Do pawnshops pay good money for silver? 

By Lauren Wolff 3 years ago

If you have silver items that you are not using in your house and you are wondering what you can do with them, instead of letting them gather more dust or get thrown away. You’ll be glad to know that you can get some quick cash for your silver. There are a lot of places where you can sell silver. Most people know of pawnshops being the obvious place to take valuable things you have no further use for.  Silver is always in demand and pawnshops definitely are always looking for silver to buy. However the amount of cash you can expect for your silver from a pawnbroker depends on a number of factors: 

There are two main factors that affect the silver price 

  • The Open Precious metals’ market

All silver buyers from precious metal dealers to pawnshops use the global spot price for silver. These traders will usually check the global spot price for silver when making their offers to anyone who is trying to sell silver. It is important to note that the price of silver fluctuates a lot, of all the precious metal on the market, silver is the most volatile. The price movements of this precious metal along with others like gold are influenced by the economy, inflation, supply and demand as well as all the current events taking place globally. To come with a valuation or estimation of how much your silver is worth on any given day, you would have to track the spot price on that given day. 

  • Purity and Weight

The purity of gold is expressed in karats but, silver’s purity is expressed in percentage. The higher the percentage, the more silver is in a particular product. The weight also plays a big role. So if you have silver with a higher purity, its weight will affect the final price you can expect. 

How is the purity of silver determined?

The easiest way of determining the purity of silver is to look at markings. Silver jewellery will typically have specific numbers that show the purity. These markings are usually very small and you might need a magnifying glass to see them. 

There is other special equipment that is used by many experts to test silver. So, if you cannot see what is engraved on your silver jewellery, you can take it to a local jeweller a local pawnshop, who will be able to test the silver for you and tell you what the quality actually is. 

Silver demand

Silver is always in demand because it is used in a lot of industries.  The metal is considered a precious metal because of its rarity and limited supply. Throughout the history of mankind silver has been used for a lot of purposes from currency to jewellery, medicine, photography, automotive industry and many more. 

Getting the most cash for your silver

  • Collect as many silver items as you can, include any certificates of purity or authenticity that may have come with the silver. This will help I negotiating a good price for the items. 
  • Find out as much as you can about how silver products are appraised. 
  • Clean your silver. Use non-abrasive chemicals and soft cloths to clean your silver. Presentation could play a big role in the selling process. 

Be realistic. Although you may have an idea of how much your silver is worth, you may only get a fraction of the cash you were expecting. Negotiate, but be reasonable. The buyer also needs to make a profit at the end of the day.