Looking for a gold buyer/refiner in the UK

[d777]

Hello all, I am in the process of settting up an online (cash for) gold buying business in the UK. I am an expert in marketing/ecommerce and know how to get traffic, clients and build a brand, it will mainly be online where people post in the gold in pre paid envelopes etc, with a few different USPs to others on the market. I was going to use a 'refiner' (they weren't really a refiner tbf they would sell it on to a refiner) who would separate, test and sort the gold, film the process and pay us same day - but I am not sure they can do what we require afterall and it needs to be a trsutworthy company who are fast and have the infrastructure to handle volume. I was able to have the customers parcels sent directly to them and they would do the above, but I would also be able to keep back some resellable pieces, so it needs to be a bespoke/personable process rather than dealing with a large refiner like Pressmans etc who can cannot do the bespokeness of what we require. I have toyed with doing this part ourselves, testing, sorting, weighing, collating and then selling in bulk to a large refiner but it would be quote a process and require xrf gun, insurance etc and would also be cash flow intensive as we would have to pay out the customer same day. I am open to suggestions on how I go about doing this, either using someone as mentioned (who was paying 97-98%) or doing it ourselves if there is an easier way to do this, with volume.

Happy to hear thoughts and would appreciate any advice.

 

[nickvc]

I fear your search will be in vain , to sort ,test and pick out saleable items from each parcel and pay individual lots comes at some cost so I’d have parcels sent to you so you do that part.
I would suggest setting up a melting room to be able to ship known assayed bars, instead of an xrf gun a file and testing acids would be a lot cheaper to start , doing this will see a much better return and quote a 3 day return to customers to allow for the weekend.
What you are asking is for someone to do all the work for a small return while you just sit back with no expenses and little financial risk with a guaranteed percentage in your pocket, now that to me seems a one sided transaction and I wouldn’t do it.
I know you are going to have costs for marketing , postage and premises but this is a business that’s highly cash hungry so if your pockets are a little short of the necessary investment or the banks are been hesitant then think of another business or start small on your own in an office with scales , acids and a file and build from there .

 

[d777]

Good points. I have toyed with the idea of oing it myself but was concerned about insurance/timings to pay customer etc - but I can get it funded somehwat and could sort, weigh, test and then pay customer whilst not waiting for the cash from a refiner.