Why you should avoid the TV gold rush
Filed under: Investing, Personal Finance
With gold prices recently at record levels, you'd have thought you would get a good price for that locket or bracelet that you never wear. Don't bank on it!. A study by consumer group Which? reveals that cash-for-gold services can leave you scandalously out of pocket.
Whilst most people would be prepared to lose a little on the value of their jewellery for a hassle-free transaction, some of the valuations being offered by TV gold buyers are just beyond the pale.
Gold rush
At the height of the winter gold rush, Which? purchased gold jewellery and then asked for valuations from four TV gold buyers – Postal Gold.com; Money4 Gold.com; CashMyGold and Cash4 Gold.com. In addition Which? also approached three independent jewellers and three pawnbrokersDespite the incessant TV adverts telling people "it couldn't be easier to cash in on your gold", TV gold buyers consistently provided the worst quotes.
According to Which? On average, the TV gold buyers offered just 6% of the retail value of the jewellery. This compared poorly with the average price quoted by pawnbrokers of 17%.
The jewellers offered the best rates. They were willing to pay on average what amounted to 25% of the retail value of the jewellery.
Whilst a quarter of the value hardly classes as a good deal it is still more than four times what the TV gold buyers were prepared to offer!
Deal or no deal?
To give some indication of just how much gold buyers are short-changing consumers, Which? shows that for a £399 gold necklace, CashMyGold was offering a measly £22.50; Postal Gold £25.04, whilst the average quotes from pawnbrokers and jewellers were £80 and £102 respectively.Perhaps not surprisingly the cash for gold market remains unregulated and consumer groups including Which? are advising the public to think twice before they sell by post to TV gold buyers.
Not only have the valuations come in for heavy criticism so have levels of service and the cooling off periods applied.
The TV adverts may give an impression of 'getting rich quick' but in reality the only people getting rich are the gold buyers!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-01-2010 @ 5:39AM
Bruce Paton said...
We made up a bag off unwanted gold items, and sent it off, two days later they sent a cheque for £6.29 .
I returned the cheque, requesting my items be returned, after about 8 days, i still had not received my items, so i contacted them by phone, a pleasant young lady answered the phone, after i told her who i was, she said that my items were in the post room, she asked me that if i was offered more would i accept it, i replied, all depends on what the offer was, she said she would speak to her supervisor, and came back 15 seconds later, saying they were prepared to increase it to £18.87 .
I replied no thanks, it was worth more than that, she said my items would be returned in two working days, two days later my items were received.
NEVER AGAIN !.
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2-01-2010 @ 10:39AM
Lynne said...
They are rip of merchants! I sent in 3 rings, 2 gold chains with pendants, a gold hinged locket and 2 pairs of gold ear-rings. I was offered £35.00. One of the rings alone cost over £300.
I did not accept the offer and it took 8 weeks to get my jewellery returned. I took some of the items to a kiosk in our local shopping centre and he offered me £110 straight away (and the £300 ring was not included in that deal).
My advice is - be very careful. The company rang me at home and asked what I would be prepared to accept. I said I was no longer interested in doing business with them as I didnt trust their opinion and asked that they send my gold items back without delay.
I have more than trebled what they initially offered me. Shop around!
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2-01-2010 @ 4:31PM
Deborah said...
Best idea is to sell your gold on ebay auction. I sold 116 grams of broken/unwanted gold chains, rings ect for over £900.00 on ebay auction and that was almost a year ago.
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2-01-2010 @ 12:29PM
kev said...
DO NOT USE THESE CASH FOR GOLD ADDS, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF
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2-01-2010 @ 1:17PM
memo said...
It's all very well people telling us that gold prices are at their highest - I believe somewhere around £900-£1000 per ounce!!! Tell us where Joe Public can go to get anywhere near that?? Are we cheaper smelting it ourselves and then selling or what? I have jewellery worth somewhere in the region of £25,000 bought for me by a relative as an 'investment' as he believed that gold was where the money was. The regulators need to be whacking this entire industry.
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2-01-2010 @ 5:04PM
Robbo said...
Anyone who sends their gold to these rip off merchants deserves what they get. Attention all theives - just watch out for the nicely labelled envelopes!!!
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2-01-2010 @ 7:16PM
PEDRO said...
There is an old saying, if it seems too good to be true it usually is. All you have to do is take a trip to your local jewellers and they will offer you many times more than these TV cowboys. You also have the peace of mind in knowing where your gold has gone, which is more than you do when you put it in the post.
According to PEDRO.
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