Selling your gold? It pays to compare buyers
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-txtpric0812427598feb09,0,3067470.story
Selling your gold? It pays to compare buyers
BY CAROL POLSKY
carol....@newsday.com
6:40 PM EST, February 8, 2009
If you watched the Super Bowl last week, you may have
seen the ad: Ed McMahon and MC Hammer - both known as
men sometimes in sore need of ready cash - touting a
company called Cash4Gold.
The Florida-based company spends millions each month
on advertising on the Web and the airwaves to convince
people to mail in their gold jewelry, coins, medallions
or trophies to get cash back in a flash. What Ed
and MC didn't mention is something that the company's
Web site does: Customers may get more at their local
gold dealer.
If you ask some local gold dealers, they'll tell you
the difference can be substantial. And they'll tell
you that if you are concerned a getting the best price
for your gold - or for anything else you want to
sell - information and comparative shopping is your
best defense.
Amit Verma of Nassau Gold Buyers in Hicksville and
Rockville Centre, said sellers should go to several
dealers to convince themselves that offers are
competitive, and "get referrals from people who are
happy with how they are treated."
Murray Gordon of Whitman Coin & Jewelry in Melville,
a jewelry store that also buys jewelry and
collectibles, and which has a pawnbroking section
as well, said that the mail-in companies could easily
pay less than what the gold could get elsewhere.
"Believe it or not, a few earrings can add up to a
hundred pennyweights, which can be worth $1,500,
$1,800 depending on the quality of the gold," he
said.
On Long Island, precious metal dealers - who are
licensed by the county in Suffolk, and by towns and
some incorporated villages in Nassau - must use
calibrated scales that are inspected annually by
the counties' offices of consumer affairs. That
ensures the scales have not been tampered with
and are calibrated correctly. But that doesn't
mean you won't get different offers from different
dealers.
If you are pawning jewelry or other items you should
know that pawnbrokers want to lend as much money as
possible on a piece of collateral - because they
can make more in interest that way, said Mitchell
Kaminsky, president of the Collateral Lenders
Association of New York State.
And they prefer that customers ultimately redeem
their property because it then becomes available
for future pawning, said Kaminsky, owner of Gem
Pawnbrokers, which has 20 stores, two on Long
Island.
If you're looking to sell an item, he advised
doing research on the Internet. "You go on eBay
and see what something is selling for," he said.
"You find what you have online and get an
appraisal. . . . An educated consumer does not
get taken."
But if you're thinking of selling your gold
valuables, here are a few things to know:
Dealers typically pay a percentage of the
price of gold on the commodities market - perhaps
as much as 90 percent, but often less. Gold is
now selling for around $900 an ounce.
Fourteen-karat gold items contain about 57
percent gold and 18-karat gold 75
percent; 24-karat is pure gold.
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