Earn Extra Cash By Hunting For And Selling Gold

Are you looking for some extra cash and aren't afraid of putting in a little effort to earn it? If you also enjoy the thrill of the hunt, then becoming a scrap gold seller can up your income and double as a lucrative hobby. The following guide can help you get started.

Know where to look

The most obvious place for most people to find scrap gold is their own jewelry box, where outdated jewelry, single earrings, and broken necklaces reside. Of course, this is a finite source, so you need to find some other outlets. The following list can get you started:

  • Anywhere that junk jewelry is sold. This includes garage sales, charity thrift stores, flea markets, and estate sales. Many people aren't aware that the junky or broken looking jewelry they are selling contains real gold (and perhaps silver or copper, as well), so you can often find deals or even buy whole bags of the junk.

  • Old electronics are also a good source of scrap gold, as it is used as a conductor in some electronic boards. Old remotes, stereo amplifiers, VCRs and other media players, and radios. You will need to learn how to take apart these electronics to harvest the gold and other precious metals, but an internet search on a site such as YouTube will generally reveal plenty of step-by-step videos for almost any type of device.

  • Learn to spot real gold leaf. This is commonly found on frames, statuary and knick-knacks, and some plateware and flatware. Although it is just a thin layer, you can often harvest several ounces from a frame or two, making it worth your while.

Spot the real stuff

Once you know where to look, the next step is knowing how to tell if the gold is real. Jewelry items are usually easy to spot, because they will have a stamp somewhere saying how many karats of gold the piece contains. This isn't fool-proof, though, since older jewelry or refashioned jewelry may not be stamped.

When you are looking for gold at garage sales and similar, the magnet test is the simplest and least obvious test. Gold isn't magnetic, but keep in mind that clasps or charms on a piece may not be gold while the chain is. Gold also won't develop rust, although it may darken and tarnish.

For more advice, contact a gold buyer in your area.


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