The faltering economy has driven the price of gold through the roof. It seems like everybody wants your old gold jewelry today. If you don’t believe it, watch TV. Several times a week you’ll catch an ad to “sell us your unwanted gold jewelry today and make a profit.” Gold buyers pop into town almost every weekend, set up shop in a hotel lobby, and give people checks for their gold on the spot. Others have you mail it in to them for an evaluation and offer.

Before you sell gold jewelry to a re-melter, have it appraised at a local jewelry or antique store. It may be worth more as a whole article than it is for the value of the gold in it. It’s also very possible the jeweler will buy it from you for its gold value as well. If you get an offer like this, it is usually fair, and your best bet is to take what’s offered and move on.

If you’re jeweler doesn’t want it, try selling a few pieces on eBay or Craig’s list and see what the market thinks it’s worth. Again, you may find that it is worth more as a piece of jewelry than a chunk of gold. It’s more time-consuming this way, but you may end up making an overall larger profit by doing this.

If you do go the “hotel lobby” or “mailer envelope” route, don’t be surprised that your gold is worth a lot less than you think it is. To prove my point, let’s do some math (I know, everybody hates math, but you’ll love this!). Gold is selling for over $1400 a troy ounce right now. A troy ounce is equal to 31 grams, so pure gold on the open market is worth $1400/31 = $45/gram. A woman’s 14k gold wedding band typically weighs around 2 grams. So you have $90 worth of gold, right? Wrong. 14k gold is only 50% gold (the other 50% is other metals), so in actual terms, you only have $45 worth (1 gram) of pure gold. But when you take it to the hotel lobby to sell, they’re not going to pay you market value, because they have to melt it down, separate it, advertise, resell, etc. They will offer you only a portion of its value (usually 30-40%), meaning your 14k gold wedding ring will net you a whopping $18. Not really a great deal after all, is it?

If you’re in desperate need of money now, then you do what you have to do to survive. Sell gold jewelry to a “cash-4-gold” dealer or a local pawn shop. But if you have some time and patience, look into your other options first – A local jeweler, a consignment shop, eBay, or Craig’s list. Chances are good that any one of those will net you more money than a “drive-through dealer.” And if you don’t like any of the offers, put the jewelry back in your drawer and save it for another day.

You can find the full article about selling gold jewelry and much more jewelry advice and information on Jewelrista.com