How To Buy Scrap Gold

by Steve

(Waterloo, Ontario)

I was wondering if you would tell me how to buy scrap gold? If I had gold jewelry and other gold and silver stuff would you be paying more then a jeweler? Do jewelers sell to you or do they sell to who you sell to? I already scrap metal like copper, brass and aluminum so thought this may work well with my existing business.

I am just wondering this because I would like to start buying gold and silver and would like to sell it to you but I do not want to become a competitor with you. I would like to work with you.

I am just inquiring at this point. I just need to know if I will make money with this. The only testing unit I have is a XRF analyzer. It is not set up for buying precious metals at this point but I can get software to test for gold, silver and platinum.

Would my XRF machine work for this type on thing?

John’s Answer:

To learn how to buy and sell scrap gold jewelry, silver and platinum you don’t necessarily need an XRF machine, many calls I receive people prefer to have someone visit them either at their home, office or local cafe and I have never had the need for a portable XRF machine. I don’t know what size or model you have but it may be overkill for the scrap gold business.

On most of my sales calls I use a acid testing kit and always have, it’s definitely good enough. You need to educate yourself on different karats and testing methods. Surprisingly enough silver can be the hardest to detect especially if it is not hallmarked, I’ve lost more money making mistakes with scrap silver than gold or platinum.

As for making money, yes, there is money to be made but as with any business you will likely make mistakes when starting out. I’ve had several people in the past that I’ve tried to set up but they don’t carry through with things for one reason or another, people seem to think because the price of gold is high that you can become a millionaire overnight and that is not the case. There are many flight by night cash for gold companies that come and go and from what I’ve heard about them they tend to try an make as much as they can as quickly as they can.

The best and easiest place to purchase an acid testing kit is on ebay, you can get one with 10k, 14k, 18k, 22k, Platinum and silver acid in a wooden box with testing stones for around $80-$100. There are electronic gold testers as well but I wouldn’t waste my money on them as they can be unreliable, I stick the tried and true and what seems to be the old fashioned method of acid testing and it’s always served me well.

As for selling your gold scrap, yes, we do purchase bulk lots from jewellers, hope that answers your question, let me know if there is anything else!

Since you mentioned copper and brass perhaps I could ask you a question. I come across quite a bit of silver plated items, most are a copper or brass base with silver plating. They don’t have any value as far as silver goes but what could I expect to get for brass or silver these days?

Comments for
How To Buy Scrap Gold

Average Rating 

Rating

Copper and Brass
by: Steve

John,

I am just inquiring about gold at this point. I know you will not become a millionaire over night doing this. I think it will be along the same guide lines as scrap copper aluminum and brass. With a little higher spread. I will look into the testing kits and educate myself with gold and other metals before I go any further.

Right now for scrap copper like you described I would pay 3.20$ a lb. For the brass it would be 2.05$

Rating

Testing Scrap Gold
by: John

One more thought, once you get your testing kit, the best way to start is by experimenting on either your own jewelry of various karats or friends and family.

Pretend you are testing and pricing them for actual clients, I suppose this is role playing. This will provide you with 2 things; first it will give you experience weighing, pricing and testing items, secondly you will see how the different acids react when applied to different karats. Best of luck!