Craigslist can be a great option for selling your gold jewelry. It’s free, and you can reach a lot of interested jewelry buyers quickly. However, there are several things you should know before attempting to sell gold jewelry on craigslist.

First, we’ll cover a few basics. Posting anything for sale on craigslist is pretty simple. Just go to www.craigslist.org and make sure to find the correct country/state/city where you’d like to advertise. Near the upper left of the webpage, there is a link to “post to classifieds.” Click there, and proceed through the menus, selecting the correct category of your item and following the instructions.

Tip #1: Always post pictures if you can. Products with pictures sell faster. If you don’t own a digital camera, find a friend that does and borrow it. If you are selling anything of value, especially gold and gemstone jewelry, potential buyers will need to see pictures. Even beyond showing a buyer what the product looks like, decent pictures show that you are serious about selling your jewelry and care enough about it to take the time to do it right.

Tip #2: If you had your jewelry appraised, include a photo of the appraisal receipt in the craigslist posting. This helps assure buyers the jewelry is worth what you claim it is worth.

Tip #3: Mention whether or not the price is negotiable. If you don’t include this, you will scare away some potential buyers that either think your initial price is too high, or they will try to haggle when you are firm on the price, and they will end up disappointed and not very likely to buy.

Tip #4: Be careful about posting personal information in your post. If you are selling a highly valuable pice of jewelry, do not put your address in the post since it will tell would-be thieves where their next target could be.

Tip #5: Finish the sale in person if possible. This ensures that you will receive cash for your gold jewelry. If the buyer wants to pay with a check, don’t hesitate to tell them to go to a bank to cash it first. Meeting in person also guarantees that the person can’t later claim that they never received the jewelry.

Tip #6: If you are selling a valuable piece of jewelry, it never hurts to bring a friend along to ensure you aren’t taken advantage of. Consider arranging the meeting in a public place so the buyer won’t know where you live.

Tip #7: If you must complete the sale long distance, make sure you receive payment before shipping anything. Also, when you do ship, spend the extra few dollars for shipping insurance and certified receipt, so the buyer has to sign for the shipment. This gives you guaranteed proof that the sale was completed and the buyer received the shipment. If the buyer later claims that the piece was damaged, they will be on very shaky legal footing since they signed and acknowledged receipt of the jewelry.

Tip #8: If you’re selling an especially rare piece of gold jewelry or just want to sell it quickly, you might want to post on a few of the nearby large cities. However, you won’t just be able to copy/paste your other ad. Craigslist checks for identical postings so you’ll have to change some of the wording. Also, be up front about whether you’re from the actual city you’re posting in and whether or not special arrangements will have to be made to complete the sale.

Tip #9: As always, when dealing on craiglist, be careful about e-mail spammers and shady, fraudulent links sent to you via e-mail. Never give any personal data to any link from a craigslist reply. In fact, if a reply has any type of link, it is usually a scam.

Tip #10: Posting will usually expire within a week. Keep a copy of your post on your computer so you can easily repost it when the time is right.

Remember, you also have other options. Craigslist can be free and fun if you do it correctly and carefully. However, there are other, easier options (though not necessarily free). Many people prefer Ebay for online selling and local jewelry stores can give you good prices for your gold jewelry.

If you are experiencing any type of rash, red, pink, or blue skin discoloration, itching, burning sensation, or a general skin breakout from wearing your gold jewelry, chances are you are allergic to one or more of the metals that make up your jewelry. By far that most common culprit is nickel. About 1 in 8 people worldwide have a nickel allergy. Other common terms for this are Contact Dermatitis and Nickel Dermatitis.

Nickel is present in all types of gold and silver jewelry. Since pure gold and pure silver are too soft for many types of jewelry, nickel, zinc and copper are mixed with the pure precious metal to give the jewelry the desired characteristics fro the jeweler. Nickel is also commonly mixed with platinum, white gold, gold-plated jewelry and even costume jewelry.

Occasionally people are actually allergic to gold, but it is far more common that the nickel is what is actually causing the allergic reaction.

Everyone is different in terms of their sensitivity to nickel. Some can comfortably wear jewelry with some amount of nickel in it, while others get allergic reactions when any nickel at all is present. Also, it’s important to realize that people’s allergies change over time. You might be able to wear jewelry with some nickel content for most of your life, and then one day you notice a bad rash from the very same jewelry.

Perspiration commonly makes the situation worse. Sweat comes out of the skin and reacts with the nickel in the jewelry, dissolving it. This creates a nickel salt compound which can produce strong skin reactions when you are allergic to nickel.

Fresh piercings are especially apt to exhibit reactions. Since the skin has been punctured, the nickel can come in direct contact with the open wound. If you just had a fresh piercing, use a stainless steel fitting instead of a gold one until the wound is completely healed.

Even leftover soap and water can become a problem, especially if you wear earrings or rings into the shower. The water and soap washes away the protective skin oils and allows the nickel in the jewelry to come into direct contact with the skin. Either remove your jewelry before washing or rinse and dry very thoroughly wherever you are wearing your jewelry. Household cleansers can do the same thing so make sure to remove your jewelry before using household cleaning products.
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Tips to Eliminate Jewelry Allergies

1. Use talcum powder where you tend to sweat on your jewelry. This will absorb some of your sweat and keep you drier longer.
2. Wear loose fitting jewelry. Rings and necklaces should have a small gap between the jewelry and your skin so that air can pass through, keeping the area dry and sweat free
3. Clear nail polish can be applied to your jewelry, especially on the side that is nost often in contact with your skin. This seals the nickel in the jewelry and prevents direct contact with your skin.
4. Professional jewelers can usually offer a good solution if you want to continue to wear the same jewelry. They can put a coating of palladium, rhodium or some other metal over your jewelry to seal the nickel inside while still maintaining the bright shine that you love.
5. Buy jewelry of higher purity. If you have problems wearing 14k gold, try 18k or 22k gold. Purer jewelry will cost a bit more, but it pales in comparison to the feeling of wearing jewelry that gives you confidence and keeps you allergy free.

Also read:
Why Is My Jewelry Turning My Skin Green? | How To Prevent Gold Jewelry From Discoloring Your Skin

Why Does My Jewelry Give Me A Rash? | How To Prevent Rashes From Gold Jewelry

The Consumerist recently had a series of articles focusing on the online, mail-in gold buyer, Cash4Gold. You may have seen some of their commercials, most notably, their Super Bowl commercial featuring MC Hammer and Ed Mcmahon. Cash4Gold even goes so far as to call itself the “World’s #1 Gold Buyer.”

The company has recently found itself at the center of some major controversy resulting from the claims made by a former employee, a blogger, and some investigative trials of their services. Here’s what the former employee has claimed:

• Cash4Gold intentionally took longer than necessary to process gold and send the initial offer after they receive the gold.
• Employees doing the testing experienced very hazardous working conditions due to poor ventilation and the chemicals used to test the gold. Also the “company was temporarily closed recently due to health and code violations.”
• Cash4Gold wrote offer checks and then intentionally waited several days, sometimes up to a week, before mailing the checks so that the consumer would have less time to use the “10 Day Guarantee” in which to refuse the offer.
• When customers called to refuse/negotiate the initial offer, Cash4Gold’s employees actually received bonuses for getting customers to accept offers that were less than 3 times the original offer, including an extra bonus if the customer agreed to accept less than 2 times the original offer.

A well respected blogger has also wrote about an experience he had with Cash4Gold. According to Rob Cockerham of Cockeyed.com, he sent Cash4Gold some of his old gold jewelry and they offered far lass than a fair value. Wisely, he first had his gold appraised at a pawn shop which valued his gold at $198. Then he sent it to Cash4Gold. Their first offer was $60! That’s less than a third of what the pawn shop offered him. Rob then refused Cash4Gold’s initial offer and rightly so. Surprisingly, Cash4Gold then upped their offer to $178, almost 3 times their initial offer!

As you can see, it pays to get your gold appraised at multiple sources before agreeing to a sale. Read here for more tips on Selling your Gold Jewelry

In light of all these allegations, Consumerist.com decided to check out Cash4Gold’s services themselves. They sent in 24 identical gold pendants to Cash4Gold and some competitors. The pendants had been purchased for $175 each and the market price of their “melt value” was $70 at the time.

After sending in the pendants over the course of a couple months, they received Cash4Gold offers from $7.60 to $12.72. They also sent mystery shoppers ot local jewelry and pawn shops, receiving offers for $25 to $50.

The bottom line is that if you are looking to sell your gold without leaving your house, Cash4Gold could be a decent option. However, don’t expect to get top dollar, especially not with the first offer. You should also plan to spend some time waiting and some time negotiating to get decent money for your gold.

Occasionally gold jewelry will leave green or black marks on skin. Some people mistake this for an allergy but it as actually a chemical reaction. So what can you do?

The most common culprit for these green and black stains is copper. Some jewelry can be all copper, but most of the time it is a copper alloy mixed with gold. Also, some people’s body chemistry makes them much more prone to get these green discolorations. This explains why two people can wear the same gold jewelry and exhibit very different reactions.

What You Can Do

Get rid of the copper jewelry
This is the easiest solution, however, it’s also the most expensive. The karat rating of your gold can give you a good indicator of how much nickel is present. 10k and 14k gold can cause problems, but if you go with 18k or higher, you probably won’t have any problems. If you love your current jewelry Continue reading “Why Is My Jewelry Turning My Skin Green? | How To Prevent Gold Jewelry From Discoloring Your Skin” »

If you are having allergic reactions to some of your jewelry, it is important to know why and what you can do about it.

Nickel Allergy

Most rashes from gold jewelry are a result of nickel allergies. This type of allergy is very common (about 1 in 8 people). The allergic reaction usually shows up as an itchy, red rash where the skin comes into contact with the jewelry. Costume and other low quality jewelry often contain high amounts of nickel. Also, even high quality white gold can contain a lot of nickel (which gives it the color).

If you are experiencing this type of allergic reaction to your gold jewelry, you should consider switching to pure gold jewelry. However, if you really love the look of white gold, you can still wear some types of white gold, but you will have to make sure the alloy used to make it white isn’t nickel. Acceptable alternatives are palladium, platinum, chromium, cobalt, zinc, tin and silver.

Also, most white gold jewelry is also plated with rhodium which does not tend to cause allergic reactions, but if there is nickel underneath and the rhodium plating is thin or worn through, you will likely still get allergic reactions.

What You Can Do

Get jewelry with less nickel content
This is the easiest fix, but can also be the most expensive. The karat rating of your jewelry Continue reading “Why Does My Jewelry Give Me A Rash? | How To Prevent Rashes From Gold Jewelry” »

Most authentic gold jewelry is stamped or etched with some sort of indicator. These jewelry inscriptions can be very hard for the lay person to decipher. In fact, many professionals are not sure what some of them mean because these marks are not as standardized as they should be. However, there are some common ones which make up the vast majority of the gold stamps.

Authentic gold jewelry should have a stamp to indicate the purity of the gold in the piece. This mark can be in several different formats. For example: 585, 14kt, 14kt & 14K all mean 14 karat gold. All of these formats are easy to understand, except possibly the 3 digit number format.

3 Digit Numbers
These numbers tell how pure the gold is. They are in the thousandth, so if you want to know the purity percentage, just move the decimal point in one space. For example: 750 is 75.0% pure gold (or 18 karat) Continue reading “Guide to Stamps and Inscriptions on Gold Jewelry” »

If you look around on the internet for info about gold parties, you’ll find many conflicting opinions about whether or not they are a good way to get rid of your unused gold jewelry. If you’re considering going to a gold party or hosting one, here’s some advice… Continue reading “Are Gold Parties Good For Selling My Gold Jewelry?” »

When your gold jewelry is brand new, it is bright and polished and shimmers in the light. If the proper maintenance is not taken, this same jewelry can become dull, scratched, and even discolored. Here’s the 6 best ways to maintain your gold jewelry so it stays like the day you bought it.

No Rough Stuff
Gold is a soft metal by nature, so it can be easily scratched or dented. Jewelry like rings and bracelets Continue reading “6 Best Ways to Maintain Gold Jewelry” »

There are several different types of gold that are currently popular. White gold, rose gold, Black Hills gold, etc. What are they, and just as important, how valuable are they?

Golds that are colors other than pure gold are generally alloys, meaning they are mixed with another metal to obtain certain properties and/or color.

White Gold
White gold is a mixture of gold and one or more other metals, usually palladium or nickel. Continue reading “White Gold, Rose Gold, Black Hills Gold – What’s The Difference?” »

If you’re like most people, you probably have some gold jewelry of different karat ratings, but what do these different karats really mean?

First, note that Karats and Carats are different words with different meanings. “Carat” is a term used for the denoting the weight of gemstones. “Karat” is a term that describes the purity level of gold.

The Karat system is actually pretty simple to understand: Continue reading “24k, 18k, 10k – What does Karat really mean?” »