There are literally thousands of websites these days who say they want to buy your gold jewelry. In addition to internet companies, undoubtedly there are also dozens of places in your home town with a sign hung out front that say the same. So with all these buyers holding out their hands, how does one know what to look for? Who’s gonna give you the best deal, and which ones are honest? Here’s a good place to start…. which ones have a sign up in their shop or on their website with a sign that says how much they pay? How many of them have information available to you that explains the process, who are transparent about how their gold price is calculated and how your items will be evaluated? Will they tell you what they pay for gold over the phone? Will they even tell you in person? No- well, there are reasons…
It is obvious why most of these buyers don’t want to say how much they pay, and for some of them it is not only the risk of being chastised for how ridiculously little they pay. Because for some of them, the truth is that they don’t always pay the same- that there are several factors, and at least one of them has overriding influence in every deal they make. One factor takes into account some smaller, local shops who may be dealing with cashflow problems. Believe it or not, the price they offer you may be greatly influenced by how much money they have in their cash register (or wallet) at the time. If you do business with this guy, you might leave his shop feeling like you just went a few rounds with a heavyweight boxer.
Another con game that is frequently run by all kinds of jewelers and coin shops is initiated when someone calls to ask what they are paying for gold. The answer people will get about 90% of the time is, “Well, it just depends- we’ll have to look at it to see its condition, see if it has any resale value- you know?” This is an outright lie- period. If you want to push it further, you could insist on continuing the conversation by saying- “Wait- but what if it’s just total scrap- no jewelry value at all- then what’s your price?” And again, of the initial 90%, about 90% of them will say they just can’t say without looking at it, or some will be a little bit more honest and just say, “Sorry- we just can’t give prices over the phone.” And that just means that their prices are bad enough that they don’t want to be compared to anyone else. Another thing you can do if someone tells you they have to look at your items in person to evaluate them for their ‘resale value-’ go visit their store… and when you walk in, say, “I’d like to see your USED jewelry.” Obviously you shouldn’t be surprised when they tell you they don’t have any.
The jewelry stores and coin shops love to hear about internet cash for gold scams because it scares sellers into coming into their stores, and the unsuspecting sellers have no idea they are walking straight into a predator’s lair. It is really unbelievable how many of the oldest, most respected jewelers have allowed their ethics to be reduced to such levels in the name of competition- just because everyone else was doing it. They don’t want you to come into their store so they can see your jewelry- they want to see you. They want to see if you look like you know what you’re doing, and they think if they can make you drive to their location, then you’ll have a vested interest in going through with the transaction. They want to see if you look desperate enough to take whatever offer they’ll give you, and they want to keep the whole transaction private, just between the uneducated seller and them.
Augustus Gold took a stand against these kinds of practices when we opened our business. We opened up our process for everyone to see, disclosed the calculations the way we use them to arrive at our gold price, and we even put our prices live on our website for everyone to see. The largest cash for gold companies on the internet are paying 11-29% as documented by many investigative reports found on YouTube. Still wonder why they won’t publish their prices?? …That’s why.