For those of you who are considering selling your gold coins, you should certainly do some research before immediately driving off to the first opportunity you see in a local advertisement for a company who is purchasing gold coins or gold bullion. Companies who purchase scrap gold, coins and bullion and advertise heavily spend a great deal of money marketing their service which means a lower payout for you.
I counted six advertisements in today’s Sunday paper alone and some of which were full page full color advertisements. Most of the advertisements were aggressively seeking people desperate for cash in hand.
These advertisements were actually saying things like “Today Only from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM”, portraying the urgency to do it now. These ads appear to be making it seem like there is an immediate urgency to go to their location today. I also drove around the neighborhood only to encounter a man who was waving a poster that said sell gold coins for cash today and counted numerous shops also stating they pay top dollar to people who are selling gold coins. So, who do we believe and what should we know?
What Kind Of Coins Do You Have?
Selling gold coins can bit a bit tricky if you don’t know what you have. Your gold coins value is based on criterion which will yield you the highest return for your money.
There are two types of gold coins, collectible and bullion coins. The criteria for your collectible gold coins can be a variety of entities such as rarity, condition, date and how many coins of that particular coin were minted, this type of coin is referred to as numismatic or collectible.
The second type are bullion gold coins, if you are selling gold bullion coins the price is fairly easy to determine, you will be paid a percentage of today’s spot price for your bullion coin. A more detailed description of the different types of gold coins is available on our best gold coins to buy post.
Selling Your Gold Coins For Cash
Many people are interested in selling gold coins for cash, after all cash is king and it is possible to do but you want to make sure you’re getting a fair value for your coins. I suggest that you get on the computer and research the specific gold coins you selling one by one and take some notes.
Write down exactly what is written on the coin so that when you contact a potential buyer you have all the information he will need to provide you with a quote.
Unless the coin is particularly collectible you will get a percentage of the spot gold price on any given day so knowing the coins karat (percentage of gold) and it’s weight in grams is a valuable piece of information for you and the buyer to know when arriving at a purchase price.
Selling Gold Bullion Coins
When you sell gold bullion coins it is pretty straight forward, a gold bullion coin is at least .999 gold or 99.9% actual gold content. Most will be marked either .999, .9999 or it will say 1 ounce fine gold or fine gold. For this type of coin again you can expect to get a percentage of the spot gold price today, say the spot price today is $1,600.00, different dealers will pay different amounts, we pay 95% of spot price so we would pay you $1,520.00 for a 1 ounce gold bullion coin.
There are many sites available on the internet that will tell you what spot is today for gold. So, now you have the information you need and should be prepared to sell your gold coins or gold bullion.
Where To Sell Your Gold Coins
So exactly how do I sell gold coins? There are a few methods you can explore to sell your gold coins, namely local gold buyers, coins dealers, gold refiners Ebay and auction houses.
Local Gold Buyers
I have been buying all types of precious metals for over a decade and have purchased many gold coins. For bullion coins I pay a flat price of 95% of spot price, for lesser karat gold coins we pay on a per gram basis depending on the karat.
One of biggest advantages of finding a reputable local gold buyer if that they usually will be able to to pay you cash for your items, this will not always be the case with the other items outlined below.
As with all businesses there are good and bad buyers, you need to call several to get quotes, if they will not provide you with a quote either via email or phone I would look elsewhere.
Coins Dealers
If you have a specialized coin that is highly collectible you need to find a reliable coin dealer, it would be best to have the coin graded or evaluated by an independent coin appraiser beforehand. Just like any business there are good and bad coin dealers but if you have a certified or graded coin you can contact several different coin dealers to get your best price.
Gold Refiners
Generally speaking refiners will not deal with the general public, they deal with businesses such as gold buyers, jewelry makers and purchase bulk lots of scrap jewelry, unwanted coins jewelers sweeps etc. You may be able to find a small refiner who will give you a quote but typically 1 or 2 coins is not interesting enough to them.
Auction Houses
If you have a highly collectible coin you could auction it off but you will encounter fees, typcially anywhere from 10 to 25% commission from the auction house so you’ll be giving up a good chunk of the price.
Ebay
You will find many gold coins for sale on Ebay, there are two problems that I have found using Ebay. First their fees have increased substantially over the last two years which will eat into your profit. Secondly there is shipping, I have found shipping items to be more and more of a hassle and not a pleasurable experience.
After your preliminary research has been done, go to three or four of the most reputable businesses in your locality or if you can get a reference from a friend or relative, even better! The prices you get will vary from place to place, but they should be somewhat in the same ballpark, choose the person or company that you feel most comfortable with and appears to have the best reputation.
Where Not To Sell Your Gold Coins
From past experience I do not recommend taking your gold coins to pawn shops or jewelers. Pawn shops tend to low ball people, this may be a sweeping statement but I contact pawn shops as a part of my business to check on their payment prices and they usually pay ½ of what our current rates are at any given time. Jewelers on the other hand don’t seem to have any idea on what to pay for gold coins and often don’t even have the necessary equipment to test their karat, a bit odd in my opinion.
In The End:
Selling your gold coins is just like selling stocks. These prices will fluctuate. Numismatic experts will explain their philosophies of why they believe that the values will continue rising based on the variety of coins available, there are some people who favor particular coins for their private collection. It does not seem to matter what types of coins you have to sell, the escalating appreciation in price will certainly depend on what the demand is day to day, be it from the investor or collector.
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