Anybody know how much 14 carat gold is worth ?

[tanner12oz]

This place looks good .

Thanks for all the good info in this thread, everybody .:toast:

the more hands its gotta pass through the less you get....your selling direct to the refiner no middle man....yes you throw 5-10 bucks or whatever on shipping but i assure you most buyers are NOT paying 95%.. lots of scam operations are paying 50%. midwest will send you a breakdown of total weight....actual gold weight...and the spot price used to settle the order...

the owner GARY has personally called me to discuss products i have sent that didnt karat out just to resolve and potential issues. i agree with other posters that theres alot of bad stamps out there....old pocket watches are one of the worst ones...usually gold filled

check for stamps and also check with a strong magnet....anything that sticks is crap...easy test i run on everything

 

[Doug]

These guys might very well pay more. I'd still want to take it to a local, get his offer, ( check spot price), then see how much more the refiner pays, after shipping costs ( assuming spot price remains stable).

It probably is only worth it, if you have more than a few grams ?

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

Doug is right, take it to a local, most of those mail in places are either out and out frauds or will rip you off on the price. A TV crew locally did an investigative service on them and it was alarming, one place was giving people $1 a gram for their gold. Later they advertised "we have doubled rates", that meant they were giving you $2 a gram, still way below market levels. They were also weighing things wrong, making it hard for people to have their merchandise returned and just working folks over that were overmatched on the topic.

I'll be honest with you, a pawn shop is going to give you around 8 dollars a gram in Florida/Mississippi. But it will be cash and it will be given to you the second you hand your gold over. Depends if you sell it outright or look for a loan on your gold but the dealer has to hold it either 30 or 60 days. Pawn shops accumulate a large amount over that period of time, you are taking a risk as if gold drops dramatically you have screwed the pooch. Throw in overhead, rent, employees etc... and there is no way they can pay some of the prices mentioned in this thread. Still there is no question we pay more than the mail in places, those are rip-offs, no two ways about it.

 

[Doug]

Tanner's place sounds legit, but I can't vouch for them.

SOME mail places are surely scams.

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

As for how to look for fakes, we acid test. Truth is if you handle it daily you almost can spot real gold from across the room. If you aren't a pro be careful, everyone these days has learned to stamp 14k on items to fool suckers. Also sometimes people will put a real clasp on a fake chain, either purposely or not knowing any better. If you test the clasp it may test positive for 14k but the chain is not real. I'd advise take things to a pawn shop first, have them tell you if it's real or not and how much weight you have. Even if you don't sell it you will have a good idea what it's worth. And for the record nobody is paying 95% of weight, nobody.

Fake Rolex is another thing to look out for, they are very tough to spot, even for dealers. Not the cheap one's but the good fakes are very good. As the guy on Pawn Star said, someone will spend 5k to make a fake Rolex and it's very close to the real thing. I doubt anyone not in the business (and some that are in it) can spot a fake Rolex if it's a top of the line fake. Be careful. It hurts to get burned but can happen very easily if you don't know what you are doing.

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

Tanner's place sounds legit, but I can't vouch for them.

SOME mail places are surely scams.

What makes them "sound" legit Doug? Just curious how you can tell someone is legit without doing business with them? We had a woman come in with her husband, was going to prove to him what a great deal she was getting by mailing it in. We gave her 3 1/2 times what she was getting and she got her money in hand. Again, buyer beware. There are things like "pennyweight" when buying/selling gold and other tricks a guy in the business can use to trick you. Sending your gold across the country in the mail is a mistake IMO, no other way to say it.

 

[Doug]

They appear to be OK

http://www.bbb.org/eastern-michigan.../midwest-refineries-in-waterford-mi-32012736/

It would be interesting to test them against a local, if selling, perhaps with 5 grams or so ?

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

Doug, they may be but make sure you are comparing apples to apples! The easiest way for you is to compare pure weight with pure weight. By that I mean a gram is a gram, an ounce is an ounce like when weighing food for example. You should dust off your cocaine scales from college and see what your gold weighs. If you have a scale in the kitchen than use that. If you have 10 grams on the scale than ask what you are getting per gram. You don't want to hear about troy ounces, pennyweights and so on, ask whoever you are selling to what the price per actual gram is you are going to get back. It's crazy now what people think they are getting but actually they are being misled. If 14k is 19 dollars per gram, a guy off the street mailing in his stuff is not getting $15 dollars per gram. It's just not happening. If they are telling you that you are being duped. Go back to basics, the dealer won't want to but tell him you weighed it at home and you have 10 grams, what are you giving him per gram. That's all you want to know. None of the industry standard crap he will try to give you when weighing gold, ask him to keep it simple for you. You might be surprised.

In the end the mail places are good for crooks, that's about it. They certainly don't pay more. If you have stolen material they will get it melted down for you real quick. Despite what most believe the pawn shop is probably the most regulated place in town. Crooks don't come here any more, everything must be reported to the police, serial numbers down, fingerprints and ID's as well. Mail it in if the stuff is hot and you will take less, if you are legit go to a pawn shop and get top dollar. This message brought to you by the Pawnbrokers of America.

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

They appear to be OK

http://www.bbb.org/eastern-michigan.../midwest-refineries-in-waterford-mi-32012736/

Just been accredited since 2008? Barely over a year? Oh and then there's this:


BBB processed a total of 3 complaint(s) about this business in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 3 complaint(s) closed in the last 36 months, 1 was closed in the last 12 months.



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The complaints concerned service issues and selling practices? This is the best (A+) out there? I sound like a homer (and maybe I am) but truth is pawn shops have been doing this for many many years, not just when the price skyrocketed and there was good money to be made. All these other folks only came after they saw a way to make money, we been in the legal loan sharking business forever. Trust me, I hear about these places all the time, be careful. They are here today, gone tomorrow.

 

[Doug]

That place has supposedly been around since 1939, but just recently accredited by BBB.

This line of business is sure to generate many complaints.

I honestly never heard of them before this thread.

I'd go to a jeweler or coin dealer before a pawnshop, but they all have to sell to a refiner.

Gold actually was near $1,000 in 1980, which would be more like 3k in today's dollars.

I'd sure avoid the mail in places with TV ads.

This would make a good segment on 60 Minutes

 

[PatrickMcIrish]

This line of business is sure to generate many complaints.

This is true.

Gold actually was near $1,000 in 1980, which would be more like 3k in today's dollars.

And then one day out of nowhere went to something like $250 if memory serves me right. When you got a safe full of gold that you paid out at the 1k an ounce price it really sucks to see it drop 75%. Anyway time for dinner, enjoyed the discussion.

 

[Doug]

Interesting side note:

Sterling silver (.925 fine) sells for less than coin silver ( .900 fine).

The reason is the silver coins are in a nice standard form.

It's a lot easier to barter with a silver coin instead of a fork, same principle with scrap Gold and gold coins.

95% on the junk gold is great ( instead of maybe 75%).... if this place is honest.

 

[Mr.Leisure]

I went to the jeweler near me today .I asked him how much he pays for 14k gold scrap per gram . He tells me $11. i tell him it is worth around $19 a gram and i was hoping to get maybe $14 0r $15 . He gets a little huffy saying "who say`s it`s worth $19 a gram "i told him they have a calculator on the internet .He laughs that off saying They can put anything on the internet and i do`t sell to a refinery i sell to middleman ?

Oh well ,i will check some other places .

 

[Doug]

try a coin dealer, ML.

I called my local, and he said $15.27/ Gram.

You should get quotes like that.

He first quoted $23.75/ pennyweight, then I asked him for a gram price, he said $15.27, so you might get quoted either way.

 

[Doug]

divide pennyweight price by 1.555 to get gram price.

 

[Mr.Leisure]

try a coin dealer, ML.

I called my local, and he said $15.27/ Gram.

You should get quotes like that.

He first quoted $23.75/ pennyweight, then I asked him for a gram price, he said $15.27, so you might get quoted either way.

Thanks doug,that seems like a fair price .The guy i dealt with was a-hole he was trying to rip me off.

 

[Doug]

I'm sure my guy is giving a fair price. The $11 is just way too low.

I'm sure there are many buyers where you live.

I'd want to see the weight on the scale, or weigh it on your own, or a friend's triple beam, first, then multiply by $15 a gram, that should give you a ballpark figure.

Up to you if you want to ship to that refiner mentioned, if you do....at least you'll know if got a fair/better price, or not.

How much do you have ?

Personally I think you'd need like over 20 grams to make it worthwhile to ship.

20g X $15 = $300

20g X $18= $360.....if the refiner pays that much.

$60 different - some costs ( $10-20 ?), and wait on a check.

Depends how much you have, how fast you want the $$$, and if you trust this refiner.

If under 20g, I'd sell it to a local paying a fair $15/gram. I think McIrish agrees.

Weigh it yourself, or witness it, though.

That jeweler is being unfair. I've found coin dealers to be more straight with this stuff....scrap precious metal is actually more up there alley, but everybody is a gold buyer now.

I love my idea of 60 Minutes getting quotes, and exposing the different prices, or even an investigative TV station type report, or Consumer reports, etc.

This is a dirty business !

 

[Mr.Leisure]

I'm sure my guy is giving a fair price. The $11 is just way too low.

I'm sure there are many buyers where you live.

I'd want to see the weight on the scale, or weigh it on your own, or a friend's triple beam, first, then multiply by $15 a gram, that should give you a ballpark figure.

Up to you if you want to ship to that refiner mentioned, if you do....at least you'll know if got a fair/better price, or not.

How much do you have ?

Personally I think you'd need like over 20 grams to make it worthwhile to ship.

20g X $15 = $300

20g X $18= $360.....if the refiner pays that much.

$60 different - some costs ( $10-20 ?), and wait on a check.

Depends how much you have, how fast you want the $$$, and if you trust this refiner.

If under 20g, I'd sell it to a local paying a fair $15/gram. I think McIrish agrees.

Weigh it yourself, or witness it, though.

That jeweler is being unfair. I've found coin dealers to be more straight with this stuff....scrap precious metal is actually more up there alley, but everybody is a gold buyer now.

I love my idea of 60 Minutes getting quotes, and exposing the different prices, or even an investigative TV station type report, or Consumer reports, etc.

This is a dirty business !

I have 31 grams (i weighed it on my friends scale).

I broke out the yellow pages and called three coin shops. I got quotes of $10.50 ,$12 and $14.
Thinking about doing tanner`s refiner

This is definitely a dirty business

 

[Doug]

Nice amount for a test, enough to make shipping worthwhile, but not thousands of dollars, either !

Assume Gold is relatively stable in price for the next two weeks or so, somewhat likely.

My guy would pay 31 X 15.27= 473.37

Your best is 31X 14= 434

Hope for 31X18= 558

I vote for shipping it to the refiner, see if you get $500 +.

Be the guinea pig, you know what it weighs.

Report back !

 

[Akillies]

definitely a dirty business
rite up there with auto body shops