So, everyone wants to buy your old and unwanted jewellery? At least that is what the hundreds if not thousands of gold dealers are saying on TV, on the internet and virtually everywhere you turn. If you need cash, selling gold jewellery is the best way to make quick cash, but with the number of options available for you to sell how do you go about ensuring that you are getting the best deal?
Here are a few things that you should know before you jump at the first offer of cash for that old jewellery you aren’t using.
- Be Aware of Gold Price Fluctuations
The price of gold is never constant. The gold market is affected by supply and demand. So when the demand does not match the supply, the price goes up. Remember, gold is a finite resource. There is only so much of it in the world. Already, the mining of gold has been dwindling as miners have to dig extract gold from the deepest levels. It is harder and more expensive and for that reason, a lot of mining companies have been closing down. Besides the economics of supply and demand, gold is affected by geopolitical and economic conditions. When the economy is really bad, the price of gold tends to go up. For instance, it went up to $1,917 in 2011 due to the recession. It is also affected by the American dollar. When the US dollar calls the gold price goes up. This is good to know when you have gold to sell.
- Get as many quotes as you can
The price of gold can change several times a day. The price is set by the London Bullion Market association (LBMA). This price is distributed across the globe by the IBA (ICE Benchmark Institution). You will have to keep checking the price of gold to know the value of what you have at any given point in time. When you have the price you will be able to tell if the gold buyers you have gotten quotes from is being fair.
- Know your gold
Gold buyers Brisbane buy jewellery, coins, bars, ingots dental gold, gold ornaments and virtually anything that is made of gold. Before you approach a buyer know the type of gold you have and its quality. Jewellery for instance comes in different karats from 10 karats, 14k, 18k, 22k and 24k. The higher the karat the more gold a piece of jewellery has. This means less metal alloys like coper and silver. The simplest test you can perform to determine whether what you have to sell is gold is to take a magnet to the object. Real gold is not magnetic, so it won’t be attracted by a magnet. Keep in mind that gold buyers are in the business of collecting gold, so the higher the karats the more gold an object will have and subsequently, the higher the price will be.
The best thing to do with family heirlooms and antique jewellery, is to get an independent appraisal. It might not be in your best interest to sell that kind of jewellery to a gold buyer who buys mostly scrap gold. A buyer like that will not be interested in the history or the sentimental value your antique gold may have and it would be better to sell such gold on auction sites where you can let people outbid whatever price you’ve listed.
- Know how to work out the price in Karat Weight
It would be in your best interest to learn about the conversion rates that gold buyers use. For instance, the weight of gold is actually expressed in troy ounces. One troy ounce is 31.1 grams.
When you sell gold, the buyer will weigh it and then multiply the weight by purity (for example, the weight of an 18k (75%) gold pieces might be 8 grams. This means you multiple 8 grams by 75%. You will get 6 which means your gold item has 6 grams of pure gold. Convert the grams into troy ounces you will have to divide 6grams by 31.1 which equal 0.1929 troy ounces. Therefore if the price of gold is $1,415/troy ounce, you gold item’s melt value will be worth $272, of course gold buyers have to buy under this price to make a profit.
- Don’t be impulsive, take your time
You might be selling your gold because you need cash urgently. There are lots of gold buyers Brisbane who will be eager to get that gold off your hands, so don’t go with the first offer because there could be more better offers from other buyers.