925-1000.com to be on the safe side.

timeou · 13 March 2013 at 3:50PM

Thanks for your help x

vigman · 13 March 2013 at 5:19PM

I'm glad someone mentioned antique dealers, which I used to be. I still buy scrap gold and will always match or pay more than the best internet quoted price.

I will pay a premium (extra!) for items that can be sold in their own right which scrap companies won't.

One lady asked if I would pay the £80 she had been offered at a high street gold buying store and I said "No......I'll pay you £240!!!" I can't believe they get away with it.

The only 24 ct gold I have had was a wrapped square of Crown Gold...incredibly soft.

No items will be made of 24 ct as it is so soft, so anything marked especially with 24"K" will be flashed in a micro layer of 24 ct gold!

I also can't believe people stuff envelopes marked BUY MY GOLD or similar on....do these ever get to their destination?

Vigman

ratboy125 · 14 March 2013 at 11:08AM

I got to know a local cash for gold guy a couple of years ago and he gave me a few pointers.
His target was to pay about 50% of the gold value with an absolute maximum of 70% for certain pieces.
9ct gold usually pays a higher percentage due to the lower value, however with 18ct gold and above it can be worth taking a trip to Hatton Garden in London where it is possible to get up to 98% of the gold spot price, although 95% is more common. (There is a gold centre in Birmingham, but i don't know where it is).
The spot price is the price that gold is currently being traded for on the London Market.
There is also an AM fix and a PM fix, which usually fairly close to the current spot price.
The website i use for the current pricing is called The Bullion Desk.
To work out a rough price for your gold, you need to know how much gold is actually in your piece.
Read the hallmark. 9ct gold is marked 375. This means a gold content of 37.5%. Whereas 22ct gold is marked 917, which is 91.7% gold content.
Weigh your piece using digital scales and note the weight to the nearest 0.1 gram.
Say your piece weighs 10 grams and is 22ct gold (marked 917).
10 grams x 91.7% = 9.17 grams gold.
If your 10 gram piece is 9ct gold (marked 375) this equates to 3.75 grams gold.
Gold is traded in US Dollars and is currently around $1550.00 per Troy Ounce (about £1060.00 per troy ounce in sterling) for 24ct (999) gold.
A troy ounce is 31.104 grams. Which is different to a metric ounce.
Take the current sterling price and divide by 31.104 to give you the price per gram.
Therefore the current price of 24ct gold is about £34.07 per gram.
£34.07 x the percentage of gold in your peice - say 91.7% (22ct) equals about £31.24 per gram. x the weight -say 10 grams, equals £312.40 for the peice.
If you can get 95% of the gold fix price or gold spot price then this will realise about £296.00 for your 10 gram piece of 22ct gold.
If going to Hatton Garden, do not accept less than 90% of spot / fix price. If needs be, go to the shop next door. There are loads of them.
You will generally be paid in cash, but you can ask for a cheque.
With regard to gold Sovereigns issued by the Royal Mint, it is worth ringing around a few gold and coin dealers and asking what their Sovereign price is. I believe the current price is about £225 to £250 pounds per sovereign. ( a Sovereign weighs 7.98 grams and is 22ct gold).
Some Sovereigns are rarer than others and may be worth considerably more, so a call to a coin dealer would be in order, or check on ebay. Sovereigns from the last couple of decades have been heavily minted so will not be particularly rare. With earlier, pre-1976 coins, it is worth checking with a dealer.
Hope all the above makes some sense and that you find it helpful.

goldealers · 14 March 2013 at 12:02PM

1. We were not recommended!!!
2. Many top paying gold buyers were not included
3. Key Price Factor not considered.
4. Trade-only refiner recommended???
5. No mention of the Gold Standard
6. Not a single member of the Gold Standard Was Recommended
7. Include a gold buyer because of free postage??? really???

1 & 2. We and other top paying gold buyers who are highly regarded in the industry and pay as much as your top buyers were not mentioned, recommended or even given the opportunity to appear in this article.

3. Your list of top paying gold buyers all quote a "Price on Day of Receipt", yet we, and other top gold buyers quote a price and fix it for a few days to give customers time for us to receive the items. Even if price drops, web price on day of postage is offered.

4. You may not have any reviews or recommendations for one of your top gold buyers, but could this be because this is a "Trade Only Refiner" and does not deal with the general public?

5. Have you heard of the Gold Standard? It is a joint initiative by

British Jewellers’ Associaiton
National Association of Goldsmiths
National Pawnbrokers Association
Surrey Police

and has accreditation from

Association of Chief Police Officers
Trading Standards Institute
National Measurement Office

For those of you who don't know, The Gold Standard:

Sets a common standard for the trade to adopt when currently no guidelines exist.
It will reduce the risk of inadvertently purchasing stolen jewellery (protecting victims of crime)
It will provide the police with evidence of where stolen items of jewellery might be traded.
It will improve the provenance of gold going back into the UK supply chain. (where 90% of gold used in the UK jewellery industry is recycled)

6. Not a single gold buyer which you recommend is a member of the Gold Standard scheme. We would only ever recommend selling your gold to a Gold Standard Registered Retailer.

Gold Standard Registered Retailers can be found on the British Jewellers Association Website: bja.org.uk/en/the-gold-standard/index.cfm

Postal Gold Regulations for the Gold Standard can be found here:
bja.org.uk/en/the-gold-standard/postal-gold-regulations.cfm

7. You have included a gold buyer as a top gold buyer because they offer free postage... Really?????? Are you saying that it is ok to receive only 80% of the value of their gold because you get £6 worth of free postage as benefit? As long as you have more than 3 grams of gold to sell, this company is no longer a financially sensible option.

Sell your gold - guide discussion

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free