Determining the Value of your Scrap Gold

How do gold buyers at a cash for gold party determine my scrap jewelry's value?

Before attending a cash for gold party , it helps to have a general idea of what your scrap gold jewelry is worth. Knowing this amount, in a general sense, will help you ensure the gold buyer is acting legitimately.

So how can I determine my unwanted jewelry's value before attending a cash for gold party?

Well, the easiest way to explain this is to tell you how we do it. When you're at home getting your items together, you can pretty much employ the same methods we do in valuing junk gold.

Remember, we may not be able to buy every piece you've got but bring what you have and we'll examine it…many jewelry pieces are not real gold even though they look like it.

The value of scrap gold is determined through several key factors…the first of which being the karat of gold in the piece of jewelry…10 and 14 karats (kt) are the most common.

10kt means 41.7 percent of the piece is gold…14kt equals 58.3% gold. Therefore, you will automatically receive more for a 14kt piece since it contains more gold.

The next factor used in determining the gold's value is the market spot price, which fluctuates almost on a minute-to-minute basis. Some cash for gold buyers constantly change their pricing on the gold market's fluctuations while other buyers only change periodically.

The gold's weight is the final factor. Scrap gold should be weighed separately if the karat is different. Gold buyers weigh gold by pennyweight or by grams. We use grams at American Gold Parties.

Coming up with a $$$ amount

First thing we do when you come to a cash for gold party is separate the gold by karat into different piles and weigh each pile. Consider the following example:

•  10 kt = 24 grams

•  14 kt = 35 grams

•  18 kt = 4 grams

After weighing each pile, we then take that figure and multiply by the price per gram determined by percentage of gold content. For instance, 10K might equal $11 per gram.

•  24 grams x $11 = $264

•  35 grams x $15 = $525

•  4 grams x $21 = $84

Add these three numbers together and you get the final amount, which equals around $873 cash in your pocket!

So when you're at home getting your unwanted gold jewelry together, use the method outlined above to get a general idea of what you should expect to get from selling your gold for cash. Check out our previous article on identifying a jewelry piece's karat so you can easily calculate the value of your unwanted jewelry.