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I have some gold ounce bars that I'd like to sell while the price is high, but I don't know where to sell the gold. I've Google'd around, but there seems to be a lot of shady places out there.

So my question is, where can I sell the gold and know that I'm not going to get screwed?

I've never sold gold before, so I'm making an assumption that it would involve haggling. If I were to sell right now, with the current price being $1794.50 an ounce, what could I expect to get for it?

Update

I went to a family jeweler and was quoted a price that was essentially 97% of the market value of the gold, like Shawaron said. I continued searching (I wanted to get a couple of quotes to compare) and found a Numismatic Exchange in the city I live near and they were willing to pay the market price for the gold.

Advice: Find the nearest Numismatic Exchange because they should offer you market price for the gold. If the nearest exchange is too far away, try a local family owned jeweler (but be prepared to get 3-4% less).

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If you know any reputable 'family' jewellers in the area, they may be willing to buy the gold, or ideally point you in the direction of a reputable purchaser in your area. Jewellers usually pay far below market. Avoid large chain jewellers.

Large banks often have precious metals divisions: HSBC and JP Morgan Chase are two good examples. Otherwise, get in touch with a stock broker or financial advisor - they may know someone looking to purchase and possess gold.

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    Don't forget local coin dealers.
    – duffbeer703
    Commented Aug 11, 2011 at 2:09
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Depending on your definition of 'screwed' the answer may be 'nowhere', since just about anybody other than another individual seeking to buy gold, is likely to want a 'cut' of some sort. and finding another individual who you could trust (lets just say I wouldn't post this on craigslist) in a large cash transaction is always a little dicey.

Your best bet is likely to call around town to local jewelers, coin sellers. Either use an online yellow-pages and look under "precious metals" or just bingle "precious metals" plus your city name (or city and state if it's a common city name) and you should find a bunch of them.

Ask them how they determine the price, and what kind of fee or commission they charge.

This is BTW a good reason to use GLD instead of owning physical gold. (not that this advice helps you at the moment, but perhaps for others reading this..)

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My brother-in-law works at one of those buy-your-gold places. While they'll give you about 70% of spot for jewelry and similar scrap gold, they'll give you 97% of spot for gold coins and bars. Call around and you can probably find a similar deal.

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    sadly it would not surprise me if paying a 3% discount off the listed price isn't about as good as you are likely to get. Maybe if we are lucky the OP will report back with what he finds. Still compared to paying a flat $7 or so at a discount broker to trade any number of shares of GLD, that's a big hit. If you were selling say 5 bars worth (roughly $8K, you'd pay $240 at 3%, while a discount broker's fees would amount to under 0.1%)
    – Chuck van der Linden
    Commented Aug 12, 2011 at 18:39

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