Things You Should Know Before Selling Your Gold Ring
Life can be hard to predict: If you’re facing a sudden crunch, or you just want to move on from a difficult relationship, it makes sense to leverage the value of your gold jewelry by selling it. But how exactly do you do that? What are the things you should know before hand? In this piece, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know before selling your gold to ensure you’re getting the best possible value.
Selling any jewelry is a tricky business. For starters, there’s no clear benchmark when it comes to buying back from the consumers. For you, this often means running the risk of not getting enough value for your gold ring . Add in unscrupulous buyers, a lack of seller awareness about basic factors like the karat measure, and it’s easy to see how you can end up getting far less than you expected for your gold.
Gold is more in demand now than ever: gold prices hit an all-time peak of $2029.08 per oz in August 2020. Buyers are likely to benefit from future appreciation which makes it all the more important that you get a fair price when considering selling a gold ring or any gold asset.
Once you read this piece, you’ll understand:
– How gold is measured
– Why purity matters
– Why NOT to head to a pawn shop
– How to find the right partner to sell to
Let’s get to it!
HOW MUCH IS YOUR GOLD RING WORTH?
Getting a ballpark figure for how much your gold ring is worth is a key first step. Weight and gold purity are the two most important factors here. There are, however, additional factors too like the presence of inset jewels, the design of the ring, and others. Let’s look at some of these in detail
GOLD WEIGHT
Weighing gold is not as straightforward as you think. Gold measurements differ from both the metric and imperial systems. This can make it tough to understand exactly what a buyer is looking for in terms of weight. Gold is typically measured in troy ounces: at 1:1.09, the ounce is ever so slightly heavier than the standard metric ounce. Because of the approximately 10 percent difference, it’s all too easy to believe your gold weighs less than it ”actually” does.
Typically, gold rings weigh between 3 to 7 grams. This depends on the size of the ring, the amount of gold used, and other factors. Before you decide to sell, make sure to get an unbiased weight using standardized equipment.
GOLD PURITY
The purity of your gold is critical to determining its price. Gold purity is measured in Karats (Not to be confused with carats, the weight measurement for diamonds). Karats are on a 24 point scale that tells you the ratio of pure gold to other metals in the alloy used to make the ring. If your ring is made of 14-karat gold, that means it’s made of an alloy that’s 14 parts gold and 10 parts other metals.
Why does this matter? Gold in its pure form is very soft. It needs to be mixed with other metals to make it suitable for many use cases.
24 Karat gold means that the gold is 99.5% to 99.9% pure gold. Because of the softness issue, 24-karat gold jewelry is rare to find. Your ring will likely be 22, 18, 14, or 10 karats, with 14-karat gold being the most common in the US. The karat value straight from the jeweler’s bench isn’t a 100 percent accurate indicator of the gold proportion – expect variations up to a few karats. However, it’s important because the amount of gold actually present in a ring or other piece of jewelry has major price implications.
JEWELS
If your gold ring has diamonds, precious gemstones, or semi-precious gemstones set in it, this can have a major impact on price determination. If you have a valuable gemstone or diamond inset in your ring, it can add considerably to the overall value of the ring and actually be worth the majority of the value of the ring.
What type of gem is inset and factors such as inset weight and purity can all separately affect the total value of your ring. It’s a good idea to have the original invoice from your ring on hand. This’ll help you since it will likely mention most of these figures.
WHERE TO SELL YOUR GOLD JEWELRY FOR CASH
So you have a good idea of how much your ring is worth. But where do you now go and sell it? Let’s look closer at a few options:
PAWN SHOPS
A pawnshop is perhaps the first place that comes to your mind: they’re accessible and will offer you some money to take that ring off your hand.
However, pawn shops are seldom the best buyers: they tend to give you rates that are significantly below the market because they do not have the best technology or expertise to evaluate the ring. Pawn shops are designed to take in many different types of items, so they are not experts in the luxury jewelry resell space. They rely on resales to realize a profit and do not provide competitive pricing compared to other buyers.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Relying on your friends and family is a viable option. They might be able to support you when there’s a need, but this is never guaranteed. And then there are also the personal complications that arise when you mix money with friendships and family relationships. And another issue? Unless your friend or cousin is in the jewelry business, you might find it hard to get a reasonable value assessment from them.
VASCO ASSETS AND LUXURY ASSET BUYERS
Luxury asset buyers, like Vasco Assets, are a great option: you’ll benefit from a fair assessment that maximizes value and relatively fast processing, meaning you’ll have cash on hand when you actually need it. We use a gold jewelry cash calculation that ensures you get value for your gold.
Luxury asset buyers also give you additional safety, discretion, and privacy while handling your transaction. Set processes and guidelines mean you get a consistent experience.
WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO SELL MY GOLD? GETTING A GOLD LOAN
If you’re facing a short-term liquidity crunch, a loan against your jewelry is a viable option. If you’re not ready to sell your gold ring or jewelry, but still want to realize value from it, Vasco offers collateral-secured loans.
Gold secured loans are also a great idea if you’re looking to secure a larger amount of capital – the benefit is that people can borrow a portion of the value while not selling the item, banking on the possibility that gold prices will go up in the future. Vasco takes the security of your gold extremely seriously: we keep all assets safe in a vault, minimizing the risk of loss or theft.
CONCLUSION
Selling any asset is tricky, and it’s no different when it comes to gold. If you are planning to sell your gold jewelry, doing your research well is important. Understanding the value of your jewelry and talking to the right buyer partners can go a long way towards helping you leverage the value you want out of your gold.
Thinking about selling your gold? Talk to our experts at Vasco Assets. We’ll schedule you for a free gold evaluation: call us at (949) 679-2300 now: we’ll help you unlock the real value of your gold.