Pawning the Past

What do you do when you have a lot of gold jewelry from your ex-husband and left over debt from that same ex-husband?  You sell the jewelry to a pawn shop to pay off the debt and hopefully not get swindled by the shop dealer.  Here are some tips for how to get rid of that memory-laden jewelry and keep your head above your debts...

1) Go through all jewelry that you have and for each piece determine if you have any future need for it or any healthy emotional attachment to it.  If any of the following does apply, don't try to sell it unless you are so bad off that you can't pay your bills.(If that's the case, then I need a totally new post for those issues). Do not sell a piece if: It reminds you of your grandmother, mother, sister or friend that you still have a special relationship with;  You have worn it sometime in the last year; You could gift it to a future daughter or niece on one of her birthdays; The value of that item is less than the cost of the fuel to go to the pawn shop ($10 bucks).

2)  When you decide what you want to sell, clean it up.  Even if that item is made of solid 22k gold or pure silver, a tarnished piece will not make an impact to the dealer. They see a dirty piece and see the work needed to clean it up, so they might reduce the price in their minds just for that reason.  If you try to sell a car, you clean it. If you try to sell jewelry, you clean it!

3) Check online for the price of gold, silver, and platinum.  For the most part, unless you have a major diamond or stone you are selling, the gold or platinum will give you the most return.  When you get the price, understand that the price is for PURE gold, not the 10K, 14K, 22K etc.  You will have to reduce the price based on the karat weight.  Go here for some guidelines on how to determine the reduced price per gram and some general information on selling precious metals.

4) Accept that what you paid for the jewelry is nowhere near what you will get for it from the shop.  Most retail jewelers will double, triple or quadruple the price of the pieces they are selling.  That means if you paid $200 for the piece at a Valentine's Day sale, they probably only paid about $50 for it themselves.  This means that the MAX you will get at the shop is the value of the piece ($50) assuming the value of the precious metal has not gone up or down in price.  The shop keeper also will want to make some return on the item too, so that might bump it down to around a $30 or $40 offer if you keep a good straight face in the dealing.

5) Go to the shop with a dollar amount already in your head for what you want to sell it for.  Do this rationally, keeping in mind #3 and #4.  If the cost of the gold is $1,200, try to get $700 for it and you will have made a decent deal considering you are working with a pawn shop.

6) If they ask you how much you want for it, DO NOT tell them a selling price before they offer.  Ask them to make an offer first and then see how different that is from your thoughts on what you wanted out of the sale.  If they say a number higher than your thought (lucky you) keep a straight face and offer $100 higher than what they offered.  They may stand firm or may meet halfway.  Go with your gut.  If they offer you LESS than what you had in mind you need to tell them that you did your research and know the value of the items based on the price of (metal) and that they have to do better than that.  Give them the quote of $100 more than you desired return and hopefully they will be willing to meet you at a number closer to your desired amount.  

7) Don't be afraid to walk out.  They do these kinds of negotiations all day long and are not intimidated by you at all.  If you look desperate, they will try to take your goods for less money.  If you show them that you don't care if they buy it from you or not, then they might work better with you.  If you don't get a good feeling about the deal, then walk away... they might just call you back and agree to your asking price.

In the end, the best thing that comes out of a sale like this is that you get to get rid of some emotional clutter and make money in the process.  No more visual cues of an ex-relationship in front of you and some money in your pocket or applied to debt.  Nothing beats fast cash and getting one step farther from that ex-pain-in-the-@$$.