Guide to Get the Highest Offers when selling your Antique Silver, Valuables, Jewelry, Coins or Other antiques to a potential dealer or buyer:
Do you want to get the highest offer first when you are selling your antique silver, precious metals, antique jewelry, coins, antique or other valuables when selling to a pawn shop, coin store, antiques shop, jewelry store or other local private buyer? Read this article to find out how.
The following is a guide and tips list to help you get the most money when selling your items to an in person buyer:
Dress Professionally - You want to dress for success as the old saying goes. If you come into a store to sell and you look professional and presentable, you will be perceived by the buyer as someone who is smart and educated. With that, the buyer will be a lot less likely try and low ball you.
Organize your items in advance - If you give the buyer a dishevelled group of items in a clumsily packed box and there is required a lot of sorting things out by category, the buyer will likley think that you have no idea of the items values that you have. In that scenario, you will receive a low offer. However, if you bring in everything organized and categorized to the best of your ability, the buyer will think that you know your inventory and market prices very well and will give you a better price based on that.
Research items before you visit a buyer - Even if you know absolutely nothing about a collection you inherited or own, it would help in volumes for you to do some research on-line prior to visiting a potential buyer. If you throw out a few facts, values or just mention that you looked up some of the items on line, it will go a long way to letting the buyer know that you did your home work and that you are expecting to receive a competive market offer. Usually, this will work and the buyer will give you a higher offer.
Mention up front that you are potentially shopping around your items - Even if you have absolutely no intent to go to more than one place and deal with more than one buyer, just mentioning that you are going to shop around the items if you don't like the offers will make the buyer be more aware to give you the highest and best price. The buyer will not want to lose out on your items, especially if there is something they see as very lucrative and desirable for them to purchase. Knowing that there is potential competition will always up their game when they make offers to you.
Clean and spiff up you items - As long as you are not cleaning rare coins or some pieces of antique silver (which would ruin their values) or some other item that is expected to be as is and untouched by human hands, it does make a difference if you clean up your items a little bit in advance. If the buyer is looking at an old tarnished fork or coffee pot or a dusty piece of china that smells like moth balls, they will likely offer you less money. However, if you present items that are nearly ready for resale, the buyer will take that into account and usually offer you more money. Rule of thumb, however, is that before you visit a buyer, contact them first and ask them if it okay clean up your items in advance or if there are any restrictions on that due to potentially ruing their resale value. Never clean coins! You can lightly polish most silverware items, but don't over polish and ruin the original patina. Don't polish souvenir spoons or any other antique silver items that have a historical significance.
Bring along a friend or family member - When you are engaing a local buyer it doens't hurt to bring along a friend or family member with you. When there is more than one person, the buyer realizes that they will have to sell everyone in attendance on their offers and not just the owner of the items. Because of this they will likely offer you more money. It can also be helpful for the attending friend or family member to act like the bad cop and be your advocate, especially if they are more knowledgeable than you are on the items in your possession. If you are very elderly, it is especially nice to have a person that is younger with you as well to make sure the buyer doesn't take advantage of any senior moments that you may have during the discourse of the buying negotiations.
Conclusion: Yes, the plain simply answer is that a buyer at pawn shop, coin store, jewelry store or antiques shop is not going to give a uniform price to every person that walks in to see them. The buyer will always make an assessment of who they are dealing with and how much knowledge they have on their items. If the buyer thinks you are easy pickings, then you will likely receive less money. If the buyer thinks you are an astute well educated person that knows exactly the market worth of your valuable, then you will receive more money and the likely their highest offer right up front. We hope you enjoyed our article and that you get the most money possible by following our tips to success in selling your valuable possessions.
Written by Greg Arbutine on 2-17-25 - Greg Arbutine has been in the antique silver and precious metals industry since 1972. The article was extracted from his real life experiences as an in person buyer of antique silver, coins, jewelry, antiques and more - as well as managing, training and mentoring a large team of in house buyers.
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That is some great advice on making more $$$ on your collectibles!