Gold buyer at the mall

[joem]

So we were at the mall tonight and there was a cart set up with a gold buyer. They had an interesting marketing coupon which caught my eye and I liked it because I'm cheap (ish). It was a gold foil chocolate coin attached to a "10% more" coupon. So I picked up three and gave them to my kids. But I returned later out of curiosity and asked what their rates are. The answer totally shoocked me. That have no rates. You have to bring the gold in, they test it, then they decide what they will give you. I asked again to confirm but they would not give up any numbers. Apparently business is brisk but I did watch an older man throw his coins to the ground and make such a fuss that mall security escorted him out. Just shocking what companies will do to the uneducated public. A year ago I might have used this service but not since I joined this forum. Respect to all.

 

[glondor]

My wife did a little market research for me a few weeks ago at our local mall. I gave her 31 grams of 10k jewelry to test the price at a jewelry store that advertises "we buy gold". They offered her $ 270. It is seller beware for sure.

 

[maxxgold]

I notice how coy the buyers are when I tested a few of them with some silver coins. They first ask "How much do you want for them?" which irritates the hell out of me. Then they offered me $25 for .999 silver one ounce coins @$40/T.O. silver after I told them what they were and what the market was.

 

[goldenchild]

This is why my little thing I have going at my job works so well. I urge people wanting to sell me their gold to go to the malls and shops first and get a price and then come to me. They too are shocked at what the malls wanted to pay out. I think those mall scams are only paying out 30-40% spot.

I once went to one of those stands to see just how bad they were ripping off the public. I gave the guy one of my rings to see how much he would give me. To start things off his scale was set at -2g :shock: Then after weighing it he did his calculation and gave me a rather insulting offer. I grabbed my ring let out a little laugh/scoff and walked away. The look on his face was a semi smile that said "yeah I know. you got me". So anyway. Don't go to those stands.

 

[metatp]

It is too bad that the average person does not know the value of what they have and the rate buyers are paying. I see both sides of this coin (no pun intended. It may not be a gold coin.) Some buys want to get spot for their jewelry and they think their jewelry is pure gold, but the majority of the seller think getting ripped off was good. They just look at the amount of money they are receiving and not the value of what they have.

These buyers deserve a fair profit, but there are so many crooks out there that it gives the honest buyers a bad rep as well. We should tell all people to shop around for prices. That is the only thing that will put these "businesses" out of business. I know some people here in Florida that give a fair percentage based on the fact that they are just middle man selling to someone else. I would not sell to them, because I know I can get a better price, but for someone that just wants to unload their jewelry and make a quick return, they are fair. They also encourage you shop for different pricing. Very rarely did they not get the customer's business.

Education is key. Greed is rampant.

 

[MeleeDiamondGroup]

The trick is to never take your gold to a place that strictly buys gold... they calculate there overhead and there limited money making ops. and usually decide that 50 back from spot is fair....well its not! The average guy off the street can not get 98 to 99 percent, because they cant go directly to refinery to sell. like NTR Metals etc. an account must be opened and in order to do that you must have a license / company/ or have alot of gold. ( meaning they cant go sell like a100 grams or so, Ithink the limit was 5,000 grams last I checked.) So, that brings us to whats fair? well a company that is honest and well marketed can pay more becuase they have more customers so 75 to 80 percent is what I claim to be a fair cash offer for an over the counter buy. When dealing with trade accounts with pawnshops we give 96% cash, because the 14k andso on sometimes comes back low KT'd and you will loose your tail. It is all on the seller to do his homework, and never sell to the first offer you get unless you know your stuff. The mall wagons are a joke I know a guy here in GA. that owns one and rips people off, I buy his melee and breakout diamonds and here him and his partner laugh at how easy it is to get these young kids to sell.

Ryan

 

[goldenchild]

The mall wagons are a joke I know a guy here in GA. that owns one and rips people off, I buy his melee and breakout diamonds and here him and his partner laugh at how easy it is to get these young kids to sell.

So in essence you are funding/helping this guy to continue ripping people off.

 

[Palladium]

I was with a gold buyer here a couple of weeks ago on a ride along. We visited a little we buy gold shop in a economically depressed neighborhood. You know the kind. The guy had some 3 gold plated candle stick holders someone had stuck him with that he tried to pass off to us. I looked at the bottom. Yaeh right !!!!

Once he figured out we wasn't buying it he changed gears by saying " I know someone who will take them". The comment struck me as odd at first, but not knowing the guy beside the fact i could tell he was a shyster i left it alone. Fast forward 2 days and we are on the other side of town at a mall buying gold from a Chuck Wagon vendor set up in the middle of the mall. This guy here is a newbie to the game. He sells gold ( Most fake i might add ) and knows nothing about buying it. He has a test stone but knows just enough to be dangerous. After laying the guys gold out, weighting and testing, about 25% was either plated, Fake stamped, or just down right puzzling. He had bought one that would have been worth $1500 had it been real. OUCH!!!!! But before that he was bragging about how these people were like shooting fish in a barrel. I didn't like this guy either, But business is business. As we were packing up to go his buddy came up bragging about the score he had just made and wanted him to take a look at it and buy it from him. The guy opened up a backpack and took out........

That's right!!!! 3 golden candle stick holders. I looked at them on the bottom and guess what???? I handed him the holder as he ask me what they might be worth and said " i'm in a hurry right now " Test them and see what it says.
I smiled as i walked back to my truck and thought, Nahhhhh just keep walking. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[MiguelRosas]

The scary part is - he'll end up turning that around to an even worse gold buyer, and still make money.

I'll pass on dealing with any business that is that crooked too, NO. thank you.

 

[MeleeDiamondGroup]

The mall wagons are a joke I know a guy here in GA. that owns one and rips people off, I buy his melee and breakout diamonds and here him and his partner laugh at how easy it is to get these young kids to sell.

So in essence you are funding/helping this guy to continue ripping people off.

How do you see that? I said he buys Gold from the sheep of the world... I buy the little amount of melee diamonds he has. If you knew a little about this industry you would know that gold buyers dont pay for the stones in rings or jewelry other then what it adds in gold weight on the scale. So in essence they are free to the owners of these types of businesses because they are paying 50 back from spot or worse, and if I did not purchase them then the next company would. Nice try though. you reached a little on that one.

 

[goldenchild]

The mall wagons are a joke I know a guy here in GA. that owns one and rips people off, I buy his melee and breakout diamonds and here him and his partner laugh at how easy it is to get these young kids to sell.

So in essence you are funding/helping this guy to continue ripping people off.

How do you see that? I said he buys Gold from the sheep of the world... I buy the little amount of melee diamonds he has. If you knew a little about this industry you would know that gold buyers dont pay for the stones in rings or jewelry other then what it adds in gold weight on the scale. So in essence they are free to the owners of these types of businesses because they are paying 50 back from spot or worse, and if I did not purchase them then the next company would. Nice try though. you reached a little on that one.

Oh but I do know a little something about gold buying. I don't pay for the stones either but I take them out and return them to the owner. I tell my clients up front that I know nothing about stones, don't deal with them and will gladly remove them. Honesty keeps you from having to play the games.

In the last sentence of your post you are critisizing these operations but in the same breath saying that you buy their diamonds. Why deal with them at all? Do you support organizations like Cash For Gold?

 

[MeleeDiamondGroup]

Seeing how cash for gold and most operations are held and owned by non American companies, I am against most of the generic we buy gold/ cash for gold locations. I will tell you why, these diamonds and colored stones that are pulled from breakout are usually purchased from bus. owners at a low spread from the Rapport report and then resold to jewelers and repair shops or people doing custom work for a huge and I mean huge premium. So is that fair? No, it's not so I buy these stones to prevent that. I hold over a million stones, and there not on memo.... for Jewelry stores owners to have a fair shot and stop being taken advantage of casue soon all private stores will not be able to afford the material to make and repair jewelry. So you see, if I DONT buy it then Whitepine, empire or another multitude of companies will buy them sell them back to India, Brazil or Izrael to some rich company who will then be able to set the prices at what they like. It's not fair and we let ourselves be taken advantage of everyday.... I for one got sick of it....I was a bench jeweler for half my life and we all knew that breakout was a good affordable way to keep cost down. Not anymore, after 2008 33 percent of privately ownerd jewelers went under from having huge memo's and overhead from materials. So you see I am not a bad guy, just trying to make things somewhat better.

 

[gcoo029]

So I picked up three and gave them to my kids. But I returned later out of curiosity and asked what their rates are. The answer totally shoocked me. That have no rates. You have to bring the gold in, they test it, then they decide what they will give you. I asked again to confirm but they would not give up any numbers.

Seems this type of gold buyer operates everywhere in the world. I found that most gold buyers in New Zealand don't offer rates and instead try to "steal" your gold by offering a ridiculous price first up. They leave it up to you to decide whether or not you are being ripped off (which they are) These types of companies (in NZ anyway) purchase scrap gold jewelry at between 30% to 55% of the pure gold content on the material.

I started up www.northlandgoldbuyers.info to provide a more transparent way for people in New Zealand to sell their old jewelry. I offer 70% of the spot gold price and show exactly how I calculate my offers and where I get the information (gold spot etc)

The uptake has been good to date although I suspect many people have been put off by the shonky operators in the shopping malls.

Keep up the good work

Greg Cook
www.northlandgoldbuyers.info

 

[joem]

I started up http://www.northlandgoldbuyers.info
to provide a more transparent way for people in New Zealand to sell their old jewelry. I offer 70% of the spot gold price and show exactly how I calculate my offers and where I get the information (gold spot etc)

The uptake has been good to date although I suspect many people have been put off by the shonky operators in the shopping malls.

Keep up the good work

Greg Cook
http://www.northlandgoldbuyers.info

Hi Greg
your site is ok, but you should really show what you offer on the site and having dollar signs in the background kind of makes your company look unprofessional. Please don't take my comments as a putdown, I just like to see members here succeed, The most honest ( general consensus) and well know gold buyer here states everything they do and offer right on their site. check them out http://www.recyclefrog.com

 

[Buzzsaw]

I have infiltrated the gold buyer at the mall kiosk here in central pa. I work them over pretty good. I found out that they pay a rate of $13ish for 10k. and $21ish for 14K. They can CALL in and get approval to pay $4 more per dwt.... ONLY. THEY WILL not pay anymore. I normally get paid 90% of spot for gold. I routinely go to the mall and set on a bench near where they are and watch people ask questions and try to sell their items to them.... I have even bought out from under them. I watched them weigh it and test it (I was standing there talking to the guy running the thing when the lady came up) then made her an offer, AFTER I asked the guy working if it was ok to do so. He offered her $123 for a 14k necklace and charm...I did my calculation on my phone while he was doing his and when he told her the price he would pay, I flipped my phone around and said this is what I will pay you...... I paid her $190 for it, and the sad part is, the $190 was less than the normal amount I pay for 14K..... but he could not beat my price even with his phone call. I have not been there in a month or so, but I have no qualms about buying out from under the ripoff artists.... They also have to sign a non-competition clause when they take a job there... for a period of 1 year.

What started my quest to find out all info about them I could was I was walking by and they handed me one of those rub off cards that get you more cash.... the guy said the reason he handed it to us was we looked POOR.... imagine his look when I unrolled $4000 in $100 bills and asked to buy everything he bought that day...........

 

[fasTTcar]

I run a 3 location cash for gold biz - www.londongoldbuyer.com.

We advertise heavily, pay premiums for numismatics and treat people fairly. My people are not on commission and have no incentive to screw customers over. I spend huge money on full page ads when road shows come to town showing the price that they pay compared to what we pay.

You can make much more money treating your customer well in the long term than trying to grab what you can as cheap as you can.

 

[kdbarker]

I run a 3 location cash for gold biz - http://www.londongoldbuyer.com.

We advertise heavily, pay premiums for numismatics and treat people fairly. My people are not on commission and have no incentive to screw customers over. I spend huge money on full page ads when road shows come to town showing the price that they pay compared to what we pay.

You can make much more money treating your customer well in the long term than trying to grab what you can as cheap as you can.

I may regret this, but... who pays for this "I spend huge money on full page ads" in the end?
Keith
www.ThePMMarketplace.com

 

[fasTTcar]

I run a 3 location cash for gold biz - http://www.londongoldbuyer.com.

We advertise heavily, pay premiums for numismatics and treat people fairly. My people are not on commission and have no incentive to screw customers over. I spend huge money on full page ads when road shows come to town showing the price that they pay compared to what we pay.

You can make much more money treating your customer well in the long term than trying to grab what you can as cheap as you can.

I may regret this, but... who pays for this "I spend huge money on full page ads" in the end?
Keith
http://www.ThePMMarketplace.com

My competitor. :lol:

I just stole all of the business that he would have generated.

 

[Anonymous]

I run a 3 location cash for gold biz - http://www.londongoldbuyer.com.

We advertise heavily, pay premiums for numismatics and treat people fairly. My people are not on commission and have no incentive to screw customers over. I spend huge money on full page ads when road shows come to town showing the price that they pay compared to what we pay.

You can make much more money treating your customer well in the long term than trying to grab what you can as cheap as you can.

I may regret this, but... who pays for this "I spend huge money on full page ads" in the end?
Keith
http://www.ThePMMarketplace.com

My competitor. :lol:

I just stole all of the business that he would have generated.

That answer makes no sense.Are you sending the bill to your competitor? See the point here?

 

[fasTTcar]

I run a 3 location cash for gold biz - http://www.londongoldbuyer.com.

We advertise heavily, pay premiums for numismatics and treat people fairly. My people are not on commission and have no incentive to screw customers over. I spend huge money on full page ads when road shows come to town showing the price that they pay compared to what we pay.

You can make much more money treating your customer well in the long term than trying to grab what you can as cheap as you can.

I may regret this, but... who pays for this "I spend huge money on full page ads" in the end?
Keith
http://www.ThePMMarketplace.com

My competitor. :lol:

I just stole all of the business that he would have generated.

That answer makes no sense.Are you sending the bill to your competitor? See the point here?

I see the point that you may be missing.

Road shows generate a large amount of traffic from advertising. When I piggy back on the advertising that they do, I gain the customers that they created which may not have been motivated to come to me. Ergo, they are new customers. The profit that is made on regular transactions goes toward the advertising cost obviously, however, if my business doubles on the day that those ads run (which it did this past Saturday), the ad is paid for by that profit and any further profit I gain from the residual of that ad goes towards my bottom line.