With a booming gold buying market, it is common to hear someone say that they were disappointed with their personal gold selling experience. There are several factors that contribute to this commonality. The biggest cause of this disappointment is that many gold sellers are confused about the way the gold buying business works. Most gold buying businesses buy gold to sell it to a smelter who melts the gold down.
Gold buyers aren’t interested in the actual value or artisanship of the gold jewelry piece. Instead, they are simply interested in the value of the gold melted down. Gold buyers also have to consider their costs when offering to buy gold. Buyers have overhead, smelter fees and other factors that can decrease the amount they pay sellers in order to keep their profits high.
The best way to understand this process is to understand whether you will get more money selling your gold for scrap or selling it as a whole piece. Below you will find definitions of the different types of jewelry that will help you make this important decision.
What is Scrap Jewelry?
Scrap gold jewelry is often the old gold pieces you have in your jewelry box that you don’t wear anymore. The reason you may not wear it is because it is broken, has sustained significant damage, or is part of a mismatched set.
This type of gold has little to no value to you in its current condition. Due to this, this type of scrap jewelry is best sold as scrap. Although you may not get the price you expected for the piece, it may be a better situation than just allowing it to take up space in your jewelry box.
Whole Jewelry
While scrap jewelry is commonly found in jewelry boxes, not every unworn piece of jewelry in your jewelry box should be considered scrap jewelry. Jewelry that you simply don’t wear anymore because it doesn’t fit your finger, or match your lifestyle may be better sold as whole jewelry.
Businesses who buy whole jewelry will usually resell it. For this reason, fair whole jewelry gold buyers are more difficult to find than scrap gold buyers. The driving price behind whole jewelry selling is whether the buyer can resell the piece. If the buyer does not think they can resell the piece, it may be worth more to them scrapped. Examples of whole jewelry that sells easily include diamond engagement rings, wedding bands and gold hoop earrings. Less sought after whole jewelry includes personalized whole jewelry, such as class rings.
How to Know the Difference
While you may have your own opinion, fact-based or emotional, the best way to determine whether you should sell your jewelry whole or as scrap comes down to which method will earn you more profit.
The best way to get an honest opinion on your jewelry’s worth and whether it is worth more scrapped or sold whole is to get an appraisal. To get the best gauge of what your jewelry is worth, you should get more than one appraisal because not everyone may value the item the same way.
Finally, the method that you agree to sell your gold items comes down to a personal choice. If a little bit of money is worth more to you than no money, than go ahead and scrap your jewelry. If you can not accept that your whole jewelry piece is worth a certain amount, or there is no buyer available for your particular piece of jewelry, it may be better to hang on to it until you can find the right buyer.
