Undercover At A Gold Party
On Monday a gold party was held at one of the house’s of worship in the area, we sent in someone with some gold to see how it works this is what happened.
174 grams of 18kt gold was sent, we also sent 21kt, but after what happened with the 18kt she found out all she needed to know so she did not bother showing him the 21kt gold. She was told that they weighed 111 grams a difference of 63 grams just to start, and 9.3 grams of that was 14kt how did he know that well he did a little light show for her passing it under some ultraviolet light complete non-sense.
He offered her $250.00 for 111 grams, she told him “are you crazy?”, he then said” sorry I made a mistake”, he recalculated, and then offered her $1,550.00. Now the interesting part is this we had bought those items in our store just one hour before, all items were stamped 18kt or 750, checked by an acid test to see the gold karat, there was no 14kt items with them we bought these for $3,150.00 on Monday we were buying 18kt gold for $18.00 a gram. The first offer was for $2.53 a gram after doing his recalculation he then offered her $13.00 a gram for 18kt gold, and if you calculate it by penny weight or DWT the price drops to $8.90.
The scale is under the table so the customer can not see it you do not know if you are selling by gram weight or penny weight, now we can all under stand how they can offer 10% to the host of the party, and another 5% to the person who’s name was used as a referral, when you are working with a very small percentage to begin with that is if you are a jeweler who is honest, you can not pay 10%, and another 5% we are not even making the 10% so they have to make it up some were, and that is by cheating simple, and easy you do not have to think twice just look at the numbers. He did write these offers down on his card, and on his flier.
So what should you do? Well if you are going to go to one of these gold party’s go to one or more honest, and reliable jewelry store in your area if you can then have your items sorted by gold karat have them weighed, and you should write how much they weigh, and what the offer is. Do not accept being told they are worth this much ask how much thy are taking them for by gram weight. In our store we post the price as of Saturday the gold price per gram was
22kt $21.00 a gram
21kt gold at $20.00 a gram
18kt gold at $16.00 a gram
14kt gold at $11.00 a gram
10kt at $7.00 a gram
After you get your prices you should get more or at least equal to what ever was offered to you. If your gold has been sorted by karat, and they try to tell you that several items are 14kt in the 18kt or 10kt in the 14kt, and you have all ready had it sorted in another jewelry store walk away. If they tell you your items weigh less then what you have written down, walk away you do not need to waste your time you already know that they are cheating you.
When you do not take their offer this was the interesting part the person we sent was told take the offer 10% is going to the house of worship don’t you want to support your house of worship, we found out after several calls that the they were not getting on penny out of all of it that the women that was hosting the party there was getting it all. That is what they told us anyway.
So they steal you with the gram weight telling you that your items weigh less 1 penny weight is worth 1.54 grams, so if they are buying by penning weight they are stealing one third of your gold, some places do tell you that they are buying by penny weight, but so far the majority do not. They cheat you by telling you that your gold is less gold karat then it is, and they cheat you again by giving you less then what your gold is worth.
On the same day as this gold party one women came into the store who had also been there, and showed us her 21kt gold, saying that she was told that several of the items were not 2lkt, but they were 18kt, she knew that these people were lying so she walked away, and came to us, She was right none of her items were 18kt gold they all tested positive for 21kt.
Ok I get that they are ripping people off. How sad..but for you to act like you are “honest” people! ha ha…why don’t you report on the rip off of how much your jewelry is marked up…hmmm.
Shannon
Thank you so much for your reply, we are very honest I know that it would be very hard for you to believe that you could still find an honest jeweler these day’s, but there are a lot of us. We do not mark up our jewelry like you would see in a mall store, we give you a straight answer to a question, and no we are not making millions from our store. My husband, and I run this jewelry store along with one other employee that has been with us for 11 years. I myself get discouraged with what I see some other jewelry stores doing, and I have gone to some of the other jewelry stores in my area, and to say the least you do have a legitimate complaint. You should remember one thing it is a business, and we are going to make some money that is after all how I pay my bills just like you. I hope that you can find a good honest jeweler in your area.
Thank you
N.J. Diamonds
Does your jewerly shop buy gold?
Chris
We do buy gold at our store, thank you so much for your question.
N.J. Diamonds
5601 Schaefer
Dearborn, MI
hi i just went to one..but i went to the jewlery store first and weighed in about $160.00..went to the party got $201.00..so they are not all rip off these parties…i found an honest gold party and a rip off jewlery store, very reputable jewlery might i add…
I am interested in starting a gold party business in Raleigh NC. I am a very honest person and am not interested in ripping people off. I just think it would be a fun and exciting way to make money. I want to give people the best price I can, but also make a good income for my family. What do you feel is a fair % of the spot price to pay at a gold party. How would I go about selling the gold I collect directly to a refinery for the 92 or 93% (of the daily price) you mention in your article. Are there local refineries or would I have to mail my gold out. Can you help me with any contact information?
Also, are any of the online gold buyers reputable because some seem to be paying pretty close to the spot price. Check out USgoldbuyers.com and let me know what you think -it looks like they are paying a little over 89% of the spot price (for 14k).
Thanks so much for any information you can give me!
Janice I sent you an email with what you need to know best of luck.
I too am interested in hosting my own gold parties and selling gold to the refineries. I’m in NY. Are there local refineries? How can I get started?
There are refineries in NY, but see about your local laws for doing gold parties make sure you get all the equipment that you need before you start. Make sure you under stand what you should be paying per gram.
Dear NJ Diamonds:
I Live in New Hampshire and I am also interested in starting a gold party business. I have friends who just went to one, and they did not get a lot of money for their gold.
I do have two friends who are jewelers-do I ask them about refining, or should I jst go and find my own. Can you help with some refiner information, and information on how to get started. I would definately buy the electronic tester and a very good scale, but is there somewhere that I would find what the bottom price to pay pergram per specific kt, ie 14, 18, 21? Any information would help.
Helen I did not get an email from you so I will answer as much as I can here for you I hope you come back to see it.
First we recommend united refinery you can find a number for them on the internet. Next you can buy a scale, and the testing equipment that you need also from the internet there are many places that sell these things.
1- ONE TROY OUNCE = 31.103 GRAMS
2- 1 DWT = 1.5551 GRAMS ( THIS IS KNOWN ALSO AS PENNY WEIGHT )
3- PURE GOLD IS 24 KARAT OR 999.9 PURITY.
4- 21 KARAT GOLD IS 0.875 PURE OR 21/24= 0.875
5- 18 KARAT GOLD IS 0.750 PURE OR 18/24= 0.750
6- 14 KARAT GOLD IS 0.585 PURE OR 14/24= 0.585
7- 10 KARAT GOLD IS 0.417 PURE OR 10/24= 0.417
THE DAILY PRICE OF GOLD WE SEE ON THE NEWS EVERY DAY IS FOR ONE TROY OUNCE . IF YOU DIVIDE THAT PRICE BY 31.103 GRAMS YOU WILL FIND THE PRICE BY ONE GRAM OF 24 KT GOLD.
FOR EXAMPLE :TODAY’S PRICE $880 PER OUNCE DIVIDE BY 31.103, THIS GIVES 880/31.103=$28.29 A GRAM
FOR 21KT , THE PRICE IS $28.29X 0.875=$24.75 A GRAM.
FOR 18KT , THE PRICE IS $28.29X0.750 =$21.21 A GRAM
FOR 14KT , THE PRICE IS $28.29X.585 =$16.54 A GRAM
FOR 10KT , THE PRICE IS $28.29X.417 =$11.79 A GRAM
this should help you to calculate how much you should pay per gram, if you need anymore help let us know we will be more then happy to help you.
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
Did you ever start your business?
Hi, I live in Maryland and am suppose to attend a Gold Party next Thursday at a friends house. How can I find out who the company is that will be there buying my gold and silver? Thank you
Denese
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Denese
ask who is hosting the party the name of the company that is going to be buying the gold. Then google the name look for reviews, also ask her if they are buying buy gram weight or penny weight it makes a difference..
To accuse gold parties of being a rip off and a con – and then to ‘SUGGEST’ how they do it is totally irresponsible on your part, gold parties are no different to a jewellery business, just like yours, they buy gold and sell it on for a profit, you buy gold and sell it on for a profit – hey it’s called business!!! If you did the math, you’d realise your figures are ludicrous, you would also be able to work out how commission is able to be paid and also realise it’s not a rip off in any way what so ever, if gold parties buy at 25% below gold spot prices and then pay commission on the party price, you’d see that they still have some left to ‘play’ with………………..
I personally would like to see your comments and false allegations removed!!!
We saw the fliers that were being sent out, we sent our own gold to sell it at one of these parties all of what we are saying happened in this community. The key word here is community that we live and own our jewelry store in that we have been part of for 12 years. To see the people of that community getting ripped off, and to sit back, and keep our mouth shut, and to say that its just business is the most ridiculous thing Ive herd. We asked for all of you to take your gold to a jewelry store have it sorted, and weighed, and to get the amount that you would get at a jewelry store try several to find out how the price is out there. Then go to the gold party if you get more for your gold you have done great. That is what we have said from the start, we never have made clam that we are the only honest place to sell your gold we never have said that we do not make money from it.
We have never said that it’s not business it is. We tell all of our customers that we do make a % from this. What we can not stand by and watch is total, and blindly having their items basically stolen from them. If letting people know what is really going on up sets you then I am sorry for that, but if you are setting up shop in your community you should not have a problem with letting that community know the truth. They are your community your neighbors , your friends, and in some case’s even family if you do not want to protect, and help your community that is on you, but at N. J. Diamonds we will never stop, and we do not find it irresponsible, it is the only responsible thing to do.
They are not false allegations, and if you would like to come into the store, and see the paper that he wrote his price on feel free it is still here. If I wanted to post every horrible story I herd in my store over the past 8 months or so you would be shocked. The story’s that are coming out after the fact are amazing we are just seeing the real damage that was done over this past spring, and summer in this area, some people are even talking to lawyers to see if there is anything that can be done. We both know there is not, but if you are part of a community you would understand why it affects us so much not for money, because of the hurt it has caused people.
Thank you so much for your comment I hope this will help to explain our position on the subject.
N.J. Diamonds
Where can I find a listing of the current gold price per gram? Thanks in advance!
You should do your own calculations depending on the price on gold each day.
My wife and I travel all over the state of Michigan. We attend Purse, Jewelry, Chocolate and other hosted parties as the Gold Brokers. We always call local Jewelers in the area and ensure we are paying a percentage above what they are offering based on the Gold Rate that day. The percentages paid out to the hostess is based on totals and not individual sales. We are honest with the people that come to us, we weigh based on industry standards, and we test in plain sight of the perspective client. We answer questions about how its done, show the results and we make an offer. We are there for the convenience of the party attendees. People can accept or not accept the offer. I turn down gold ALL the time when in doubt, they are offered the same opportunity to turn down my offers if they are not comfortable.
Yes, there is a profit but so is there in selling Diamonds you get wholesale at 60% of what the actual cost was and then not allowing your customers to return but for a fraction of what they bought them for. Fact is there is a profit in any business, otherwise why would anyone be in business?
To sit there and say everyone that brokers gold or other precious metals or gems except my store is dishonest and is cheating you is not only irresponsible but leads me to question the honesty or sincerity of your own shop! Are there dishonest people out there? Yes, no doubt. Is everyone in it to make a profit dishonest? No, definitely NOT!!
Garg
If you have read all of my post then you will see that we do not claim that our store is the only honest store, nor do we claim that every one of the gold parties is bad. What we have said over, and over again is for the consumer to be aware of what could happen to them, and what to watch out for. We have never said that it is dishonest to make a profit, nor did we say that this is not a business it is, and we are all trying to pay our bills. It no longer becomes a business when you are knowingly cheating people, if you are one of the few that show your scale, and pay a fair amount that is great, and that is what all of the gold brokers should be doing.
Unfortunately for you you are one of the few, you should be irate with your competitors who are giving all of you a bad rap. If you think about it you should be happy that we are bring this to light, the more it is brought out in the open the better for you as an honest broker. I for the life of me can not understand why you would be so upset with us, and not the people that are creating this environment to begin with. The only irresponsible thing to do would be for us to be silent, and to go along with the cheating this we will not do, we will fight for our customers, and we will continue to shine the light on this subject.
Thank you so much for your comment, and it is always good to hear what the other side has to say, but maybe just maybe you should direct your anger at the people that are making your whole business look bad. If you are ever in our area stop by and have a cup of tea or coffee we would love to meet you.
(In the UK) I refer to your reply to Garg, and you state that the consumer should be aware of what could happen to them, you do not state however what the comsumer should be aware of when visiting a jewellery store to weigh in their gold, first of all, the majority of jewellers do NOT weigh the gold in front of the customer but take it into some back room or turn their back on the customer and go to where the scales are (which the customer cannot read!!) then, which was my experience, they knocked a couple of grams off the weight! To add insult to injury, they offered me a measley £70 for gold that was worth £210 !!! They also do NOT check/test each individual piece to determine carat, but plonk the whole pile on to the scales and pay the lowest carat price on everything regardless. At least at a gold party everything is tested and weighed in front of the customer, (I do not believe your story for one minute that one party host hid the scales under the table – do you really expect intelligent people to believe that if someone was out to scam and con that they would do it so blatantly obvious and hope to get away with it?)
In my opinion and personal experience, I would never take my jewellery in to a jewellers to weight it in, they notoriously pay the lowest prices and give the worst personal service ever (their prices are only slightly higher than pawnbrokers who are the lowest of the low!!)
I think the point that is angering many people is that you are trying to paint the whole gold party scene with a tarred brush – when this is definitely not the case. It is also not the competitors in the gold party scene that are giving others a bad rap – but you, it’s about time you came down from your pompous, holier than thou pedastal and admitted that jewellers are far from perfect as you seem to be trying to portray.
I can only think that your vendetta against the Gold Party Scene is the fact that they’ve taken business away from you – is this because they pay more than you do per gram I wonder ……..
Tracy
I wrote a post last week to answer some of your questions out there, I hope that this will help you understand what we are trying to do. this may further clarify what we are trying to do.
As for not believing the story of the scale being hidden from view of the customer at the gold buying party, you just stated that you went to a jewelry store, and they had the scale in the back room, I am taking a face value what you are saying happened to you. In your comment you are warning the public what could happen to them at a jewelry store, or pawn shop, does that make you pompous, or holier than thou? Have you just put yourself on that same pedestal that you state we should come off of interesting. There is no vendetta Tracy against gold party’s or against jewelry stores or any one else for that matter. We are just trying to make the public aware of what they can run into, as you did in your comment that I am posting here because I think regardless of the nasty things you say about us you point out some good things that the public should watch out for. So Tracy welcome to the pedestal we are very happy to share it with you.
Thank you
N.J. Diamonds
To Tracy,
You should be thankful to N.J. Diamonds for shedding light on the situation. You say that you don’t believe N.J. about the gold brokers hiding the scale, well sorry but your very naive. I worked for a gold party company and from what N.J. described about the percentages and the scamming it sounds like their talking about the company I worked for. I quit because of all the scamming I realised they were doing. They cheated people off weight, karat, and prices. They make you believe your getting a great deal but your not, you would be better off doing your research and going price shopping. You must of found a couple of bad jewelers but thats your own fault for not researching good enough and applying 1 of 2 instances and making it seem like it happens all the time. I worked for a gold company ane I promise you, they cheated everyone.
To all of you that are commenting here about this store, you do not know what kind of people they are. The most honest, and respectful people that I know of in this community. To Tracy who live across the ocean, You did not see what happened here this past summer it was very upsetting to many of us who live here. This store only answered a cry from many, many people me included who asked them to try, and stop these people. I was invited to several of these famous gold party’s went to 3 of them 2 friends, and one of my cousins did, I never sold anything at one of them, but let me tell you every word that was said here is true, I had these things happen to me. They are telling the truth about what happened at the house of worship. The lady that got the famous 10% walked away with 40,000.00 dollars, the masque 0%. They are only trying to make sure that we did not get ripped off by the people that came here, and yes they did rip off this whole city, so I thank you N.J. Diamonds for what you are doing, I thank you for showing me the difference between dwt, and gram weight before my eyes on the scale. I am sure you showed many people, but that is what opened my eyes to the true crime that was, and is still being perpetrated on our community. Just that one act let me tell at least 20 other people what was going on, and prevented them from selling at one of these gold party’s a drop in the bucket, but at least I did my best. Keep up the good work N.J. Diamonds you guys are the best.
Jenny I agree with you Tracy you have no idea what you are talking about I my self made the mistake of selling my gold at one of these party’s. I did not even ask the questions I was suppose to, and they bought my gold at penny weight, I lost over 1,000.00. It was only until I asked at this store did they show me what had happened. To all that are reading about the gold party’s do what they are asking you to do before you sell your gold at one of these things. If I would have asked, and did what they are suggesting I would not have lost.
I have been a customer of N.J. Diamonds for the past 10 years, and there is no other store that I would ever do business with. Me, and my whole family shop with them. I went to several gold party’s that my friends had, and they are exactly what N.J. Diamonds is saying they are, I will say that all of the party’s I went to the same company was doing them, so I can not say that all gold buying party’s are the same. If they all operate like this company did then yes they are ripping the public off. If you are running a gold party why don’t you post in your comments how you are buying the gold what price, and if you are buying by penny weight, or gram weight. I did not even know there was such a thing until these part’s came to town, when I asked them at N.J. Diamonds they showed me what the difference was. The least you guys that are leaving comments on this web site could do is be up front with how you operate your gold party’s, that’s what I think any way.
I just started in buying gold. I try to be as honest as possible my father tells me to buy in pennywieght. tho i was doing some research and i see how buying in grams is better for the customer. tho my problem is if my father is buying it off of me for pennywieght then how can i make a profit? I always use my acids in front of them and ill try 18 or 22k acid on a 14k just to make sure that its not higher karat. I Want to make good money and be honest i grew up with good morels and i belive in hard work. if you can tell me what you would do it would be greatly apreciated. i dont do gold partys i just buy from friends of friends so on and so on. these are my prices you tell me if they are rip offs. 10k=8$ 14k=16$ 18=34$ 22k=42$ 24k=44$ spot price at 939. help adjust if you feel its wrong please remember i need to cover gas and other exspenses and make money for me and my 2 1\2 children. I go get my second hand dealers licence today!!!! yea!:)
Buyer
Your prices are right on, except for the 18kt you are over paying on this you should be paying 28.00 in order to make money, 28.00 at the most. If you sell to your father in penny weight that is fine buying in penny weight is also fine you are doing a great job keep it up. Congrats on the second hand dealers license, and good luck.
Best of luck
N.J. Diamonds Diamond engagement rings, and more.
yeah i kinda messed up on the last 2 for 18k i pay 24-26 depending and for 24 i pay 34-38 depending on spot price and i also try to teach all my clients about the way i weigh and how i use my acids. some say that i shouldn’t but they always call me when they find any bit of gold.
thanks for the quick reply.
and for those who are making gold partys a bad rap plz stop. do it right u will get more sells and more partys. My sister is doin em and i explaind about what i read and she said the she was doing it with a lady and that she was kind of underpriceing. She then went alone and did it the way i price em and she has had 3 partys with in a week, all of which were friends of the people from the first party. Also building good repore with people goes a long way as well find out who they are and u will be surprised of how often they call u even to just tell you that they are looking for other buyers. well thanks nj jewlers your ok in my book and i will recomend to my customers to take there gold to u guys first. Of course i just hope that the stores here in san diego are just as honest:)
Buyer
Those prices are good for you, and for the customer, teaching your clients is the best thing you can do. You would be so surprised at how many people are very interested in what you are doing, they like to understand what the acid does. Every day people ask, or we just tell them what it is and how it works. When you build up a client base,and that base is full of high praise for you, not only is it rewarding, but they keep coming back. In any business you have to tell your self if one client leaves unhappy it really is 10 because the average person will tell 10 people about their bad experience.
Letting the client see the scale with the weight is one of the best ways to be open, and let the client know that you are not trying to cheat them, when they can see the numbers with their own eyes they have no doubt left in their minds. California is going through some very bad economic times, and I think you guys are headed for some more of them, just like us here in Michigan. If you stay conducting your operation the way you are it will be for your benefit, and your clients. I do not know the state, and city law there so make sure you are up to date, and fallowing them, people like to see this they feel more reassured that they are not selling to some fly by night operation. Make sure that you tell everyone that you are located local, and not coming from out of town to make money from them, that they can always find you if they need to. So many of these gold buying companies are travel all over the states they come into hurting communities, clean up cheat, and leave. After they are gone is when the people in those communities realize what has happened to them. Not all of them, but there are way more bad then good ones that is for sure.
Keep up the good work you, and your sister I hope everything works out for all of you tell you dad he should be proud he did a good job.
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
I live in Toronto, Canada and can personally atest to the the scams perpetrated by these gold parties. I have had many customers come in check there gold recieve prices and seperately bag it, then get to the gold party have everything mismatched told everything was under karat
and then pressured by the hostess the party official and his assistant
to sell while saying the local jeweller with the location was wrong not proper and will obviously pay less because of overhead. The overhead paid by gold party’s is more per day than any local jewellery store, they pay 10% to the house( your “friends” taxing you) 5% for the referral $150.00 for the assistant. While factoring in on top of that what any professional jewellery buyer would make on a similar transaction about 10-20% that sounds like a 50% percent margin to me.
Another point of order gold parties never pay for the item just some of the weight, however a knowlegeable jewellery buyer can pay extra based on collectability, stones, resaleabilty and maker of the item, a gold party will not. Do research find a qualified local jewellery buyer and stick to your guns on the gold ask extra for nice pieces.
I have beeen in this buisiness for sixteen years in our third generation, fly by knight , pay by cheque(only accept cash) come and go but professional bricks and mortar operations will serve you for generations.
On privately trying to go to a refiner, it is for the most part illegal unless you have a buisiness license depending on juridiction.
they will not for the most entertain walk in clients in high security facilities and run the risk, p.s you need someone who knows the trade and the prices to get the best deal. go to google type in Jewelery buyers and check the ratings get prices visit a few places and get the feel for them. good luck and happy jewellery collecting\selling
I am interested in starting my own Gold party business. I am an American living overseas in Germany near an army base so my situation is fairly unique. I was wondering if you could forward me the same e-mail you sent the others in my situation. Thanks in advance for your expertise!!!
I am interested in starting a gold party business in New York. I have read some of your articles on gold party scams and have found them very useful and interesting. I would like to start an honest business but I would like to make a profit as well. In one of your articles, you said one of the scams is to buy the gold in pennyweight and pay in grams. According to the licensing in my state – you have to buy in pennyweight and pay in pennyweight – if you sell to a refinery and they pay 95 % of the value of the gold spot – can you explain how one can make an honest profit ?
Do you have any information that you can send me about how to go about starting this business – what to pay for the scrap gold and what I need to know about selling to a refinery. (Have you heard of Northern Refineries in Michigan – any information on US Goldbuyers.com ?)
What are your thoughts on joining an established gold party businesses like Red swan or My gold Party – instead of starting on your own – are they scams??
Any information would be very helpful – thanks so much
Susan: I read your statement about wanting to start a business. My business partner and I started a Gold buying business last April and have had a lot of fun doing so. We are two stay at home, honest, moms, who do this on a part-time basis. We have hosted over 80 parties since last April (I think that says something about our reputation). We go around to the local jewelers every week with a sachel of gold and are sure to pay $1 to $2 more a gram than they do. We have an open scale and don’t pressure anyone into selling anything. Our company name is Gold Diggers and we have a proposal we have put together (we have a meeting with a web designer tomorrow for a website) for those like you that want to be trained in the business. Please e-mail me at lisarusso123@comcast.net to discuss. Look forward to hearing from you! PS We have done business with Norther Refineries, please e-mail to discuss!
I think “BUYER” is better for the customer than he is for himself. My math at 24kt @ $ 34.00 X 31.1 grams = $1057.40 and spot was quoted at $939.00 that equals a loss per Oz. of $ 118.40
If your paying that for gold, I can get you tons of gold!!! Don’t you think your margin is kinda thin???
I have been to gold parties and what you are saying is utterly ridiculous!.They were very honest and did everything in front of me including weighing. I even brought my own scale and their weight was exactly the same!
I had gone to a jeweler first who I bought the jewelry from over the years but they would not buy it back from me unless I wanted to purchase something more expensive.
Meanwhile at the gold party i got my check, enjoyed the party and went to the bank the next day and paid my bills!!!!!!Yeahhhhh!!!!!!!!
GOLD PARTIES ROCK!!!!!!!!!!
What you describe is what we want for all of you to experience at a gold party. If you are sure that they paid you the right amount for your jewelery, and you had it weight, and priced ahead of time, if you received more for you gold at a gold party, then that is what we hope will happen at all gold party’s. Being a long time customer at a jewelry store they should have sorted, and weighed your gold for you given you a price, that would have been the right thing to do for you. I do hope that you did get some prices before you went to the gold party, that is all we are trying to say in our post do your home work look around, and be informed.
It sounds like you had a great time, and got what you wanted so we are very happy for you. Thank you so much for the good input we love to hear good stories about good honestly run gold party’s.
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
when you see a post advocating how truthfull one service, and another saying do your research and check around, which one would a logical
person believe. get prices before going to a gold party separate everything in bags 9k 10k 14k and so on do one bag a time and sell only to whom ever pays you more. Please make sure you recieve cash on site many horror stories of stopped cheques.
Thanks for sharing this information with people. I work for a gold-buying company as well, and I hear terrible stories from people all the time about mailers and gold parties, etc. Companies do have costs and do have to make a profit (or they won’t exist and no one will get anything for their gold), but there is a difference between making a profit and robbing someone. We have a number of locations, but we don’t advertise on TV, simply because we don’t need to (the mailer companies do it for us) and it’s an unnecessary expense. If you bring your gold in, we magnet test, sort by karat, weigh by karat in front of you, and plug it into our system for the day. If you like the price, then we acid test everything out in the open, and pay cash on the spot. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the companies that are cheating people are getting the biggest press, but the internet does allow some justice in this!
The only other thing I’d underline is that using pennyweight isn’t necessarily cheating. I saw another company basically claiming that a pennyweight price was an automatic cheat. Well, if the company pays the per gram price while weighing in pennyweight, that’s true, but all our prices are in pennyweight and they fluctuate with daily troy ounce market prices; it’s a conversion rate like anything else. (Plus, our scales are certified by the Weights and Measures authorities in every location.) I tell every customer why we use it, and am very open and honest with them; some decide they’d rather not sell to us, and most are continue to do so, because they understand what it is and feel the price is fair.
I’m glad you all are looking out for the customers – this is a rare business where everyone can win, but unfortunately that’s not enough for some companies which pay only 10-20% on the value!
Hi, Can you point me in the rig
ht direction as far as researching what I need to be able to legally conduct gold parties here in CA
Hi Eddie
The first thing that I can tell you to do is call you city, ask them if there are any license that you need to get before you start. Not every state is the same you may need to have a permit to do a gold party.
Thank you
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
My wife and I own a gold party business that started out as a small company a few years ago and we have now expended nation wide as well as into Canada because of our reputation of treating people fairly and always making sure they understand what is going on. I understand why N.J. Diamonds is bringing attention to the “bad apples” who do cheat people. The great thing about the internet is that those who are cheating people are usually found pretty quickly and get a bad reputation. We have built our company based on always making sure people leave our parties happy. We also encourage people who have unique pieces of jewelry to hold on to them or we refer them to someone who can give them a better offer because we only want things that are broken or unused and have no sentimental value. We have conducted over 500 parties within the last year and have made sure people are satisfied and happy. We had one lady who was happy and once she went home her husband was upset that she had sold a ring she thought he didn’t want. He called us and was very upset thinking we had already sent his ring to the refinery. I explained to him I wanted him to be happy and made sure I was able to get the ring back to him at no charge. He was so impressed that we did this for him he and his wife scheduled their own party and we have been able to get 8 referrals from them. My point is those that do the right thing will prosper and be around long term and those that don’t won’t last long.
Paul
Thank you so much for your comment and keep up the good for, we are so happy that things are going so well for you and your wife. Hard work, and honesty all ways pay off in the end.
I recently worked for one of those cash for gold companies and they were a total scam. I didn’t know that at first, because I worked in the office. Until I started training to be a rep for the parties on the weekend. I saw how much they were ripping people off. They would lie about karat, weight and price. Among other things, my manager that ran the office had the worst customer service skills. Nobody ever got phone calls returned until I took them over, nobody ever got back to the customers with questions, or confirming parties. Customers were always complaining about the rep beings 2 hours late or not showing up. Nevertheless I quit. Im an honest person and I’ve worked in customer service for the last ten years. It was the most poorly run company I’ve ever seen. Crazily enough, even though they continuously lose so much business, they do over 1.5 million in sales a week. I think they are horrible people and I want to start my own cash for gold company, because I do think it is fun to do, but I just want to provide an honest option. I’ve read all about your calculations for gold and I learned alot. I do have questions about silver though. I don’t know how to do the calculations on silver, and also platinum too. If you could please give me more info, I would highly appreciate it. It’s sad that all these people are knocking you for shedding light on the truth, their too naive and get sold by the salesman who’s making them think their making out big, but believe me I worked for them, and most do rip you off. I am not saying that all do.
s.b.
Thank you so much for coming forward, and telling all of us what is the truth about the company you worked for. It is nice to see that someone is coming forward to talk about their experience while working for one of these companies. We wish you the best of luck in your new business, and we did send you an e-mail about the questions you asked, hope it helped.
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
i’m starting a gold party business to try and help pay the bills. my biggest fear is that people are going to assume that the only way i can make money is by ripping them off. as a matter of fact, the first host of a party i am going to be buying at said “you arent going to rip off my friends are you?” and this is someone who i know very well and for a long time. the only way i think i can build a solid reputation is by offering complete transparency throughout the entire process. i also think that since i already own a jewelry store, that people will feel more comfortable knowing that if they feel cheated after they sell their gold to me, they have an actual store where they can find me to help resolve any issues. my goal isnt to rip people off, it is to put money in my pocket that i need to put a roof over my head and food on the table for my family, and do the same for those who attend any party i hold.
Joe
Happy to hear you are branching out, and yes transparency is the best way. Already having a jewelry store, you will understand the market, and by doing your own gold parties you do not have to work with some of the other Gold Buying Companies, this way you cut out the middle man, you can offer your clients a little bit more for their scrap gold, and the host can make a percentage, and you will also profit. Having a brick, and mortar business is a very nice advantage, they know where to find you if they feel cheated, and make sure they know that you are available to them if they have any questions. I do not know if you test the gold with acid or a gold tester, what ever way you do it, make sure your client can see if they feel that they have a 14kt gold item, but it is only 10kt gold make sure you show them. The scale as I am sure you know should be facing them, let the client know that you are not trying to hide anything from them. You know your market so on any given day you know what the competition around you is buying for, make sure that your clients know also (you can encourage that they shop around so by the time they come to your gold party they know they are getting the most for their scrap gold.)
We wish you the best of luck, and we are so happy that you are trying to do the right thing. If you have a web site, or web blog encourage the people that are attending your party’s to post comments on their experience at your gold buying party. Please feel free to let us know how it went, and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
N.J. Diamonds diamond engagement rings, and more.
I’d love to get information on the best way to start a gold party business as well. I’m in an area of the country where these parties are virtually unheard of (the lower Midwest) and think that it could be a great way to make extra money and offer a service to people that they may not even know was available! Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks!
Kat
Thank you so much for commenting on our blog, we will try as best we can to help you. We are happy to hear that you would like to start a gold party business, and we wish you the best of luck. I will send you an email with some information to get you started.
N.J. Diamonds, diamond engagement rings, and more.