One Pair of Bangle Bracelets, Five Different Prices Quoted
Friday, 31 July 2009
We took two, unmarked, 14-karat gold bangle bracelets, which together would retail for about $400, each to five different gold buyers, who gave us five very different offers. Here are the results:
1. $0: Uncle Ben’s Pawn Shop in downtown Cleveland said that after attempting to test the bracelets they couldn’t confirm whether the bracelets were gold and didn’t want to take a chance on buying them. Had the tiffany jewellry bracelets been marked at 14 karats, they said they would have given us $94. Uncle Ben’s bases prices on the current price of gold, so prices can vary by the minute. The pawn shop also offers loans against the value items, including gold.
2. $30: Odyssey Jewelry & Loan, a pawnshop on Cleveland’s West Side, gave us the lowest offer. They said because the bracelets were unmarked, they didn’t have the ability to test the purity and would only pay out at the lowest-10-karat-price.
3. $49.54: Cash4Gold, the Pompano Beach, Fla., company says it is the biggest gold buyer in the country. It doesn’t claim to offer the best prices, but says its mail-in service is a convenience. This quote for the bracelets was obtained over the phone, based on the 3.8-gram weight of each cheap tiffany jewellry bracelet and 14-karat purity.
4. $64.14: Gold Guys, the Akron-based gold-buying start-up, gave us a quote at a gold-buying event at a hotel in Westlake. The offer was based on standard rates the company has printed on signs, which it updates every Friday. Gold Guys used an electronic tool to test the purity of the jewelry, which came out at 14 karats.
5. $76.34: Broestl & Wallis Fine to buy tiffany jewellry in Lakewood, an independent jewelry store, gave us the highest offer. The store also bases its prices on the price of gold at the moment, so their prices can vary at different times of day. They, too, confirmed that the unmarked jewelry was 14 karats.
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