Hotel Gold Buyers
The following article will save/make you a lot of money. If you are considering selling your jewellery you should invest the time to read it. Especially if you are attending any ‘hotel’ or ‘gold party’ style events. Selling unused or “old gold” is a great way to recapitalize. However, the values are high enough that you should take special caution before selling.
The most important thing to realize is that not every gold buyer pays the same. Although the price of gold is set on the world market, how much someone PAYS YOU is not. Some dealers offer as little as a 50% of market price and others are 75% (or higher). That means the same item may get you 50% more money just by finding a stronger buyer. This can add up to hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.
Gold and jewelry are highly valuable so it’s worth the time to do your research. It’s not illegal for someone to underpay you, but it does mean you lost out. Use these 10 tips to protect yourself and maximize the value of your jewelry.
1. It’s not Antiques Roadshow
Step one is knowing who you are dealing with. This is easy with a local company but much less so with a travelling hotel gold buyer. Many of these companies use names similar to the famous ‘Antiques Roadshow’ TV series. This is “knock off” marketing designed to confuse consumers. Be careful of terms like “Treasure Hunter”, “Auctions”, “Appraisers” and ‘Estate Buyers’. Most of these companies are simple gold buyers. We are not suggesting that there is anything wrong with travelling gold buyers. Just make sure you’re not dazzled by a name that probably isn’t what you think.
Research the company and their qualifications by looking them up on online. This tells you if they’re credible. We suggest checking Facebook, Google and the Better Business Bureau. Make sure to look up both the rating and the quantity of reviews. It’s easy for a company to manipulate 20 ratings. It’s much more difficult to fake 400. Check their Facebook pages: larger more credible companies will have a greater number of followers. Where possible look for reviews or feedback OUTSIDE of the company’s website as these are likely more trustworthy.
2. Don’t Be Time Pressured
Next, be aware of the tricks they use to get you to sell. These events are always marketed with terms like ‘book now’, ‘limited time‘, ‘don’t miss out‘ or ‘reserve your spot‘.
These are time pressure tactics designed to make you rush. The goal is to convince you to attend the event or accept the offer without comparison shopping. The fear of “missing out” makes many people throw caution to the wind. Selling your gold is NOT a ‘special event’. You can sell your jewelry any day of the week to half a dozen reputable dealers. There is no urgency.
Be alert for any buyer that seems to push for an immediate commitment. Don’t be intimidated, you are in control because they want to buy YOUR product.
3. Get Local Quotes First
Make sure you comparison shop BEFORE you attend the gold buying event. This gives you an idea of value and strength of local offers before you make a time pressured decision. If many cases local gold buyers will pay more than the hotel buyers because they don’t have to cover the cost of travel, hotels, gas and marketing in each new city.
We recently reviewed the buying prices of one ‘hotel event’ and our offers were 10% higher to start. This means that EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO SOLD THERE got paid less than we would have paid for the same items. And that was our ‘start’ prices – we step up for better quality items!
In 2012 CBS news investigated hotel buyers and found that they routinely underpaid or mispresented items. Some of them were even charged with fraud. Here is the article:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/major-gold-buyer-cheating-consumers/
4. Find Out What You Have
Another advantage of comparison shopping is clarity on what your items actually are. In 2012 one roadshow was caught under-karating gold. They mispresented the purity so they could buy 18K items as if they were 10 Karat. This means their clients should have been paid almost 80% more! More distressingly: that company was running over 100 shows across the US and Canada at the time.
At Premier we use non-destructive X-ray analysis when evaluating your jewelry. This is the most accurate test available and does not rely on the chemicals or acids used by other buyers. It’s also fully transparent. You’ll know exactly what you have.
5. Don’t Forget The Diamonds
The most valuable part of your jewellery might not be the metal. Larger diamonds are typically much more valuable than the gold they are set in.
That “old diamond” might be worth thousands – always make sure you check with trained buyers. Traditional gold buyers aren’t always qualified to appraise and grade diamonds. Ask for their accreditations. Make sure never to sell a diamond ring for just gold value.
At Premier our team is trained by the Gemological Institute of America – the school that invented the 4 C’s of diamond grading. All of our assessments include offers on your diamonds.
6. Keep An Eye On Your Items
Make a list of your items (or take a photo) when you go in. Do your best to keep an eye on your items and confirm that you get each one back. While outright theft is rare, it has happened. If the buyer takes your items out of sight call them back immediately and tell them you’d like to watch.
A well run buyer should have all weighing and measuring done where you can see it. At Premier each of our workstations is open and all of them have overhead high definition video surveillance. This guarantees all items are safe and tracked. Unfortunately, that security typically isn’t available in a hotel room.
7. Play It Smart
Don’t tell the hotel buyer that you’ve shopped around: get their offer first. This puts the power in your hands:
- By coming in prepared you’ll immediately know if the hotel buyer tries under karating or misrepresenting your items. That’s a cue to leave.
- If your local gold buyer pays more then sell locally. This gets you the most money and supports a local store. They pay local taxes and support local jobs which is important.
- Don’t reward low-balling. If the hotel buyers bid low and then offer to ‘match’ or ‘step up’ say no. Remember, they tried to under pay you. Choose the company that gave you honest pricing up front.
- If the hotel buyer offers the most then you are safe knowing you got the best offer available.
8. Don’t Fall For Coupons
One tactic that is often employed is coupons or promotions offering to “pay more” if you bring them in. While this is a great advertising tactic it’s also a warning: they’re underpaying enough to afford the “bump”. Aggressive buyers are working on thin margins: there’s not enough room to bump an offer by 10-20%.
The other consideration is this: if you didn’t have the coupon they would have offered you the lower amount. That’s unethical because they are deliberately paying you less than they could.
9. Get Paid In Cash
Yes, cash poses some risks but at least you get paid. Kelowna is no stranger to fraudulent hotel buyers. In 2012 “Treasure Hunter’s Roadshow” bounced cheques after their gold buying event.
Here is the link to the news article: https://www.kelownacapnews.com/news/gold-buyer-bounces-cheques-at-kelowna-event/
Unless you have thoroughly vetted the credibility of the company you should avoid accepting cheques or other non-verified payment method. Remember: these people travel from town to town. What is your recourse if your cheque bounces or is fake? A safer option would be to request an E-transfer payment.
10. Don’t Consign Or Auction
Think safety: you are sending strangers away with your gold and diamonds. There is no evidence that they will actually work to sell your items, how much they will promote their auction or whether they’ll even have one. How do you know the price you are offered is actually what it sold for?
Get paid today for items you sell today. Anything else just increases your risk of being swindled.
Bonus Tip: Get Your Free Quote
Premier is Kelowna’s top rated jewellery buyer. Open since 1995 we have hundreds of reviews and thousands of Facebook followers. We are members the Canadian Jewellers Association, Diamond Council of America, Better Business Bureau (A+ rated) and more. We’d be glad to provide a no obligation quote so you can compare. For more information about our jewellery buying service please click THIS LINK.
