Here we go again. Another roadshow has come to town that tries to cache on the Antiques Roadshow television show.

A client alerted me to this bunch and I went in to check it out myself. From what I saw this organization is more about buying gold and silver than anything else. I have been to their web site, www.collectorsroadshow.ca, and they do not mention what they pay.

I offered various gold coins for possible sale and I was shocked how little they offered.

• For a George V sovereign they offered $200.00. The gold value for this coin is $398.45
• For a St Gaudins $20 Gold Coin they offered $860.00. The gold value for this is $1,690.00
• For a 50 Peso Gold Coin they offered $960.00. The gold value for this is $2,028.00.

I would suggest that if you go to see this bunch please know the value of your gold before you accept any offer from them. Arm yourself with what my payouts are for that day and insist they at least match my posted prices. Please keep in mind that we do not have service fees and no hidden costs, what you see is what you get. A wise consumer is our best customer.

Customer Satisfaction

I think our biggest indicator of customer satisfaction is our customer referral rate. We are very proud that our customers recommend us to their family and friends. To all my customers, thank you, I am deeply appreciative of your loyalty.

I think our customer loyalty stems from receiving value, service and a great customer experience.

The customer experience grows from being respected, involved in the process and a rock solid confidence that they have been treated well. I enjoy what I do and am happy to spend time with you at each step of the process.

Price

We openly post our prices on our web site and they update automatically as the price of gold changes. You always get the latest price. Even our competitors use our site.

The prices shown are the minimum we pay out. If you have a large sale we pay more. To us, and our customers, that makes sense.

Our customers tend to be knowledgeable on the value of their gold and appreciate the price we pay. We always recommend that our customers know the weight and karat of their items.  A knowledgeable consumer is our best customer.

Service

Along with scheduling appointments at our office I also spend a good portion of my week doing service calls. Yes, I come to see you at your convenience. This service call is free and there is no obligation on your part. You are important to us and deserve the very best we can offer.

Service is more than just offering a counter operation. Those customers that are selling a large amount of gold do not want to line up at an event or scurry around town. For example, a professional appreciates us coming to their office at their convenience. All of our customers appreciate that level of service and convenience. This is one of the benefits of dealing with a registered business that does service calls.

Location

We book office space at the World Exchange Plaza, 45 O’Connor Street Suite 1150 through a company called Intelligent Office. We offer a clean safe office environment with convenient underground parking. We are happy to pay the parking fees for our customers.

Direct Telephone Access

All inquires are answered by me, the owner. Get your questions answered on your first call.

Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about “Mail In” gold buyers so I thought I would do a comparison for my customers. I have been seeing a lot of ads for dollars4gold and their GG guarantee caught my attention. I figure if my customers could get twice as much from them as they can get from me, well more power to them. Be aware, I suspect that there may be some fine print somewhere that negates the GG guarantee.

I was pleasantly surprised that my everyday upfront pricing beats their 3 oz. volume pricing by 16.6%. I could not find out what they pay for just a few items but I suspect I would beat that by even more. By the way, with an outfit this size, why is their pricing not more straight forward and current. It is not that hard to have up to the minute pricing like I have on my site. Why mail in your items for less when you can sell your items right here in Ottawa for more. Not only do we pay more, we also provide you a higher level of service.

In an earlier blog entry I suggested you check out any national mail-in outfit with the BBB but if you have access to the web it only takes a moment to google search ” any companies name + reviews”. For example I found the following reasonable review when I google searched “dollars4gold reviews”.

Click on this link for the review.penny for my thoughts review chattywomen.com
While I was doing this I came across these videos and I thought you might enjoy a smile.

The first video features Mr. Sullivan as a representative for a national mail-in gold buyer and the second video features him on his show “Pitchmen”.

dollars4gold.ca

pitchmen

Selling anything can be stressful especially when the value of the item is not well understood by the seller. Placing yourself in the control of someone who is going to profit from the transaction is risky. What does it say about a business that is not open and up front with what it pays out. Statements like ” we match any offer” are also red flags. It is like saying we will try to pay you less but if you were smart enough to get other estimates then we will match it. These types of businesses are not very reputable in my estimation. What other tricks do they have.

To help you sell gold in Ottawa with confidences the best empowering tool I can suggest is knowing what it is worth. Know the weight and Karat of your items and you can use my pay chart to know what it is worth. If you do not have a scale it is still important to estimate the weight you wish to transact. In a pinch a hand comparison with coins will help you ballpark the weight. A penny and loonie are 2 and 7 grams. Knowledge is power  and here at Cash in Gold a knowledgeable seller is our best client.

It can be tricky trying to sell an item if the value cannot be readily established. Luckily, when it comes to selling gold, the value is easily calculated and should be your first step prior to selling your gold to anyone. For the typical client selling a handful of jewelery follow the steps below to help you get a better idea of the value of your gold. The following example is for a medium weight 18K necklace, three 14 K rings and assorted 10K ear rings and light necklaces. These items would fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

Step 1- Know the karat, gold content, of your items.

If you can read the hallmarks sort your items into 10k, 14k, and 18k. If you can’t read the hallmarks don’t worry just skip to the next step.

Step 2- Weigh your items.

It helps to have a scale but if you don’t,  you can come close to establishing the weight by doing a hand comparison with coins. A  loonie, quarter and penny weigh 7, 5, and 2 grams.. For example if your 10k pile feels like two loonies and a quarter that would suggest you have about 19g of 10K. If you have the time, place your items in a baggy and confirm the weight at your local post office.
If you could not see the hallmarks, try to sense the weight of all the items combined.

Step 3 – Calculate the dollar value

For example, if you determined you had 19g of 10k, 12g of 14k and 21 g of 18k,  at the Nov. 16 2009 prices, that would add up as follows:

10K     19g x $11.01 = $209.19

14K     12g x $15.41 = $184.92

18K     21g x $19.81 = $416.01

________

Total             $810.12

If you could not read the hallmarks you can still estimate the range by applying the total weight of 52g to the 10K rate and the 18k rate. This would give you a ballpark range of $572.52 to $1,030.12. Not great but much better than not knowing at all.

Knowledge is power, know the value of your gold.

If you have an assortment of gold items that seems too daunting to evaluate, ask for a consultation. I will be happy to help you know the value of your items.

In the November 2009 issue of Consumer Reports I came across an interesting article on page 9. The article is called ” Cashing in gold? Here’s the catch”. Visit www.consumerreports.org to see the complete article

My customers often relate to me some of the negative experiences they had prior to finding my service. I feel for them and I have come to realize that an educated consumer is my best customer. In an effort to help spread the knowledge I am taking the liberty to blog about the mail in results published by Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports had identical 18K necklaces with pendants purchased for $175 sent in to various mail in services. The gold salvage value for each item was estimated at $70. The results I read shocked me. The mail in services only paid between 11 and 29 percent of the gold salvage value. The lowest was $7.60 and the highest was $20.59. In order to put this in perspective we at Cash in Gold would pay out around $52.50. Please keep in mind that we would incur a further additional refining cost of about $7 to process the alloy gold back to pure gold.

The actual result for:

Cash4Gold  are $7.60 – $12.72

GoldKit  are  $7.81 – $20.59

GoldPaq  are  $8.22 – $13.11

Know the value of your gold and get the best price. Find out the weight and Karat of your items and look at my pay out chart. If you do not have a scale you can estimate the weight by doing a hand comparison with coins. A loonie and penny weigh approximately 7 and 2 grams.

If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me. If you have suggestions for other articles relating to gold recycling I would be happy to consider them.