1. Why should I sell to Union Square Jewelry Buyers?
Union Square Jewelry Buyers is a local group of industry recognized experts ready to assist in accurately and fairly appraising and purchasing your valued property. Most of our appraisers were born and raised in San Francisco some representing five generation natives. We are not a fly-by-night operation. Our wholesale office was first opened in the Shreve Building in 1990. Our buy prices are among the strongest and we are experts in what we purchase with a combined 100 years of experience! While most of our competition consists of retail jewelers turned gold-buyers, our staff consists of experts who’ve written books, authored buy prices and advised auction-houses on the property they appraise. Our confidential buying office is located in the heart of San Francisco, at Post and Grant Street, with ample validated parking and easy access from BART and MUNI. We are multi-lingual and can work with you in a variety of languages: English, Spanish, Russian, and Cantonese.
2. How will I be paid?
We purchase your property with wire transfer, check or cash. Our Wells Fargo bank is located 1 block from our office on Market/Grant streets. Most of our purchases are completed with a Wells Fargo check payment which can be immediately cashed.
3. What can I sell?
We appraise and purchase most any property consisting of any precious metal. Scrap jewelry, broken diamonds and Rolex watches, circulated gold and silver coins - this is our daily business. However, our specialty is larger diamonds, estate jewelry, fine vintage and modern watches, antique silverware & flatware and Object d’Art. We can only purchase property owned by you.
4. Do I need to bring identification?
The City of San Francisco and the State of California requires the seller have valid identification. Forms of ID we accept include a driver license or ID card issued by any state, photo ID by a governmental agency, US passport, foreign passport accompanied by another item of ID showing an address. We are required by the San Francisco police Department to report all purchases.
5. What don’t we purchase?
We do not purchase modern costume jewelry or fashion watches. We normally do not purchase gold filled items unless in bulk and we do not purchase counterfeit items or watches without serial numbers. We do not purchase damaged or altered coins.
6. How many items can I bring in to sell?
We purchase any amount of gold, silver or platinum jewelry. Our typical purchase runs from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. Obviously the more items brought in for appraisal the longer the time to estimate value. Estate purchases require a few days to estimate and we’ve made purchases in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Union Square Jewelry Buyers is Patriot Act compliant. Certain transactions may be subject to additional federal reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
7. Do you consign property?
We’d prefer not to consign property only because in our experience a consigned property is usually priced above market – which is the reason for the consignment. We have the money to purchase and we would rather buy your items outright. However, from time-to-time, there are items that might require special attention in maximizing value. In these cases we work with the property owner in achieving their goals.
8. How do you evaluate my property?
For gold items such as scrap metal (broken or unwanted jewelry) we utilize acid test to measure gold purity. We use a commercial scale, which is approved by the State of California’s Weights and Measurements, to obtain the dwt (pennyweight) of the metal being scraped. For watches our onsite master-watchmaker will evaluate the case and movement for authenticity and condition. Diamonds are identified with an assortment of tools to grade weight, color, clarity and enhancements.
9. How can I tell if my items are gold?
The simplest way is to read the karat markings on each piece. Any of these indicates that your jewelry is gold. 10 karat: 10k, 10kt, 416; 14 karat: 14k, 14kt, 585; 18 karat: 18k, 18kt, 750; Platinum: 950PT, Platinum, Plat, 950PT 10%IR; Silver: STERLING, 925, SILVER. 1/10 GF refers to gold filled and is not solid gold. Vermeil refers to gold plated on Sterling Silver and will be valued as silver.
10. How much gold jewelry equals an ounce of gold?
It takes 2.400 ounces of 10K, 1.714 ounces of 14K, 1.333 ounces of 18K or 1.091 ounces of 22K gold jewelry to equal one ounce of pure gold.
11. How secure is your office?
We protect your safety with a secure and confidential environment equipped with security guard and cameras. Our location is in San Francisco’s historic landmark – The Shreve Building. Although we can service multiple clients simultaneously, sellers can request a private appointment for discrete and personal attention in our Union Square office.
12. Do you have items for sale?
We do not sell to the retail public. We are wholesalers and our products are sold to jewelers and dealers around the world but we’d be happy to refer you to one of our clients for your consideration. Our products are kept offsite in a bank vault.
13. Do I get the "spot" gold or silver price for my items?
We monitor the NY precious metals market and base our buy prices on both daily ‘spot’ averages as well as intrinsic and/or market value of the property presented. We typically purchase scrap gold up to 80% of spot, scrap platinum up to 80% and silver up to 77% of spot.
14. Is Union Square Jewelry Buyers licensed?
We are licensed with the State of California and City of San Francisco as Second-hand dealers. Our commercial scale is also licensed by the State OF California. We are also associated with a variety of professional industry groups.
15. Do you offer parking?
Parking is available at any number of garages near (Post/Grant) such as Sutter-Stockton Garage, White House Garage and Union Square Garage all 1 block or less from our office in the Shreve Building. We offer FREE validated parking with the purchase of your property.
16. How do I get there from Muni or Bart?
Our office is in the Shreve Building – 210 Post Street, suite 711, on the corner of Grant and Post above Shreve & Co. Jewelers. You can reach us by BART or MUNI exiting at Montgomery Station and walking two blocks up Post Street to Grant. If we purchase your property we will validate your mass transit ticket