Ask These Questions to Be Sure Your Precious Metal Buyer Is Paying You Full Value

Recycle and Refine GoldRecycle Precious Metals
Written By Barry Lenson

The following tale doesn’t tell the story of something that really happened to someone we know. But it does represent a fairly typical story of someone who was not paid full value for gold he recycled.

Here’s the story . . .

A man had a pair of old 14K gold cufflinks he didn’t want any more. He walked into a local jewelry store that had a sign in its window that said, “We Buy Gold.” The jeweler behind the counter tested one of the cufflinks using a simple gold testing kit and said to the man, “These are gold.” He then took out a calculator, punched in some numbers, and told the customer, “We will pay you $90.00 for the gold these contain.” The customer accepted the offer and left the jewelry store with $90.00 in his wallet.

What’s Wrong with that Story?

Actually, there is nothing wrong with that story if you believe that the jeweler was entitled to make some extra money from the transaction – extra money that he had not even discussed with the customer.

Yet if that customer were a more educated seller and asked the right questions, he would have left the store with more than $90.00 if he had known to ask a few additional questions, including . . .

  • “What other metals do these cufflinks contain?” You see, 14K gold is made up of only 53.8% gold; the other 41.7% of the metal they are made of could be silver, palladium, zinc, rhodium, or even copper. So . . . if you own a pair of cufflinks that might be 41.7% palladium or silver, why should you not get paid for the value of those metals? Even copper is worth something. You own it. Why should you give it away?

  • “What will you pay me for those extra metals . . . or will you return them to me?” After all, any extra metals belong to the person who is selling them. They do not automatically become the property of the buyer.

  • “Will you give me a written statement of the content of the items I am selling you?” We are not accusing the jeweler we described earlier of being dishonest. But we need to ask whether using a small testing kit, and then punching some numbers into a calculator represented an honest attempt to give the seller an accurate estimate of the value of what he was selling . . . or whether those actions were a sleight-of-hand intended to distract and underpay him.

There Is a Better Way!

Don’t walk away from the full value of precious metals that you are selling. You want and deserve full payment.

Call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners to learn more about how we test gold scrap, silver scrap and platinum scrap and tell our customers exactly what they are selling – in writing.  We are here at 800-426-2344 to answer all the questions you should be asking when you sell your precious metal items. 

Don’t get paid less than the value of the items you are selling. Give us a call today.

Barry Lenson
Previous

What Does a Precious Metal Refinery Do?
Next

What You Need to Know about Making Money from Palladium Scrap