Sell Your Gold Without Getting Ripped Off

| by Hal Young

Just about everyone has tough financial times at some point in their life. And hard times are even more likely to arise with a bad economy. Maybe you’re a student with a extremely tight budget who barely has enough money for food; let alone books and other college expenses. Or maybe you’re a single mother who is working two jobs just to stay afloat. Or maybe you’ve just been laid off longer than expected and expenses are finally catching up to you. Well no matter what your situation is if you have access to any spare or scrap gold you should think about selling your gold for cash.

Because so many people are experiencing financial troubles right now the cash for gold business is booming. But that means that along with the legitimate businesses there are many other unscrupulous “companies” looking to make some serious cash preying off those that need money so desperately. One way some of these companies get you is by buying your gold at a price that is much lower than what it’s worth. It is a sad fact that the majority of individuals never even realize how much their gold is actually worth. (See our guide on calculating your gold’s value if you want to avoid getting ripped off yourself) They see the commercials on TV offering them cash for their gold and they immediately call them up and ask for one of their mailing envelopes. And when the company does finally send a check they never realize that it is only for partial value of their gold items. In some cases not even close to the amount you get with other legitimate gold refiners (we have had reports of 33% and even less). And that’s not even all the ways that some gold buyers use to rip off their customers. Which brings us to our next point.

Researching Cash For Gold Companies

Now that you understand what some companies will do in order to make a bigger profit, you have to realize that it is extremely important that you research each gold refiner or gold buyer before you even think about sending them your gold.

If you don’t, you may get caught up in another scam where the company will melt down your gold without even giving you a chance to dispute the amount of the check that they send you. They may change the date that you have to dispute it or just wait to send you your check until it is already too late by the time time you receive it. Some even offer direct deposit which waives your right to dispute the amount. It seems like a good idea at the time to the seller but then they see the pitiful amount in their checking account and can’t do a thing about it.

But there are even more reasons to do your due diligence. You want to make sure that the gold refiners are BBB, aka Better Business Bureau, accredited so that you can avoid many of these cash for gold scams and be sure that your shipment won’t be “lost in the mail”. Also researching different companies is the only way that you can get the most cash possible. Many legitimate refiners pay in the range of 80% to 90% of the spot price of gold (which you can find in the right sidebar of this site) for amounts around an ounce but there are some gold buyers that will pay up to the maximum of 98.5% depending on how much you sell them and what their policies are. You will have to contact each company individually or check out their website where many of them have their gold buying policies listed. While on their website make sure that you check for actual physical addresses and phone numbers. All reputable gold refiners will have their number listed and should have a non-P.O. Box address listed.

If at all possible you should try and deal only with gold refiners who have their own refinery and not middlemen gold buyers who end up just selling to gold refiners themselves. If you sell to a gold buyer like that you will almost certainly get less than what you would from a gold refiner. Cutting out the middleman is usually a good way to save or make more money.

For more specific information about selling gold you should check out our guides on how to sell gold jewelry, how to sell gold coins, and how to sell scrap gold. Also check out our own cash for gold company reviews.

Avoiding Cash For Gold Scams

With a rough economy like today’s, many folks turn to alternative ways of making money. One of these ways is selling your gold for cash. Consumers think that with the price of gold as high as it is today that selling off their old gold jewelry is a good idea. Unfortunately, it is not that easy to get the actual value of your gold items. There are many companies out there… more

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