These days making money has become hard. People are unemployed, having been laid off work because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other industries just collapsing under the weight of the lockdown that has pretty much disseminated the global economy. Now a lot of people are forced to consider other ways of generating an income or getting some cash to get from one month to the next. People have always been interested in making money from home. Things have changed nowadays; even the things that look inconsequential like your old broken gold can help you get you out of your financial problems. How?
Scrap gold businesses have become very popular over the years. People are learning that there is always money to be made from gold. Those who buy investment grade gold bullion know that if they wait for the right market conditions, they stand to make a sizeable profit from their investment. Let’s talk about scrap gold for a bit.
What makes gold scrap gold?
The term: scrap gold is usually used to refer to damaged gold jewellery that generally will never be worn as is because of its condition. It could be broken and damaged gold chains, single gold earrings, etc. Scrap gold dealers accept gold jewellery in its worst form. It could be dirty and bent out of shape, the fact that it is gold it still has value because it can be refined and recycled. Some people have actually made a business out of finding damaged gold. You would be amazed how many people throw their old gold in the drain. You don’t have to go fishing in the sewer, you probably can find some old jewellery lying around; ask your friends or family if they have any jewellery they aren’t using, that is just gathering dust.
What’s important when you sell gold?
There is a simple checklist that you can use to help you through the process of selling scrap gold:
- Inspect your gold and identify
- Sort according to quality and weigh
- Estimate what the value of your gold is
- Ask people to recommend local buyers for recommendations
- Get at least three quotes from different buyers
Quality and weight
Telling the quality of jewellery you have is easy. Most jewellery has hallmarks. These are 10k, 14k, 18karat and 22k. These stand for .417, .585.750 and .916 millesimal fineness. If you can’t find any hallmarks, which is often the case with damaged jewellery, your scrap gold dealer will be able to conduct tests to verify what the purity of your gold is. You can also conduct certain tests on your scrap gold at home.
- Find the strongest magnet you can find and run the magnet over the jewellery. Gold is not magnetic so you would know that anything that sticks to the magnet isn’t made of solid gold.
- Conduct an acid. You can purchase a test kit consisting of a touch stone and Aqua Regia which is a solution of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. The piece is rubbed on the touch stone and the acid mixture is dropped on the mark left by the gold helps determine the karat of the gold. There test kits can be bought from stores like Amazon.
Once you have established that your jewellery is made of real gold, you can then weigh it. Take note of the spot price and try and estimate a price for what you have. Remember that the spot price is measured in troy ounce which is equal to 31.1035grams.
It is important to find a reputable buyer if you want to sell gold and make some money from your scrap gold. In Australia, there is a gold dealer that accepts scrap gold in every city and small town, even pawnbrokers have signs out proclaiming that they pay more for your old gold. You need to take your gold to more than just one dealer in order to find one that will offer you the best price.
