March 23, 2009
“Are you considering selling your silver? You basically have two choices—go to a silver buyer and get instant cash, or visit a pawnbroker. And, yes, there is a big difference. One will give you fair market value in cash for your items; the other will not. One actually wants your silver items; one does not. Do you know which is which? And do you know why you should choose a silver buyer instead of a pawnbroker?”
If you have silver to sell, you can sell it to a silver buyer and get instant cash for silver. And isn’t that what you are really looking for? Taking silver to a pawnbroker does not get you instant cash for silver. Instead, it gets you what in some ways amounts to the loan.
Some of you may think that taking your unwanted silver objects like silver jewelry or silver flatware to a pawnbroker is an easy way to get some extra cash. While a pawnbroker may have some awareness of the value of your silver, they are in the business of re-selling objects. A pawnbroker is not necessarily in the business of refining silver.
A silver buyer is in the business of getting silver that can then be melted down and reduced to extract pure silver. Silver buyers are not interested in silver for its ornamental value because they do not have think about presenting the silver to another buyer if you do not return for it. A silver buyer wants the silver itself.
This is why you can take broken silver jewelry and incomplete sets of silver flatware to a silver buyer–for a silver buyer the metal is what they really want.
When you leave silver jewelry with a pawnbroker, they have to consider their ability to sell the silver should you not come back to redeem it. And have no doubt, a pawnbroker will factor their perception of whether or not you are coming back into the amount that they agree to give you for your silver. When you go to a pawn broker, you are pledging your silver objects as a security and you are not really selling silver.
Taking your silver objects to a gold buyer means you are actually selling silver. A silver buyer will give you an amount of money for silver that corresponds to what your silver is actually worth. Why get a loan for your silver when you could just go ahead and sell it for its true value?
If you are prepared to give up your silver for an undetermined period of time by pawning it, then you may just be ready to part with your silver for good. Why not sell your silver, rather than pawn it? A silver buyer will give you cash for silver and you won’t need to make a return trip.