£100 Per Ounce Paid for Scrap 9 Carat Gold A long time ago, one of our local competitors used to advertise to pay "up to 100 pound per ounce for scrap nine ct gold". At the time it was worth less than £90.

De Veers
They have closed down and moved on many year ago now, but this jeweller's was a partnership between two or three people, one of whom was called Ian Ogilvy .
They used to run an advert in the local newspaper "The Blackpool & Fylde Evening Gazette", with a headline:

£100 Per Ounce Paid for Scrap 9 Carat Gold

The Reality We used to have a retail shop not far away from theirs, and we received almost daily complaints from people who had been there, and been offered only about £30 per ounce for their gold. In reality, DeVeers were misleading people and ripping them off.

Complaints Ignored We tend to get on with running our own business rather than worrying too much about what competitors are doing, but we thought this practice was so bad, and their dishonesty was adversely affecting us, that we complained:

• Blackpool Evening Gazette
  The Blackpool Evening Gazette ignored our complaint, and argued that the advert did state "up to", but this is disingenuous. As the intrinsic value of 9 carat gold was only around £90 at the time, and as there are cost and losses involved with refining and scrapping, nobody would have paid £100 for scrap 9 carat gold, therefore the advert was in itself misleading and dishonest. Secondly, the practice of advertising an extravagant and attention geting price, then offering a fraction (less than 1/3rd) is doubly dishonest.
  We lost what respect we had for our local newspaper at the time, and have never regained it.
  We believe their dismissal of our complaint, and their support for their advertiser was for the simple commercial reason that DeVeers were spending a relatively large amount on advertising, and the Gazette was directly benefitting from their activities. having a vested interest in permitting it to contiinue.
• Trading Standards Office
  We also complained to our local Trading Standards Office, who also dismissed and ignored our complaint in a similar manner.
• Advertising Standards Authority
  Likewise, we complained to The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who reacted in a manner similar to Trading Standards Office. They stated that as no goods were being offered for sale by the advertiser, there was no offence. We believe this was incorrect.

Toothless Watchdogs? All three parties to whom we complained were, in our then and current belief, wrong. It was clear that this was a trader deliberately and dishonestly misleading and cheating innocent and naive members of the public, and getting away with it, because the people who were in a position of power or authority to prevent it could not be bothered, or did not want to take action.

Our Conclusions and Advice
DeVeers must have made at least 100% to 200% instant profit on everything they bought. Sellers were getting ripped off very badly. Neither the local newspaper, nor the relevant authorities were interested in protecting the public.
Over more than 40 years in this business, we have seen a stream of similar cash buyers, advertisiers, and leafleteers, most of whom pay low prices. We would recommend that any potential seller shops round a little. If you are not satisfied by the price you can get locally, you could always post it or bring it to us, and will almost certainly get a better price than from your local jewellers and dealers.

Gold & Silver Roadshow Cash for Gold Regal Hotel Cleveleys

Scrap Gold Selling Advice Our simple advice about selling scrap gold jewellery in the UK and elsewhere. Avoid get ripped off.

Any Quantity
We are happy to buy any quantity of scrap, from a single piece upwards, without limit.
If you have a large quantity of gold scrap to sell, we will accept your instructions on price, or offer you helpful advice on selling. We are one of the longest established and largest gold buyers in Britain.

Fair and Competitive Prices Our buying prices for gold coins, bars and scrap are fair and competitive, but depend and change based on underlying gold prices, and other market conditions such as supply and demand.

Sending Gold Scrap by Post
You are welcome to visit our showroom to sell scrap, but it's also very easy to sell to us using the post. We have a page of advice about sending gold coins and scrap by post.
We suggest you bring ID if visiting our showroom.

Gold Selling Form You may wish to print out our form to help make it easy for you to list goods you are posting to us for sale or offer.

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