Where and how to sell gold and to whom?

With gold prices soaring, the value of gold objects is rising sharply, and many people are thinking about buying back their gold.
Advertisements encouraging people to sell their gold abound, and gold-buyback stores and websites have been proliferating for some time now. However, the practices and prices of the various gold-buyback outlets vary widely, and often do not reflect the price of precious metals.
As an individual looking to sell your gold, you don't necessarily have the skills of a gold professional, and you need to understand the fundamentals of buying and selling gold to sell your gold at the best price. With so much on offer, how do you know where to sell your gold?
Follow the advice of Abacor's experts, gold buying specialists since 1996, to find out how to sell your gold under the best possible conditions.

Contact an Expert :
01 48 04 76 06 Form Sell gold >

Pitfalls to avoid when selling gold

The temptation is great for certain dishonest players to trick you into making a quick buck, to the detriment of private individuals who often know nothing about the business. Caution and patience are the key words to avoid the pitfalls when reselling your gold.

The first piece of advice is to avoid certain gold buyers where you are likely to be short-changed. Before advising you on where to sell gold, we advise you to avoid :
- gold-buyers in shopping malls who take advantage of foot traffic to pay less
- franchisees who charge fees and commissions on each transaction linked to the use of the brand name
- itinerant buyers whom you never see again, and whose cheques remain unpaid.

Instead, put your trust in real, long-standing professionals by checking companies' founding dates and creditworthiness.

The easiest way for unscrupulous buyers is to lower the weight of the gold. Before selling your gold, weigh it and check that the weight matches.

Even if an international gold price exists, gold redemption prices are free. Don't be fooled by the prices displayed in stores or on the Internet. In fact, many gold buyers post very high prices in order to attract customers, but these do not correspond to reality. Often, these prices apply to pure gold, whereas most jewelry is 18-carat (75% pure gold), for example.

You must therefore be careful to sell your gold at the same price as the carat of gold in your jewelry. Differences can be considerable.

Contact an Expert :
01 48 04 76 06 Form Sell gold >

What's the difference between selling your gold online or in a specialist store?

You have two choices when it comes to reselling your gold: either go to one of the many stores specializing in the purchase of precious metals, which can usually be found in every major city in France, or entrust your gold resale to an online gold-buying company.

Selling gold on the Internet ...

In the age of the Internet, the first reflex is to consult the many sites where you can sell your gold directly. Be careful, though: find out everything you can about the platform, and only choose an online gold-buying site that belongs to an existing physical store.
While these platforms offer ultra-competitive mail-order prices, there's no guarantee of the price offered. Indeed, many people have already been ripped off, receiving only a tiny fraction of the value of their gold goods.

Some crooks drag out the process to get you to accept their offer, or to "lose" your jewelry, or simply by never responding to disputes. In the event of a dispute, it's much more difficult to assert your rights. In the best-case scenario, you get your gold objects back completely destroyed.
What's more, the fact that gold-buying sites are domiciled abroad means they can avoid the French gold tax.

Finally, the sales process is much longer. You have to order a pack, wait for it to arrive (24-48 hours), put on your jewelry, send this pack with your jewelry and the obligatory documents, wait for the platform to receive it (24-48 hours) and for it to make an estimate (24 hours in general). This easily adds up to about a week's delay.
So it's hard to know whether we're sending our precious gold goods via a trusted site.

Or sell your gold in a specialized boutique

When we talk about a specialized store to sell your gold, we of course mean a precious metals professional.
You can often benefit from a free, no-obligation appraisal and immediate payment without an appointment.

Selling your gold in a well-stocked store is quick and easy, as the transaction is carried out immediately at the counter. Choose an agency with good security features, such as a currency exchange accustomed to handling high values, rather than one with a simple office.
You can keep an eye on your gold throughout the process. What's more, you only part with your jewelry at the end, and can always walk away with it if you're not satisfied with the buy-back proposal.
Similarly, retraction and dispute resolution are simpler and quicker than with online stores.
Selling your gold in a specialized boutique therefore offers reassurances that internet sites cannot.

Contact an Expert :
01 48 04 76 06 Form Sell gold >

The Importance of a Good Estimate for Selling Gold

Depending on the professional who values your gold, the buy-back price can vary from simple to double. But how do you sell your gold to get the most out of it? To recover the maximum value from your gold, you need to make sure that the appraiser makes a good estimate of the type of gold object you have for sale.

Selling gold at the right price

First of all, check that the professional buys at the current market price.
The type of gold you're selling also has a major influence on the buy-back price. Indeed, the quantity of pure gold is not the same according to the carat, and therefore the price per weight will not be the same.

Most gold buyers only trade in the gold present in your gold objects for sale, and therefore according to the percentage of precious metal contained in the alloy and the weight of the gold jewelry or gold coins. In this case, the aesthetic criteria of thegold for sale are not taken into account, even if your gold jewelry is pretty, in good condition, or set with precious stones.

How to sell your gold jewelry for more

There are, however, professionals to whom you can resell used gold jewelry in order to recondition it and resell it to other individuals. This is particularly the case for jewelry with quality gemstones, brand-name jewelry or collector's jewelry. In addition to the value of the gold, a piece of jewelry may have a value linked to the brand, the gems, the brilliants and the collection. The buyer will have to verify their presence and value, and offer you a price or explain why he or she is not taking them into account.

How to sell gold coins

You can also sell your gold coins to put them back on the market as they are, and not to be melted down. Indeed, it's a shame to destroy gold coins that bear witness to the history of mankind, and which are often no longer produced. Also, some coins may be rarer than others, and therefore worth more than the price of gold, depending on the effigy, date, workshop and condition of the coin.
You are therefore likely to negotiate and sell your gold at a higher price with the latter dealers, such as Abacor, than with a simple gold buyer.

The different types of gold you can sell

You can absolutely sell all types of gold goods, regardless of shape, size or color. The gold items most frequently resold by private individuals are gold jewelry, gold coins and gold bars.

Gold Jewelry

Most gold buyers are able to buy gold jewelry because it is 9, 14, 18 or 21 carats. The color of the gold (yellow gold, white gold or rose gold) does not affect the purity of the gold alloy, and therefore the price. The shape of the jewels rarely, if ever, influences their value. If it's made of precious metal, you can sell antique jewelry, broken jewelry, old gold, damaged old jewelry, curbets, ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, medals, or even scrap gold.

Investment gold

The same applies to quoted gold coins, mini-bars and gold bars with certificates, which are easy to estimate.

Industrial gold

As soon as we move away from everyday items, a simple gold buyer will find it very hard to put a value on it. This is the case, for example, with untitled ingots, scrap dental gold or collector's coins. Only true precious metals professionals will be able to determine titling, as at Abacor, where you can sell your gold at the right price.