Gold Refiners (goldrefiners.co.uk) were the Top Listed Gold Buyer According to Selling Gold Jewellery David Smith (sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk)
Gold Refiners (goldrefiners.co.uk) of 26a Thurloe Street London, were rated top gold buyer by Selling Gold Jewellery (sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk) of 26a Thurloe Street London. Hardly independent advice!It appears that the relationship between these two websites is rather incestuous.
We have shown details below of the domain registrations of these two websites. One is registered by David Smith, the other to Guerilla London Ltd. This would be fair enough, but they both appear to live at the same address. This informastion is not disclosed on the Selling Gold Jewellery, which purports to have done some research into competing gold buyers, on behalf of people inteested in selling gold jewellery and getting the best prices.

Selling Gold Jewellery David Smith (sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk) & Misleading Websites
Beware phony advice sites purporting to independently test UK gold buyers. Selling Gold Jewellery David Smith (sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk) of London lists another of his own sites best without disclosing the conflict of interest.
David Smith of 26a Thurloe Street London also rated Gold Valuation (goldvaluation.co.uk) registered to another David Smith, or possibly the same one, as his second best buyer.

Impartial Advice?
Highly unlikely!

Gold Price Comparisons
We did a Google search for "~Gold Price Comparisons" to see what results we would see.
At the top of the "Ads" section, where advertisers can outbid their competitors for top spot, we noticed the ridiculous claim "Gold Comparison - Get twice the Cash for your Gold." We have commented about this type of claim before, twice what? The advertiser has not bothered to state the basis of comparison.
We also wondered why anybody would go to the time and expense of creating and maintaining a website, and paying top dollar for the top advertising slot on Google, just to give impartial advice out of the goodness of their hearts. We could understand Which Magazine or the BBC researching the market and publishing advice, this is part of their respective functions, consumer advice and public interest.
We took a closer look at the website:

Selling Gold Jewellery Post Gold Free Gold Valuation
Selling Gold Jewellery
When selling gold jewellery, online gold buyers offer more cash for unwanted gold jewellery than high street jewellers; however, some specialist gold buyers pay up to three times more than others, so it’s important to compare the gold buying companies and ensure you’re selling your gold jewellery at the top gold price.
We regularly test UK gold buyers by sending each the same weight and carat packs of gold jewellery and it’s shocking to see the difference in the amount of cash you can get when you deal with the best or worst gold buyers. The table below shows which gold buyers give the most cash for your gold jewellery in June 2011.

Star Refining of London
At least Gold Refiners (goldrefiners.co.uk) has an "About Us" page. This states "Gold Refiners is a division of Star Refining London". Fair enoiugh, but why is the goldrefiners.co.uk domain name registered to "Guerilla London"?
Surely in the precious metal industry trust and reputation are, or should be, very important. Why use dodgy marketing techniques to try to fool people into believing you are the best. If it were true, you would hardly need to use such questionable techniques. By trying to manipulate people's minds by misleading propaganda, you are likely to make them think you are dishonest, even if you are not.

What's Wrong?

• Gold Refiners do not show their actual physical address anywhere on their website. This usually makes us suspicious. Being in a similar business, we can appreciate the need for security, but we publish our address, and visitors are welcome.
• Gold Refiners states on its About Us page that it is a division of Star Refining London. Clients and potential clients are entitled to know who they are dealing with, and the fact that it is a limited liability company. We did find this on its terms and conditions page, which oddly appears to be part of yet another website goldmelting.co.uk, and which also refers to yet another website goldrefiners.tv!
• It claims "Gold Refiners will liquidate your old jewellery at the very best prices you can achieve!", but nowhere does it give simple basic information about what percentage of intinsic vakue it pays. This makes us suspicious.
• The site claims "As you’re dealing directly with the refinery, you’ll have cut out the middleman and will therefore receive the highest possible payment for you gold, platinum or silver". This is not necessariy true; if it were, we would all buy our potatoes direct from the farmer instead of Marks and Spencer. In the silver price spike of 1974, Johnson Matthey, the refiners, were paying the public far less than most other dealers.
• "...you're also benefiting from the transparent, safe and secure way in which we provide an immediate and FREE valuation for your gold." Gold Refiners marketing is anything but transparent.
• "Why we’re different. There are many ‘gold buying’ companies in Britain, who, in our opinion, are simply ‘middle men’ seeking to profit from the general public’s lack of knowledge about the true value of their gold". That is rich after what we have learned about Gold Refiners.
• "Accept our offer and we'll send you the Cash (sic) immediately." Their "Terms and Conditions" page says you will get a cheque or bank transfer.

Telephone Test
As their website fails to give an indication of actual or percentage prices they will pay, we tried to telephone them (7th July 2011). The telephone number quoted on their website was defunct!
It's anybody's guess what would happen if you acfually sent them any gold.

Domain Lookup

Domain name: sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk
Registrant: David Smith
Registrant type: UK Individual
Registrant's address: 26 Thurloe Street South Kensington
London London SW7 2LT United Kingdom
Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 25-Jun-2009
Renewal date: 25-Jun-2013
Last updated: 02-Jul-2011
Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.
Name servers:
ns1.livedns.co.uk 213.171.192.250
ns2.livedns.co.uk 213.171.193.250
ns3.livedns.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 17:34:48 05-Jul-2011

Domain Lookup

Domain name: goldrefiners.co.uk
Registrant: Guerilla London
Trading as: Guerilla London Ltd
Registrant type: UK Limited Company, (Company number: 6502448)
Registrant's address: 26a Thurloe Street
South Kensington London SW72LT United Kingdom Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 27-Jan-2006
Renewal date: 27-Jan-2012
Last updated: 10-Aug-2010
Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.
Name servers:
ns1.livedns.co.uk 213.171.192.250
ns2.livedns.co.uk 213.171.193.250
ns3.livedns.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 17:51:58 05-Jul-2011

Domain Lookup

Domain name: goldvaluation.co.uk
Registrant: David Smith
Registrant type: UK Individual
Registrant's address: The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 22-Mar-2010
Renewal date: 22-Mar-2012
Last updated: 10-Aug-2010b Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.
Name servers:
ns1.livedns.co.uk 213.171.192.250
ns2.livedns.co.uk 213.171.193.250
ns3.livedns.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 18:49:19 05-Jul-2011

Domain Lookup

Domain name: goldmelting.co.uk
Registrant: David Smith
Registrant type: UK Individual
Registrant's address: The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar: Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 15-Oct-2009
Renewal date: 15-Oct-2011
Last updated: 10-Aug-2010
Registration status:
Registered until renewal date.
Name servers:
ns1.livedns.co.uk 213.171.192.250
ns2.livedns.co.uk 213.171.193.250
ns3.livedns.co.ukb WHOIS lookup made at 19:09:34 06-Jul-2011

Domain Lookup

Whois Record For GoldRefiners.tv Registrant:
N/A
26 Thurloe Street
South Kensington
London, London SW7 2LT
GB
Domain name: GOLDREFINERS.TV
Administrative Contact:
Smith, David info@jewellery-buyers.co.uk
b 26 Thurloe Street
South Kensington
London, London SW7 2LT
GB
+44.02081234610
Technical Contact:
Smith, David info@jewellery-buyers.co.uk
26 Thurloe Street
South Kensington
London, London SW7 2LT
GB
+44.02081234610
Registration Service Provider:
Fasthosts Internet Limited,
+44.8708883600
+44.8708883760 (fax)
http://www.Fasthosts.co.uk
Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 19-Sep-2010.b Record expires on 19-Oct-2011.
Record created on 19-Oct-2009.
Registrar Domain Name Help Center:
http://tucowsdomains.com
Domain servers in listed order:
NS2.LIVEDNS.CO.UK
NS3.LIVEDNS.CO.UK
NS1.LIVEDNS.CO.UK
Domain status: clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited

Reverse Whois:
"26 Thurloe Street" owns about42 other domains
Email Search:
info@jewellery-buyers.co.uk is associated with about 2 domains

Domain Lookup

Domain name: starrefining.co.uk
Registrant: Star Refining Limited
Registrant type: UK Limited Company, (Company number: 2650962)
Registrant's address: 56A Hatton Garden, London London EC1N 8HP United Kingdom Registrar:
Webfusion Ltd t/a 123-reg [Tag = 123-REG]
URL: http://www.123-reg.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 26-Nov-1998
Renewal date: 26-Nov-2010
Last updated: 08-Jun-2011b Registration status:
Renewal required.
Name servers:
ns.123-reg.co.uk
ns2.123-reg.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 19:18:38 06-Jul-2011

Companies House Search

Name & Registered Office:
GUERILLA LONDON LIMITED
26 THURLOE STREET
SOUTH KENSINGTON
LONDON
ENGLAND
SW7 2LT
Company No. 06502448
Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 13/02/2008
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
7414 - Business & management consultancy

Companies House Search

Name & Registered Office:
STAR REFINING (LONDON) LIMITED
25 HARLEY STREET
LONDON
W1G 9BR
Company No. 04769377
Status: Active Date of Incorporation: 19/05/2003 Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company Nature of Business (SIC(03)): 2741 - Precious metals production
Accounting Reference Date: 31/12
Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/12/2009 (SMALL)
Next Accounts Due: 30/09/2011
Last Return Made Up To: 19/05/2011
Next Return Due: 16/06/2012
Last Members List: 19/05/2011

Second Try
The second placed advertiser was Compare and Recycle (compareandrecycle.co.uk).Their "Best Gold Recycler" was Post Gold For Cash (postgoldforcash.com). This buyer only came fourth in Selling Gold Jewellery's rigged table.
Selling Gold Jewellery was not mentioned on Compare and Recycle's site, for some reason.