"We Buy Gold" Shops On The Decline?

Almost funny how they are all vanishing. Where I live I used to see signs everywhere saying we buy Gold. Now I haven't seen even one anywhere. Not in pawn shops, hobby stores, coin stores or anywhere. Just one of those typical fads.

I just got a flyer in the mail for a 2 day we buy gold and silver show at a local vfw. Those bulk mailings are not very cheap. I did a little digging and the guy is from north carolina, so he has to cover gas, lodging, advertising, rental of the space, and still make a profit.

I'm gonna go and hand out cards offering a second opinion

Wow Dave, I understand the shop needs to make a profit but ripping people off like that is awful. I bet you had a hard time not blurting something out to warn that lady.

I used to work in a pawnbrokers about 15 years ago when we would be buying 9ct at £1 a gram and 18ct at £2 a gram (The actual melt price was about £4 a gram for 18ct at the time so we were doubling out money every time we bought something) Given that this was often about 10% of the price people had bought their gold for (9ct was retailing at £10 a gram and 18ct at £20 a gram at the time)it wasn't so easy to buy gold.

Fast forwards a few years later and the melt price had overtaken the retail prices that people had paid. All of a sudden the big bracelets and chains were out of fashion and well worth cashing in. It is no wonder there was a boom in shops that bought gold... not only that but lots of individuals had flyers printed and were making money out of this too. You could offer quite a generous price and still earn more out of it than before and it was easy to get people to sell.

I regret it but I sold about 20 sovereigns and a lot of 18ct jewellery that would now be too expensive to replace... but I like many others needed the money at the time.

Now most people have cashed the items that they were willing to sell and the price has dropped back, so it is not easy money any more. Not only is there less volume out there but the offers aren't as attractive and people are not suffering financially as badly as they were back then.

I see this from both sides, having taken pressure from a boss in the past that wanted me to buy stuff at ridiculously low prices and also seeing things from the customers side. The double whammy is where jewellery is concerned most people who buy retail are paying 3 times what the items cost in the trade and given that jewellers can buy at this trade price they want to pay half that sort of price for a secondhand item since they could go out and buy a new one pretty cheaply. This makes it look to the average person like they are being ripped off when they come to sell, in truth most of the rip off occurred when they acquired the items in the first place.

I think maybe I am too fair both when buying and when selling... nobody else is so that puts me at quite a disadvantage!