Rob at Cockeyed.com saw a late night commercial for Cash4Gold ("Sell your jewelry NOW!"), so he decided to test their service. His friend Brent gathered up some scrap gold and first had it appraised at a local pawn shop. Then, armed with a baseline of what to expect, he mailed it in to Cash4Gold. Their offer: $60, or one third of the appraised value. When he called and rejected it, they countered with a surprising new figure.
Brent called Cash4Gold and immediately and asked for his stuff back. They made a new offer on the phone: $178!
Can you imagine? They covered their smell a little by suggesting that they could manipulate the numbers on their end so that it would look as though he sent in more than he had....suggesting that they were doing HIM a favor by upping his offer to this new, more attractive number.
The two things to remember if you send in your gold to Cash4Gold:
"Cash4Gold Will Offer One-Third of the Actual Value for your Gold " [Cockeyed.com] (Thanks to Michael!)
]]>If you're feeling like shaking down the system, there's always insurance fraud.
]]>When no one was looking, I took all my scrap gold and threw it in the dumpster. No one is going to take advantage of me having to walk all the way to the mailbox just to send off some useless gold.
This reminds me of the 'bring in your coins' to Wal-Mart machine that takes a percentage to sort your change. Of course it's ripping you off, but as stated previously, it's a service that some will just take advantage of. I do like their marketing: ,"I just took all of my 'old' [insinuate worthless] gold and got rid of it [like the plague]." That is genius.
]]>DO NOT SEND THEM YOUR GOLD. THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF. THEY STOLE 3.2 OUNCES OF 14K GOLD FROM ME. AFTER 20 + PHONE CALLS WHICH THEY NEVER PICK UP AND PHONE MAIL BOX IS FULL. I DID MY OWN INVESTIGATION. THEY HAVE MANY MANY COMPLAINTS. CALL THE FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND VERIFY MY STATEMENT. MOST OF THE POSITIVE STATEMENTS THAT YOU READ ARE FROM CASH4GOLD COMPANY. THIS IS THE MISINFORMATION THAT THEY PUT OUT THERE. THEY ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION FROM THE FTC (FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION) AND THE FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL
]]>They stole 3.2 ounces of 14k gold from me. After 20+ phone calls with no answer. After filing a complaint with the ftc,Florida Attorney general and Pompano beach BBB. They call me. They said that they would return my call. I still waiting.
]]>Stay away from this company at all cost. They took 3.2 ounces of 14k gold from me. They Have many many many complaints with the Florida attorney general, federal trade comission and The broward county BBB. They do not answer phone calls to their service desk. If you send them your gold good luck, they just got rich off of you. I am waiting for the feds to shut them down and arrest the lot of them. Thousands of people are being scammed of their gold.
]]>CASH4GOLD IS NOT ANSWERING THEIR PHONES ITS A SCAM THEY GOT ME FOR 3.2 OUNCES. cALL THE fLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL.
]]>Why do this? "Get your gold appraised first so you know what's fair, and reject any unreasonably low offer over the phone so that they have the option of making a counter offer." couldn't you just get it appraised somewhere that will pay you for it, thus cutting out the mailing/receiving step?
]]>That's right. Just march into the store and ask how much they would give you.
]]>(sigh)
]]>MonsterSlayer takes scrap silver and gold. I've heard nothing but raves about them.
]]>Does anyone find it interesting that the 'value' of the gold scrap is determined by a pawn shop?
I'm not suprised the Cash4Gold site isn't paying top dollar, but I'm not sure the pawnshop appraisal is a fair test of the scrap's true value.
]]>Idiots, and thieves.
Pretty convenient service for thieves ... send the gold in, get cash. No hassles with local cops.
]]>You name kinda makes that comment.
]]>I loved the spay painted stuff he sent in.
]]>Even if they were completely legitimate, I would not use them. Their commercials really annoy me.
My first thought when I heard of this company was that I would much prefer to do something like this in person.
]]>Not that it matters, there are always more than enough scammers vying for our money... :-(
]]>@numberoneasa: Agreed. My wife didn't want a diamond, but instead wanted colored stones on a standard gold band. Got a 3 carat garnet (what she wanted) with 2 1.5 carat sapphires on a 18 carat band and wrap. Total cost, $690. Total cost for the eqivalent in diamonds over $12,000. That, and her ring was custom made to order, and looks prettier (nothing uglier than a colorless ring.)
]]>He still does regular updates. They're just not as regular. :-)
]]>Exception - Tiffany & Co. Their jewelery maintains value very well, and I believe they offer a trade in program...
]]>I decided on an important business principle when I was young; If a business couldn't afford to spell out or properly punctuate their own name, I probably shouldn't do business with them. Your "Shop-Rite"s, your "EZ-Loan"s, whatever. They're either skeezy, or full of cheap shite made in S.E. Asia.
]]>Diamonds themselves aren't' a very rare stone in nature. It's a fairly common stone. Sapphires, Emeralds, and rubies are all rarer. Diamonds have been valued simply because of the monopoly behind it and the cultural inertia is gained in the last 100 years. Every year DeBeers mines enough diamonds to last a decade. They've been doing this for a long time and simply warehousing the excess. I bought a Canadian diamond to circumnavigate DeBeers and since I'm in Canada it wasn't any more expensive. But again, it has no value except the emotional value we've now placed on it.
]]>I thought about cashing is some old gold stuff I had. I went to 4 or 5 places. Offers ranged from $650 to $435. GET SEVERAL APPRAISALS!
]]>My dad uses a local jeweler for all his purchases: Dean's Jewelers in Montgomery, AL. The guy makes the stuff and sells it, it's always TOP quality, and they are wonderful to deal with, even AFTER the sale is made.
Forget DeBeers, use your local craftsman. If you can find one. They're much better than the canned jewelery stores.
]]>Pawnbroker: In Philadelphia, it's worth 50 bucks.
Louis Winthorpe III: Just give me the money. [looking in display case] How much for the gun?
@kingmanic: Think of it this way: Diamonds are supposedly expensived because of their rarity in the gem world, but go to a jewelry store and dang if diamonds don't outnumber all other stones combined by a vast majority. Anything below a full carat, and nearly flawless and colorless are ripoffs at retail.
]]>crazy. i always see the commercials and wonder about it. but i dont have any gold laying around. or gold spray paint.
]]>These people probably play high stakes poker over the phone...
]]>Clark Kent should stay the hell away from your bagels...
]]>Selling your old gold items is completely negotiable. The fact that the merchant is low-balling the seller is completely expected. Neogotiation is required in order for the seller to maximize income from any sale. The problem lies in people having too much trust, and they think it's "fast and easy".
]]>Cash4Gold first sent Rob a check for gold, even when he'd just sent them random things spray painted gold.
Here's another where Rob tests whether a torn up credit application is still good:
[www.cockeyed.com]
@RamV10: OOPS!!! I meant to say
I don't see how this is a rip off. You send in something, they make an offer. You are free to accept it or not, or to attempt to negotiate. How is this different from any other consumer transaction?
No one is obligated to give you the price per ounce you see on the evening news.
]]>asshats.
]]>In any case, selling it yourself via craigslist of ebay will net you far more money than selling it to a shop.
If its a solitaire (where the ring itself is worth almost nothing) you may do better selling the diamond loose and scrapping the ring.
]]>When I bought my wife her engagement ring, I talked to the local gemologist who put it together. In order for him to buy from DeBeers directly, he needs to buy a certain amount of diamonds each month, which he obviously has to sell to stay in business.
Therefore, he and others like him aren't to interested in paying full value for diamonds not from DeBeers...It just means they have another thing to move. At least that was my take on why diamonds don't retain much monetary value.
]]>@RamV10: eBay it with all the specificatons. Check out [www.pricewatch.com]
]]>My cousin's wedding ring was bought for 6k, she has all the certifications from it, but noone locally will give her more than 500 bucks for it. If I understand diamonds correctly, and I think I do, a diamond is a diamond, so how do I help her get out of it at least some of that money?
]]>Counters' Axiom: Any business with a number in its name substituting for a real word is a scam.
]]>I think this follows a theory that seems applicable to anything seen on late night television. Much like the late night lawyer advertising his services..
"Wow, he has lots of legal looking books behind him! He must be good!"
]]>You mean to tell me that a late night commercial would not be what it says to be? Outragious. At least the internet is truthful.
]]>But it's good to know that not only did someone check it out, but discovered that playing hardball with them made a huge difference. I have no kudos to offer cockeyed.com, but instead I offer some legos, which I assume are similar.
]]>But would the pawn shop have offered him $180 cash for the gold?
::takes notes for unwanted jewelry from an ex....::
]]>Wow, what a rip! I wondered how a service like this worked. Wonder what happens if you cancel the entire thing...do they send it back or do they charge you to return it?
]]>