Selling jewelry is easy, right? Yeah, for the most part! But, things can get confusing when you’re trying to figure out the difference between a pawn shop, gold buyer, and jeweler.

Who pays the most cash?

Who do you trust?

And what-the-heck is a pennyweight? (you can find out here)

The truth is we all do the same thing but in a slightly different way. That slight difference, however, can make a huge impact on your wallet.

There’s Not Much Difference Between a Pawn Shop, Gold Buyer, & Jeweler Except…

Regardless of where you go — even if you hopped on a plane to India — everyone works off the same, basic price point for precious metals. The live market price of gold, also called the spot price, is continuously changing. You can see it here now.

Precious metal buyers determine the karat and weight of your jewelry, then pay you a percentage off the current market value. The difference is how high of a percentage someone chooses to pay you.

Now, this is coming straight from the horse’s mouth. We’ve been in business for over seven years now, and many of our customers have shared stories of how they’ve arrived at selling to us.

On average, our customers say pawn shops offer to pay anywhere from 20%-70% of the value of your items. Jewelers offer to pay anywhere from 40%-75%. And precious metal buyers (like us), pay anywhere from 55%-95%.

You can see those percentages overlap a bit, but the spread for pawn shops is concerning. And jewelers aren’t that much better.

But Who Pays More?

Here’s the thing. Pawn shops are in the business of pawning. And jewelers are in the business of selling.

Pawning is when you take out a loan using your jewelry as collateral. You and the pawnbroker agree on a price, and he holds your items until you pay back the loan plus interest and fees. We recognize this route is good if you need quick, temporary cash and don’t want to sell your jewelry permanently.

However, pawn shops work in high volume, and they have plenty of inventory to keep them busy, so they’re usually willing to take the risk and offer you a lowball price to see if you take it. If you don’t, they may raise the offer, but how do you know that’s not the highest he/she can go?

There’s not the same level of trust, respect, and honesty that you’ll see in a family-run business. Plus, because pawn shops buy everything and the kitchen sink, the staff isn’t trained extensively in precious metals and diamonds, which means your heirloom may not get an accurate valuation.

Jewelers, on the other hand, are in the resale game. Their goal is to purchase your fine jewelry at a lower price, mark it up, and then put it in the display case before the next customer walks in.

In fact, most jewelers only resell jewelry to their customers; not to an extensive wholesale network. This means they may also be selective about what they buy; purchasing only trendy or stylish pieces. And they’re limited on how much cash they can offer you.

Gold Buyers Work Hard to Get You More Cash

Gold buyers work with an extensive, worldwide network of diamond wholesalers, precious metal recycling refineries, antique dealers, and coin buyers to hunt down the highest price for everything from a gold tooth to a Rolex watch.

Because we maintain ongoing relationships with our network, we have a buyer for everything, at any time. For example, our diamonds are often traded in India. And our jewelry is sold in New York. We don’t have to worry how long something will sit in a display case or whether there’s a buyer for what you want to sell.

We can confidently offer you a highly competitive rate without batting an eye. Plus, by specializing in precious metal and diamond buying, we can spend our time training our staff, working one-on-one with customers, and traveling the world to get even higher prices for our customers.

So, as you can see, as in any industry, most of us are working off of the same basic concepts. But, it’s the values of the business, like integrity and honesty, that make a difference in your experience and how much cash you can get for your jewelry.

To learn more about the family behind our business, read our story here. Or LIKE us on Facebook.