Here’s something every TV-watching insomniac knows: If you’ve got unwanted gold, buyers are out there with persuasive pitches for taking it off your hands.
You’ve seen those ads for Cash4Gold or My Gold Envelope. They stress the ease of popping tangled gold chains or orphaned earrings into a mailing pouch. After goods are tested and cash values calculated, the sender can expect a check. Payoffs may fall short of sellers’ hopes. Figure in the gold’s purity, its daily price, and — don’t forget — profit taken by the buyer.
If mailing it in makes sellers nervous, there are in-person options. Some jewelry stores and most pawn shops buy gold. Lately, some area hotels have advertised gold-buying events.
Last week, the precious metal’s price hit a record high.
According to the Associated Press, gold futures for December climbed to $1,119.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange in trading Wednesday. By Friday, gold was at $1,118.20 an ounce. For a little perspective, that much gold was worth about $800 in 2008.
I have no immediate plans to sell any jewelry. Still, I took real notice of an invitation I recently received. I was invited to a “Turn Your Gold into Cash Party!” Oops, make that “Ca$h.”
It was a sure sign of how mainstream the practice of shedding gold for cash has become.
I didn’t attend, but wanted to know more. When I called Jeanette Bader, who hosted the party Oct. 15 at her Everett home, she said her role had been to invite potential buyers, and provide the place. “I made homemade soup and cookies,” she said.
It was Meagan Farrell who came to buy guests’ gold.
“We’re independent reps,” said Farrell, of Monroe, who works for a Texas-based company called Aurum Strategies LLC. “We go out and have these parties and write a check right on the spot,” said Farrell, adding that the company gives her 50 percent of the net profit.
Farrell, also a professional organizer, said the concept is similar to home-party sales, but guests leave with a payment rather than a product. She uses scales, a jeweler’s loupe, and chemical testing to determine gold’s purity.
Party hosts get 10 percent of the day’s gross sales, Farrell said. “One hostess made $350. It depends on how much gold comes in,” she said.
The company’s Web site, www.aurumstrategiesllc.com, says it was founded by a Houston-area jeweler, Mike Plummer. No one at the company was available to comment on Friday. In August, The Washington Post reported that Cash4Gold, a similar business, sells gold to refineries, jewelry makers and mints that make commemorative coins.
Aurum Strategies doesn’t list prices paid. Another business, the Silver and Gold Exchange, has an online “What We Pay” chart listing prices for different qualities of gold in grams.
Before deciding to host a party, Bader attended one of Farrell’s gold events. “I didn’t have anything significant. I got about 100 bucks, and was completely surprised,” she said.
Lizzy Metz said she often sees dire need for cash when people come in with items to sell at her Marysville business, Lizzy’s Fine Jewelry. “Definitely, with the economy, people sometimes need to pay a bill,” Metz said Friday.
At her party, Bader said, “it was a fun social thing, more than ‘Oh, I need the cash.’ ”
“You don’t have to come to my house to spend money on Tupperware,” she said. “I think everybody left here pleased.”
Farrell sees gold gifts from ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands, lots of inherited jewelry and “stuff from the ’80s.” Since August, she has had gold-buying events in Everett, Monroe, Granite Falls and Mill Creek. “People keep calling,” she said. “I’m booking out to mid-December.”
Guests rarely decide not to sell, Farrell said. “Gold is so high right now, no one ever says no,” she said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
