Are local Jewellers or Pawnshops any
better?
I made a phone call to a pawnbroker who advertises
locally and nationally on the TV with an easy to
remember web address for people to contact them who
want to sell their gold scrap.
Their website was advertising that they paid £4 per
gram for 9ct gold scrap, when 9ct scrap gold was
fetching nearly £8 a gram on eBay at the same time as I
was making the call. I assumed that their website was
out of date and I was right.
I asked on the phone, how much they were currently
paying for 9ct gold scrap per gram. They
passed the call around the members of staff and I was
finally told by the manager that they don't give prices
over the phone, because it could change in the 15
minutes between me getting a price and driving to their
shop to weigh in my scrap gold!
I asked what I would be paid, if I was standing at
their counter right now and was again told that they
just don't give prices for gold scrap, over the
phone.
I got into my car and drove to their shop in less than
10 minutes and that's when I found out that their
website was out of date.
They used to have their scales on the front counter, so
that the customer was reassured that their gold
scrap was being correctly weighed. Now, it's on a
table behind the counter and was obscured by the staff
member who was weighing my gold. Why?
She asked me how much I wanted for my gold! I replied
that I wanted to know the scrap value, before I could
decide if I wanted to sell it to them or take it
somewhere else for a better offer.
She then told me that the best they could offer was
£20!! That's just over £2 per gram for my 9g of scrap,
when their own website was showing that they currently
paid £4 and scrap 9ct gold was selling on eBay, that
morning, for just short of £8 per gram!
I told her to give me the gold back and that I could
get a better offer almost anywhere else. When she asked
me how much I could get and I told her what scrap gold
was fetching on eBay, she just shook her head in
disbelief! I told her to check it "right now" on eBay
through the Internet connection thay have in the shop
and she just walked away.
I took my gold a short walk to another
pawnbrokers that also takes out whole page
newspaper ads to let people know that they pay "top
prices" for gold scrap, but don't actually show
any prices.
Their set-up was slightly different insofar as their
scales were nowhere to be seen and the assistant took
my gold, out of sight, to be weighed. She came back and
asked me how much I wanted for my gold! Again, I told
her that I wanted to find out how much they were
offering before I decided if I would sell it to them,
or choose to take it somewhere else.
Their offer was £25 for 9g of scrap 9ct gold, so I told
her to give me it back and I would take it somewhere
else. She replied that she could "round it up" for me,
to £27 and that was their best possible offer. At only
£3 per gram, I took my gold and left.
Why did both shops ask me what I
wanted for my scrap? Were they hoping I'd ask for even
less than the ridiculous amounts they were offering?
How many people do they catch in this way. If I had
told them I was expecting more than £3 per gram for
scrap 9ct gold, would they have given it to me?
If you have any gold scrap to sell, shop
around and don't part with your gold if you're not
happy with the amount of cash being offered for it. At
the moment, gold will only increase in value
anyway and is much safer than your money in the bank.
Check on eBay, how
much is actually selling
for and use those prices as your standard. You will
incur costs
selling on eBay and
there's the possibility of "losing" your gold in the
post. Any amount you're offered for your gold
scrap should take this into account when comparing
offers.