Cash for Gold

I was on the treadmill the other day and saw a story on CNBC stating that Sears and Kmart are now offering cash-for-gold service. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/37190771/

A sign of the apocalypse? :rolling: TC

 

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that old guy has it right only pretty women interest him LOL

 

Actually it was Sears and Kmart, which are owned by the same company. If walmart did it I'd be more surprised. But Sears/Kmart are losing profits so I suppose they want to get in on the ripping off.

 

Great article, but makes me sick reading the end of it (2001 gold at $250), COUGH.

 

I said this in another thread the other day to someone posting about seeing We Buy Gold kiosks appearing in shopping malls, "mall owners / rent proprietors may have solicited the We Buy Gold crew to set up shop in the mall to get people who cash in their gold to turn around and spend on retail... that cash may never leave the mall in the customers hands."

Sears/Kmart are no different, they want consumers in their stores, spending money and they will do whatever it takes to lure people in, even if it means putting them at risk of a poor deal selling their precious metals property to Pro Gold Network. Every opportunity to expose the consumer to spending just by the mere act of entering the store, they will seize upon it. This is not a good marketing ploy, it's disrespectful and manipulative to the consumer in more than one way.

 

You are correct. I will amend my original post. Thanks, TC

 

No problem

And Krispy, I agree that it is manipulative to the customers. I wonder though, how much gold is entering the market with many people turning in jewelery they might otherwise would've held unto.

 

Just a sign that we are in a bubble.

 

I personally feel that if people need to sell their gold and silver jewelry, then they should do so for whatever their personal reasons. I feel it's benefiting them and the world to put that gold back into the market or helping them with the cost of life, general finances, etc. I would be really saddened to hear of someone turning in seriously important antique pieces or coins that they have no idea what it is that they are trading in for such little 'profit', parting with family heirlooms and it would likewise be sad to learn that the gold dealers would do anything else with these pieces to further their own profit if they happened to identify something significant turned in. I'm sure it's happened from time immemorial that people have haphazardly handed over property for far less than it's worth as well as the dealer targeted the desperate and less informed to profit from that lack of knowledge. I say this because of that man who mentioned his customer loyalty to frequently shopping the Kmart store and so placed his trust in the company to find a reputable dealer with whom customers too should trust selling their gold to.

 

No way dude golds gonna hit $5k an ounce.

 

Normally when there is a bubble, people are buying the asset in the bubble, not selling it.

 

Both Consumer Reports and NBC have done expose' s on "Cash for Gold". The people are getting ripped off to no end, getting 30-40% of the scrap value for their "unwanted" gold. Selling to a jeweler or coin dealer who buys scrap will get you 80-85% of the scrap value. Cash 4 Gold has been taken to court in numerous US locations and they are under investigation here in Canada as well. Any one of these easy-money Cash for Gold schemes has 11 foot pole marks all over it. I think that all they are accomplishing is providing another easy venue for burglers to offload their stolen wares.

 

Right, when we were in the housing bubble, nobody sold a house.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/economy/gold.price.collapse.fortune/index.htm

Article says Barclay's Wealth thinks the actual fair market value for gold is $800 and that investors are keeping it artificially high. Since I'm not heavily invested in gold, I wouldn't mind seeing this happen, so I could invest more in gold.

 

Barclay's has been poo poohing gold now for quite awhile. I've posted links to a few of their thread where they talk about "by the end of 2012, gold be go down to $800-$900 an ounce." The claim is that investor demand is forcing the price of gold up. What other demand is there for gold? I don't see investor demand going down anytime soon with current economic conditions. You can keep printing money out of thin air and not expect it to have consequences on the price of things. The whole world seem to be in this currency devaluation process. US 878 Billion dollars, China ~560 Billion dollars, and now Europe 1 Trillion dollars.

 

This just invites opportunity in my mind. I think anyone with the capitol should start their own service buying gold for cash in their communities and pay more, or at least a fair amount for gold. People like money and will go where they can get the most. Even if the spread is thin, more people means more business and ultimately more money. It'll drive the sleazeballs out of business and everyone wins.
Guy~

 

I see ads everywhere!! Even by where i live there,s a guy standing out
In the middle of the road dressed in a gold bar suit, Amazing

 

Here's two articles with contrasting views on where the price of gold is going.....

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/economy/gold.price.collapse.fortune/index.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/13/markets/gold_rally.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010051312

I think the second article has some interesting highlights....

"Can gold prices fall? Of course they can. Traders believe a combination of market calm, stock rallies, bond market clarity, and most importantly, a lasting fix to the world's mass reliance on free money to keep its economies afloat will send prices tumbling."

Yeah, like anyone one of those things are going to happen anytime soon!!!

 

A popular new trend is gold parties. Kinda like tupperware parties except people bring their scrap gold to sell.

 

I think my neighbors have scrap metal parties because every time I look they have more of it piles around their yard. How they don't get fined by the city is a mystery to me. Realistically I think there's more money, far more, to be made in scrap metal than scrap gold. 10K in gold may take quite a while to accumulate, where as 10K in scrap metal can be picked up in a day or two, at least around here. The problem lies in transport.
Guy~