buying jewlery scrap

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freud198

New member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1
Location
georgia
Hello, I was wondering if anyone was buying scrap gold jewlery from the public. I am interested in doing this. I live in a town with about 200,000+ people and wanted to advertise using either bandit signs at intersections or placing a display ad in the newspaper , or both. I wanted some feedback fom you guys that do it. Is it profitable, are there enough sellers and with gold at about 950 what would you pay per gram to turn a nice profit. I was thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 7.50 to 10.00 a gram. thanks, jason_Ga
 
This sounds like something you are doing out of your home. Be careful you do not make yourself a target for theft with your signs/business.
 
A popular technique in the Northeast is to get people to host jewelry buying parties, the host is usually paid 10% of what you spend on the scrap you purchase so it's worth their while and you get a collection of people eager to sell their gold. If you pay on the higher end of the scale getting repeat parties is much easier. All you need is testing supplies a scale and someone to go with you for security reasons. Much safer than people coming to your house.
 
Ah... yep... I ever heard of them....

In Asian we usually gather housewives to have tea party together. Is it like that?
 
wondercorn said:
Ah... yep... I ever heard of them....

In Asian we usually gather housewives to have tea party together. Is it like that?

Yes your host as 4metals suggested is paid 10% of what you spend on buying jewelery, give your host plenty of notice so that he/she may gather a good flock to attend the gold buying party it's in your best interest as well your host who is supplying the coffee and donuts.

I'm about a have a party at a used book store here on town.
 
Hi all,

I know most pawn shops have to report any purchases to the police to check for stolen property. Are there any laws like this for private party purchases, or is it just good business practice to do so to avoid possible charges like accepting stolen goods?

Just wondering?

Good Luck All,

Nick
 
In most states, scrap precious metals buyers, especially those buying karat gold and used jewelry, fall under the same regulations as pawn shops, with mandatory registration of all purchases, getting positive ID from sellers, and the requirement to hold all purchases for a minimum time - 10 calendar days in UT, 30 in CA, for example.

If you're advertising that you're buying, or that you hold gold parties, they WILL find you eventually. If nothing else, it is likely to ba a pawn shop competitor that reports you to the authorities. You can then expect a visit by your local police department to verify your purchases, check your inventory for stolen property, and then confiscating it if it's not registered in the state's pawnshop data base.

We've had pawn brokers arrested for not getting their purchases listed in the data base within the allowed time in my area. It doesn't matter to them if you're buying out of your home or not; ignoring regulatory compliance is a high-risk activity these days.
 
Does anyone know of any regulations regarding karat scrap that would
be donated to a 501C3 non-profit by individuals?? The items received
would not be purchased. They would be received as donations to support
the non-profit.

I have had this idea brewing around for a while. If donated items were recieved,
sorted and sent to a firm / forum member to refine the karat scrap for a fee can
anyone think of any issues that someone might run in to or perhaps recommendations
as to best practices for doing this?

Thanks for your insightful and thoughtful comments.
 
I know of one refiner who set up a an arrangement with a not for profit group but his take was a little different. He had his buyers go to an event set up by the not for profit group to "buy" the scrap. He paid 60% of spot cash to the person donating and an additional 20% of spot was credited back to the not for profit. The person who donated also got a receipt for the value of his 20% donation. Now the refiner processed the material and made 20% on the material, the check for the 20% donated was made out to the not for profit.
The sales pitch was the people donating would get the same deal as if they went to a gold buying store and the not for profit would get a additional 20%. I know he did it more than a few times and was quite happy with his profit from the refining. Plus he got to keep the silver and any PGM's. I wrote the spreadsheets to track the purchases and generate the receipts for the donated portions so when the refiners buyers left with the material all the paperwork was taken care of and all he had to do was refine and settle the lot with the 20% allocated as a donation which was paid like a settlement.
 
That's an interesting approach. Seems fairly simple. I was leaning more
toward an outright fundraising effort for folks who want to support the
non-profit and are able to donate their karat scrap and get a 100% charitable
donation receipt and the warm feeling of helping out in a non-cash way.
(Although cash, checks and money orders are always gladly accepted). :lol:

However, there are surely folks who would prefer the 60% of spot for their items
and the warm feeling of cash in their pockets while helping out the non-profit as well. 8)

Thanks for responding.
 
Here in California, we give burglars and robbers a choice---they can either sell to a pawn shop, which will hold the stuff for 30 days so it can be matched against a list of stolen jewelry by the police, or they can send it to Fence-For-Gold! :|
 
...............................................................................................................................................................................home security systems
eeTHr said:
Here in California, we give burglars and robbers a choice---they can either sell to a pawn shop, which will hold the stuff for 30 days so it can be matched against a list of stolen jewelry by the police, or they can send it to Fence-For-Gold! :|

I don't know what Fence-For-Gold is but it wonder if they have a good business model? lol
 

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