StackGuides, strategies, and market insights for precious metals buyers and stackers.
Walking into a pawn shop without knowing the melt value of your gold is like negotiating a car price without checking the Blue Book value first. You're relying…
At some point, every scrap gold buyer faces the same question: now what? You've accumulated a batch of scrap — broken chains, mismatched earrings, dental gold,…
If you spend any time in stacking communities, you'll hear people talk about "the ratio." They're referring to the gold/silver ratio — a simple number that's b…
If you've got silver to sell — whether it's a tube of Eagles, a bag of junk silver, a box of sterling flatware, or a collection you inherited — the first quest…
Facebook Marketplace has become one of the most active channels for buying and selling gold jewelry. Sellers list everything from single rings to entire collec…
The price of scrap silver today comes down to a simple equation: weight times purity times the live silver spot price. That gives you the melt value — what the…
Pawn shops are one of the most consistent sources of scrap gold for buyers at every level. They acquire gold through pawns, direct purchases, and forfeited col…
Selling gold coins isn't complicated, but selling them well requires knowing what you have and matching each coin to the right buyer. A common-date American Go…
You're at an estate sale and someone hands you a bag of old coins. You recognize a few — there's a Morgan dollar, a couple of Walking Liberties. But there are …
A karat is a unit of gold purity — a way to express how much of a piece is actually gold versus alloy metals. It's the most important number in any gold transa…
I didn't start with a pile of money or a master plan. I started with fifty bucks a week and a decision to stop thinking about stacking and actually do it. That…
You've got silver coins and you want to sell them. Maybe you inherited a collection, maybe you're rebalancing your stack, or maybe you need cash. Whatever the …
Most precious metals buyers make purchasing decisions based on feel. Gold dropped today, so it seems like a good time to buy. Silver's been climbing for two we…
Browsing online marketplaces for gold and silver deals is a time sink. You scroll through hundreds of listings on Facebook Marketplace, most of which are overp…
A karat stamp tells you what the manufacturer says a piece is. A purity test tells you what it actually is. If you're buying scrap gold — especially from the p…
Every scrap gold buyer pays tuition. The question is how much. Some mistakes cost you $20 and a lesson. Others cost hundreds and a chunk of your confidence. Th…
Every gold transaction starts with one number: the melt value. It's the dollar amount the pure gold content of a piece is worth at today's market price — what …
If you've ever looked at a gold ring and wondered what "14K" actually means — or why a 10K chain costs so much less than an 18K chain of the same size — this g…
Nobody can predict where gold and silver prices will be in six months. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. But you don't need a prediction to …
Scrap gold is worth exactly what the math says it's worth — weight times purity times today's spot price. That number is the melt value, and in 2026, with gold…
Buying scrap gold is one of those businesses that looks simple from the outside. Someone sells you their old jewelry for less than the gold is worth, you sell …
10K gold gets overlooked. A lot of buyers skip right past it, thinking it's barely gold at all — "only 10 karats." That's a mistake. 10K gold is 41.67% pure go…
You started with a simple spreadsheet. One tab for gold, one for silver. Date, weight, karat, what you paid. It worked fine when you had ten entries.
You're standing at a flea market holding a bag of pre-1965 quarters. The seller wants $120. Are they worth it? The answer comes down to one number: the melt va…
You're at a pawn shop. The owner slides a tray of gold chains across the counter and says, "I'll take $600 for the lot." The chains look heavy. The stamps say …
If you're holding a 14K gold chain, ring, or bracelet and wondering what it's actually worth, you're asking the right question. The answer depends on three thi…
Every scrap gold buyer has thought about it at some point. You're making $200 profit on a Tuesday afternoon deal and you think: what if I did this full time? W…
It's the question that starts more arguments in the stacking community than anything else: gold or silver? Both have been money for thousands of years. Both ho…
If you're searching for a precious metals app, you've probably come across GoldFolio and Nu Stack. Both deal with gold and silver. Both have free tiers. Both l…
If you're still calculating melt value with a phone calculator and a spot price you Googled ten minutes ago, you're working harder than you need to. Scrap gold…
You're standing at a pawn shop counter. The seller wants $180 for a 14K gold chain. It looks heavy — maybe 20 grams. Is that a good deal, or are you about to l…