ARA gold

[19Smitty77]

I just got my settlement from ARA for the first time today. I couldn't be more happy! I got it just like they said in 5 business days and ended up being about $100 more than I had calculated! I am now an ARA customer for life! THANKS ARA!!!

 

[Lou]

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.

I have a strong feeling that it got buried in the AgCl and didn't even dissolve. What happens to that silver is someone's dream.

 

[Williams55]

good discussion thanks for all....

 

[ekeppel]

Hi Folks,

As I read it in other posts, ARA may be no longer accepting material from the public, but even so, I wanted to post my rather poor experience with them, since they had gotten fairly good reviews here and on other forums and this thread comes up among the first in a Google search for ARA reviews.

I sent in two lots, one silver and one gold, in two separate bags in the same package. The silver was refined on Sept 20th, and a check immediately cut at spot, though out of 12oz of sterling, I am short around 1.5oz in the refined material from what I know I sent in.

Here is where my biggest issue comes in. The gold was not refined (or so they tell me) until the 26th, even though they were sent in at the same time, and during that time the price dropped over $200.00 / ounce. Now that seems more than a little bit fishy to me, since the turnaround time for gold is nearly always much quicker than silver according to the website and the person I spoke with at ARA.

When I asked them why they held the gold a week before refining (or more likely in my mind, they refined on the 20th and waited on cutting a check) I was basically told "I don't know" by the fellow I spoke with. The weights shown as raw material received on the receipt were accurate, but I wasn't very happy with the weight of the refined material. Either they fudge things, or they lose a lot of material in the agua-regia bath. I can't say for sure there, but it was a far cry from the 2%-4% I would expect as worst case losses from refining.

Anyway, if you should happen to use ARA, please make sure to specify exactly what day you want the spot price to be calculated on. If you aren't sure, tell them to hold it until you say sell and then lock in your spot. If you don't specify, as I foolishly neglected to, they may go ahead and pick a day that is best for them and worse for you, ie. they sell your gold on monday at $1800/oz, and since they see the chart turning bearish, they pay you the lower spot $1600/oz on friday or the following week after the price falls.

I will say on the upside, that am very glad that I chose to sell the majority of my material on eBay. I did MUCH better on eBay than via ARA Refiners, but ARA was a lot less work and is still far better than many other cash for gold outfits I see around. Anyhow folks, I hope my experience helps someone save some money -- caveat emptor!

Sincerely,
Eric

(First post, by the way!)

 

[Palladium]

Welcome to the forum Eric.

 

[Lou]

You should never lose 2-4% when refining gold. How can outfits like Armena pay 99.25% of spot (and they're not even the best) and still make money?

It's a shame that ARA is getting flak here recently, yours is another negative review.

 

[HGG]

First post! I'm not a shill of any refiner, just an ordinary scrap buyer. I want to share my own experience with ARA.

I'm not a refiner just a scrap gold buyer. Been doing it for a couple years so have made mistakes and learned from the process. Part of the process has been finding an outlet for my scrap gold. I googled around and found very good reviews of ARA so I thought I'd try them out. I sent them a register mail package on a monday containing my estimate melt value of $4000 of various karat scrap. My estimates were based on experiences of testing using a gxl-24 pro electronic tester (always filed off the surface to eliminate plated/filled junk) and double verified using acid. I wanted to get as good an estimate as I could for my first use of ARA. I had been using a local branch of another refinery I won't mention now. I've gotten pretty good at estimating my melt results and usually come within 1-3% purity.

Package arrived at ARA on that thursday so I called and locked in the spot price but was told it wouldn't be refined til Friday. Called that Friday but didn't get thru so left a message which wasn't answered til Monday. My payout was ~$3300 instead of my estimated $4000. I was shocked to say the least after reading so many good things about ARA. I finally got to speak with someone there and they verified my weights to be correct and it was the correct lot according to them. At that point what was I to do? So they sent me the check which I received that friday. 2 weeks end to end and my payout was $700 less than estimated on my first melt with them.

Don't be offended if you've had good results with them. Not trying to say you're wrong at all, just sharing my ONE experience with them. Maybe I screwed up with my estimate? Could be but I've never had that happen before or since.

I have no doubts that my current refinery isn't 100% accurate either. I'm sure their xrf method results in an occasional 1-2% bonus for them. Funny how it never errs to the customer's side.

 

[Palladium]

You wouldn't be the first one to have problems with ara recently. Seems they have changed course here recently for some strange reason. Not sure what has happened over there but my opinion about them as changed also. I've not only head of problems from forum members, but from other clients i have directed their way and it don't seem to be getting any better. I use to hate Ntr metals but here lately i have to say they have been spot on for me. Just my opinion of course.

 

[HGG]

You wouldn't be the first one to have problems with ara recently. Seems they have changed course here recently for some strange reason. Not sure what has happened over there but my opinion about them as changed also. I've not only head of problems from forum members, but from other clients i have directed their way and it don't seem to be getting any better. I use to hate Ntr metals but here lately i have to say they have been spot on for me. Just my opinion of course.

Well that was my one and only experience with them for what it's worth. Also my first and only experience mailing scrap in for a melt. Even if they got close to my estimates I don't think I'd do it again as the turnaround time, hassle and shipping (minor) expense just isn't worth it. I do suspect my local refinery to be a little less than accurate (always in their favor somehow) but I'll just add 2% to my "melt loss" factor when buying scrap. Even if I could find someplace to do fire assay testing the cost/time involved wouldn't be worth it since I'm a small timer, melting maybe 200-400 grams a week avg.

 

[watlarry]

Just completed a transaction with ARA and I couldn't be happier.I know what I had and what I expected and I got exactly what I expected.I got 98% of everything I sent Turn around 4 days after their receiving..not bad.

 

[jimdoc]

Just completed a transaction with ARA and I couldn't be happier.I know what I had and what I expected and I got exactly what I expected.I got 98% of everything I sent Turn around 4 days after their receiving..not bad.

Did you need a tax number or business license to deal with them?

Jim

 

[philddreamer]

Most likely, in his profile it says he's a business owner.

Phil

 

[watlarry]

No. Just go to their website, http://www.aragold.com/ down load the customer application and send it in with your metals.

 

[turtlesteve]

Well I wasn't going to bring this up, but since several people seem to be having problems recently you might as well add me to the list:

I used ARA's services for quite a while for fairly small batches and always got exactly what I expected (typically 2% less than the marked karat weight) based on test batches I refined myself. Scrap was generally acid tested before sending, every now and then I included pieces with both karat gold and gold filled components but didn't include these in my yield prediction. However all of a sudden I had a single batch come out 10% less than expected, with no explanation. It's hard for me to believe I made that big of a mistake, as the material was randomly split from a larger lot that yielded OK with ARA before. At the time I did not talk with them directly as I couldn't imagine any benefit from it. I have not since used their services.

Does anyone have any good alternative recommendations? I was thinking of So Accurate but they have a minimum charge that would require larger lot sizes than I'm used to dealing with.

Steve

 

[Palladium]

Thank god i never really had any problems with accountability when it came to weight issues or quality. I always sent them refined gold so i knew EXACTLY what i was sending. They were always spot on when it came to my money. The only problem i had was customer service issues. Now it sounds like they have even more problems than that. I use NTR now. Go figure.....

 

[kadriver]

I have used ARA for about a year now.

I send them my refined gold bars. I have never sent in karakt scrap or silver.

Due to my inexperience, I was not getting a price lock. They would give me the low of the period - but I can't blame them for that. With no price lock, wouldn't we all do the same?

I now call in and get a spot price lock-in before I send them my gold bars.

I stamp the weight and the lock-in price on the bar so there is no confusion.

I get 99% of the spot, and 99% for the purity for a total payout of 98%.

I have been sending them two to six troy ounces per month.

The numbers have always come in, right on. I get paid via wire transfer to my bank account the same day they receive it, or by 10am the next morning.

Personally, after dealing with GRC and some other adhoc outfit from New York a year ago, dealing with ARA was like taking a breath of fresh air.

Their staff is courteous and professional. But there does seem to be a slight, but acceptable, lack in their customer service demeanor.

Getting paid right, and on time are the hallmarks I use to judge the fairness and honesty of ARA.

If there are things I can do to help them in this area, then I will do them.

I give them a thumbs up - kadriver

 

[trashmaster]

HI Steve;; please contact Matt ( fournines here on the forum) He is a great member and might work with you on smaller lots .

I've only heard of one person not happy with So Accurate ,, and this was several years ago and by a member that had been kicked off the forum a couple of times. Matt helps this forum with info that we would not otherwise have acesse to....

 

[THRIFTPAWN]

Kadriver ,

I am a new gold and silver buyer out of the northeast united states and I am wondering what your bad experience was with GRC?? Could you elaborate on this comment?? I deal with them now and want to know if I am safe!!


Thanks - new user!!

"

Personally, after dealing with GRC and some other adhoc outfit from New York a year ago, dealing with ARA was like taking a breath of fresh air.

- kadriver[/quote]

 

[Matt]

I have used ARA for about a year now.

I send them my refined gold bars. I have never sent in karakt scrap or silver.

Due to my inexperience, I was not getting a price lock. They would give me the low of the period - but I can't blame them for that. With no price lock, wouldn't we all do the same?

I now call in and get a spot price lock-in before I send them my gold bars.

I stamp the weight and the lock-in price on the bar so there is no confusion.

I get 99% of the spot, and 99% for the purity for a total payout of 98%.

I have been sending them two to six troy ounces per month.

The numbers have always come in, right on. I get paid via wire transfer to my bank account the same day they receive it, or by 10am the next morning.

Personally, after dealing with GRC and some other adhoc outfit from New York a year ago, dealing with ARA was like taking a breath of fresh air.

Their staff is courteous and professional. But there does seem to be a slight, but acceptable, lack in their customer service demeanor.

Getting paid right, and on time are the hallmarks I use to judge the fairness and honesty of ARA.

If there are things I can do to help them in this area, then I will do them.

I give them a thumbs up - kadriver

Does this mean that day if the spot price was like 1900 then ARA GOLD would pay 98% of that 1900 number? Which would be 1862?? Are they actually buying it for 98% of spot? Thanks!

 

[Martijn]

Welcome to the forum.
Your responding to a 11 year old discussion. if that is still what they pay, no idea. Check their website?

How much % of spot you get from the refiner also depends amount of pm's you turn in. And what other metals are in the mix.