With gold prices at all-time highs, now’s an excellent time to consider selling any old gold jewellery you may have sitting in your drawers at home — and it’s an even better time considering just how many companies are willing to buy it from you without you even having to travel further than the local post office.
Selling gold online isn’t only possible; it’s also often more lucrative and straightforward than selling in person. With that said, it’s important for anyone considering selling their prized gold that they work with the right online gold buyer. In this post, we’ll look at a few key aspects to look for when making your decision.
Physical Premises
This is an article about selling gold online, but we think it’s important to mention physical premises, too. Some companies only buy online, whereas others provide the option to sell online or in person. Even if you decide to take the online route for convenience, it can be highly reassuring to know that there’s a physical location you could visit should you run into any issues. That’s not to say that any company without a physical store is dishonest, but it does pose additional — and unnecessary — risk for the seller.
Free Kit
The best online gold buyers don’t just offer great prices; they also make the process as straightforward as possible. If a company offers a free kit, then that’s a good indication that they’ve thought about the customer’s experience.
This kit will typically include an enveloped, pre-paid postage label and a security seal. This will allow you to send your gold in the post to the company, which will then evaluate the contents and make an offer. Make sure that the kit is fully insured, so that you’re covered if anything goes wrong during transit.
Transparent Evaluations
Gold quotes can vary widely. Some sound too good to be true, because they are. Others are lowball offers intended to get you to part with your prized gold at bargain-basement rates. The best gold buyers provide fully transparent offers, outlining exactly how much you will receive for your gold and, just as importantly, how they’ve come to that rate.
Be wary of any company that appears to pick a number at random, without explaining how they reached that valuation. You’ll also typically find that a reputable gold buyer will have a gold calculator feature on its website, which, while not binding, will give you some idea of how much you can expect from your gold before you go through the shipping process.
No Pressure Offers
If a buyer is putting you under pressure to accept their offer or using aggressive tactics, then run a mile. A good buyer will be professional and will allow you to take your time to accept or deny the offer. If you deny, then there’ll be no repercussions. Most buyers typically make their offers available for around 48 hours, giving you a couple of days to decide whether the offer is right for you.
Excellent Customer Service
Quality customer service can make all the difference to your experience of working with a gold buying company.
Even if you don’t end up accepting the offer, knowing that you can get in touch with any questions or queries can put your mind at rest that you’re not dealing with an anonymous, opportunistic company, but that you’re speaking with real, live professionals who know what they’re talking about. And it becomes even more important if you do decide to sell, since it’s always good to know exactly what’s happening with your gold and your payment.
Secure Processes
A good buyer will understand how important your gold is to you, and will make sure that it’s safe every step of the way. We already mentioned how good companies include insurance with their free kits, but they’ll also include it for every other stage, too, such as when it’s in their possession and, if necessary, it’s returned to you if you decide not to proceed.
You can also have confidence that the evaluators at these companies will handle your gold with care, ensuring that it remains in the same condition as when it was originally packaged by you.
Same Day Payments
Some gold companies are quick to make offers, and not so quick to make payments should you accept. Those ones are best avoided. When you’re selling your gold, you don’t want to be waiting any longer than necessary to receive your payment — and in an age when there are so many great buyers out there, you don’t need to.
Some gold buyers promise to make payments on the very same day that you accept their offer. This is especially important for people who are looking to sell their gold quickly; in some cases, you could find that you’ve not only sold your gold within a matter of days, but that the money is in your bank account.
Good Reviews
The experience of previous customers can tell you a lot about how likely it is that you’ll have a positive experience working with a gold buying company. If a company has plenty of positive reviews that go into detail about what was so great about them, then that’s a green flag. Pay particular attention to the things that matter, such as the quality of the customer service, how efficient the process was, and whether they received an offer that matched what they were expecting/hoping for.
No Hidden Fees
Hidden fees are the bane of everything, and unfortunately, this trend has infiltrated the online gold buying market. Some will charge for insurance, shipping, or even payment fees. Those companies, of course, are to be avoided at all costs.
The best gold buyers will have no hidden fees whatsoever, or, in fact, any fees at all. Shipping your items will be free, their evaluations will be free, returns (if necessary) will be free, and receiving your money, should you decide to sell, will be free. The only way the money flows will be to you.