Bravo Store Systems · Free Buying Toolkit
The Gold & Estate Buying Kit
Grade, test, and price gold, diamonds, and estate jewelry the same way every time, so you buy with confidence, protect your margin, and turn scrap and resale into two separate, deliberate decisions.
Gold buyers · Jewelers · Pawn
Buy & resale
Print at the buy counter
Buying gold and estate jewelry by feel costs you on both ends: overpay against spot and the margin is gone before it hits the case, underpay on a piece worth more as resale than scrap and you give away your best inventory. This kit turns the buy into a checklist anyone at the counter can run the same way every time.
Step 1 of 5
Confirm what it actually is
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Test every piece: acid, electronic tester, or XRF. Never trust the stamp alone.
Plated and filled pieces are stamped to look solid. One untested fake erases the margin on the whole lot.
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Record karat, gram weight, stones, hallmarks, and maker's marks for each piece.
A signed designer piece or a marked maker can be worth far more intact than melted.
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Separate solid gold from plated, filled, and costume before you weigh anything.
Step 2 of 5
Do the karat and spot math
Pure gold is 24 karat. Each piece is worth its purity share of the live spot price, by weight. Use the karat factor, not a flat percentage.
| Karat | Purity | Factor (of spot) |
|---|
| 24K | 99.9% | 0.999 |
| 22K | 91.7% | 0.917 |
| 18K | 75.0% | 0.750 |
| 14K | 58.3% | 0.583 |
| 10K | 41.7% | 0.417 |
Melt value = (spot price per gram) × (karat factor) × (gram weight)
Spot is quoted per troy ounce. One troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, so spot per gram is the daily spot price divided by 31.1035. Pull the live price once at open and once midday, gold moves intraday.
Step 3 of 5
Decide scrap versus resale before you offer
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Ask one question first: is this worth more melted or in the case?
A wearable, on-trend, or signed piece almost always beats scrap. Decide before you price, not after.
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Route scrap to your refiner lot; route resale to inventory with a retail tag.
Mixing the two is how resale-grade pieces get melted for a fraction of their counter value.
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For diamonds and colored stones, price the stone and the metal separately.
Step 4 of 5
Work backward to your offer
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Set the margin band you need per category first, then offer. Never the reverse.
Decide the spread off melt or resale comp you require, then quote the buy price that protects it.
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For scrap, offer a consistent percentage of melt that covers refining loss and time.
Publish the band internally so every offer holds shift to shift, not by who is at the counter.
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For resale, anchor to recent sold comps and condition, then back into the buy.
Step 5 of 5
Run a clean estate intake
Estate lots are your best margin and your biggest risk. A short, consistent script protects you and the seller.
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Photograph the full lot before you sort, then each piece you price separately.
A defensible record settles disputes and supports your offer if a family member calls back.
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Capture seller ID and the transaction in your point of sale at the counter.
Clean records keep you compliant and make every estate buy auditable later.
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Walk the seller through each line: what is scrap, what is resale, and why.
Transparency on a high-emotion sale is what earns the referral and the next lot.
Reality check: the shops that win on gold are not the ones paying the most, they are the ones pricing the same way every time and never melting a piece worth more in the case. Consistency beats instinct on every lot.