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An independent news report gives advice about selling gold

A message from the owner

Hi Don.

It was a pleasure meeting and doing business with you.  In an industry that has its share of disreputable dealers it was a great relief dealing with someone honest and professional.  This was my first time selling gold and even though I had done quite a bit of research I still felt vulnerable.  You took the time to explain and demystify the whole process and within moments I realized I had chosen the right person to deal with.

Best regards, Frank K.

I recently received this customer review / testimonial and I was struck by how often I hear these sentiments. Thank you Frank for  your trust and helping me realize that we should take some time to help explain the process. Most customers, gold sellers, are going through the process for the first time. Making a decision as to who to deal with can be quite daunting. I hope that this blog entry will help people feel more comfortable.

The two characteristics that will influence the value of your gold, for most transactions, are Weight and Gold Content ( Karat ). During the consultation process the buyer is assessing the Karat content and the weight of the items. As the seller, it is in your best interest to know the weight and Karat going in. If you do then it is quite easy to estimate the value of your gold and, more importantly, it will be a lot more difficult for someone to lead you astray in the consultation process. Please refer to my blog entry ” How to value your Gold” to help you.

Assessing the gold content ( Karat )

The first step is looking for the hallmark. A hallmark is the jewelers stamp identifying the gold content.

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International jewelery may use 583 to denote 14K. The conversion can be calculated by dividing 14K by 24K to end up with .583, or 583 parts per thousand. If your item does not have a hallmark, don’t worry, the buyer will be able to test to confirm the gold content. The testing we use is very simple to understand and very repeatable. I encourage my customers to participate and question everything. After jointly testing a few items my customers are as adept at assessing gold as I am. The news video on my site shows how simple and easy the testing process is. The test consists of rubbing a small sample of gold on the stone and then applying the appropriate acid.

This photo shows two items tested. The one on the left is a gold filled item, which has a very low gold content, and the one on the right is a 14K ring. The 14 K acid used ate away the gold filled sample but did not degrade the ring sample. It is just that easy. When people use the phrase, ” does it pass the acid test” , this is what they are referring to.

Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about “Mail In” gold buyers so I thought I would do a comparison for my customers. I have been seeing a lot of ads for dollars4gold and their GG guarantee caught my attention. I figure if my customers could get twice as much from them as they can get from me, well more power to them. Be aware, I suspect that there may be some fine print somewhere that negates the GG guarantee.

I was pleasantly surprised that my everyday upfront pricing beats their 3 oz. volume pricing by 16.6%. I could not find out what they pay for just a few items but I suspect I would beat that by even more. By the way, with an outfit this size, why is their pricing not more straight forward and current. It is not that hard to have up to the minute pricing like I have on my site. Why mail in your items for less when you can sell your items right here in Ottawa for more. Not only do we pay more, we also provide you a higher level of service.

In an earlier blog entry I suggested you check out any national mail-in outfit with the BBB but if you have access to the web it only takes a moment to google search ” any companies name + reviews”. For example I found the following reasonable review when I google searched “dollars4gold reviews”.

Click on this link for the review.penny for my thoughts review chattywomen.com

While I was doing this I came across these videos and I thought you might enjoy a smile.

The first video features Mr. Sullivan as a representative for a national mail-in gold buyer and the second video features him on his show “Pitchmen”.

On today’s front page of the business section, ” Cash In Gold” was featured. I have provided the link if you would like to read what the Citizen had to say.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Jewelry+owners+cash+gold+rush/2258539/story.html

It can be tricky trying to sell an item if the value cannot be readily established. Luckily, when it comes to selling gold, the value is easily calculated and should be your first step prior to selling your gold to anyone. For the typical client selling a handful of jewelery follow the steps below to help you get a better idea of the value of your gold. The following example is for a medium weight 18K necklace, three 14 K rings and assorted 10K ear rings and light necklaces. These items would fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

Step 1- Know the karat, gold content, of your items.

If you can read the hallmarks sort your items into 10k, 14k, and 18k. If you can’t read the hallmarks don’t worry just skip to the next step.

Step 2- Weigh your items.

It helps to have a scale but if you don’t,  you can come close to establishing the weight by doing a hand comparison with coins. A  loonie, quarter and penny weigh 7, 5, and 2 grams.. For example if your 10k pile feels like two loonies and a quarter that would suggest you have about 19g of 10K. If you have the time, place your items in a baggy and confirm the weight at your local post office.
If you could not see the hallmarks, try to sense the weight of all the items combined.

Step 3 – Calculate the dollar value

For example, if you determined you had 19g of 10k, 12g of 14k and 21 g of 18k,  at the Nov. 16 2009 prices, that would add up as follows:

10K     19g x $11.01 = $209.19

14K     12g x $15.41 = $184.92

18K     21g x $19.81 = $416.01

________

Total             $810.12

If you could not read the hallmarks you can still estimate the range by applying the total weight of 52g to the 10K rate and the 18k rate. This would give you a ballpark range of $572.52 to $1,030.12. Not great but much better than not knowing at all.

Knowledge is power, know the value of your gold.

If you have an assortment of gold items that seems too daunting to evaluate, ask for a consultation. I will be happy to help you know the value of your items.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me. If you have suggestions for other articles relating to gold recycling I would be happy to consider them.