This post is part of the latest Carnival of Personal Finance. Be sure to check out the other great entries as well.

Tough economic times, coupled with soaring gold prices, has led to a growing number of ways to sell gold.  Two particularly terrible ways to sell both share a common trait: convenience and a lack of comparison pricing.

The first, is online gold buyers like Cash4Gold.com, which had one of the few memorable Super Bowl commercials this year.

Despite the entertaining ad, many consumer advocates have shown how the company consistently offers below market prices.  Cash4Gold Will Offer One-Third of the Actual Value for your Gold was such a popular post that Cash4Gold offered a bribe to have it removed.

The second way to not sell your gold is at a so-called “Gold Party.”  A gold party is like a Tupperware or Candle Party, hosted by a friend or neighbor.  Rather then offering you products to buy, the host has a representative from a gold buyer there to write you a check for your unwanted gold.  The host earns a cut of the payouts, typically about 10%.  A few NBC affiliates put some gold party companies (with names like My Gold Party, Gold Rush at Home, and Gold Refinery) , to the test and found that they offered lower prices for gold.  By shopping around, they got offers between 21 and 70% higher than they had received at the gold parties.

Sure you can sell your gold from the comfort of your own home, but if you’re getting ripped off, is it really worth the convenience?

Perhaps the first question to consider is whether you should be selling gold now to begin with.  This is a hot topic of conversation with strong opinions on both sides.  I feel that the irrational pessimism toward the stock market is causing many investors to buy into “safe” investments like gold at exactly the wrong time.   Given the choice between buying and selling right now, I’d choose selling.  Given every possible option, I’d describe my outlook as Don’t Buy, which means hold or sell existing supplies but do not add to them.  Those without physical gold to sell who are even more gold bearish than I am could either buy puts on a gold ETF or buy a Short Gold ETN like Deutsche Bank’s Gold Double Short ETN, ticker symbol DZZ .

What are your feelings towards gold and have you attended a gold party or used a site like Cash4Gold.com?