Fair price paid for selling my gold scrap?

[ElleElle]

Hello!
I'm going to a jewelry store tomorrow who is known for paying fairly for scrap metal. What's a ballpark amount I should be accepting from my scrap 14 and 18k jewelry (some with small diamonds and other precious gems).
Thanks!

 

[Gypsy]

You need to separate the different alloys. 14 in one pile 18 in another. Then you need to weigh each (you can use a food scale) then you need can use this page: http://www.ppmaa.com/how-much-we-pay/ To figure out what price you should expect as the "FLOOR". You KNOW you can get that price at Pearlmans. So anywhere that offers you less you should walk away from.


I can tell you honestly that it is SUPER easy to get ripped off. And most places that are 'known for paying fairly' in fact do not. Whenever I've sold scrap the prices I was able to get at PS vendors turned ALL local B&M sources green. They told me outright that they couldn't even get close let alone match the prices I was able to get.

 

[distracts]

You will get paid up to a certain percentage of spot value for the weight of actual gold in your items (to calculate the actual weight of gold you need the karatage plus the weight of the piece). The places near me that pay the highest percentage are the actual refineries, which can pay up to 98%. You can EASILY just google "gold refinery YourCity" and pull up a list. Some near me you can drive and drop stuff off at, some you can mail in, some don't accept from the public but some do, some have minimum amounts and some don't, some pay out different percentages based on the amount you're bringing in. If you've got a lot of stuff it's worth the effort to call and ask since in my experience the amount you get is just SO much higher, especially for silver. (Also, be prepared for the websites to look like they were made in 1996 by someone who just discovered that they can make the font different colors.)

I would not accept anything less than 90% for gold and 85% for silver, but I really prefer 95% for gold and 90% for silver.

 

[Gypsy]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

 

[distracts]

Oh and some of the refineries will purchase your stones too. I know nothing about that because everything I've sold is scrap from my metalsmithing. Be sure to check whether they purchase them, return them to you, or what.

 

[OoohShiny]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

 

[Gypsy]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US and in CA, The Golden State. Lorelei is in the UK though.

 

[dk168]

I am in the UK, and when I was selling my scrap gold, I checked the prices out on the web first, then took them to a local friendly pawn shop that I have used in the past, and sold them for about the same prices.

Perhaps I could have shopped around for a better deal, however, the way I look at it is that, they are scrap, so anything is better than nothing.

DK

 

[denverappraiser]

Here’s the math:

Take the price listed at www.kitco.com at the moment. That’s known as the ‘spot’ price. It’s the price the refineries (like kitco) are selling bullion for. That’s the bricks you see stacked up in Fort Knox and the like. This price is listed in Troy Ounces. That’s a weird unit used only by precious metal people and it’s ever so slightly bigger than a traditional ounce. We'll fix this in a minute.

First you need to understand what Karat means. 24k is pure gold and everything else is a direct ratio below that. 14k is 14/24 gold with the balance other metals. 18k is 18/24, 10k is 10/24 and so on. It’s common for the manufactures to cheat a little bit and there’s a little bit of solder and such so normally the ‘real’ assay is a little below that. 14k typically is about 56% gold.

Take the spot price and divide it by 31.1. That converts you to grams, which is a much more intuitive unit than Troy. Multiply that by 0.56 (for 14k) and you’ve got your full spot price. That gets modified by a multiplier for the dealer’s profit. Around here it’s typically about 70-80% depending on your quantity. The more you have the tighter margin they’re willing to work with. 50% is decently common if you’re not watching so it definitely does help to pay attention.

At the same time, it may not matter as much as you think, especially if you don’t have all that much material. Today spot is $1335. 1335 / 31.1 * .56 = 24.04. 6 grams is a fairly typical weight for a ring so the difference between 70% and 80% is a touch over $14. It’s worth asking for but it’s easy to burn up more than that in gasoline driving around getting bids on things. Margins vary quite a bit from place to place. Some of that is just the dealer looking to be paid and some is coming from the government. Some locations require a ton of paperwork, licenses, holding periods and similar costs imposed on the dealer and they may not want to do that for $14. I haven't a clue if the UK is a difficult place to be in this sort of business but, overall, the business environment there is pretty bad so I wouldn't be surprised. One of the dealers may be willing to tell you if you ask.

 

[ElleElle]

Thanks all!!! Very helpful advice!

 

[OoohShiny]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US and in CA, The Golden State. Lorelei is in the UK though.

Apologies, I was very tired and was forgetting you are stateside!

 

[ElleElle]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US and in CA, The Golden State. Lorelei is in the UK though.

Hi Gypsy,
Any refineries or jewelry stores you recommend in SD/OC/LA that I should go to?
Thanks!

 

[Gypsy]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US and in CA, The Golden State. Lorelei is in the UK though.

Hi Gypsy,
Any refineries or jewelry stores you recommend in SD/OC/LA that I should go to?
Thanks!

No, I'm sorry. I'm in Nor Cal. BUT I bet if you posted on Hangout asking for refineries or good places in So Cal you would get a lot of replies. Many So. Cal PSers on here.

 

[Gypsy]

I agree. The best I've done is 95% of my value. And I don't accept less than 90%. I get my way usually. Just takes some shopping around. But it is worth it.

Wow, even in the UK??

I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US and in CA, The Golden State. Lorelei is in the UK though.

Apologies, I was very tired and was forgetting you are stateside!

No worries.