Larry
|
Mail services
Good Morning America tested some of these services:
During this time Cash4Gold had filed a lawsuit against Consumerist for exposing their business practices, in particular delaying checks so they could legally melt the gold before customers had a chance to negotiate their payment. Currently Congressman Anthony Weiner is pushing to have the company investigated by the FTC.
The CEO of Cash4Gold is right: if you want to sell your gold directly, you'll need to go to the seedy part of town. Y'know, the part of town that has all the jewelery stores. :)
Selling gold locally
Unless you are selling gold bars, the items you are selling have two values: value as-is, and melt value. Melt value is the value of the metals inside the item. This may be less than the value of the item in its current state, particularly for antique jewelry and coins. For the best price, go to a place that specializes in what you are trying to sell: talk to a gemologist about jewelery, and a currency expert about coins.
For jewelry, the price you are quoted will be a little different between dealers depending on the age of the gold price quote they are using and processing fees. If you're selling coins, price around. Unlike jewelery, coins are not tightly regulated and estimates can vary widely. Most collector coins that are not legal tender will only be worth their melt value.
To determine the value of the gold, it will need to be tested. This can be done with either an acid test, or with an electronic meter. Metal purity is measured in karats. Each karat is 1/24th of the total mass, so pure gold is 24 karat. This is what the current gold price is set at. Since gold is soft, jewelery makers add other metals to it so it can stand up to daily wear and tear. An 18 karat is 3/4 metal, so it should be worth about 3/4 the current gold price. Gold prices are set by the New York Stock Exchange.
 Posted 5445 day ago
|