Scam Alert: My Gold Party Just a Middleman for Gold Refiners!
March 19, 2009 | Gold Digger | Gold Buying Reviews 14 Comments
It appears the tupperware parties of the 70s and 80s have been replaced with the gold selling parties of 2009. The economy is so bad the Associated Press reported yesterday that people are hosting house parties where guests come to sell their old gold jewelry! People have been desperate to find ways to earn some extra cash and getting rid of their old gold watches, rings, chains and necklaces seems to be the quick and easy way to do it. Especially now since the value of gold is at an all time high.
Here’s how these “My Gold Party” parties work: someone will contact a gold appraiser, or a local jewelry expert, to set up a deal where they visit the hosts’ house. They then invite all their friends over and ask them to bring all kinds of old gold jewerly to sell. Everyone has a fun time talking about the stories associated with their old gold jewelry, but the appraiser doesn’t care about the jewelry. He just gives you a price and buys your gold right there on the spot.
The Scam They Don’t Want You to Know About:
One woman went home with $286 from selling her old gold jewelry … sounds good right? Now here’s the scam – allegedly the gold appraiser and party host each get 10% of the take, and then get this – according to the Associated Press article the gold appraiser just sells the gold to a refiner, which could be anyone … even Empire Gold!! Why not cut out the middleman and that 20% markup and sell your gold directly to Empire Gold?
They offer a free gold refiner’s mailing kit on their website. That’s right – free! All you have to do is click here and give them your name and address and they’ll mail you one right away. Then just put your gold in it and ship it back to them all postage free – in days they’ll get back to you with a jewelry appraisal quote. If you like it, great, you’ve just sold your gold! If not, and you think you can get a better price somewhere, just let them know and they’ll ship it back.
Please also read: The Gold Party Scams How They Do It
Tags: cash4gold, gold appraisal, gold parties, gold refiner, gold selling, my gold party
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Comments
14 Responses to “Scam Alert: My Gold Party Just a Middleman for Gold Refiners!”
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How can you call that a scam? if someone goes into a shop and buys a Gold ring for $69 then another shop down the road is selling the exact ring for $39 does that make the first shop a scam artist? There is a lot of middle men out there and yes you can go to a refiners direct, But truth is most consumers don’t want to. It is not a scam to take advantage of a niche market. Is a scrap man a scam artist because he offers his customers a lower price than he sells to a scrap yard for a higher price? NO Its called business.
It’s not a Scam…Sounds like someone is a little upset that the Gold Parties are cutting into their biz…
My Gold Party is a scam because you can do it yourself and not spend the money. Just use the online appraisal tool right on this site! http://www.usellgold.net/free-online-gold-appraisal-and-jewelry-appraisal/
I am going to a gold party today. I don’t have a lot of highly valuable stuff. If I did, I would take Todd’s advice and find a gold party that paid the most and do it myself. Since I don’t have that much, I’m content to attend the party I’ve been invited to.
The article from the AP states: “The gold-buying services typically are not interested in the jewelry itself. Instead, they sell the items to gold refiners to be melted down.”
This is a general comment regarding gold-buying services. It doesn’t state that My Gold Party sells to a refiner. To set the record straight – My Gold Party is not a middleman. I am the founder of the company and was the person interviewed in this article.
Any questions for me? I’d be more than happy to answer them!
I had a horrible experience at a partyofgold.com party. I brought over 3 rings and an 18k gold necklace. I was under the impression that the buyer would take a look at each piece and then let me know what she thought it would fetch and let me decide if I wanted to sell it, but there was no discussion at all. She was a half an hour late. Did not introduce herself or say anything about the process. She just sat down and started going through people’s stuff. When it got to be my turn, she just popped the stones out of their settings with no discussion. Before I knew it, I had a pile of destroyed jewelry and she was writing me a check. My grand total? $137. I left baffled, but frankly too shocked to say anything, and feeling hesitant to “spoil the party” by complaining right then and there, but I did complain to the company. To their credit, the owner called me back dismayed and said she normally would’ve had the woman offer us all a $50 credit just for the tardiness. I told her I wanted a receipt so at least I could try to make sense of the transaction. She said that might be hard to do since she gets in so much gold, but I described each item in detail and encouraged her to follow through with that. I also wrote to the Better Business Bureau. We’ll see how it turns out, but I would say unless you’re sure you want something destroyed and want to be handed a check for just – whatever – you don’t even care – don’t go to one of these gold parties. I am sorry I ever did.
Update on the partyofgold resolution. Party of gold founder Lisa Rosenthal has emailed me agreeing to give back all my jewelry and tells me even to keep the check. I am very surprised because it was a total change of tune. I’m planning to meet with my Congressman today on an unrelated matter and told her I was planning on bringing her flyer so maybe that is what sparked the change. Whatever it was, she copied her lawyer on it. I will hang on to the check until I get the jewelry, and at this point I’ll probably go ahead and cash it then because it seems she undercut the true value by hundreds – and this whole thing has cost me time and distress. I urge anyone who feels they have been unfairly treated at one of these parties to seek justice. If it’s a reputable company, they should make things right.
HI,
people often find those places where they can get the best price for their gold product, so here is the solution. This place is all about for buying and selling the gold products. Anyways keep it up and keep continue.
thanks for the heads up on the “my gold party” scam, I know you can just sell your gold to “gold empire” but what about cash 4 gold – they seem like a pretty legit business…yes, no?
.-= sarah@Florida dui attorney´s last blog ..All About Florida Ignition Interlock Devices =-.
I recently attended a gold party. I weighed my items on a postal scale which reports, pounds, ounces, and grams. This scale is accurate as I have verified it with the post office weight and with a local jewelry store scale. I weighed my items before going to the gold party so I knew what I had and I checked the price of gold that day. Funny, when I got to the party and it was my turn, I asked what the price of gold was that day and the lady said she did not know as she did not check it. WHAT?????? Shes buying gold and not going by the current days market? Their scale was 6 grams lower than mine. I refused their offer. So be aware, its not all its cracked up to be.
I was once ripped off buy one of those “cash for gold” companies you see advertizing on TV and Online, so I put up a website to warn others, it’s at:www.Cash-For-Gold-Scam.com
Let’s accept it, the times are tough! In the downswing of American economics folk your seeing alot less of Mary Kay and spoiled Chef parties and more gold parties. But perhaps your not sure what they are. Since the gold jewelry you purchased ten years back have tripled in worth folk are turning around and making a profit and they are doing so through gold parties.
This is why you have to be very careful with these kinds of selling parties. You want to know that when you’re selling you’re getting a great price that you couldn’t easily get yourself. Ask the host what will happen to the gold and see if the party is backed or endorsed by a professional company or individual with a good reputation.
This happened to me and I was very angry. I went to a friend’s party and sold my gold on after it got valued at a pretty good price. But then I found out that the person who bought it only went and sold it on themselves for even more money – at a store we could all have gone to. I won’t be attending a party like this again.