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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,549 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
I was driving around the other day and noticed several locations were gone. I remember getting into a heated debate with a colleague about these chains popping up on every corner back in 2009. I was buying gold bullion at the time as was he. He was betting on a currency collapse and I was just looking to ride the momentum. Long story short, I missed the top and sold all my bullion around $1,600. I didn't pay much attention to the market after that aside what flashed on CNBC. Just curious if anyone here knows any former franchisees. Where these stores ever profitable?
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
9862 Posts |
A.They made such obscene margins that they took their piles of money offshore.
B.They moved on to a more current scam.
Or both A & B
"Dipping" is not considered cleaning...
-from PCGS website
Edited by DBM
12/30/2016 1:45 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
Interesting story: The former owner of the largest cash-for-gold buying chain in my area is currently on the run from the law due to a number of civil judgments that he has against him for not paying his creditors, landlord, among others. This happened a few years ago when the industry shriveled up and blew away due to lower prices, I don't know what his current situation is but I've not seen any news articles recently on him.
About 75% of these stores are now closed in my area with only a handful surviving. A bout a year ago I visited one of the surviving shops and the owner said that the "product" coming in over the counter to their shop is down dramatically and that nobody is selling at lower prices. He said that all the people that needed to sell fast have already sold and there is little left. The coin dealers I frequent also have seen this to a lesser extent, perhaps all the junk silver hoards and sets of grandma's fine silverware have already been liquidated in previous years.
Although there are still plenty of advertisements on Craigslist looking to buy, perhaps the cash-for-gold industry has moved more online.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3468 Posts |
They got all the low hanging fruit and have moved on to their next scam.
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
We are nearing the end of the folks who lived through the depression and even through WWII. I've been to thousands of estate sales in my life and one thing that has changed is that the very last of the original hoards of coins saved are nearly gone.
It used to be the every safe deposit box had coins, many and most being gold and silver. They usually even had the information of where they came from. A $5 gold with a note of who they received it from for their wedding. From uncle Stan. Brought from Germany by Granpa Ed.
No more. The last of those coins, pulled from circulation, have nearly expired.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
790 Posts |
There are still lots of them in Denver!
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Moderator
 United States
187862 Posts |
There is no shortage of them here, although they seem to no longer have those obnoxious sign twirlers working the intersections.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
Quote:
There is no shortage of them here, although they seem to no longer have those obnoxious sign twirlers working the intersections. Do they seem busy? The one in my immediate area never has any cars in front of it other than the one that I suppose is the owner's vehicle. Just a flashing open sign, a few barren display cases, and no customers. |
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Moderator
United States
187862 Posts |
To be honest, I have no idea. They are all in low rent strip malls, so I have no idea what cars are there for them.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7615 Posts |
The "cash for gold" stores disappeared when the amount of available gold disappeared. The people that needed to sell their gold sold theirs quick. The people that didn't need to sell still have theirs and they aren't parting with it. Sort of a reverse supply and demand thing.
Meanwhile, the overhead (rent, utilities, labor) to maintain the storefront increased every year and the amount of product being purchased continued to drop.
End result? Store closing.
(Plus----- Having a store on every corner sure didn't help!)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
They disappeared here years ago, after the gold crash.
An acquaintance of mine opened a small suite then, and paid around 90% of melt. The local paper ran an article about him.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Pillar of the Community
Norway
1358 Posts |
We still have a few of them around here in Europe. Or I can mostly speak for Norway, Germany and Netherlands. Not many of these shops can be found and most have a lot of side activities as either coin shop or jeweler or even phone house. A good share is run by immigrants, mostly of Turkish origin. I think Germany, and then especially the bigger cities, still have most of them.
We used to have ads on tv here where you could sell your gold via mail, some years ago. Those all stopped after the bubble burst. The number of physical shops also seems to have dropped. They never were very aggressive in their marketing, I'd say.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
 There are a few local coin stores that have the "We Buy Gold" signs still out. Edited by KenKat
12/31/2016 09:55 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
Seems like the TV ones that want you to ship your gold to them in an envelope are definitely gone. Still see a few Cash for Gold Shops, but yea, the rush seems to be over. Tons of pawn shops around here who would be happy to buy your gold though. I sold a bunch of junk gold back when it was 1700+. Most of the available gold is gone, or folks are waiting for the next 1,700 to sell.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7390 Posts |
It just moved. Most people selling PM's now to to coin and jewelry stores rather than pop-up "we buy gold" specific outlets. At a coin shop I frequent there is a lot of gold jewelry coming through the door. Heck yesterday I was there for an hour and he bought a 1924 saint and a 1oz buffalo. The other day he bought a few rings and necklaces while I was there. People are still selling. The higher the price the crazier the crazness though
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3210 Posts |
My local precious metals people are a gold and silver buyer first and foremost. II am friends with one of the owners and he told me that sales of gold and silver coins has been drastically going down. Gold jewelry sales are still decent though. They have since branched into almost a pawn store as they buy a ton of random items and sell them on ebay. I think that is how they can continue their business because they decided to diversify their business practices if they wanted to survive. You gotta adapt to survive in these times. |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,549 |
Posted 12/30/2016 2:18 pm
