A little over a week ago I decided to take advantage of the price on gold and sell off two pieces that I don't need anymore.
One was a man's bracelet that I bought over 30 years ago in San Diego and the other was a company ring with a diamond from a company that I no longer work for.
Learned some interesting things, that I'd like to pass on. First, the price that you hear in the media is for 24k gold. Second, you're not going to get that since whoever buys it from you has to have room to make a profit. Because of that I had a price in mind of $650-$750.
With that in mind I took the 2 pieces (both were 14k) to a pawn shop on 87th Street that says they buy gold. The gentleman there offered me $400. Something just told me not to even bother trying to negotiate.
Then I went to this place over on 76th St and Metcalf that gold buying is their business. Nicely decorated, coffee available , kinda trying to make ya feel at home. The young man there, after going through some gyrations offered me $300. Told him he was crazy. His place was supposed to be a "gold buying store" and a pawn shop just offered me $400. He went through some more gyrations and called "one of the owners". Came back to me with an offer of $500. Told him he was too short and I didn't appreciate his feeble attempt at low balling me.
Then I went to a pawn shop on 75th Street. He was pretty close. He offered me $500 right off the bat, and when I went to negotiate for what I wanted he countered with $575, as the best he could do (gettin' closer) but if I came back the next day the boss might be able to do better. I liked his demeanor.
My next stop was Thompson's Jewelry at 6642 Nieman Rd. Beautiful..........John offered me $600 from the start. Then I asked if he had looked at the diamond (about 1/3 carat). He admitted he had not, he thought I might want it to do something else. When he looked at it, he said he could bump the price another $50. Now he was right in line with what my original self estimate was. We made the deal.
Moral of the story...........do business with local merchants, especially when selling gold. Remember, the prices I was given were as low as $300 to what I finally got, $650 (well, $600 for the gold) . That's a spread.
