Glittering gold
The US consumer confidence figures have helped mitigate risk aversion with the result that investment in gold continues to rise. This continuing international market activity has been mirrored with the growing trade in recycled gold.
Over the last year, daytime television ad breaks have been taken over by mostly UK web-based companies offering to buy unwanted gold. Reports from the magazine Which? states that some of these companies offer consumers shockingly bad value. Which? sent three pieces of brand-new gold jewellery to four gold buyers that advertise on TV in the UK. It also sent the same items to three independent jewellers and three pawnbrokers and it found that TV gold buyers consistently gave the worst quotes. The magazine’s investigation found that on average, the TV gold buyers offered only around 6 per cent of the retail price for gold, but British high street retailers paid around 25 per cent.
The cash for gold market is unregulated. So to ensure fair treatment make sure you deal with a member of the Association of Fine Jewellers who has signed up to a stringent code of ethics.
Indeed, if selling your unwanted jewellery is a route you want to go down, members of the Association of Fine Jewellers will give a fair rate for scrappage but will often give more if you are looking to trade in for a new piece.
Association of Fine Jewellers members have reported that the growth in this area is mostly due to customers just having a clear out or a spring clean as they have become more aware of this service through all the advertising around it and the high gold prices in the stock market – stating that there are loads of places that we all take unwanted CDs or books so why not gold?