Gold Selling Secrets Revealed

With gold at historic highs, more people are interested in how to get the most cash for gold. Debunking myths, marketing claims and double-talk about selling gold is a company mission at GoldFellow.com, according to Michael H. Gusky, company founder and 30 plus year industry veteran.

“The more a person knows about the value of their gold, the more likely they are to find an honest buyer and get the highest prices for their valuables,” says Gusky. “So, let’s talk about gold.”

One of the most confusing areas for consumers, explains Gusky, is the value of karat gold versus the gold price in the news. Fourteen karat gold, the most popular karat gold sold in the United States accounts for 80 percent of all the unwanted or scrap gold sold, according to refining industry insiders. But, unlike the higher 22 karat gold popular in the Far East which is 91.6 percent pure, 14 karat gold contains only 58.3 percent gold. So, when 99.995 percent pure gold is selling for $1,000 per troy ounce, one troy ounce of 14 karat “new” gold is valued at 58.3 percent of $1,000 or $583.00.

“The higher the karat,” explains Gusky, “the higher the amount of gold in the jewelry. For instance, 10 karat gold contains 41.6 percent gold while 18 karat gold contains 75 percent gold. The rest are other metals alloyed with the gold for color and strength.”

Another area most confusing to consumers according to Mary Hamilton, customer service manager at GoldFellow.com is weight.

“There are two basic units of measurement used to buy old gold,” Hamilton says, “grams and pennyweights. One troy ounce contains 31.105 grams or 20 pennyweights. In either case they are both equal to a troy ounce, but the calculations are sometimes confusing.”

GoldFellow® prefers to use pennyweight, Hamilton says, because it's easier for consumers to understand dividing a troy ounce by 20.

In the gold buying world like anything else, pricing varies. According to Gusky, smaller gold buyers like some pawn shops, jewelry stores, gold party buyers and Internet sites are actually middle-men taking an unnessesary percentage of the consumer’s money.   Jair Garcia, CPA and GoldFellow company controller offers gold sellers the following advice.  "Be carefull of unsubstantiated prices.  It's very difficult for consumers to validate high price claims made by most buyers.  In our case, we decided to hire an independent accounting firm to audit our pricing compared to our competitors and publish the report for potential customers to see for themselves".

"You need a lot of cash to be a gold buyer,” Gusky explains. “For most small buyers, cash is always short. Gold prices are so high today it forces these smaller buyers to sell fast if they hope to buy more gold the next day. Naturally, they're scared the price will drop, so they pay consumers below the market prices to cover themselves" he maintains.

But, the largest operations including GoldFellow.com recover 99.95% of the pure gold from old gold jewelry. Gusky says GoldFellow® hedges all their purchases and isn't concerned about the market price rising or falling during the refining process.

"We protect ourselves contractually by promising to deliver our refined gold on the futures market 30 days from the day we bought it at the earlier fixed price we paid the consumer, explains Gusky. “We set our price every morning based on the London Gold Price and we honor that price for everyone, even if it drops lower during the day.”

Unlike smaller companies, GoldFellow®’s sophisticated hedging strategy removes all market fluctuations from the equation, allowing the company to pay customers the higher prices the company says consumers deserve.