News

Nov 04, 2024

Seller beware: offers from gold buyers vary widely despite record values

If you have old jewelry or rare coins around the house, you could be sitting on a treasure trove worth thousands of dollars. The price of gold has hit record levels this year, recently valued at

If you have old jewelry or rare coins around the house, you could be sitting on a treasure trove worth thousands of dollars. The price of gold has hit record levels this year, recently valued at around $2,700 for an ounce of 24 karat.

But if you want to take your gold and sell it to a local buyer, beware: not all offers are equal. Some are only offering to pay you a fraction of what your gold is really worth.

The CBS12 News I-Team went undercover and took eight pieces of gold to local buyers to see what they would offer.

Estate buyer Craig Bagon, who owns BlackThorn Estate Buyers and Jewelers in Boca Raton, evaluated our jewelry beforehand and gave us his estimate: $1,722.

"Everything has value," Bagon said. "There is an absolute, intrinsic value to everything you put on the desk for me today."

Bagon explained that gold buyers will look at the purity of the gold, weigh the piece, and calculate the value based on the pennyweight or grams. The gold buyer wants to turn a profit, so they will offer you a price that's below the value. In order to maximize your offer, you should shop around, he said.

We took those same four rings, two pairs of earrings, a bracelet, and a pendant to four gold buyers in our area: two in Palm Beach County and two on the Treasure Coast.

The first stop was Joseph's Jewelry Store in Stuart. While inside, the gold buyer took our pieces into a backroom. A few minutes later, the staff came back with a surprising offer: just $525.

After that, we went to a different jeweler in Stuart: Beryl & Co Jewelers. At this location, the buyer separated the pieces by karat and explained their offer, which was $1,033 -- almost double what Joseph's was offering.

See also:HOMETOWN HEROES: Volunteers helping those in our community with developmental disabilities

For our third stop, the I-Team went south to Palm Beach County. When you Google search "gold buyers" in West Palm Beach, the first result is a shop named Twery's Rare Coins and Jewelry in Greenacres, which claims to offer the highest prices for gold. We wanted to find out if that was true.

Inside Twery's, a gold buyer took a close look at each item, weighed and calculated the pieces in front of us. Then, they came in with the highest offer of the day: $1,175.

When we revealed that we were gathering research for a news story, the owners invited our cameraman inside and agreed to an interview.

"Gold is at an all-time high, and if you have gold, it would be a great time to sell," said Kevin Sepe, Vice President at Twery's.

Sepe said his business is a longtime, family-owned business built on quotes that are fair -- and offers that can beat competitors. He has this advice for anyone looking to sell to the highest bidder:

"Do your research. It's easy to figure out what your gold is worth," Sepe said. "Go to someone reputable. Read reviews online. Make sure they've been in business a long time, and figure out what you are selling."

I-Team reporter Danielle DaRos asked: "If someone were to offer me just a couple hundred bucks for this gold, was I being ripped off?"

"Absolutely," he said. "A fair profit -- 10 to 20 percent. A 100 percent profit is not fair. Offering half of value is not good karma, and it's not good business."

The I-Team wanted to get one more quote on our gold, so we drove just down the road to Lake Worth Gold Mine in Lake Worth.

Their buyer also spent time sorting, weighing, and quoting the gold. Their first offer was $1,050. When we told them we had another offer of $1,175, they were willing to offer up to $1,200.

Before the day was done, we wanted to follow up with the first two buyers on the Treasure Coast to let them know about our story, and where their offers stacked up against the rest. We had questions for Joseph's, after their offer came in one thousand dollars under value.

"As a scrap dealer, we are allowed to as a business it’s legitimate, we are allowed to sell it for pennyweight prices," an employee at Joseph's told us over the phone. "I don’t know where you went but if you got double the price that’s great. Go for it. We’re not holding you back from that."

Find more ways to stay up to date with your latest local news. Sign up for our newsletter to get the day's top headlines delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the biggest stories and can't miss video.