The Best Sites to Sell Gold

Thursday, January 21st

2021 Sites to Sell Gold Reviews

Express Gold Cash

• BBB Rating: A+, not accredited

When choosing a cash for gold service, there are probably several criteria you have in mind: trustworthiness, simplicity, and better-than-average payment amounts. You'll find all of that and much more with Express Gold Cash.

Highest insurance coverage

Right away, we noticed that Express Gold Cash offers the highest insurance coverage amount among cash for gold services: up to $100,000. Sure, the average person trying to get cash for gold isn't going to need that much protection, but are you sure that the watch, ring and pendant you found buried in your great-grandmother's jewelry box isn't worth quite a bit more than the $200 in insurance you'll get with some other providers? No matter how much your items wind up being worth, you can rest easy knowing they're protected. Just be aware that your Appraisal Kit is automatically covered only for $5000 unless you request a higher coverage level.

Straightforward process

The rest of the process with Express Gold Cash is fairly standard:

1. Fill out the online "Request a Kit" form. You can either wait for your kit to be delivered or you can print a free label and use your own packaging.
2. Package up your gold and other items and drop it off at your nearest FedEx location. You'll have tracking during the entire shipment process.
3. When your kit arrives at Express Gold Cash, you'll get a confirmation email.
4. Your pack is evaluated and scanned to be sure the enclosed items match the inventory list you provided when sending it in.
5. The total cash value of your package is calculated based on the weight and type of material and that day's gold price. Your offer is emailed to you, and you have 24 hours to accept or decline. If you decline, your items are returned free of charge. If you accept, you'll receive payment within 24 hours. Be aware that if you don't accept or decline the offer within 72 hours, Express Gold Cash will automatically mail you a paper check.

Real examples

Want to have a little fun? Go to the Recent Payouts / How Much Is Gold Worth page on the site and scroll down. You'll find images of many items that were sold to Express Gold Cash - and exactly how much was paid for them. That little 18k charm floating around in your jewelry box? It might be worth $144. How about a gold dental bridge? One of those brought in $186 to its lucky (former) owner. You might just be inspired to start looking a little harder through your storage units and dusty boxes in the closet to see what you could turn into some spending money!

Best price match

Express Gold Cash also has the best price match we've found. If you get an offer from a national online competitor, not only will this provider match it but they'll also pay you an extra 10% (or pay you an extra $100 for anything valued at $1000 or more).

Trustworthy

But, with any cash for gold service, the real question is "Can they be trusted?" Looking at thousands of 5-star, independently-verified customer reviews and an "A+" rating from the BBB, it's easy to see that the answer for Express Gold Cash is a resounding "yes!" Those who have used this company to sell their gold say that the process was very smooth, payment was extremely quick, and that the amount paid was more than fair. We also saw numerous comments that Express Gold Cash paid far more than what people were offered at local jewelers and pawn shops.

Highest rating

Why drive all over town hoping for a good offer on your unwanted gold when you can get the most money from Express Gold Cash? There's no faster, more reliable way to get cash for gold anywhere. Express Gold Cash earns our highest rating.

Gold Fellow

• BBB Rating: A+, accredited

The creators of GoldFellow, Robin and Michael Gusky, have a long "gold pedigree", with 30 years of experience in manufacturing and distributing karat gold jewelry prior to opening their cash for gold service. This company wants to do everything possible to earn your trust, giving you a safe, convenient, secure way to sell gold, platinum, silver and diamonds for great payouts.

Simple process

You won't find many surprises with GoldFellow's process for exchanging your valuables for cash:

1. Fill out their brief online form, where you'll select dropdown boxes to indicate how you want to get your free shipping label (via mail or print at home) and how you'd like to be paid (paper check, PayPal, or wire transfer with a $10 fee deducted from your payment).
2. Package up your items and drop them off at your nearest FedEx location. You'll be able to track your valuables all the way up until they're delivered to GoldFellow.
3. After your package arrives and is opened under a video camera (for your protection/benefit), your items are tested and graded to establish karat quality, then weighed on calibrated electronic jewelry scales. Your settlement offer is posted to your online account.
4. Log onto your account, confirm your payment method and accept your offer OR decline and get your gold returned for free via FedEx.

Insured up to $2,500

GoldFellow gives you free insurance coverage up to $2,500. That's not the most coverage we've ever seen offered, but it should cover the majority of customers who want to get cash for gold on basic jewelry and other items around the home.

Real time estimate

We really enjoy the idea of being able to get an estimate for our gold items - earrings, necklaces, rings, watches, and so on - right on the GoldFellow website in real time. Unfortunately, that feature was down for maintenance during our most recent visit, but we encourage you to give it a try when you use the site. You'll find it on the main page under "See What We Pay For Gold".

Positive customer reviews

You'll find plenty of praise from customers who got cash for gold using GoldFellow. In addition to their accreditation and "A+" rating by the BBB, this company gets a perfect 5-star rating across several third-party review platforms. People describe fair prices, friendly employees, and a well-documented, professional process all around.

We think that speaks for itself: GoldFellow is one of the best cash for gold options you'll find. If you want to know that your items are in good hands from start to finish, and that you'll get top dollar for your jewelry, you won't want to overlook everything GoldFellow has to offer.

Cash For Gold USA

• BBB Rating: A- (parent company)

Cash for Gold USA pays cash for anything that contains platinum, silver or gold - including dental scrap, traditional jewelry, gold solder, and much more. Since their inception in 2005, they've paid out over $52 million to more than 250,000 total customers - making them one of the largest online gold buyers in the world.

Familiar process

The process of working with Cash for Gold USA is similar to most services offering to buy your gold:

1. Fill out the online form, specifying what you're sending in, how you want to ship it (USPS mailer or FedEx label).
2. When you receive the Safepak from Cash for Gold, place your gold and/or other items in the specially designed mailing envelope, attach the return label, and send in the mail (USPS) OR print the label, attach to your own box, and drop off at a FedEx location. Instructional videos are provided for both options.
3. Within 24 hours, a certified technician will appraise your items and send you an offer. At this point, you can either accept their offer, or request to have your items sent back to you.

Get paid within 24 hours

If you decide to accept the offer and sell your items, you can receive payment by mail check, bank wire, or paypal - and if you choose an electronic form of payment, you can have your money within 24 hours. Alternatively, if you reject their offer, your items will be shipped back to you at no cost.

Undercover investigation

A few years ago, a FOX News television station conducted an undercover investigation of online gold buying companies. They discovered that Cash for Gold USA paid out 3 times more than their closest competitor. This is a good indication that this company tries to be as fair as possible when presenting customers with their offer.

Online appraisal

If you want a quick online appraisal, Cash for Gold USA provides a Gold Calculator right on their website. Simply enter the weight of your gold item and select its purity (such as 14K, or 24K), and the calculator will show you an estimated value. You can use this same calculator to estimate any Silver or Diamonds that you'd like to sell (Cash for Gold USA will pay for those as well). While this is a valuable tool, remember that your actual offer can only be made after one of their technicians inspects your item, and may differ from this online estimate.

More features we like

A couple other features we liked with Cash for Gold USA:

• Price match guarantee. They will match any competitors offer for the same piece of jewelry.
• Shipment tracking. They provide an easy way for you to track the shipment of your jewelry.

Precious metal refining

The parent company of Cash for Gold USA is CJ Environmental, which holds an "A-" rating with the BBB. CJ Environmental is a precious metal refining company. Since 18975 they have been refining gold, silver, platinum, and palladium for both the public and private sectors. In addition to these metals, they will also pay for diamonds and electronic scrap.

Cash for Gold USA is a reliable company that offers their customers a fair value for their gold. They have a quick turnaround for both appraisals and payments, and guaranteed shipment tracking to protect your valuables. If you want to earn some extra money by selling your unused gold jewelry, Cash for Gold USA should be on your list.

Sell Your Gold

• BBB Rating: A+, accredited

Owned and operated by Beyond79, LLC, Sell Your Gold has been offering cash for gold for just 5 years. But, the company as a whole has been around for much longer, with more than 50 years of experience in appraising precious metals and fine jewelry. With total payouts of over $27 million, Sell Your Gold is a service worth considering.

Simple steps

Follow these simple steps to send in your gold, silver, platinum or diamonds:

1. Fill out the online form with your contact information. You can then opt to receive their Appraisal Kit in the mail, or to print or email a shipping label from home.
2. Package up your gold or other items and take it to your nearest staffed FedEx location, or call to schedule FedEx to pick up your package at the location of your choice.
3. Receive your offer on the day your items arrive. If you accept the payment offered by Sell Your Gold, you can get paid immediately via PayPal, within 1-2 business days via direct deposit, or paper check via USPS.

Insured up to $1,000

Sell Your Gold insures your items for up to $1,000. You can arrange for additional coverage as needed by calling their toll-free number prior to sending in your gold and other precious metals/gems. Among our highest-rated services, Sell Your Gold offers the lowest amount of insurance coverage.

5% bonus payment

This company also advertises a 5% bonus payment when sending in your appraisal kit. Under what terms? We have no idea: the fine print at the bottom of the site says that you'll have to "follow the Terms and Conditions located on the front of your bonus card and include the card when sending [them] your items". We would have preferred to have that information from the get-go, to make it easier to determine if we'd qualify for their promotion.

Price matching

If you get a better offer from a competitor, Sell Your Gold will match it. It would sweeten the deal a little if they would offer to pay slightly more (otherwise, you're just going through the hassle of sending in your gold to two different places for the same payout). The company pays up to 95% of market price on bullion and up to 90% on diamonds and precious metals.

High praise

Across more than 3,000 customer reviews, Sell Your Gold earned an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Combined with an "A+" rating and accreditation by the Better Business Bureau, that's strong proof that this is a company you can trust when you need to get cash for gold.

Sell Your Gold gets praise from customers for being a hassle-free way to get cash for gold fast, with very few issues during any step of the process. While there are a few small details we'd love to see changed - like offering higher insurance coverage on shipments or clarifying their bonus program - we still rank Sell Your Gold as one of the most reputable cash for gold options out there today.

US Gold Buyers

• BBB Rating: A+, accredited

US Gold Buyers is a licensed and insured company based out of Boca Raton, FL that enjoys accreditation and an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. Choosing a company to trust when you're trying to get cash for gold can feel scary, so it's always a big plus when a service has that kind of positive reputation. Across hundreds of customer reviews, US Gold Buyers had an almost flawless rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Easy process

Now that we've established that this company can be trusted to provide excellent service, let's consider their process for selling your gold and getting paid. Like most services, it's easy to do, and this company offers one of the fastest payout plans available today:

1. Fill out the online form, including the declared value and brief description of any items you intend to send in.
2. Get your free FedEx Overnight shipping label. Package up your gold, diamonds, watches or any other jewelry made with precious metals and bring it to your nearest FedEx shipping location.
3. Get paid up to 98.5% of market price via PayPal the same day your package arrives.

Insured up to $25,000

US Gold Buyers includes free insurance up to $25,000 on every package. That's quite a bit higher than many of the cash for gold providers we evaluated. On the other hand, this company doesn't offer any price matching, and it took a lot of digging around on the site to confirm that US Gold Buyers will ship your items back free of charge if you decide not to accept their offer. We also noticed that their site claimed an "A" rating from the BBB, even though they had a perfect "A+" at the time of our most recent visit. That left us wondering if there was anything else on the US Gold Buyers site that hadn't been updated (like their payout chart!).

Worth a look

All of that aside, US Gold Buyers offers enough benefits to be worth looking at among companies that give cash for gold, like their higher insurance coverage and their solid positive reputation with previous customers. You have many options to choose from when selling your gold and other items, and this is a reliable service.

Cash for Gold

• BBB Rating: Undetermined

Have you spotted a Cash for Gold coupon in your Valpak mailer? As part of United Jewelry Buyers, this company advertises heavily throughout the US and is licensed, bonded and insured.

Steps to follow

Here's what you'll need to do to use Cash for Gold's service:

1. Fill out the online form. If you're in a hurry, select the prepaid label printing options (UPS or USPS, your choice). Or if you've got time, request their Gold Track Kit to be sent to your address. You can also indicate whether you'd like them to mail your payment immediately or contact you by email/phone with their offer first.
2. Send in your envelope. Using the login and password information you created during Step 1, you can find out exactly when your package is received (and track it along the way). Your contents are insured up to $250 and shipping is free.
3. Get your payment offer. You'll have 24 hours to accept or decline it online or via phone/email. If Cash for Gold doesn't hear from you within 24 hours, they will automatically send your payment.
4. If you aren't happy with the amount of your settlement, notify Cash for Gold within 10 days of the date on the check, and then return the uncashed check within 5 days. Your items will be shipped back to you at no charge.

Note that you'll have to certify that you're over the age of 21 to be eligible for the Cash for Gold service.

Down the rabbit hole

What kind of reputation does Cash for Gold have? The answer isn't as straightforward as we would have liked to see. Follow us down the rabbit hole and you'll understand why. Cash for Gold is the rebranding name of United Jewelry Buyers, which you can see at the bottom of the Cash for Gold site. But, when you search for information on UJB, it comes up empty. Looking at the Cash for Gold "About Us" page, you'll find that the business is owned by Dave Sackadorf, whose original company is Vienna Jewelry. Still with us? Finally, searching for a BBB listing for Vienna Jewelry led us to one for Kieko, Inc. - whose owner is given as the very same Dave Sackadorf. Whew!

We were pleased to see that Kieko, Inc. had an "A+" from the BBB over 21+ years in business. However, that doesn't effectively tell us how the Cash for Gold enterprise measures up - because if it took us that much research to find the BBB listing, we don't think the chances are very good that the average customer with a complaint would be able to find it and submit their concerns. Still, everything we turned up about Vienna Jewelry as a local brick-and-mortar business conveyed an impression of good customer service, so it seems reasonable to think that Cash for Gold is continuing that tradition.

Middle of the pack

Overall, Cash for Gold seems to be a reputable place to sell your gold items. There were a number of customer testimonials on their website, though we prefer to see third-party verified reviews to ensure that a company is trustworthy. Because of the challenges of getting information specifically about Cash for Gold (and not just Vienna Jewelry or Kieko, Inc.), we can only put this service in the middle of the pack when compared with their competition.

Cash 4 Gold

• BBB Rating: B-, not accredited

Cash 4 Gold calls themselves "the original online jewelry buyer". With more than one million payments made, that sounds about right. This service offers a price match guarantee with nationally-televised buyers (so we're not sure how that lines up when considering online competitors), and a 10-day risk-free guarantee if you change your mind and want to return the payout amount.

Simple steps to follow

To send in your gold, the process is pretty straightforward:

1. Fill in your information to request your free Secure Pack.
2. Once you receive your Secure Pack, place your items in the included sealable plastic bag, which then goes in the postage-paid priority shipping envelope. Drop the envelope in the mail.
3. Cash 4 Gold uses a 3-method testing system to value your gold: electronic, scratch, and x-ray fluorescence.
4. On the day the final value determination is made, Cash 4 Gold cuts and mails you a check.

Insurance only up to $100

Cash 4 Gold doesn't offer much insurance: only "up to $100 of prepaid insurance" for whatever you send in. So, if you have no idea how much your gold is worth, you could be insured for far less than its value. That's a risky proposition, especially for customers new to the cash for gold experience. Sure, you will get an automatic cash bonus of $00 if your items are valued at $250 or higher - but they won't cover the insurance for that value. Doesn't seem like a great idea, does it? Alternately, you can pay for a higher level of insurance coverage out of your own pocket.

Getting better

We were glad to see that Cash 4 Gold improved their reputation with the Better Business Bureau since our last review, from a "C" to a "B-". That's not a huge jump, but it shows movement in the right direction. There were no complaints registered over the 12 months prior to this most recent visit, which IS significant progress. (In our last review, there were more than 300 complaints!)

But, with many cash for gold services available today with a much stronger reputation, it's hard to be convinced that Cash 4 Gold should be anyone's first choice. We hope to see continued improvements in their BBB rating in the future, which would bring Cash 4 Gold higher in our rankings as well.