Blog How To Cash Out Physical Gold
Assorted gold and other precious metal scrap and jewelry laid over $100 US bills

How To Cash Out Physical Gold

If you’ve been paying attention to gold prices lately, you know that 2024 has been a remarkable year for precious metals. Between the Costco gold rush and multiple record-high prices, it’s been a wild ride for investors. In Q4 alone we’ve seen several big surges. Gold reached a whopping $2,777 per ounce on October 30th, and it’s still holding steady in the $2,600s.

If you’re lucky enough to own some physical gold, this may be the time to cash out and reap a nice return on your investment. There’s no shortage of businesses that are willing to purchase gold – but how do you find a buyer who won’t underpay?

A hand holds gold wedding band , shown through a magnifying glass, with a pearl necklace in the background

Don’t Be Fooled By “Weigh and Pay”

Make sure not to sell your gold to any buyer who uses the “weigh and pay” method to assess the value of your items. Relying solely on weight and rough estimations to assess value is not only inaccurate but often causes sellers to miss out on a substantial portion of their material’s true worth.

While an instant cash exchange may seem enticing, it’s much smarter to wait just a few extra days for a gold refinery to process your items, so you can receive the full value that you deserve.

Sell Your Gold to a Refinery

A precious metal refinery is hands-down the best place to sell your gold. Refineries like Garfield are the final destination in the gold-selling chain. In contrast, cash-for-gold stores, pawn shops, and other gold dealers act as middlemen. They ultimately need to sell your gold to a refinery in order to make a profit. As a result, these middlemen often undervalue your gold to buy it at a discount, ensuring they can profit from reselling it later.

What Will a Refinery Do with My Gold?

Refineries recycle precious metals like gold by melting them down and purifying the material. The refining process removes impurities – such as base metals, organic residues, and other substances – leaving behind the pure precious metal content.

Not only is precious metal recycling a great way to make some extra cash, but it decreases the need for newly-mined metals. Less mining means fewer carbon emissions and less pollution. Refining preserves both value and natural resources. By refining your gold, you can help foster a healthier planet and support a more sustainable supply chain of recycled metals!

Cashing Out Your Gold in 3 Simple Steps

Selling your gold to Garfield Refining couldn’t be easier.

Step 1: download a free, insured shipping label from our website in just a few clicks. If you don’t have a printer, you can always ask an employee at the post office to print it for you.

Step 2: Fill out your payment preference form. When you download your free label from our site, a payment preference form will be included as well. All you have to do is give us a brief description of your items (jewelry, coins, etc.) and specify how you’d like to be paid. We offer payments via check, ACH direct deposits, wire transfers, and even bullion exchange. Payments can be processed as soon as 1-3 days.

Step 3: Ship your gold and get paid! We accept gold and other precious metal scrap in as-is condition, so don’t worry about cleaning or polishing your items before sending them in. Just package your gold in whichever box or shipping materials you have handy. If you need shipping containers for your items, no problem – we can send you some.

The Garfield Refining facilities in Philadelphia

We’ll notify you as soon as we receive your shipment. Once your items are processed, you’ll be provided with a full assay report that shows you a breakdown of the precious metals in your shipment. Depending on what you send in, your shipment may actually contain more than one type of precious metal! Many jewelry and dental alloys, for example, contain both gold and silver. You’ll be paid for each precious metal in your shipment based on current market prices.

Garfield: America’s Trusted Refiner Since 1892

Garfield has been excelling in precious metals refining since 1892. We purchase precious metal watches, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, pins, buttons, cufflinks, flatware, dental caps/crowns and more. Whether you have items containing gold, silver, platinum or palladium, we’ve got you covered.

Our award-winning refinery is family-owned and operated, and we’ve satisfied more than one million customers worldwide. We serve a variety of customers including individual sellers, dentists, jewelers, pawn brokers and more. We’ve even been voted “Best Dental Refiner” by leading dentists for the past 13 years in a row. Check out our reviews to see what people are saying!

Questions about the refining process? Give us a call anytime at 888-804-9716!

Do you have gold, silver, platinum or palladium scrap that you’re ready to sell? Look no further than Garfield to get maximum returns for your metals. Get started today!