Whats a realistic sell price for .925 silver?

So heres the deal
i got 1 lb and 7 oz of stamped .925 silver
and I also got another one that weighs in total about 6 lbs, including this wodden block mount. I am guessing it owuld weight at least 2 lbs for the silver also stamped.
Now the place I took it to told me that they would pay 65% of the silver asking price per ounce because its .925.
So is this realistic or are they trying to pull a quick one?
With such big amounts you can understand why I would care, If it wasnt then I could care less but I am trying to maxamize profits. :eat:

 

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I would get some additional quotes from other potential buyers. Businesses do make money from the spread between buy and sell. I'm not an expert but 65% of spot seems a little low. Maybe someone with experience on the other side of the counter can help out here.

Many silver coins are 90% silver, so the 92.5% silver content should not be a factor in a purchase offer. It would be easy enough to figure out the amount of silver in your items. I am assuming that there is no collector value above the silver content in this case.

 

Must be sterling silver and the price is a little lower for sterling but I don't know how much lower. If you go up to the search option you may be able to find some past postings or someone else will be around later in the day.

 

I think the offer you received is typical. If you shop around you might do a bit better. This is a real-life example of why it is better to make your silver purchases ASEs. What seems like a bargain going in frequently isn't one when it is time to sell.

 

I witnessed a sterling sale just yesterday,the dealer gave this gal 80% of spot per ounce,she also sold a bunch of .999 at 90% of spot,a different dealer might have done a different deal,so you might want to shop it around.

 

Seems reasonable

I agree that initially the figure seems disappointingly low. But consider that the 'block' you refer to could be quite heavy. So much 'weighted' sterling is just rubbish covered with a thin sheet of silver. I've broken apart knives and various candy dishes etc ( and it's a nasty and dangerous business to do so, wear goggles and big leather gloves!) only to find that the remaining amount of actual sterling was very small indeed.
You can negotiate a bit too. Perhaps they will come up to 66 2/3 %. Then your field calculations are simpler when buying.
Good luck!
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The deal playin4funami witnessed is a good example. Here the gal had some .999 she sold at the same time as her sterling. Maybe that's why she was able to get 80% as she only received 90% for her .999. Dealers gotta eat too.

 

RGJohn777
I have broken them apart before but these are pure silver no sterling, I was just supries with 65%. I have been getting 70 to 80% for smaller items of .925 but for a larger item you would expect them to pay more or at least the same. I am going to make a nice dollar eitheir way I just feel that theyre trying to shortchange me.
Plus busting sterling is a nasty work, I hate doing it and havent done it in a couple of weeks as a matter of fact.

While that could be true with ASE the lowest sell price I found is $19.20
Highest buy price is $18.50
thats a loss of $.20 cents
Where as with this one I am in $200 but the offer for it is in the low $900's. if he went up just a little more like 5% it would be another $100 to my pocket. Plus I am going to several other dealers to check out their offers.

 

I sold a bunch of .925 silver two weeks ago for 80% of spot, and considered it a good deal.

Keep in mind when weighing your silver that avoirdupois ounces (standard ounces) are different than troy ounces.

Weigh your items in grams. Divide by 31.1 to get the weight in troy ounces.

Also keep in mind there are 12 troy ounces in a troy pound (as opposed to 16 avoirdupois ounces in a standard pound.)

 

When selling, first look for something sterling in the shop. Ask the price. See what they charge for .925. Then offer to sell. If they charge over spot and buy for 60% of spot, that seems like a sham. You could even look at them funny, since they would deserve it.

Good advice here on shopping around. Get several quotes. Compete dealers against each other. Say, "another dealer is offering me 75% spot." See if they go up. If they say, "then go there," then walk out. Get the best price you can. Maybe even consider selling here. Learn to haggle.

Since I think the price of silver is going up, waiting a few months doesn't sound like a bad idea to me....spot would be more....(I don't have a crystal ball, though...it's just a hunch.)

 

I have a good friend that owns a silver/gold/jewelry exchange. I know he and several pawn shops around here give 60-65% for sterling depending on the size of the object. More for smaller like chains, etc. They will only offer 50% or less on bulky things such as tea set, platters, etc. because they are so often sterling on the outside and other on the inside. No one is going to let you saw their platter in half and then say, no deal. Also each area has to be tested as much mislabeling occurs ( especially foreign made goods other than European).

Then since almost no shop has their own smelter, there is secure shipping, smeltering fees ( and if it gets below a certain level of assay, penalties have to be added, etc. He only makes about 15% profit on smeltered silver. If he can sell it to the antique stores or over the internet, he does better. He can readily find buyers for gold coins, US, Canadian, or Mexican, so he can do better even paying around spot.

I think once anyone tries to deal with a smelter and business expenses, they will realize that 65% is not a bad deal at all. IMO. If Silver gets so hot, people come into such shops for knife handles, spoons, etc. with acid test spots on them and pay close to spot, he would pay more to the sellers of such. I am sure if he could sell locally at 80%, he would resell what he buys at 65%, just to get some profit and avoid the hassle.

jim

 

Weigh it out in troy oz. and put it on ebay,alot of folks on there overpay for metal every day,it's kind of crazy sometimes when you see someone placing bids on silver that will have to have the spot prices double just to cover the purchase price, not unusual to see a item worth 100 dollars in silver,have it get bid to over 200.

 

I'm on this forum for coin-related knowledge, but I would like to chime in here for this particular subject. I own a company with the same name as my forum name.

I regularly purchase silver and gold scrap items and melt them down to be sent to a refinery with whom I have developed a business relationship. Because of this relationship, I get some favorable rates. I pass this on to my customers. My purchase price is 80% of the silver content for most items, more for .999 stuff. (97%)

A physical store location has much higher overhead than my company and they will buy at much lower percentages. The benefits to the customer is immediate cash, and immediate turnover.

But, the benefit of sending the scrap to my company is that you get a higher payout, and I also pay on the silver content in gold jewelry on top of the gold content. You also get very accurate assays on your items. ICAP machines are accurate to parts per billion, and this is how the assay is performed. So, your payout is accurately based on the actual metal content. No acid test can ever be that accurate. The drawback to using my service is that you do not have immediate payment available, you have to share personal identification information with my company (many times this is the case with physical locations as well), there is a flat rate $25 assay fee involved, and shipping costs are your responsibility. If you've got a few ounces of silver, or a couple grams of gold, then going to a physical location might be better. But, when you are talking about pounds of silver, and ounces of gold, I think you'll do well to consider sending it to a company like mine.

There are other avenues to moving your scrap gold and silver. My company is just one of those. Keep shopping around, and perhaps others will chime in as well. Good luck. I hope you find the best solution for your needs.

 

I had a guy try to sell me Inconel Bars once.. Had no idea what it was..
Odd Bulk buys can be risky..
I bought a bunch of Silver shot at 10.00.. I make money selling it.. but its harder and I would have made a bit more with Bars.
As for the .925.. Well I did buy all I would find when in Thrift stores or Yard sales.. You can always find picture frames Trays.. etc... Most is .925 Weighted.. Hard to break apart.. not much silver over all.. And now its a pain to get rid of.. too much of a headache.

 

Sold it today for 1070.

 

Wow, you are paying $200 for silver from some Dupe, and complaining that the guy offering you $900 is shortchanging you? That's Chutzpah!

 

He didn't say when he bought it. It could of been an investment he made 9 years ago.

When you say 1070....you mean $1070, right? Not, $10.70 an ounce, I hope.

If you got $1070, when the $900 was 65%, that means the total spot value was $1385, and you got 77%. Not too bad I guess. You do mean scrap, right? There are sterling silver coins, which I'd hope you'd get more for.

Here, check out these sterling silver 20 Balboas coin minted at the Republic of Panama. http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/3474881