Need opinions on SIM card gold

[cyberdan]

I sell SIM cards on ebay. One week ago I shipped 4000 old style (bigger) SIM cards to a customer and I got this message this morning.

They are not gold plated. They are the new design. They are some sort of mixed metal. I put them into the acid to start the recovery process, and there is nothing left in the mix after the drain off. That means that they are not gold plated, they are the newer design that doesn't use gold. Everything had been disolved into the acid. Gold it supposed to be left behind.

I have several thousand more in boxes from two manufacturers and the labels are:
Vodaphone with date stamp 08-11-14
Telenor Connection date stamp 2014/08/07
So they are not anything new.

My questions is, has anyone run across or heard of SIMS without any gold?

I am going to refund but just curious. I have sold over 165,000 SIMs over the last eight years and never had a complaint. I just got my most recent batch from an electronics recycler.

 

[stella polaris]

If you have more of the same type its just to make a test. If you refund you get nothing back since, according to customer, they are dissolved in acid. If some one tries to scam you well then its up to you what to do. Or he might not even try to scam you just do not know how to take care of them. I would first ask him how he did process them. If not a scammer he might have put them in AR.

 

[cyberdan]

I asked his process. Lets see what happened. I believe he has done recycling before and no problem.

 

[jmdlcar]

If it was me I would check his feedback and see if he has ever ask for a refund or return anything.

 

[cyberdan]

He got back to me quickly. Looks like he did this three ways at the beginning. This is what he sent me.

One batch in diluted nitric acid, one in diluted hydrochloric acid, and one in a hydrochloric hydrogene peroxide mix. I can send pictures later if you want to see them. The nitric is crystal clear dark blue with no residue. The deluted hydrochloric is a really really dark green with no resisdue, and the acid peroxide mix is a lighter green, but still see through, with no residue. It is really just weird that there is not even a film on top of the acid along with no residue of any kind on the bottom.

 

[cyberdan]

I issued the buyer a full refund. You know ebay would settle on the side of the buyer and if I fought it there would be a ding on my account. So I have an idea.

Is there someone out there with extensive experience pulling gold from SIM cards? I am willing to send you 500 cards at no charge if you are willing to go through the steps. You can keep 100% of the gold. I just want a report on amount, if any, you get. Remember buyer claimed these are some mixed metal and no gold. These are the large SIM and made in 2014. I believe made in Europe.

I still have almost 8000 cards and I want to sell. I pulled them off ebay until I know for sure.

 

[Geo]

I can test them for you Dan. Send me a PM.

 

[Alabama938]

This is really fascinating, would you just put a few in a test tub with some AR and test with stannous? You’re just testing for gold with regards to the complainant right?