KPTV - FOX 12Fox 12 Investigators: Selling your gold

Fox 12 Investigators: Selling your gold

You've seen the ads in the paper, on TV and online, each promising to pay top dollar for your gold, but who can you trust and where should you go?

The Fox 12 investigators shopped around and put local businesses, jewelers and even a traveling road show to the test.

Fox 12 took three pieces of gold jewelry, a bracelet, necklace and ring, to four different places and received a different price quote from each place, estimates that ranged by hundreds of dollars.

Each buyer weighed the items, tested the karats and checked the latest prices of gold, a number that can change each hour. While the initial process appeared the same from place to place, the grand totals did not.

Even though prices varied during our visits, we asked each business to calculate based on Wednesday prices of gold at more than $1,800 per ounce.

The quotes we received varied by nearly $600 dollars from high to low. Great Estate Roadshow, in Portland this week, quoted $1,007; Portland Gold Buyers quoted $1,179; Estate Jewelry Company in downtown Portland quoted $1,258; Valley Goldmine Portland quoted $1,594.

 "Everybody does it different," said Linda McNally of Pacific Gem Lab Inc. "Everyone has different overhead."

 Fox 12 asked Pacific Gem Lab to appraise the jewelry and determine what it would be worth to sell as scrap without a buyer taking a cut.

She calculated an estimated $1,789. At that figure, she says everyone is making a profit; the difference is in how much.

"There's nothing written in stone, saying someone has to pay this much. The guy paying the most is probably putting the most through," said McNally.

McNally quoted $1,245 as the price she would expect a gold buyer to offer, based on the percentage she's experienced them to typically take.

"It's a competitive business," said Beth Spatz of Great Estate Roadshow.  "There are a lot of people out there trying to do this right now."

When Fox 12 told the gold buyers who their prices compared to each other, Great Estate Roadshow ($1,007) defended their math.

"I think we just have to go off of resale value; what you think you could get for it," said Spatz.  "I know our road show competitors offer a lot, lot, lot less.  They would probably be at $200 for this."

The next lowest bid we received was Portland Gold Buyers at $1,179.

"I try to do it, so it's worth my while to be in business," said owner Oscar Morante, who maintains he's one of the top paying buyers in the area.

However, the two other buyers we visited offered us more, including Estate Jewelry Company.

"I think we pay at the top end," said owner Bob Swerdlick.  "We have to hold this for 30 days by law, so we have to hedge our bet if gold goes up or down. If it goes up, we win, but we're worried about it going down.

Swerdlick says people selling need to do their homework.

"We're here to make money, but you don't want to get 50 cents on the dollar."

All three competitors questioned the high quote received of nearly $1,600 from Valley Goldmine Portland.

"Our company, among others, we're local companies," said President Eric Wold. "We're here to stay, and we will be accountable."

Valley Goldmine said a combination of higher volume and less overhead allows them to pay more.

"Don't be shy about going to different places and getting the best you can," said Linda McNally.  "I always say, go to at least three different places and check it out because it makes all the difference."

Fox 12 also reached out to a couple of local, family jewelers to take part in the story, but they declined.

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