Woke up needing cash fast, so I grabbed that old gold necklace just sitting in my drawer collecting dust. Had no clue if banks even bought gold anymore, or if pawn shops were my only shot here in Roseville. Drove over to Motor City Pawn first.
Motor City Pawn Shop Experience
Walked in – dingy place, bright fluorescent lights humming. Felt weird right away. Some guy chewing gum sat behind thick glass, kinda nodded. Took out the necklace, pushed it under the slot. He picked it up with these tweezers, looked bored.
- “What’s it weigh?” he mumbled. I shrugged, didn’t know.
- He stuck it on this tiny scale – ping! – “4 grams.”
- Then took out this weird stone thing, rubbed the necklace on it. Looked surprised. “Huh. Actual 14k. Surprised.”
He finally looked at me properly. “Alright… market price scrap gold right now is… [muttered some low number]. We can do $150 today.” Felt insanely low, like I was getting ripped off blind. Asked if he could do better – “Nope. That’s it.” Said thanks, grabbed my gold back fast. That vibe was just… no. Felt way too predatory.
Bank Route
Left feeling bummed but drove straight over to that brick Wells Fargo downtown. Teller lady smiled – felt way different already. Explained I wanted to sell some gold. She actually nodded like it was normal. “Sure! We buy scrap gold for refining.” Finally, someone professional!
They walked me over to a side counter. Had to fill out a simple slip – name, address, phone number. Standard stuff, not scary. Guy in a proper uniform took my necklace. Saw him weigh it on their certified scale – confirmed 4 grams. Pulled out this testing kit that looked legit – some liquid dropper thing onto a special plate – confirmed 14k again. Much more official than pawn shop methods.
The Offer: He checked some computer screen, called over a manager – routine stuff. Came back with a solid number: “$220. That’s today’s rate.” Way better than pawn dude! Didn’t even haggle. Signed one more paper agreeing to the sale.
Real payment hit my checking account the next morning. Done.
Big Takeaways?
- Pawn shops might be fast, but that lowball feeling? It’s real. They gotta make profit reselling.
- Banks actually BUY gold directly! At least this big Wells Fargo did. Way less shady.
- Skip the haggling stress. Bank price felt fixed and fair.
- Paperwork at the bank felt secure, not sketchy like pushing jewelry under bulletproof glass.
Pawn shop took 5 minutes, felt dodgy, offered peanuts. Bank took maybe 15 minutes total, felt secure, gave me a fair price based on actual market rates. My advice? Go bank. Save yourself the pawn shop hassle and feeling like you’re getting fleeced. Got it all done in 90 minutes flat between both places.
