Pawn Shops vs Precious Metals Dealers: For generations people have gone to pawn shops to sell their used, broken, or unwanted gold jewelry, sterling silver jewelry and flatware, platinum jewelry, palladium jewelry, and Swiss timepieces. Many people were uncomfortable with going to pawn shops but had little to no other choices. As precious metals started to rise in price during the 2000’s, coin shops and other precious metals dealers emerged as a new source for people to sell their broken or unwanted jewelry. As this happened, people began to realize how much they were getting ripped off by pawn shops in New Orleans and how much better their experiences were with coin dealers who specialize in precious metals. Our team at New Orleans Silver and Gold have compiled a list of advantages to buying and selling gold and silver jewelry and bullion directly with coin and precious metals dealers instead of pawn shops.

Have you ever been to a pawn shop to sell you scrap gold jewelry, walked in only to grab a ticket from a wheel and wait for your number to be called like you were at the DMV? While you were standing up and waiting for 1 hour, did you notice a number of people ahead of you trying to pawn 10$ tools, cheap video games, lawnmowers, and other obscure items? Did you experience people getting upset when they discovered that their items were worthless or that the pawn shop would not buy them? For many people this experience brings back terrible memories. 

The fact is that pawn shops deal with a wide array of people in a wide array of situations selling a wide array of stuff. On the contrary, precious metal coin dealers specialize in precious metals—it’s all we do! If someone is selling several thousands of dollars of gold, why do they have to go to the same place where someone else is trying to sell their used car stereo for some gas money? It seems rather strange that this scenario ever existed, and today the free market has fixed this problem with the arrival of precious metals coin dealers to the scene. You no longer have to be frustrated by waiting hours in line and then for a manager to approve the $1000 purchase of your gold chain. 

When a company specializes in precious metals, jewelry, and coins you can be certain that they know the most about the coins or jewelry you want to sell to them. While pawn shops are great for people who are desperate for some quick cash, they are not great for people who want the most cash for their gold and silver coins, jewelry or bars. Are you comfortable trusting someone who spends the majority of their time buying and selling used tools and stereo equipment with your gold and silver jewelry? 

Have you ever walked into a pawn shop to sell your gold jewelry only to have the employee ask you, “What are you looking to get for this?” When this happens most people immediately feel uncomfortable and taken advantage of. This is such a shady tactic of doing business and people should walk out the door when someone asks that question. Individuals who are selling any gold, silver, platinum, palladium jewelry, coins or bars obviously want to get the most amount of money they can for it. Pawnbrokers specialize in using this “What are you looking to get?” tactic to take advantage of people who are ignorant about the value of the jewelry. If something is worth $1000 and the person says $100, they unwillingly get ripped off! Any reputable precious metals and coins dealer will never ask this question because they already know the answer and are not in business to rip off their customers!

Have you ever been to a pawn shop to sell your gold jewelry and a pawnbroker tries to talk you into pawning your jewelry? Often pawnbrokers will offer you just a little more money to pawn a piece of jewelry than they would if you were to sell it. This tactic is widely practiced in the pawn shop world because pawn broker’s get rich giving loans with 20% interest per month to clients. It’s all about the interest, baby! Pawnbrokers know that most fine gold or silver jewelry is very sentimental and use this to rope clients into never ending debt slavery. They know that if you pay 3 months of 20% interest per month and get the item out of pawn and later pawn it again, and again, and again, they get rich. They also know that sooner or later the interest payments will be too much to handle and you will eventually lose the item forever and when this happens, they make even more money! Yes it is true that pawn shops are great for people who need short term loans to get through the holidays or pay that unexpected speeding ticket you got.