Sell scrap gold ?
Selling your gold - Background
Here we have some more independent advice on where to sell your precious items, obtain best gold prices and hopefully you will choose best price for gold but who ever you go to this is valuable information to work with!
It is tempting to think that, because an item cost a great amount of hard work and was given with great love and treasured for many years, its value in money is great. This is not so. If you are selling an item because it is broken or showing signs of wear or out of fashion then it will be worth only scrap value. A pretty but lightweight chain may have cost for example £50.00 or £60.00 to buy new but comprise only £10.00 or £15.00 of gold. Out-of-fashion dress rings with small stones, even if they are diamonds, can be similarly priced. Silver is worth even less. A silver neck chain may have cost £10,00 but its resale value will be only a few pence. Coins or medallions are often listed in catalogues and brochures as collectable but if demand is limited only scrap value will be realised, there will be no 'historic or 'artistic' value, even after several years, you will have to settle for just a tiny fraction of its original price. But look on the bright side: cash for gold and silver have a high scrap value compared to most items.
Scrap Gold
Scrap value is not the same as 'official' gold value (actual gold value),: scrap value is lower. This is because smelters charge a percentage of the gold value for their service and scrap dealers sell to the smelters and hopefully make a profit (and your local jeweller probably sells to the scrap dealer and must make a profit). In the case of the nationally-advertised Buy Your Gold! companies, they are paying many millions of pounds on newspaper and television advertising, and must recover their money by offering very low rates so beware.
The advantage of taking gold directly to smelters is that the highest rates are paid. The disadvantage is that they will buy only in quantity. Smelters also levy a standard charge (between £50.00 and £100.00) for the melt and assay of non-hallmarked items which must be paid even if the metal proves to be worthless.
Most people do not have access to a smelter and so will go to the nearest jewellers shop advertising to buy gold and silver, or send their gold to any one of the nationally-advertised scrap gold buyer who will buy any quantity no matter how small. Rates tend to be higher when the price of gold is stable, when it fluctuates wildly jewellers operating on narrow margins must offer a lower percentage or risk losing money if the price falls.
Jewellers and Scrap Gold dealers in Person
Selling to jewellers (whether in a high street shop or market stall) can be good or bad. If they appear puzzled then search through piles of old newspapers before offering a price, then they may not be up-to-date. If they make a telephone call or look on the internet then the chances are that they are up to date. It is advisable, when shopping around for the best price, to compare rates on the same day. It is also possible (not very likely...but possible) that the jeweller will like the look of your item and offer more than scrap value because he can sell it as an item in the window.
Everybody will advertise best prices paid - this means that they will offer the price they think best. Anyone specialising in scrap will work on a percentage of the gold price (even if they won't tell you what that percentage is) so do your best to find out that percentage. But don't become obsessed - if your sale is a one-off, getting a 5% better price relative to the 'spot' (actual / official) price is irrelevant when that 'spot' price can be 15% higher or 15% lower next week or next month.
Also bear in mind that you have more negotiating power when dealing with large amounts of money. If the approximate gold value of your coins is £5000.00 it's worth hunting around for that extra 1% or so!
