This S’porean traded in jewellery she no longer wears for 3 new gold pieces & paid S$0 for it

I love gold jewellery.

In fact, I love gold jewellery so much that I often frequent gold jewellery retailers with my friends.

Apart from gold jewellery, I also love good deals.

I mean, who can resist the heady rush of adrenaline when you’ve scored a good deal?

Gold that I no longer wear

Put these two together and you’ve got a dangerous combination… And a few gold purchases that I’ve come to neglect over the years.

These jewellery pieces have been relegated to a corner in my wardrobe, their shiny gold lustre dulled by a thin layer of dust.

Just to be clear, I am not an impulsive shopper, nor am I advocating for impulsive shopping.

I only stopped wearing a few of these pieces once I got older and my personal style preferences changed.

Scratching my curiosity

One day, I decided to retrieve these jewellery from the depths of my wardrobe.

Out of curiosity, I brought them along to Maxi-Cash to find out their market value.

At the Maxi-Cash store at NEX, I met the lovely Susan who attended to me.

I’ll be honest - while I often frequent gold jewellery retailers, most of my time is spent purveying goods that are encased behind shiny glass display cases.

Hence, trading in jewellery was a foreign concept to me.

Trading in

As I was a complete newbie, Susan took the time to explain to me what she was doing throughout the process.

With a jeweller loupe, she started by looking for hallmark symbols on each of my gold pieces.

What are gold hallmarks?

For the uninitiated, gold hallmarks are symbols that indicate the purity of gold or the proportion of pure gold in a piece of jewellery.

If an item of jewellery has the numbers 999, 916 or 750, it means that it consists of 99, 91.6, or 75 per cent of gold respectively.

The numbers 999, 916 and 750 can be used interchangeably with 24 carat (K), 22K and 18K gold.

After locating the “916” symbol on all my jewellery, Susan placed my jewellery on an incredibly precise digital weighing scale that measured down to the centigram.

Altogether, my five pieces of jewellery clocked in a mass of more than 20g.

Had nearly S$2,000 just sitting in my wardrobe

Multiplying the mass by the existing 916 gold rate of the day, Susan calculated that by trading in the gold pieces, I would reap S$1,848.52.

I was pleasantly surprised as this was no small sum.

It also made me realise how much I had overlooked my jewellery and their value, considering how nearly S$2,000 had just been laying idle in my wardrobe.

Have I mentioned that I like gold?

Now if you’re wondering why I specifically went down to the Maxi-Cash at NEX, I have a confession to make — I have been regularly visiting the store for several months now.

Not only is the Maxi-Cash at NEX one of the chain’s bigger stores with the largest brand-new jewellery collection, it is also conveniently located just two MRT stations away from my office.

But most importantly, it was home to three jewellery pieces that caught my eye.

While previous trips had seen me leave the store empty-handed, I was always full of hope that these pieces would one day be mine.

And good deals?

After months of waiting, I decided to take the leap and trade in my gold jewellery for these three new gold pieces.

On the day I went down, the store had a “S$9 off gold price per gram” promotion, which was yet another win for me.

Once I passed Susan the gold jewellery I had on hand, she took my identification and bank details to process payment to me.

The process was straightforward and fuss-free, and I received my money via PayNow immediately.

Convenience for customers

As part of Maxi-Cash’s continuous pursuit to provide greater convenience to their customers, they have taken steps to integrate both PayNow and an E-Valuation service online and at all of their stores.

Integrating PayNow

With PayNow, customers can receive their cash payments safely and instantaneously after trading in their jewellery.

E-Valuation service

In 2017, Maxi-Cash was the first pawnbroker in Singapore to offer an online valuation service.

Individuals who are curious about the value of their gold jewellery can get an online valuation without having to step into a physical Maxi-Cash store.

Individuals need only submit the weight, purity and photos of the jewellery pieces, as well as their personal contact details on desktop or mobile, and voilà, they’re done.

They will receive an approximate quotation within one to three working days, and if the price is right, schedule a physical assessment to find out the exact value of their jewellery, much like the process I went through with Susan.

This physical assessment can be done at any of the 45 Maxi-Cash outlets islandwide.

Had cash left even after buying new gold

With the newfound cash in my pocket, I proceeded to purchase the three gold items that I had been eyeing for so long.

They consisted of a 999 gold necklace, a classic 916 gold ring, and a pair of 916 gold earrings.

After GST, the total bill came up to less than S$1,800.

This meant that I didn’t have to spend any additional money on top of the money I had received from trading in my jewellery earlier, and even had nearly S$100 left in “extra” cash.

Unlike the gold jewellery I traded in, I intend to put my newly acquired jewellery to good use and wear them every day, which is why I opted for simple designs that can match any occasion.

If you have neglected gold jewellery at home, consider putting them to better use.

Get your jewellery valued here or visit any one of Maxi-Cash’s 45 outlets islandwide to speak with their staff.

The writer of this sponsored article by Maxi-Cash Singapore thinks gold is a girl’s best friend.

Top images via Mothership and Maxi-Cash