You may be a professional who’s been in the business for years or just starting out. Either way, you’ll still want to take a moment to look at these top mistakes you need to swerve when selling your gold. This will help to make it a better overall experience for you and may even be more profitable than originally intended.
Rushing to sell
Sometimes you want to sell a piece quickly or get rid of excess stock. Yet even in these times, it’s key to take a breath and make sure that mistakes are avoided.
Impulse Selling
This can happen especially with those that are new to the industry. You may have found yourself inheriting some jewellery and you’re in a rush to get the money for it for some other expense. However, this will only lead to the worst possible deal for you.
Lack of Research
Rushing means there won’t be any research done, and that could mean you could be selling in poor market conditions. Gold generally works well against inflation and rarely moves in a volatile way. Yet that just means you want to be extra careful and do a bit of research here to ensure there’s nothing strange affecting the gold market
Not fully understanding the value of the gold
Another mistake to avoid when selling gold is not capturing the true value of the gold itself. This blend of the market and the type of gold usually leads to undervaluing the gold.
Not Getting an Appraisal
If you skip the appraisal by a professional, they won’t be able to verify the karat value and anything else that could impact the price to your benefit. You’ll only have the buyer’s appraiser, who won’t typically work in your best interests.
Ignoring the current price of gold
As briefly mentioned above, you want to know where the market is with gold and the current price. It could be a bear market for gold, and knowing the historical gold prices can tell you if it’s better to wait to sell your gold to maximize your profits.
Selling to the first buyer
This is another rookie mistake and not shopping around for multiple offers. Different buyers may have their own needs for gold supply and could offer more upfront. Getting these offers can help you with bargaining power.
Limited comparisons
You could just be going to just your local gold-buying shop, and they know that which means they’ll tend to offer you less than market value due to their convenience. You also miss out on online operations that tend to have lower overheads and can provide you with a better price due to that reason. There are many online gold buyers, who display their pricing online. So it’s very easy to gather comparison pricing.
Missed Profit
As mentioned, bargaining power occurs when you have all these offers, and you could improve the price by sharing bids received from competitors, especially if your gold is extremely high quality and in demand. Don’t miss out on getting optimal pricing.
Ignoring the fine print
Whether you end up selling online to a reputable dealer or in an offline location, you want to ensure you’re fully aware of all the terms and conditions. Otherwise, this can eat into your profits and could occur unexpectedly, ruining the experience.
Hidden Fees
Any place that ends up having hidden fees or last-minute fees should be checked if they should be used or not. Plenty of reputable dealers will buy your gold, and their offering is what you will receive. They already know to factor in any additional costs to themselves and fees into the price offering.
Unfavorable terms
Another area to consider is terms that seem to put you at a disadvantage. There could be minimums for how much gold weight needs to be sold to get better pricing, or there could be payment terms that could cost you as well. Be wary of these situations.
Selling Gold that hasn’t been verified
This goes back to the appraisal portion mentioned above, but it is the most critical component. Are you dealing with 14K gold or 24K gold, and is it pure or just a layer of gold, or worse, an alloy (which is a mixture)?
Unreliable Purity Assessment
This is why you may want to consider a few appraisals from professionals. Not only do you not want to use methods that aren’t trustworthy, but you want to confirm that it is gold, at the right carat and value. This is especially true if you’re dealing in bulk weight of gold.
Inaccurate weighing techniques
Another major issue, especially when dealing with pure gold and a few grams here and there, starts to increase price valuation quickly.
Also, be prepared that the weight of the jewelry doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be the final weight for the gold you sell. It will typically need to be melted down and impurities removed to get a final weight, so make sure you’re ready for that type of commitment and permanently lose the jewelry in the process.
Make sure you always are informed
Gold trading can be a rewarding and lucrative activity, especially if you find yourself as an amateur collector or receiving a windfall of gold from beloved ones. And yes, there are plenty of ways to sell your gold online safely and securely.
You may be interested in: Appraisal fee – definition and meaning