BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Fashion Jewelry What can I expect when selling gold jewlery?

My elderly father recently lost his wife and he now wants to sell some of her gold jewlery. It consistes of one very nice bracelet and assorted gold chains, charms and bracelets that are okay, but nothing special. He got it appraised and asked me to try selling it on ebay for him. I have never tried to sell gold jewlery before and really don't know what to expect. I think he is being unreasonable because he wants to sell it as a set/lot for no less than the appraisial price. I tried talking him into selling the items individually because I think he has a better shot at selling some pieces over others. I also don't think it is realistic for him to think that he can get the apprisial price. Typically I never pay full price for any fine jewlery and my understanding is that it will usually apprise for more that you paid. Please send any feedback, suggestions or ideas. What should I tell him he can expect when trying to sell the items? Can he even sell the items as jewlery or just expect the weight in gold price?

HI

Maybe you can look on ebay and see what other items are being sold for, I only look for particular pieces, I was just bidding on a pair of earrings but i got outbid.

Have a look and see, let me know how you get on
hugs
Rubyju

Hi Chique,

I agree. The thing to do is search on eBay for similar gold jewelry, add those listings to your "watch list" there, and then wait and see how the bidding goes for them.

With the recent increase in gold prices, there have been some companies starting to advertise that they will buy unwanted jewelry - you just mail it to them in an envelope and they pay you (I believe) based on karat and actual weight.

I'm a little suspicious of those companies. They are obviously making a profit, or their business plan wouldn't work. I'd definitely try to sell the jewelry as jewelry before selling it as gold to be melted down. Jewelry is nearly always much more valuable as jewelry than as its component metal.

It's difficult to say whether you'd have better luck selling the jewelry as a set or individually. That often depends on the jewelry designs. Sometimes you can include a less-desirable piece with more-desirable ones and make more money overall, even though the buyer really wants the more-desirable pieces.

As for price, you could always list them at the appraised price on eBay and see what happens. If they don�t sell, you can list them again for a little lower, and keep going from there until they sell. I would definitely state in the item description that the jewelry has been appraised for X amount, and whether you can include the appraisal papers with the sale.

I'm curious to see how things go. If you have a chance, please post again and let us know how it's going!

Chris

Even better, search on ebay, then go down the left side and find where you can click "completed listings" and then click search; this lets you search past listings to see how they've done.

I can tell you jewelry doesn't usually do that well on ebay (I work in a store that sells things on ebay on consignment for customers and that's been our experience). You might be better off looking into other venues first; see if jewelry stores or private buyers might be interested.

Also keep in mind that jewelry is almost guaranteed not to make its appraisal or original purchase price on ebay. Appraisers often mark the value way up artificially.