Today's experience when looking to sell 5.5 oz of 14K jewelry at local establishments

roadrunner

About 2 yrs ago a friend of my son had mentioned to him that he had a couple of hefty 14K necklaces and if he knew what they were worth. At the time I think I told my son at least $2000 based on a few ounces of gold. Well today, he ran into this guy again at the local up-scale mall where he was going from jewelry store to jewelry store looking for a buy price on his necklaces. Needless to say the numbers that were coming back were no surprise: $300, $600, $750, $800, etc. There was a pawn shop offer in the mix as well. The guy was even thinking of mailing the stuff off to one of our favorites who ironically might have paid more than $800. But who knows.

The highest offer came from XXX while XXXX and others were somewhat lower. XXX Jewelers confirmed the 14k quality and the weight - 169 grams total of 14k....over 3 ounces of pure gold. A quick little figuring and I told him that his friend's stash had a gold value of around $3950 so he was getting low ball offers. I told him to give me a second to call some local contacts to see what I could do. My buddy typically pays 90% on scrap but he wasn't available this week. So I then tried the most trustworthy local B&M coin shop that is about 30 miles away and they gave me a number well over $3,000. So my son's effort will save this guy a couple thousand bucks as he was just about to head back to XXX and sell it since they were the highest offer up to that point at $800. Sheesh! And don't start giving me the spiel about "high overhead" as the coin shop has high overhead as well. Go ahead "free market" guys, let's hear your justification on this one.

His friend said he'd give him a $100 for his efforts. I hope he does that.

Edit: I removed the names of the establishments to protect the "guilty" and to save a poof.

roadrunner

mrearlygold

What a shame. And those places are everywhere now although Zales should be called on their offer

Connecticoin

RR, you should tell your story to one of the local new stations -- they might be interested.

I would like to see this hidden scam exposed on TV news.

P.S. It would have been interesting to see what "G.O.T." would have offered.

roadrunner

They are too far away from me and too busy saving orphans and widows from the clutches of the unscruplous. But I love his ads and a tear comes to my eyes whenever I see what's her name with the blond hair and heavy eye makeup looking up to heaven thanking her husband (Henry?).

No, I don't need to be part of any lawsuits. Besides, I'm getting all this 2nd and 3rd hand over the phone from my son. I'm sure its trustworthy, but someone might stick $5K in that kid's pocket to shut him up and then come after me. The media would eat stuff like this up and probably paint gold in even a worse light as just a crooked game. Probably best to leave it as buyer beware and do your own due diligence. You would think that the Pawn Stars TV show would have helped to ejumacate the public on gold.

roadrunner

mkman123

holy cow what a rip off........they offered him $800 for 3k worth of gold! They would have instantly flipped it and made a quick profit. This is nuts. THey are just like those roadshow people setting up shops at hotels buying coins for dirt cheap.

roadrunner

I would think that these retailers probably just stockpile their scrap winnings then at the end of the month send out a shipment to the local refiner or a coin dealer who is paying >90%. It's basically free money.

I erred on some of those prices above. When my son came home he said those lower prices were per necklace. So those 3 or 4 lower offers were in the $300-$750 range. I edited the original post to the correct numbers. Yeah, but they still stink. It makes some of the mail-in-your-gold companies seem like angels in comparison.

The B&M actually offered around 87.5% of spot which I don't consider to be a rip. There aren't than many shops offering 90% or more. My vest pocket dealer friend will offer up to 94% for larger quantities but may only offer 90% on small deals. The pure gold value of these necklaces was just about $4,000 so the 2nd highest "bidder" was at 20%. Of the dealers shown the gold, 80% of them tried to seriously lowball the seller. I suspect this is what I would find if I visited other malls around the state. Imagine owning this jewelry for 10 yrs and the price of gold increases 5X. At a 20% offer you at best break even. Where else can you bring in a dollar bill and get 20c for it on the spot and walk away happy?

Now I remember the guy's name in the GOT commericial: "thank you Raymond."

roadrunner

guitarwes

shame shame, what a shame. I talked to a woman just last week who was soooo happy that she got $450 for a handful of scrap gold from the hotel buyers. The only thing she was concerned about during the whole process was running to the bank to cash their check before they left town because she didn't trust them. ........Not that they gave her less than half of what her gold was worth, but getting paid for it after they ripped her.

so sad. some people aren't ignorant, they're just uneducated.

jmski52

guitarwes, one of my fiancee's friends was so taken in that she went back a second time. Ack!

Wolf359

<< <i>RR, you should tell your story to one of the local new stations -- they might be interested.

I would like to see this hidden scam exposed on TV news.

P.S. It would have been interesting to see what "Good Ole Tom" would have offered. >>



Of course the Jeweler is unethical and wrong, but unless it's on camera I would say no local news story would be interested. It could be a "tip" to set up a sting operation though.

greatnortherncoin

here today gone tommorrow clowns, some people never learn.. who would take a check from them ??

Bochiman

<< <i> Sheesh! And don't start giving me the spiel about "high overhead" as the coin shop has high overhead as well. Go ahead "free market" guys, let's hear your justification on this one.
roadrunner >>

Rooster1

guitarwes, one of my fiancee's friends was so taken in that she went back a second time. Ack!

Hey JMSKI, how many fiancee's do you have?

Connecticoin

<< <i>I would think that these retailers probably just stockpile their scrap winnings then at the end of the month send out a shipment to the local refiner or a coin dealer who is paying >90%. It's basically free money.

I erred on some of those prices above. When my son came home he said those lower prices were per necklace. So those 3 or 4 lower offers were in the $300-$750 range. I edited the original post to the correct numbers. Yeah, but they still stink. It makes some of the mail-in-your-gold companies seem like angels in comparison.

The B&M actually offered around 87.5% of spot which I don't consider to be a rip. There aren't than many shops offering 90% or more. My vest pocket dealer friend will offer up to 94% for larger quantities but may only offer 90% on small deals. The pure gold value of these necklaces was just about $4,000 so the 2nd highest "bidder" was at 20%. Of the dealers shown the gold, 80% of them tried to seriously lowball the seller. I suspect this is what I would find if I visited other malls around the state. Imagine owning this jewelry for 10 yrs and the price of gold increases 5X. At a 20% offer you at best break even. Where else can you bring in a dollar bill and get 20c for it on the spot and walk away happy?

Now I remember the guy's name in the GOT commericial: "thank you Raymond."

roadrunner >>



Yeah, I hear ya. Maybe the news channel should do their own investigation -- it would make a great story.

roadrunner

It would still be bad press for gold no matter how you slice it. People would just say, yeah that gold stuff is all a scam. You pay too much for it and then get low balled when you sell it. At least that won't happen with GLD. (well at least not today...lol).

(looking upward to heaven) Thank you Raymond. (pause...and looking lovingly into the camera then pan to fido)....Good Ole Tom . Now what was the dog's name???

roadrunner

jmski52

Hey JMSKI, how many fiancee's do you have?

How many did it sound like?