Refining & Selling

You've sorted your pile, you know your karats, and you've watched the live gold price tick for a week. Now comes the decision that moves the most money: where you sell. The same 14K chain can fetch $1,600 at a dealer with refinery connections and $940 at the pawn shop two blocks away — a 5–15 point spread bigger than the gap between 14K and 18K.

Four real options: local coin shops, mail-in refiners, jewelry stores, pawn shops. The right one depends on lot size. Under $1,000 melt value is a coin-shop trip — the refiner's better percentage doesn't outweigh shipping risk and a 7–10 day wait. Over $5,000, mail-in wins on math even after the wait. In between is preference. Jewelers and pawn shops are edge cases.

The four places you can sell precious metals

Every legitimate buyer uses the same payout formula: weight × purity × spot × buyer's factor. The factor is what changes between venues. A bullion dealer pays close to spot because they resell whole; a refiner pays slightly less because they melt and assay; a pawn shop pays half because they're absorbing risk on inventory they don't want. Here's the lay of the land:

Picking between the top two is arithmetic. On a $4,000 lot of mixed 14K, a coin shop at 92% pays $3,680; a refiner at 96% pays $3,840. That $160 gap is the cost of skipping insured shipping and a 7-day rejection window. If you'd rather have $3,680 today than $3,840 next Friday, that's a rational call. The math flips at scale: on a $20,000 estate lot, four points is $800 — and now the wait is paying you $100/day to be patient.

The factor itself tracks how clean your lot is. Stamped, sorted-by-karat lots with no broken solder pay near the top of each band; mixed unstamped jewelry with stones still in settings pays toward the bottom. The rules for what determines that factor are the same regardless of venue — see the grades and purity page. And confirm your weights are in troy ounces, not avoirdupois, on the basics page.

How a mail-in refiner actually works

The flow is straightforward. You request an insured shipping kit (reputable refiners send it free, with a label rated for $5,000–$25,000). You photograph and weigh every piece on a calibrated scale before sealing the kit. The refiner receives, logs, weighs against your inventory, and runs an XRF scan to spot-check purity. For lots over a few troy ounces, they'll fire-assay a melted sample for actual gold content, then quote within 24–72 hours.

You accept or reject. This is the part that matters. Reputable refiners hold your material un-melted for a 5–10 day decision window and ship it back free if you decline. Disreputable ones melt on receipt — which means by the time their lowball quote arrives, your jewelry is a puddle and your only leverage is small-claims court. The "don't melt until I accept" clause is the entire deal. Never ship to a refiner whose terms allow melt-on-receipt without explicit written consent.

Risk is manageable: pick a known operator, ship insured to the lot's value, document everything before it leaves the house. Our selling guide walks through documentation in more detail.

Vetting a buyer in 10 minutes

Before you ship a $5,000 lot, run this list. Each item is a one-minute check.

• BBB rating and complaint history — anything below A is a flag. The BBB business search shows individual complaints; pay attention to whether the company responded.
• Reviews from two years ago AND the last month — a sudden quality drop on Trustpilot or Google often signals an ownership change. A 4.7-star average from 2023 means nothing if the last 30 days are 2.1.
• Published payout schedule — if they don't show their math (weight × purity × spot × factor), assume they're hiding something. Reputable refiners post factors openly, sometimes graduated by lot size.
• Track-record names — Garfield Refining, Midwest Refineries, NPMEX, and Provident Metals are historically reliable mail-in players. Not personal endorsements; do your own diligence each time. Regional refiners are listed in our vendors directory.
• Insured return shipping — never ship valuable lots uninsured. The kit's insurance value should match or exceed your lot's melt value, and the return label (if you reject) carries the same.
• Sales-tax handling — a buyer who can't speak coherently about their state's bullion-tax rules probably can't speak coherently about your payout either.
• Test with a small lot first — for a first-time mail-in to any refiner, send $200–$300 before you send $5,000. The 7-day round trip is cheap insurance.
• Melt-hold policy in writing — confirm by email, before you ship, that they will not melt until you've accepted the quote. Save the email.

Reddit and forum reviews on operators like Garfield and Midwest are unusually candid — the dollar amounts are big enough that people remember exactly what happened. Worth twenty minutes.

What to expect at a coin shop counter

A coin-shop transaction is five minutes. The dealer weighs your pieces on a calibrated scale (verify the calibration sticker — reputable shops welcome the question), confirms karat with a magnet or acid kit if the stamp isn't trustworthy, checks spot, and quotes a per-gram price for each karat. You can counter-offer; splitting the difference between their first number and your math is normal.

Bring a photo ID. Most US states require precious-metal dealers to record seller info above a threshold (often $500), and many impose a 7–14 day hold before resale — that's regulation, not a negotiating tactic. Ask whether they're paying cash or check; some shops cap cash payouts.

If your lot includes anything with numismatic value above melt — pre-1933 US gold, MS-graded coins, key dates — a coin shop is the right venue and a refiner is wrong. Don't melt anything with a collector premium. For unit conversions and the magnet/acid quick-check, see the basics page and our purity rundown.

Sales tax, IRS reporting, and large-cash thresholds

US tax handling has three threads. First, sales tax on purchase varies by state — some exempt investment-grade bullion, others tax it like any retail item. This rarely affects you when selling, but it explains why interstate buyers quote differently. Second, dealers file IRS Form 1099-B on a narrow list of sales: 25+ troy oz silver, 1+ kg gold bars, and specific coin quantities (Krugerrands, Maple Leafs, and Mexican Onzas are reportable; American Eagles aren't). The dealer reports automatically.

Third, cash transactions over $10,000 trigger IRS Form 8300, filed within 15 days. None of this changes your underlying obligation: capital gains above basis are taxable as collectibles (currently capped at 28% federal for individuals), whether or not the dealer files paperwork. Not tax advice — see a CPA for anything substantial. Our selling guide covers sale-side documentation in more detail.

Red flags that mean walk away

If any of these show up, the rest of the conversation isn't worth having.

• Won't quote in writing — verbal numbers don't survive contact with reality. A reputable buyer hands you a line-item quote.
• Wants to weigh and assess off-camera — out of sight means you can't see the scale, the test, or what got swapped. Insist on the whole process at the counter.
• Sub-spot pricing without explanation — any quote below 75% of melt for solid pieces is shady. Even pawn shops floor around 50%; below that is predatory.
• High-pressure same-day cash bonuses — "sell now and we'll add 10%" is a tactic, not an offer. Legitimate buyers don't rush you.
• Hand-written receipts only — a printed line item with license number, weights, karats, and per-gram math is the minimum. Hand-scrawled is a setup for a dispute you can't win.
• Refusal to verify with third-party assay — for lots over a few thousand dollars, you should be able to request fire-assay against the eventual sale. A refusal tells you who you're dealing with.

To find vetted buyers without trawling BBB from scratch, our near-me directory is a starting point. Call two or three before you drive — payout factors on the same lot can vary 4–6 points across shops in the same city.

Frequently asked questions