A recent investigation has revealed that companies that offer to buy unwanted gold are paying shockingly low prices. Consumers should avoid these gold buyers because they can get a much higher price for their gold elsewhere.
Which? compared four TV gold buyers with three pawnbrokers and three independent jewellers by offering to sell three brand new pieces of gold jewellery, in an attempt to find out which ones would offer the highest prices for identical pieces of gold. The lowest quotes were consistently given by the gold buyers that advertised their services on television.
The company that offered the lowest of all prices was CashMyGold. For the three pieces of jewellery that were purchased new for £729, CashMyGold offered only £38.57. The worst was an offer of less than £19 for 9ct gold bangle that had been purchased for £215. For the same piece, a jeweller offered £54.
The average amount offered by the TV gold buyers was about 6% of the gold’s retail price, compared to approximately 25% which was offered by the high street retailers – a considerable difference, especially for higher priced pieces.
Money4Gold claimed that a 9ct gold necklace that had been bought new for £399 was not real gold, and held the piece, demanding that the researcher pay £10.95 to have it returned.
