All That’s Gold

What a pleasure it is when a gold party guest takes the time to say thank you!

Just yesterday, Gold Party US received a charming letter from a gold party participant in Georgia. In her letter, she writes about her Gold Party US experience. The writer shares that she was skeptical when her friend invited her to a gold party. Wisely, she decided that prior to attending the party, she would seek an appraisal from what she calls Augusta’s biggest jewelry store. The writer notes that the store had been running a weekly gold ad in the paper. Once the store representative gave the customer a quote, the writer responded that she would think about it, full well knowing that she would be attending her friend’s party that very night.

Despite her skepticism, she brought that same unwanted jewelry to her friend’s party, organized by Gold Party US. She writes that Gold Party US representative, Danielle, was kind and glad to answer all the skeptic’s questions. To her surprise, Danielle offered her MORE MONEY than the well-known jewelry store had quoted! With enthusiasm, she declares that the Gold Party US experience is not only a great way to make money, but a fun time enjoyed with girlfriends, too.

Way to go, Danielle and Gold Party US! As well, All That’s Gold would like to give a big ‘way to go’ to the friendly writer. She shopped around for the best price, supported her friend by attending a gold party in spite of her doubts, and took the time to write about her experience. Gold Party US hopes to work with the writer again and to offer that same, satisfying experience to you, too. If you are ready to learn more about the finest gold parties the United States has to offer, please contact Gold Party US today.

Experts and amateurs alike are of two differing opinions of the current gold trends and amazingly high gold prices.

Some are certain that gold is going to keep climbing, and many would-be sellers that want to cash in on the gold party trend are holding out for gold to even hit as high as $2,000 an ounce!

What do you think? Can gold keep holding on and climb even higher, or is the gold rush about to come to an end? If gold does crash, how low will it go?

It’s a very big topic right now, so we’re interested to know what people think. Gold up or gold down?

Shoot us an email or a comment and let us know what you think!

Gold is once again at the $1,000 mark, and the news outlets and scam artists are taking notice. Not only are companies like Cash 4 Gold ramping up their marketing to get a piece of the action, but more and more “gold buyers” are hitting the streets in ways we’ve never seen before.

Depending on where you live, you may have even seen people in bright green vests or other eye-catching colors standing on street corners, flashing signs proclaiming that you “SELL YOUR GOLD NOW!” in front of offices with haphazard banners hanging in windows. If you happen in to one of these stores, out of desperation, curiosity, or what-have-you, you’re likely greeted with nothing more than a card table and chairs in the middle of an empty office space. It looks like a set straight out of a horror movie, but the only impending torture is the pitiful amount you get offered for your precious gold.

As gold rises, more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon to buy gold and get a piece of this “cash cow”. It seems like a simple enough scam. Pay pennies on the dollar to someone for their heirlooms and treasures, then turn around and sell it at an incredible profit to a gold refiner. In truth, it is much more difficult than these people can even imagine to be safe, reputable, and fair.

Many refiners don’t take objects that are gold-plated, gold-filled or costume. Even now places in other countries are tricking the system by stamping their fakes to look real. Some even pass the most stringent tests, but aren’t gold at all. So if a gold scammer paid $100 for a fake necklace, he’s out of luck. It’s only a slight taste of justice for those who have been scammed.

Not only that, but if you’re truly a fair gold buyer, you probably aren’t making much, if any, profit. That’s why it’s usually safer to sell your gold to a jeweler than a company that does nothing but buy gold. Jewelers can not only re-use the gold they buy from you, but they also have another source of income that can help keep costs low, and help pass the savings on to you, the gold seller.

It may be easier to think of gold as a reverse sale. In typical product sales, a product goes from a manufacturer who sells it to a distributor, the distributor (or wholesaler), in turn sells it to a retail store, making a profit in the process (otherwise the distributor would be out of business, right), and then the retail store sells the product to you, also making a profit. So let’s say  a manufacturer makes a box of 100 pens and sells it to the distributor for $1. The distributor then sells that same box to a retailer for $2, making $1 profit on every sale. The retailer then sells that box of pens to you for $3, making also $1 profit.

A typical gold transaction goes the reverse. A retailer (gold buying representative) buys the gold from you for $2, even though it’s actually worth $3. We usually skip the distributor step unless the gold buyer works for a bigger company. The gold buyer then sells your gold to the manufacturer (refiner) for the full value of $3, keeping the $1 profit from buying it for $2.

A scam company would likely do something more like give you $100 for $500 worth of gold, then sell it and make $400 profit, giving you only 20% of the true value of your gold. It makes you angry just to think about something like that happening, doesn’t it? Which is why we can’t stress enough that you should thoroughly research the company you want to sell your gold to. Ask for referrals, watch the entire gold-buying process, ask lots of questions, and if you still don’t feel comfortable, walk away and take your gold with you.

As always, ask questions, leave comments. We’re happy to respond to your inquiries.

More and more every day the expert gold-buying consultants for Gold Party US are hearing the same story: “I didn’t think I’d get any better offers than [competitor], so I just sold it to them.” When they find out that we pay on average a third more than most of our competitors, they’re floored.

How do we do it? It’s actually quite simple. We keep our overhead costs down, and we’re not greedy, so we pass the savings on to you

We’re constantly surprised to hear how much our competitors are paying. Very rarely are we pleased to find out that someone has gotten a better deal than our offer. Most frequently it’s that someone was offered a pittance for a fortune’s worth of gold.

That’s why we encourage all of our potential gold-sellers (that’s you!) to shop around to get the best price. Remember, it’s YOUR gold until you sign the paper officially making it someone else’s. You don’t have to take any offer you don’t like. Nor should you ever accept the first offer if you have more than just a couple odds and ends. Remember you can always go back later and sell to the offer you liked the best. The same goes for the Cash 4 Gold ads you see on tv, but you have to be quick about calling and sending the check back to get your gold back.  Always check what you receive back to make sure everything that you presented initially is there.

This doesn’t go for just in-store gold sales either. The same goes for  gold parties. Especially as someone hosting a gold party, you want to make sure your guests are going to get the best deal. It benefits you if they do! While you probably can’t get a direct quote over the phone, you can still ask for references to check and make sure others who have hosted or attended a gold party are fully satisfied.

Even if you attend one of our Gold Parties, you can still hold off on selling your gold if you’re not comfortable. Just get it to your party host within a week  and she can send it to her party consultant and get credit for the sale. Just remember that the price of gold fluctuates daily, so you may not get exactly the same offer for your gold that you did that day. With any luck, you’ll get more!

An informed gold seller is the best kind, so if you have any questions, no matter how simple or stupid you think they may be, we’re always willing to talk with anyone looking to find out more information.  Feel free to call or email us at any time!

As part of our repertoire, Gold Party US frequently shops our competition to make sure we stay at the top of the price range.

Recently, a few of our secret shoppers went on the hunt again, and what they found would make you sick.

A national jewelry store chain, which shall remain nameless, with a few dozen locations throughout the US proudly exclaims on their website what price they will pay per dwt (pennyweight) of 14kt gold every day. Our secret shoppers went in to make sure they were true to their word and left with $3 less per dwt than the website claims!  They claimed to pay over $15 per pennyweight, but they only paid $12.50!

Apparently this store thought that nobody would think to double-check their math. We did, and we were astounded that any company would blatantly lie like this.

And this one store was not the only culprit. Several other stores and “party companies” did the same thing, quoting one price but actually paying another, much lower, rate.

At Gold Party US and Coughlin Jewelers, we welcome all questions and have no problem showing you every step of our gold buying process, including our prices.  While we often cannot give quotes on the phone, we will gladly sit down with you and your gold and show you exactly how an honest company operates.

Please do not hesitate to question those that you sell your gold to. If you ever feel pressured, you can get up and leave. Remember, it’s YOUR gold and you don’t have to part with it if you don’t want to or if you feel uncomfortable. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have.

A recent conversation had in the produce section of a local, West Michigan grocery store reflects a concept commonly misunderstood in the realm of gold buying and selling: the power of weight and quality over brand and beauty.  

As a few customers crowded around a great display of fresh corn-on-the-cob, one woman commented on another’s lovely gold bracelet. “I had one like that a while back,” she lamented, “until I twisted the heck out of it!” Her comment led to a word or two about selling gold and how another woman felt her jewelry had been unfairly judged. A representative from Gold Party US had stopped to pick up a few ears of her own and heard the complaint. She asked the woman to explain her experience. 

“My husband took in our junk gold to sell,” she said, “and that included an expensive birthstone ring he’d bought me – it was still in the designer box.” While peeling husks, the disappointed seller explained that she’d never really liked the ring’s style, but she knew that her husband had spent a lot of money on it and had selected the ring based on its popular brand name. “For twenty years,” she reported, “I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t like it. But he knew, because I rarely wore it.” Consequently, the couple decided to include the ring with the junk items for sale.

“We were happy with the amounts we got for the broken chains and my mother’s single earrings,” she said, “but I expected more for the ring.” She went on to say that with the fashionable brand name, light wear, original box, and pretty gemstones, she thought the ring had to be worth more than the price offered. “My husband kept the ring because they were interested in the gold alone,” she grieved. The gold buyer asked if they’d been offered the gemstones back if they’d agreed to the sale. “Sure,” she said, “but wouldn’t it have been worth more to buy the ring in tact?”

The lady in the produce section was not the first to have asked such a question. In fact, such may be one of the most misunderstood concepts in the realm of gold selling today.

The Gold Party US buyer understood the woman’s concern. From the standpoint of today’s jeweler, she politely explained the difference between retail value and refinement value. She assured the seller that the gold buying goal rests not in retail and resale appraisals but rather in the weight and quality (14kt, 18kt, etc.,) of the gold for refinement purposes. The seller nodded. She got it. She recognized that the jeweler hadn’t meant to insult or minimize the ring’s original value – he simply wished to buy the gold. The ladies parted with smiles and many ears of golden corn.

Hands down, it is vital for sellers to recognize that personal gold items presented for purchase at jewelry stores and at gold parties are not judged in the same way they might be when displayed within a glass showcase. Toward a recycling and refinement objective, buyers understandably cannot base their prices with regard to their craftsmanship, design, wear, or brand name.  

At gold parties and on jewelry counters alike, as professional gold buyers pay cash for your old and unwanted items, they do so by treating each piece equally, whether it’s gaudy or gorgeous, all the rage or just plain outrageous. And frankly, that’s a really good thing because the majority of the gold jewelry submitted for sale doesn’t dazzle and some of those old styles can be a bit, uh, corny!

If you’ve got gold to sell and you like working with honest, everyday folks that will take the time to explain the process to you (even in the produce section!) please seek out a professional and personable  gold party company like Gold Party US.

Something as simple as googling “Gold Party” can be a scary thing nowadays. The words scam, fraud, and cheating are tossed around like so many pixels without consideration as to what this actually means.

And then there’s you:

You’ve got some gold, or maybe you want to host a party, but with everyone tearing down everyone else, you’re not sure where to start.

“So-and-so is paying in grams! They’re obviously trying to cheat you!”
“Company X is offering bonuses for taking store credit! They’re a big scam!”
“This place has rigged scales! They’re giving you pennyweight payments for gram readings! That’s fraud!”

Even a seasoned gold expert wouldn’t blame you for running away in fear or tearing your hair out. What these people may not understand, or don’t care about is that gold-buying is a business. As a business, people are expecting to make a profit from buying your gold from you and either using it themselves, or more commonly selling it to a refiner.

How much profit is entirely dependent on the gold-buying operation. They also have to use that money to cover the hostess bonuses, referral bonuses, pay for equipment and travel, and refiner fees among other things. The ones that are attached to other businesses such as jewelry stores and pawn shops may be able to give you a bit more by using the overhead from their brick-and-mortar businesses to pay for the equipment and fees instead. On the other hand, some may take even more out of your value to pay for struggling stores during this economy crisis.

But there is a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. If you make sure that whatever company that you use is licensed to deal in precious metals, you can be assured that there is a strict set of rules that they are required to follow. Scales have to be calibrated and inspected, and fraud is not likely to happen if a real business is at stake.

It’s always a good idea to ask your gold party representative if they are licensed, bonded and insured to be sure that you know exactly where your gold is going and how it will be handled. Everyone can claim to be a gold buyer, but as such they need to understand that there are taxes, laws, and ordinances that they need to pay attention to in every location that a party is held. Some cities require all gold that is purchased to be logged and reported within 24 hours of the party.

Some people take out all stones or deduct the “weight” of the stones from the gold before they buy it. This is tricky as many of the smaller gemstones barely register on the scales and shouldn’t be deducted at all. Gold Party US weighs the gold with the stones and pays the whole amount. If you wouldn’t like to keep the stones, they can always use them in other jewelry or feature them in the aquarium at the brick-and-mortar store. If you would like to keep them, they take them out at the party after weighing or they remove them at the store and mail them back to you via USPS Registered Mail.

Before anything else happens, shop around. Talk with actual gold party consultants. Find out their process. If they aren’t open and honest with you, thank them for their time and look elsewhere. Just don’t ever expect anyone to tell you what they’re paying versus spot price. Even though gold buying is a business, not many people will openly declare “oh, we only pay 30-40% of what the gold is actually worth” even though that’s what the low-end (and possibly fraudulent) gold buyer pays. Think about it, 10% goes to the hostess, probably 10% goes to the consultant, 5% to the referral, equipment, gas, overhead…. At most, any gold buyer can probably only pay 60-70% of the gold value.

What makes this even scarier is that many jewelry stores and pawn shops offer the same prices at gold parties that they do in their stores, even though there is no consultant bonus, hostess bonus, or travel expenses- mainly just equipment. If you sell to a jewelry store or pawn shop that also offers gold parties, ask them if their rate is the same for both. You should expect to get more in the store.

Here at All That’s Gold, we don’t expect to make friends with the people that are doing bad business for their gold parties. We hope to educate gold sellers so that they know what to expect in any situation that they may part with their gold jewelry. If you have any questions about gold, gold parties, selling your gold, or anything along those lines, please feel free to drop us a comment or an email. You can also learn a lot more at the Gold Party US website.

Secrecy, fraud, identity theft, misdirection, robbery, lies, cheating……

An underground drug smuggling operation or one of many “companies” offering to buy your gold at the highest price at a gold party?

You might be surprised.

But all is not as bleak on the Gold Party circuit as it sometimes seems. While there is more than a fair share of groups that will lie, cheat, and steal to get you to host one of their famous “Gold Parties”, there are also more than plenty who are honest, fair, and not out to cheat the lay man out of his gold for next to nothing disguised as a great deal.

Keep an eye on this blog at All That’s Gold for more tips, tricks, and ways to keep you and your gold safe, or to part with it at what is truly a fair market price.