Scrap Gold for Money

Are you short on cash and do not have any means to earn money now? Do you have extra gold items laying around the house? How about selling scrap gold for additional income? These days, gold is a great way to earn extra money and scrap gold prices are relatively high because of the demand. So what types of items could you possibly sell to companies for gold scrap? You would be surprised how many different items and trinkets can be sold for scrap. Things that can be sold for gold scrap are 14k gold ring, placer gold, dental fillings, gold jewelry, watchbands, gold plating and gold plated electronic scrap. There are many other scrap options available and a search for internet gold scrap companies will give you an idea of the abundance of gold materials that you can sell for scrap.

How do you sell gold scrap? First, you’ll have to find a scrap gold buyers that will purchase your scrap from you. Make sure they are a reputable company and have been around for awhile. Otherwise, your hard earned gold will be stolen and you will not be compensated. For best return and compensation, you should do the following things. First off, you should divide and categorize your gold scrap by the type of material it is and how much each item weighs. This way, your items will be processed faster and in return, you will get paid faster. Make sure that your name, return address and phone number are included within the contents of the packaging. How should you package your scrap? Put all of your items in individual heavy duty plastic bags. Make sure that all the contents are sealed well and it is recommended that you wrap your contents twice so that all content are secure. For gold shavings and filings, using a large mouth plastic bottle is the best way to secure the contents. Once all bags are wrapped, place all of your contents (along with the written quantities and categories) in a large sturdy container.

So how do you get compensated once you sell your scrap gold? Once your container arrives, the receivers will test your jewelry and gold scrap using an individual acid test. However, sometimes you will be compensated for items “as-is”. Usually, people are mailed a check after the shipment is received or the next business day. If you have gold fillings, shavings, or small scrap, it might take longer to get compensated as the company will have to melt down the pieces in order to perform an acid test to determine the karat. How exactly do the refine the gold and compensate you? Many times, scrap has other metals and waste that cannot count towards your compensation. In this case, the scrap has to be refined in order to determine how valuable your junk is. The process starts with the weighing of each package and then opened and weighed again. If there are any discrepancies between the weight that you recorded and the weight that the company has recorded, you will be notified before they go to the next process.

Lots containing scrap and waste of unknown metal content that require refining or assaying to determine the metal content are processed as a refine job lot. Once weighted, your items will be queued to be refined. Once ready, your scrap will be melted down in a bullion bar and tested to determine how valuable your content is. This process will determine how much gold is contained with your scrap. Once all of this is completed, a report is printed and filed and you will be paid or your scrap gold will be returned to you.

There are many gold items that you can sell as scrap that you don’t even know about.  The general rule is that if any item contains any amount of gold, even miniscule amounts, you will be able to gather up all of these pieces and will be able to ship it to the company for scrap.  People sometimes are confused and do not realize the smelting process and how the companies that buy the gold scrap are profit from you junk.  Let’s say you go ahead and sell your broken gold watch that has been laying around for 15 years.  You also go ahead and sell some gold coins that have little or no value to you.  Many people do not realize that they have a money pit in their home that is just waiting to be tapped in to.  The reason is that all that jewelry that is laying around your house can actually be converted and sold into gold.  Even polishing and buffing dust can be sold!  If the jewelry is tainted and looks really bad, it doesn’t make any difference to the seller.  The only thing they are worried about is how many carats that and the amount of weight that the gold has that you are giving to the seller.  Of course, the more gold and the more karats that the gold has, the more you will get for your scrap.  One of the biggest reasons why people get rid of their old gold belongings are because it sometime costs more to repair, fix, and clean old jewelry.  Instead of paying money to have a professional fix their gold pieces, they allow that item to sit in storage for a very long time.  The best part is that you will get paid almost instantly once the buyer can determine the amount of your scrap.  There is also scrap that can be found in old machines and computers.  Gold plated connectors and wires can be melted down and refined into new necklaces. The point is, do not underestimate the amount of money that you can receive for scrap gold.

So how much can you get for your gold crap?  This will depend on the amount of gold that you have on hand and the quality of the gold.  Dealers pay based on margin and you will get the value of the gold less a buyers and handling fee.  Also, remember that the price of your gold necklace will not be reflected in the price that you receive from the gold dealer.  The buyers are focused on the weight and karat of the gold only and do not take into other considerations such as location, design, and brand.  If the dealer cannot determine the value of your scrap based off your original contents, then they will have to melt down your scrap and refine it. 

What if there is absolutely no value for your gold, then what?  If the dealer has determined that there is no value in your scrap, they will simply send the items back to you.  However, if they do find value in your scrap, then you will be notified by the dealer via phone or letter how much that they are willing to pay you.   Take note that you do not have to take their offer and can try and find another offer at a different company.  You are never obligated to accept the buyers offer. 

In order not to get screwed by a buyer, you should take a proactive role and try to calculate the value of your gold.  Go to http://www.jackhunt.com/gold-calc.html to determine the value of your gold but make sure to deduct the value of the buyer’s fees and transport costs.  Gold is priced by ounce and quality with 24 karats being the purest form of gold.  Have you ever seen old cartoons where a mining prospector bites a lump of gold?  This is because the softer the gold is, the easier it is to become malleable, which means that the gold will be valued higher.  The first thing that you will need to do is to weigh your item and determine what type of karat your gold is.  If you do not remember how many karats the gold, shoot for the lower end of the spectrum and go with 10K. 

When sending your gold scrap, try and get rid of all the items that are surround the gold material as you do not want to lose any valuables that are connected to the metal.  If you cannot separate them, don’t worry, but remember that you will lose them during the refining process.  An even better way to separate your gold is buy trying to refine the gold yourself and melting down the contents before sending it off.  However, this is an advanced method of selling scrap and should only be done by people who absolutely know what they are doing.  See the video below to view how gold is refine and how you can do this as well.