Theres an add in teh newspaper that they want to buy gold jewelries, sa makati shangrila. Starts tomorrow and ends on saturday. 11am to 5pm.
I recently went to one and would like to share my experience:
My impression is that they look like a legitimate buyer of gold. They buy gold only so don't bother bringing your items with stones/gems.
The set up is that they have a station (the one I went to only had 2 stations and I was the only client). A station would consist of a table, with the appraiser sitting at one side of the table, and on the other side would be 2 chairs for the clients. You will see on the table a desk lamp, weighing scale and a small box for tools. The appraiser would check your pieces by rubbing the gold on a piece of stone and then they put a drop of solution on that stone, later on they will weigh everything to arrive at the total weight. A magnet was also used to check the properties of the pieces.
I have some knowledge about my pieces but what I really wanted was to liquidate them. I have no immediate need for cash but I thought I might as well buy some pieces that I like to wear - like diamond studs.
Anyway, I surmise that because of the overhead expenses (they usually have these at hotels or malls) they cannot give a good price for your gold. To illustrate, the nice mature lady at the station gave an initial appraisal for my items for X amount after finding out the total weight of all my pieces (I had to ask to weigh each piece to find out the individual weight of my pieces). I asked how much is that per gram and she replied that they don't price per gram. Huh?!? I made my own computation per gram, and it would amount to only P430/g for 14k gold!
I said that I found the amount too low and the appraiser inquired how much is my asking price. I said Y amount, (an amount which was a few thousands than X given to me earlier). She asked me if they give my price, will I sell my pieces right then and there. I said I will think about it. Ayoko naman magpa-pressure syempre.
The nice lady told me she would have to check with her boss, so she called her boss and they discussed for a while. Later on, she gave me Z amount which she said is not so far from the market price of gold per gram (around P800/g daw for 14k). So she computed the amount per gram. Medyo na off ako because Z is significantly higher than X (but slightly higher than my Y amount). At this point I realized that this might be a deal leaning in favor the buyers, and unlikely to be a win-win deal
I politely informed the nice lady that I will check first the studs I want to buy so I can find out if I need to shell out extra cash in addition to the Z amount I will get from them.
. I said I will just come back, but the nice lady said she is not sure if her boss will give me Z when I come back. "I understand." I replied.
I have another option for my pieces so I don't think I will come back hehe) but it was a learning experience for me as to how they operate. I stayed for about an hour I think, konting chika pa kasi during the appraisal process.
The bottomline is that you have to know your pieces' worth, and haggle, haggle, haggle. The (best) price per gram difference may be acceptable given the convenience and relative ease of the transaction. Eventually you have to decide if you are willing to bear a little "loss". Your decision will depend on your mindset I guess.
Ayyyy, ang haba!p ng post. Thanks for reading it.
