# Buying jewelry off ebay?



## LaurenceOs

Is it a waste of time or what? 

There's always loads and loads of it on there and its always supprisingly cheap.


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## qst42know

Define cheap. 

Cheap by retail standards perhaps but calculate the scrap value before you bid. The majority of auctions meet or exceed scrap value. You can get a good buy once and a while, but they are not easy to find.


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## LaurenceOs

qst42know said:


> calculate the scrap value before you bid.


If only i knew how lol.

cheap 99p ($1.50) for a curb chain necklace

I just bought a few vials of gold leaf, just to see what they yield. Prolly didnt give it enough thought lol.


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## goldsilverpro

The so-called gold leaf contains no gold, 99% of the time. You should have read the many posts on the subject before you leaped.

Cheap is a clue that it's worthless. Most everything goes for top dollar. The buyers are pretty wise, although many overbid.


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## qst42know

I wish you had searched the forum on those fake gold vials. Several members have failed to find any gold in them.

This page covers the basic markings.

http://www.utilisegold.com/jewellery_technology/caratage/

You still need to beware of fraudulent marks.


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## LaurenceOs

Lol they were only a few quid guys, i wont lose any sleep 

Since you're all chatting on here, does anyone wanna post me a link where i can actually buy Nitric acid?...... I'm still failing to find it, i've found some sites but they wont sell to private individuals.


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## Oz

Other than the tips I and others have given you in another thread I have no clue. There is a someone on here in GB that gets nitric and has helped others there get it but I do not remember his screen name.


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## LaurenceOs

I think its that buzz fella, i'll see what he's saying.


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## dogger brian

try http://www.hswalsh.com £12.36 for 1.42 s.g dont buy the 1 ltr as you will pay a furtune for the postage you will need id and you will have to pick up as they won't post to you.. good luck on ebay as you will be up against the best of the gamblers im one of them some you win :lol: some you lose


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## patnor1011

I dont think that one can buy gold with good price on ebay anymore... especially not after this economic meltdown thing start. however I remember that I bought few antique gold working wrist watch and about 30+ gold rings for less than gold value in them. that happened 4 years ago in heights of economic boom and all my good priced gold purchases happened when I bid for lots or bulk auctions like 5 watches or 10 rings and such... when all hell broke loose with goldman sachs and ING I noticed that gold mostly disappeared from ebay and if not it was priced well over spot price... It is slowly begin to normalize but I doubt that we can buy gold below spot there in this times...


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## LaurenceOs

Agreed, im just looking at all avenues for a constant supply of scrap for refining. So far unsuccessful


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## Strider

buying PM is probably useless, it might be a scam unless it costs over 200$, but still...you wanna be sure that you know what you're buying...go for tungsten carbide or titanium rings


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## Anonymous

i bought some of the gold flake on ebay and the vials to put it in. it is good for a conversation piece and something unusual to to give to friends. or maybe sell at fleamarket. huelo


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## Strider

Is it real gold? I saw some cool stuff on ebay but I don't have a paypal


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## butcher

Ebay when starting this hobbie can cost more than you will make from it, try and find almost free sources of electronic scrap till you really get a handle on processes and buying to the recovery costs and your up to speed in this field, get the practice first with junk then start thinking karate gold, the electronics are some of the trashy stuff but give you a good feel for how to deal with these metals and problems you may encounter, with the good stuff.
learning to buy is harder for me than learning to refine, but either one can cost more than you can make. and when you start out you can spend alot for materials, learn the work arounds (like making nitric or ferrous sulfate), use second hand stores and grocery/hardware stores for chemistry supply (like for coffee pots hot plates jars and chemicals). 
dont be tempted by ebay


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## stihl88

The best way i have found to buy Gold off ebay is to do a search for "Scrap Gold" in the search box and lot's of things will come up in the search. Try not to go for anything that has brooches, pendants and stones in them and if your only just starting out then i would suggest to just go for the Necklace and Bracelet items, try and just stick with the 9k chains as they are faster to refine without having to inquart with silver etc... I just break the chain links up into small 1mm pieces and attack with Nitric Acid...

Try and avoid buying brand new gold chains off ebay as you will pay a premium for them and theres a likely chance that they could also be counterfeit. Always ask for the weight of the item, most will give the weight details when dealing in scrap items anyhow. 

Once the weight and Karat are identified then do a quick calculation over here: http://www.dendritics.com/scales/metal-calc.asp for the total value that item of jewelery is worth in Gold. Bid on lots of items and don't be tempted to go over the spot price of Gold just because you have to have that ITEM... Just wait another day and something similar will pop up again. I try and buy for 80-90% of spot price and sometimes you will get it cheaper. 

Ive bid on approx 20 items the past few days and have only won 1 of those items, however i have made money on that item and if your willing to spend the big bucks you chances are better on winning an item and coming out ahead when buying the scrap gold.

I might even create a thread on some of the items ive purchased and a tutorial on how I process them if anyones interested.
Don't expect an Alchemist type tutorial as i'm still learning how to do all this refining 

Good Luck and happy Bidding.


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## eeTHr

stihl88;



stihl88 said:


> I might even create a thread on some of the items ive purchased and a tutorial on how I process them if anyones interested.



Yes, I'd like to see that.


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## stihl88

Great, i'll see what i can put together. I don't process much so it might be a while before i can get it all together...

Stay tuned


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## Strider

Take your time! I will eat popcorn till then =)


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## CR2008

LaurenceOs said:


> Is it a waste of time or what?
> 
> There's always loads and loads of it on there and its always supprisingly cheap.



I would not say so... a few times I was able to pay 50-60% melt on ebay... not to common though. 90%+ of auctions will be more 75% melt and to many even above melt for damaged solid gold jewelry... crazy. Either way IMHO, ebay is worth a look, it feels good to win an auction and pay 1/2 melt.


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## Anonymous

Two reasons I like Ebay.

First: It is a source and like any sources there are good deals and not so good. Bid low and hope for the best.

Second: It's a great way to network. Yea, you might have to pay a high price on an item, but it can open doors for a steady supply of product. 
I've done this on several purchases where I now buy on the side and pay less.


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## Fournines

Maybe I'm missing something, or I'm not searching properly, but usually never see scrap on ebay selling for below melt value.

For example...this auction that just ended
http://cgi.ebay.com/48-7-Grams-of-10Kt-14Kt-Wearable-and-Scrap-Gold_W0QQitemZ200389063527QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea81e7367&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_561wt_1110

This auction sold for $851.42 + $5.00 s/h
7.4g of 10k and 41.3g of 14k.
I would calculate this to be worth $843.91 at 100% of its melt value with gold at $1003.50

This auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCRAP-14k-10k-JEWELRY-RING-PENDANT-CHARMS-EARRINS_W0QQitemZ220488369813QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3356218695&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_602wt_1110

Went for $261 + $5 s/h. Calculated to be worth $274.....however there are some stones in the jewelry that are included in that weight.

http://cgi.ebay.com/14K-LOT-SCRAP-WEARABLE-GOLD_W0QQitemZ270463757315QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCoins_Bullion?hash=item3ef8e56c03&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_500wt_1125

Sold for $1135 ...worth $1107

I just can't see anything being sold for less than melt...there are too many people who are willing to bid things up past their melt value.

Plus the uncertainty of buying gold without being able to check it yourself....



CR2008 said:


> LaurenceOs said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is it a waste of time or what?
> 
> There's always loads and loads of it on there and its always supprisingly cheap.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would not say so... a few times I was able to pay 50-60% melt on ebay... not to common though. 90%+ of auctions will be more 75% melt and to many even above melt for damaged solid gold jewelry... crazy. Either way IMHO, ebay is worth a look, it feels good to win an auction and pay 1/2 melt.
Click to expand...


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## dogger brian

look out for spelling misprints this one went cheep if it was 9ct gold
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200390845583&category=97665


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## Buzz

There are also plenty of speculators who are prepared to gamble with the price of Gold.

If you listen to the background noise, there's plenty of push for $1200 - $1300 oz by the end of the year.

The guys paying over melt prices for their scrap are just gambling that the price will go up.
Even if it doesn't reach $1200, i can't see it falling by much from where it is now so they have a fairly
safe bet.

Given a choice, i know what i would rather have hidden under my floorboards! 

Regards
Buzz


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## metatp

Fournines said:


> I just can't see anything being sold for less than melt...there are too many people who are willing to bid things up past their melt value.



If some is paying over spot for scrap gold, why not buy something nicer. I have been buying my wife some gold rings, and I pay just over or just under spot for the gold. Now it is not just scrap, but a nice ring too. Doesn't seem to work for earrings. They go much higher.

Tom


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## DRP270

Hope it is OK to dredge up an old thread for my first post.

I have been doing this lately and it is the same as you describe; some items go for 100% or more of gold (when including shipping costs) but most are right at 95%. There is a buyer there that must be making 3,000 posts a month and is usually bidding 95% although sometimes wins at a lower rate. I can only guess this is a refiner just looking to get gold to fill the current demand. I usually bid up to 90% and have got a few items but in all my following it is rare for something to go below 90% and it is usually not much below that when it does. I have never seen anything go for 50-80% unless it was a suspect item but I do not track too many suspect items.


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## markqf1

It's all a matter of $.
If you can make two or three percent in 30 days, it could be real profitable over time.

Mark


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## qst42know

When you look at these auctions you see what they are made of (10k-14k gold). Others may see what they are made into (locket, ring, chain, etc.).

What some consider scrap others consider inventory for flea markets and antique shows. Collector value may often far exceed scrap value often by several times. 

There are collectors out there for just about anything. :mrgreen:


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## patnor1011

ah.. 3 years ago in height of economic boom I was getting mostly 9kt gold watches and rings mostly in lots well below 50% spot. I still have quite few which I left for my sweet wife...


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## Colster

dogger brian said:


> look out for spelling misprints this one went cheep if it was 9ct gold
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200390845583&category=97665



Not checked the link. Was it a budgerigar?


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## dogger brian

If it was it was getting cold


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## Colster

LaurenceOs said:


> Lol they were only a few quid guys, i wont lose any sleep
> 
> Since you're all chatting on here, does anyone wanna post me a link where i can actually buy Nitric acid?...... I'm still failing to find it, i've found some sites but they wont sell to private individuals.



Ebay item number 250532594347 8)


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## EVO-AU

Colster: Late as usual, but found your bit about purchasing Nitric Acid. I have purchased from Action Mining, but they drop - ship from California and the shipping and hazmat fee is horrendous. I now purchase my chemicals from Elemental Scientific in Wisconsin. Minimum order is $25.00, but their catalog is kind of nice. They are on-line. Phill


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## ILikeBoats

There is supposedly up to 10 or 15% "cashback" offered by searching for "nintendo wii" on ebay, getting offered a cashback link, then using that link to do a "buy it now" on whatever item you actually want to buy. On another board people are bragging about buying silver coins under spot price by using this method; it might well work for jewelry as well.


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## patnor1011

not working now, I doubt that it was real even...


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## bid_slayer88

I beg to differ SELLING MISS PRINTS MAN!!  land some nice 1/20 g/f and some 1/10 to add to my collection


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