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?
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.
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!
Written by
Allie BowmanAllie Bowman is the Content Lead at Garfield Refining, where she translates more than 130 years of precious metals expertise into clear, accurate, and practical content for individual sellers, dental professionals, jewelers, and collectors. A Dean's List graduate of the University of Delaware's Media Communication program, Allie has built her career around making complex subjects accessible to a broad audience. Her experience spans nutrition science, lifestyle magazine publishing, and precious metals refining, giving her a unique ability to transform technical information into engaging, trustworthy content. At Garfield, Allie brings editorial rigor and subject-matter expertise to every piece she produces. She works closely with Garfield's refining specialists and senior leadership to ensure that technical topics - from karat markings and assay methods to precious metals markets and spot price mechanics - are explained with both accuracy and clarity. Since joining Garfield's marketing team, Allie has written extensively on precious metals refining, dental scrap recovery, gold and silver bullion, estate and inherited jewelry, and industry-specific topics for dental and jewelry professionals. All content is reviewed by Garfield's leadership team prior to publication, ensuring it reflects the company's standards for accuracy, transparency, and industry expertise.
Reviewed by
Morgan KerrisseyMorgan Kerrissey is the President of Garfield Refining, one of North America's most longstanding and trusted precious metals refineries. For over two decades, Morgan has built his career at the intersection of commodities markets, metallurgy, and precious metals — earning a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable voices in the refining industry. Morgan joined Garfield in 2008, bringing rigorous operational discipline to a company built on exacting standards since 1892. Named President in 2014, he has guided Garfield through volatile gold, silver, and palladium markets, while modernizing its workforce and technologies and diversifying its metal supply chains. Under his leadership, Garfield has expanded its refining capabilities across the full lifecycle of precious metals recovery, entered new markets, and expanded services while maintaining the same customer forward approach that has made Garfield a mainstay for more than a century. From hedging strategy to daily refinery operations, Morgan commands high levels of technical depth and market fluency. Morgan grew up outside Boston, graduated from Harvard University, and has lived with his family in Philadelphia, PA for almost 20 years.