Dealers across the country are eager to buy your gold. Gold prices are near record highs, above $800 an ounce, but how do you know if you're going to get a good deal?
To find out, INSIDE EDITION's Senior Investigative Correspondent Matt Meagher asked master appraiser and jewelry expert Don Palmieri, of Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL), to assemble a collection of gold, 23 pieces in all, for INSIDE EDITION to try to sell. Each piece was weighed and analyzed with precision instruments to determine gold content, and laser etched for identification purposes.
Based on the going rate for gold at the time, Palmieri and a second independent expert told INSIDE EDITION we should receive from about $975 to $1,200 for all the gold.
INSIDE EDITION hit the streets with hidden cameras to sell the gold. First stop was New York's famous jewelry district.
One dealer offered $1,153.
Another dealer offered $1,100 and when Meagher declined, he was willing to pay even more. "If we can negotiate, maybe, between $1,200 and $1,400, I might be interested," he said.
However, some dealers offered much less. One offered just $676 for the gold. But almost every time INSIDE EDITION declined an offer, out came the calculator, and a better offer.
One New Jersey dealer made four different offers in less than two minutes, going from $700 to $900.
But surprisingly, the dealer that offered the least for the gold was Cash4Gold, perhaps the best known company out there. Cash4Gold.com says they're America's number one gold buyer. In their commercials, the company claims "Cash4Gold is able to give you top dollar for your unwanted jewelry."
The company, located in Florida, says they can do it because they melt the gold themselves. The company tells its customers to mail in their unwanted gold, so INSIDE EDITION did just that.
Cash4Gold's offer of just $209.81 was far from top dollar, it was the lowest of all those received.
GCAL's expert Don Palmieri laughed when Meagher showed him what Cash4Gold said the jewelry was worth.
Cash4Gold defended their valuation of the gold. In a statement to INSIDE EDITION, they said they use "a high end X-ray technology" that is "far more accurate" than other methods. They cited their 100% satisfaction guarantee, which says they will return a customers' gold if they're not satisfied with the offer.
When INSIDE EDITION called to turn down their offer, the company nearly doubled it instantly to more than $400, still significantly lower than any other offer.
Cash4Gold says they have hundreds of thousands of satisfied and repeat customers. But, just this week, the Better Business Bureau gave the company their worst rating, an "F."
Donald Palmieri offers the following tips to people considering selling their gold jewelry.
• Only sell pieces with no sentimental value.
• Only sell gold jewelry for scrap if the pieces are in poor condition. Pieces in good condition can sometimes be sold as estate jewelry for more money.
• Do your homework. Know as much about your jewelry as possible, including its weight and karat grade. If possible, have your jewelry appraised by an independent appraiser.
• Remove any precious gems before selling your jewelry to a refiner.
• Don't take the first offer you receive. Visit several dealers to get the best offer you can.
• Start with a local, trusted jeweler.