WHAT YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE BUYING ANY GOLD JEWELRY IN THE U.S.
The most crucial thing someone must know before they spend thousands of dollars on Gold Jewelry is the value of the Gold in the Jewelry they are buying. Sounds like basic common sense, right?
Well, in the U.S., sadly, this isn’t the case. Gold Jewelry in the U.S. is marketed and sold by Retail and Luxury Jewelers as a fashion accessory that contains Gold. They don’t want the consumer to know the value of the Gold because then you will know you are getting ripped off. In the U.S., Tiffany, David Yurman, Kay, Zale’s, and Macy’s, all have excessive markups on Gold Jewelry that are 300%-400% or higher than the value of the Gold in the Jewelry.
Therefore Retail Jewelers in the U.S. almost never give the weight of the jewelry. They will tell you the length, dimensions, and karatage but not the weight. This is not a coincidence, and you need to know the Jewelry’s Weight to calculate the Jewelry’s Gold value.
Here in the U.S., the consumer has no idea how Jewelry is priced, so the first thing someone asks a Jeweler is how much is the chain, necklace, or bracelet? In the Eastern part of the world, where Gold Jewelry is first and foremost an investment in Gold, the customer will ask, what does the Jewelry weigh?
When you walk into a Jewelry store in Hong Kong or visit a Chinese online Jewelry website,
the price of Gold and what they will buy and sell 24K Gold is available is nothing to hide.
24 Karat Gold Jewelry is the standard in China, and it is usually hallmarked as 999, representing 99.9 percent Gold Purity. The weight of the Gold is not hidden, and the price of the 24 Karat Gold Jewelry will be based on the weight of the gold plus a fee for design and labor.
CHOW TAI FOOK AND CHOW SANG ONLINE DISPLAY OF GOLD PRICE
At Yincity Gold, we aim to promote 24 Karat Gold Jewelry as an investment sold transparently based on weight and market price. This is how it should be, and we encourage the exact opposite of what a U.S. Jeweler does. We want everyone to know exactly what the markup is on the Gold Jewelry before making a purchase. We don’t consider ourselves a Jeweler but a transparent seller of 24K Gold Jewelry.
S.K.W.P.
To calculate the gold value of a piece of gold jewelry, you need to know S.K.W.P.
Let’s use an 18K Cuban Link Chain from David Yurman
S (Selling Price of Jewelry) $29,000
W (Weight) 125.52 grams
K (Karatage Purity) 18k (75%)
P (Price of Gold) $1,869
Karatage Purity % (10k, 14k, 18k) Reference: http://www.goldrefiners.com/gold-alloys
Price of gold per troy ounce Reference: https://www.jmbullion.com/charts/gold-price/
The reason why Jewelers like David Yurman do not want to tell you the weight of their Gold Jewelry is simply they do not want you to know you are getting ripped off. If a customer knew that in their $29,000 Cuban Link Gold Chain, there was only $5,599 worth of Gold, would they still buy it?
To make sure you know the value of the Gold Jewelry you are interested in buying, you must get the weight of the Jewelry, and that is the information you will have the hardest time getting.
To get the weight, we had to go into the store with a pocket scale and weigh the item because the store won’t tell us the weight. When we asked to see the Jewelry, we took out the scale and quickly weighed it before handing back to the salesperson.
Once you know the item’s weight, you can extract the actual amount of gold by multiplying it by its purity percentage. First, take the item’s weight and multiply it by its gold content percentage to get the total gold content of the item. (125.52) x (.75) = 94.14 grams of pure gold in the chain. The other 31.38 grams are made up of non-precious metals like Nickel, Silver, Copper, and Zinc.
Now take the current price of gold divided by 31.1 grams to get the current price of gold by the gram. $1,869 / 31.1g (Troy Ounce) = $60.09 per gram of gold. This is the current market price for a gram of gold. Next, take the item’s total gold content by grams (94.14) multiplied by the price per gram (94.14) x (60.09 )= $5,657. This is the gold dollar value of the Cuban Chain.
Finally, to get the markup percentage charged on gold jewelry, follow this formula:
The sale price of jewelry ($29,000) – Value of the gold in jewelry ($5,657) = $23,343
Take that figure and divide it by the value of the gold in the chain, $23,343 / $5,657 = 4.12
4.12 x 100 = 412% markup.
DAVID YURMAN CHARGES A 412% MARKUP THE GOLD IN THE CHAIN IS WORTH $5,657
YINCITY GOLD 24K GOLD CUBAN LINK CHAIN
YINCITY GOLD 40% Markup vs David Yurman 412% Markup
Now, although calculating markup is not complex math, to make it even easier for people to calculate markup and to help educate, create awareness and promote change in the U.S. Gold Jewelry industry, we have created the YINCITY GOLD JEWELRY MARKUP CALCULATOR.
YINCITY GOLD JEWELRY MARKUP CALCULATOR
Here is the best way to use the calculator to save thousands of dollars on Gold Jewelry.
- Buy a small scale that weighs up to 500 grams from Amazon for around $10-15 dollars.
- Visit 4-5 Retail or Luxury Jewelers and weigh the three pieces of Jewelry you like most.
(When you ask to see the item and the salesperson gives you the Jewelry, take out the scale and weigh the item and take a picture of the weight with your phone. It is rare that the salesperson will stop you, it’s not as if you are doing anything wrong)
- Make sure to also take a picture of the sales price and karatage of the three items.
- Go to the YINCITY GOLD JEWELRY MARKUP CALCULATOR, enter the information for each piece of Jewelry, and hit calculate. The calculator will tell you the value of the Gold Jewelry and its Markup.
- We generally recommend not buying any Gold Jewelry that has a markup of over 50%
Contact us online at YINCITYGOLD.COM or call us at (702) 448 9005 to ask any questions about Gold or share your experience visiting Retail and Luxury Jewelers with us.
NEVER BE TOLD OR SOLD ANYTHING LESS THAN PURE 24K GOLD
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