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JustinNH

JustinNH

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
259
Location
New Hampshire
Hey-

I remember a few months ago, there was some positive talk about ARA. I bookmarked their site and just revisited it now to find it not working. then tried aragold.com and it says the site is coming soon but still has a phone #.

Did somethign happen? Are they still reliable? Just wanna be sure :)

Thanks,
 
I just spoke with them a few miniuts ago. They are doing some revisions to the web site and should be back up shortly.

I have been using them for about 6 mo. with no problems.

Rainmaker
 
Hey Rainmaker,

I just spoke to ARA, They said they pay 98% of spot. This sounds almost too good. have you ever had any problems with weights? ie your weight is more than theirs?
I am ready to send off some buttons ~2ozt and this sounds like a good deal to me but I would like others experience with them to be sure.

Thanks,
John
 
Ignatz-
I just sent in my stuff the other day. There are other posts on ARA that several people recommend them, so they must be relatively fair.

I mentioned that they were spoken highly of on an internet forum and the guy know this was the one I was talking about. he said they get a enough business from us to know the name...

So knowing that, Id say just make sure to mention the GRF so they know not to short you, not that I think they would, as they know this is good advertisign to have people speak possitively about them on an open forum.
 
The way they work it is, they will settle at 98% of spot close at the end of the day they finish processing your gold. However if you tell them to pool your precious metals they will hold it until you say sell. They use Kitco for priceing. Anyone really interested shoud visit their web sit and give them a call. They are very nice to talk to and will answer all your questions, explaining everything to you. They let you settle for the whole lot or any portion of the lot you send.

http://www.aragold.com/

1-800-216-9796

Rainmaker
 
Most large buyers sell what they buy, maybe once, maybe several times per day. In other words, after they accumulate some gold, they "lock in" a selling price for that amount of gold to their buyer, on paper. That way, changes in the market price doesn't affect them.
 
I have used ARA gold several times and I never had a problem with the weight. However, that is about the only positive thing I have to say about them. I won't use this as a spring board for bashing so I'll say I now use NTR Metals. Their main office is in Dallas TX. I'm fortunate that they have a collection office here in KC so I can walk my metals in, they scan it on the spot, give me a print out of all the metals present and pay 98% gold and 90% on pgms and ag and then write me a check on the spot and it always clears. Their website is www.ntrmetals.com and their main office number is 1-800-889-0396. Let me know if I can start a new thread with thier contact info and drop off sites.

I'll say this about the last time I took in some gold. It came back 99.74% Au, .244%Ag and .012%Cu. That was accomplished by using methods I learned here on the forum...Thanks to all who contribute! By the way, the scan and report of elemental analysis is free.
 
It appears as if you must be in the business of jewelry, coin shop, pawn broker or other business man. Does not look like the hobbist can use them. Quote: "Accounts at NTR are available only to the trade."

I just visited their web cite.
 
OOPS......I had forgotten about that little part, it's been a while since I set my account up with them and I did have a business name to use. They aren't very picky about how your business is set up and they don't require any paperwork to verify it so you could just use (yourname) refining co. and go with that. I know that even though my account is under a company's name, they make the check out to me directly and I didn't need anything special to set it up. They had me in the computer, my first gold scanned and a check in my hand in less than 20 minutes. I hope you can get an account set up though. They are a great company to do business with.
 
I have used ara for years and they dont charge for stone removal. Have always gotten all my stone back and payment is right on. The only people ive heard of that is unhappy with ARA is those who buy crap and think it is worth something. They are very helpful and most of all Ive found them to be honest.
 
I just got back my first assay result and check from ARA. I have no complaints about their service or business practices per se; but there are two lessons that I learned from the experience:

1. It is very, very common for karat jewelry to be under the stamped purity. The assayed gold content was 8.6% less than what I predicted based on testing with a Mizar M24.
2. If you send them PGMs mixed in with your gold, THEY WILL JUST KEEP IT with no payout for the PGMs. My lot included 2.4 grams of Platinum which I had incorrectly identified as white gold. They included it in the assay report with 0% payout.

Like I said, neither of these is a complaint about ARA. They did what they claimed they would do -- it's not their fault if I can't distinguish Pt from Au.
 
skoobie said:
I just got back my first assay result and check from ARA. I have no complaints about their service or business practices per se; but there are two lessons that I learned from the experience:

1. It is very, very common for karat jewelry to be under the stamped purity. The assayed gold content was 8.6% less than what I predicted based on testing with a Mizar M24.
2. If you send them PGMs mixed in with your gold, THEY WILL JUST KEEP IT with no payout for the PGMs. My lot included 2.4 grams of Platinum which I had incorrectly identified as white gold. They included it in the assay report with 0% payout.

Like I said, neither of these is a complaint about ARA. They did what they claimed they would do -- it's not their fault if I can't distinguish Pt from Au.
Click to expand...
It might be your gold tester. I have heard of the Mizar but never seen it used. I have a GT3000 and I can test to 1/2 karat and PT is no problem. It has a digital readout. Yes, gold is ALWAYS underkarat (except some Japanese 18K I have) and ARA has always been very close to what I was expecting.

My only complaint is not really a complaint against them, they think and pay based on dwt (pennyweight) I do it in grams. (that is how I learned)
 
cyberdan said:
My only complaint is not really a complaint against them, they think and pay based on dwt (pennyweight) I do it in grams. (that is how I learned)
Click to expand...


Working in 1/20 of a troy ounce increments is easier than working in 1/31.1
troy ounce increments when you really think about it. It is good to learn both.

Jim
 

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