Many people have an affinity for gold but don’t know much about it.This means that many people don’t know about the benefits of gold investing.
Gold prices change frequently, so you must stay apprised on the values of your items. If you’re trying to get gold sold, know that various karat values are going to need to be weighed separately. Try not to sell jewelry items that are valuable due to their maker.
Get an appraisal to find out the exact value of your gold holds. This will cost a little money up front, but you want to know right? If you do want to sell the gold, do be aware that you won’t receive the price the piece has been appraised at.
If you’d like to sell scrap gold or jewels, shop around for best prices.
Consider delivery time when buying gold. If a seller gives you anything other than immediate delivery, you need to have some kind of written contract or guarantee when your pieces are arriving. Their expected delivery date should be indicated. Don’t buy without such a contract.
Pawn shops and private sellers may just want to pay the melt value.
Know exactly what you have when it comes to gold. Not all pieces that looks like gold are worth its weight in it. Other metals are often mixed with gold in order to make it stronger. This can lower the price a lot lower. This is the case with gold plated items as well.
If you are looking to gold as a retirement vehicle, be certain you invest in the proper kinds of gold. It has to be IRS approved. They have to be either 24 karat coins or bullion bars. Bars are generally more valuable than coins and should, therefore, be favored.
Research the market price before you sell your gold. You should shop around to get an idea of what people are offering for as well. This will help you figure out a good starting point on pricing.
Use a magnet to quickly determine whether an item is really made of steel. Precious metals do not going to be attracted to a magnet.Sometimes only the clasp is solid gold clasp. This is a good way to test for that.
Find out if the firm you are mailing your gold to will ship it back, and how much that will cost. Most companies will give you free shipping to them but charge you an arm and a leg for return postage. Be sure you have an idea how much it will cost you to reclaim your items.
Read and understand the fine print of your sales contract. You should carefully read the whole contract especially if you’re using a mail-in purchasing service to sell gold. This lets you learn the amount of proceeds you have to pay for fees.
Research a dealer before doing business. If you find complaints, use another dealer.
Think about GoldMoney and other such services when you want to buy gold. This service is similar to a bank account that holds deposits in bullion rather than currency. All you need to do is create an account and fund it. You are assigned the same amount of gold as the value of the account. Although you own the gold, it remains stored securely in the company’s vaults. You can sell it, portion it out, or even (given the right conditions) arrange to take deliver of it yourself.
Karat Values
When you sell gold, separate your pieces based on their karat values. The gold values differ by karat values so if all the gold you have is weighed together, and weighing your gold together can cheat you out of money. Gold with higher karat value is worth more.
Know what it is you actually have. Just because it looks like gold doesn’t mean it’s valuable. Other metals are often mixed with gold in order to provide strength. This makes the value lower. So can gold-plating. If you are unsure of what you have, you may want to get it appraised prior to going to sell it.
Gold prices have increased by over 400 percent in the last decade. The weaker the dollar is, the stronger the gold price.
The purity of golds is measured by the karat. The higher the karats, the costlier and more pure the gold will be per ounce. You cannot just rely on the karat stamp. You will not inadvertently purchase bad quality when you know the methods to testing gold purity.
Have jewelry appraised prior to selling it to anyone as scrap gold. Appraisal can be especially important with potentially-valuable pieces that may have more worth as jewelry than simply as bullion. An appraiser will charge you a nominal fee, but it is an expense worth paying if your piece is unique and valuable. Appraisers also may know of an interested party for your precious jewelry.
As noted above, as much as people might love the idea of gold, investment know-how is pretty scanty. But, since you took your time to go over this article, you should have a better idea of what it’s all about. Use this knowledge to make better gold choices.