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If you’ve done any driving around your town, you’ve probably seen the guys and gals — many dressed up as cartoon characters, holiday icons, or even gold bars — advertising cash for gold coins and gold jewelry.
…And if you haven’t seen these folks waving signs on the side of your local roads, then you’ve probably seen the ads on local billboards, TV, or in magazines and circulars.
Well, what about them?
Are the cash for gold offers a good deal for you, or are they a scam?
Can you really make any money selling your gold for cash?
Getting Cash For Gold
The ads all claim you have ‘unwanted’ gold coins and gold jewelry laying around your house.
These are the things they’re usually referring to:
- Gold coins
- Gold watches
- Gold chains and jewelry
- Gold rings
- Even dental gold(!)
Now, before you start getting rid of all your gold jewelry, gold coins, and pulling out your gold fillings to make a few extra bucks, here are a few things to consider…
Find Out What Your Gold Is Really Worth
Do you know how much all that gold of yours is worth?
Is it as much as the cash for gold people say? Perhaps more…
While a lot of people offering cash for gold will say they ‘pay more’ than others do, the question really is are they paying you what your gold is actually worth?
Get ready… the answer is often a big NO!
In fact, some cash for gold companies pay only a fraction of what your gold is worth. Others pay more than a mere fraction, but still less than the actual fair market bid values.
While every business needs to make a profit to survive, some cash for gold companies make a lot of their money by paying you far less than what your gold is worth and then turn around and sell the gold to refineries and other outfits at a higher price.
In the end, what many cash for gold companies end up being is a ‘middle man’ — only a small part of the process that turns your gold into scrap, and that scrap into melted gold product that is turned into new coins, jewelry, and other gold items.
Because gold prices change literally by the minute, it’s always best to check out a gold spot price website to see how much the deep yellow metal is worth when you’re ready to sell.
Check to see what gold prices are today!
However, it’s also important to remember that gold spot price is usually quoted for virtually pure bullion metal… in many cases, coins, jewelry, watches, and other common gold items aren’t made from pure gold.
How To Get The Best Price For Your Gold
OK, so the bottom line here is to get the right price for your gold. No one’s saying not to sell your gold to a cash for gold outfit. The really important part is simply refusing to sell to anybody who pays far too little.
And, don’t forget that, often, your coins, jewelry, and watches are worth more than simply intrinsic value (the value of the precious metal they’re made from). Often, your gold items are worth more because of collector value.
There are many rare gold coins, rare watches, rare pieces of jewelry, and other unusual gold items that deserve more than just their value in gold.
Unless you know for a fact that what you’re selling has value only for its gold content (and then, be sure you get the right price for it based on current gold values), you might be better served trying to sell your gold coins to a coin dealer, your gold jewelry to a jeweler, and your gold watches to an antique dealer rather than selling gold for cash online or at a cash for gold store.
Specialized dealers know plenty about their respective collector markets and will usually pay close to typical bid prices for those collectors items.
My love for coins began when I was 11 years old. I primarily collect and study U.S. coins produced during the 20th century. I'm a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) and have won multiple awards from the NLG for my work as a coin journalist. I'm also the editor at CDN Publishing (a trusted source for the price of U.S. rare coins), editor at the Florida United Numismatists Club (FUN Topics magazine), and author of Images of America: The United States Mint in Philadelphia (a book that explores the colorful history of the Philadelphia Mint). I've contributed hundreds of articles for various coin publications including COINage, The Numismatist, Numismatic News, Coin Dealer Newsletter, Coin Values, and CoinWeek. I've also authored nearly 1,000 articles here at The Fun Times Guide to Coins — and I welcome your coin questions in the comments below!
