How Gold Buyers Make Money From Scrap Gold
By Mark Kandinov
Scrap gold includes items such as broken or antique jewelry, bars or nuggets, dental fillings, and even gold teeth. Some of these pieces are useless for their owners and therefore possess money making potential without a real loss. Buyers of scrap realize that people looking to sell this type of gold may be only hoping to make a nominal profit. However, if you are looking to sell your scrap pieces it is important to first know how to calculate its worth.
In recent years calculation of the value of gold scraps has become available on the internet. Prior to that, gold buyers kept this method private, making it easier for them to pay far less for your gold than its actual worth. Buyers and sellers of gold are both necessarily looking to gain profits on their transactions. Dealers are knowledgeable about the price of gold per ounce and the market fluctuations. Sellers should also familiarize themselves with these rates, or to at least have their gold appraised prior to heading to a broker.
The first step buyers of scrap will take is to determine the karat content of the gold piece. This number will be on the gold item and sometimes will require a magnifying glass to read. The dealers will have the supplies to conduct an acid test on your item to determine the quality. These kits can be purchased at local jewelry stores or from online websites. The base value of scrap is decided by its weight in grams and a jeweler's scale will be needed.
The worth of this type of gold is based on its melt value, which is a calculation established by the weight in grams and the karat. There are many websites that offer calculators for this process. Certain refineries that purchase scrap may even send you a kit to conduct this test before mailing in your gold scraps.
People who have broken or damaged gold pieces will most likely be disposed to sell for a far lesser price than the melt value. In this way, the buyers of scrap make their profit. The amount of profit will partially depend on how knowledgeable the seller is about the value of their items. It is common for everyday people to also get into the scrap market by buying from their friends or family and in turn selling to refineries to acquire their own profits.
Of course, as with the buying and selling of any gold, the market price of gold per ounce will also have to be taken into consideration. This value not only fluctuates on a day to day basis, but the value may increase and decrease several times within any given day. When the price of gold is high, as it has been, more people will look to cash in their scraps. It is quite interesting what a lucrative market has developed with the buying and selling of damaged or antique gold. Even electronics contain gold pieces that are considered to be scrap and hold some value.
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