If you are looking to buy jewelry you should consider buying it from a second-hand shop that deals with gold and jewelry. Let me explain why.
Often, it s said that buying a piece of jewelry is an investment. However, depending on what you buy and where you buy, it will give you shorter or longer return on investment horizon.
As in any investment, before you invest in gold or a piece of jewelry you need to understand few basic things. This way you can make better informed decision.
First basic thing you need to know is the type of gold. Type of gold is measured in terms of “karat”. In pure form, gold is 24 karat and it is sold in ounces. However, to make a piece of jewelry usually other metals are added to gold which makes the gold component lower. By the time a piece of jewelry is made, it can be 10, 14, 18 or 22 karats. Higher the karat softer the gold will be. Other metals are added to gold to make jewelry in a practical way.
Secondly you need to know the weight of the gold. Usually retail gold is sold in “grams”. Although some countries in Asia uses other ways of expressing the weight, you should stick to understanding the grams as that is the most globally accepted measurement.
Thirdly you need see if there are stones on the jewelry piece. Usually the weight includes the weight of the stones, but you hardly get any reduction for the weight of the stones. However, if it has expensive diamonds you will pay additional for it. I will cover diamonds in a separate blog.
Fourth you need to evaluate the workmanship of the jewelry. It could be handmade, or machine made. Handmade may look unique but will cost more and you may see slight imperfections. Machine made will be cheaper and very uniform, but it will be very common.
Now you have a pretty good idea about what you need to know before buying jewelry.
Let’s look at the buying side.
If you go to a regular jewelry shop in a mall or a branded shop, the price of the jewelry will depend on the 4 things discussed above. While the gold component cost should be consistent, labor component is going to be significantly different between a regular shop and second-hand shop. The labor component can be up to 50% of the jewelry cost in some high-end shops but in general it can be about 30%.
The advantage of buying from a second-hand shop is that you will not pay a lot of money for the labor component. You should pay about 10% to 15% for labor component in most cases. Second-hand shops have several income stream and they usually sell them for slightly over the gold price have quick turn over of their items.
We at Green Moolaa, have pretty good selection of jewelry pieces. Please drop by and talk to our amazing gold expert Shirley. She will explain everything properly to you and figure out a way for you to buy a piece that you like.
You can reach at 905-796-7777. We are conveniently located in Brampton on the south west corner of Queen Street East and Rutherford Road. It is just west of 410.