Cash for Gold Regulation

The_Minister

Was thinking about this over the past few days due to a recent article.

The Cash for Gold industry operates in a lot of very deprived areas and takes huge amounts of family wealth off people and exchanges it for little return.
It's a modern day magic beans story.

Should there be some sort of regulation of this industry?
Obvious one is a 30 day waiting period to change your mind after selling.

fleet

My gut reaction would be that the very existence of Cash for Gold merchants is a symptom rather than a cause.
That is to say that they exist due to the prevalence of desperation, poor financial planning, and lack of education in certain sectors of our working class.

I say treat the cause. Educate the people.

galwayrush

Thieves usually melt the stolen stuff down before selling it to cash for gold outlets.

darkpagandeath

They do at least ask if you robbed it don't they ?

EuropeanSon

The_Minister wrote: »

Was thinking about this over the past few days due to a recent article.

The Cash for Gold industry operates in a lot of very deprived areas and takes huge amounts of family wealth off people and exchanges it for little return.
It's a modern day magic beans story.

Should there be some sort of regulation of this industry?
Obvious one is a 30 day waiting period to change your mind after selling.

That essentially turns it into an interest free loan.

If there were penalties/interest etc maybe, but then you've the same regulation problem again.

wazky

darkpagandeath wrote: »

They do at least ask if you robbed it don't they ?

That would be a foolproof solution to the thieving problem alright.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

"The Minister" asking about regulation of the cash for gold industry?! You don't fool me Michael Noonan!

ancapailldorcha

I'd be more in favor of banning the practice outright to be honest.

sillyoulfool

galwayrush wrote: »

Thieves usually melt the stolen stuff down before selling it to cash for gold outlets.

Actually that is totally untrue as they depend on the hallmark to show the true value of the gold, without the hallmark it is worthless.
Typical BS from the "I know fk all but I sound intelligent"style posters.

tomwaterford

galwayrush wrote: »

Thieves usually melt the stolen stuff down before selling it to cash for gold outlets.

that takes from the profits :pac:...cash for gold operates on a don't ask don't tell policy....not a crime if they don't know its stolen

so do all them other cash for x AFAIK

sillyoulfool

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'd be more in favor of banning the practice outright to be honest.

So nobody should be allowed sell anything, yup I can see that working out!

fleet

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'd be more in favor of banning the practice outright to be honest.

Ban it all you like.

The gold will simply end up the pawn brokers or the BuyandSell.

The_Minister

fleet wrote: »

Ban it all you like.

The gold will simply end up the pawn brokers or the BuyandSell.

There are rules covering pawnbrokers

kneemos

fleet wrote: »

Ban it all you like.

The gold will simply end up the pawn brokers or the BuyandSell.

They used to have fences back in the day.Or is that a TV myth?

Anthony O Brien

sillyoulfool wrote: »

Actually that is totally untrue as they depend on the hallmark to show the true value of the gold, without the hallmark it is worthless.
Typical BS from the "I know fk all but I sound intelligent"style posters.

The last line sums up what i thought of your post, you can test the purity of gold using acids

Capt'n Midnight

simple stuff, like taking photos of everyone handing in gold and only paying into bank accounts, taking fingerprints and DNA samples , and holding onto their first born for six months


No, seriously getting ID off people handing in stuff and paying only to traceable accounts.

galwayrush

sillyoulfool wrote: »

Actually that is totally untrue as they depend on the hallmark to show the true value of the gold, without the hallmark it is worthless.
Typical BS from the "I know fk all but I sound intelligent"style posters.

Straight from the source.
A tpical post from someone who hasn't a clue what they're talking about but try to sound intelligent.

Agent Coulson

There was a thread a couple of months ago about this and the OP on that thread was saying Cheque for Gold which I thought was a great Idea.

I know cheques are be phased out but maybe bankers draft for Gold.

Something that is traceable instead of cash might be an Idea.

Stavros Murphy

The_Minister wrote: »

Was thinking about this over the past few days due to a recent article.

The Cash for Gold industry operates in a lot of very deprived areas and takes huge amounts of family wealth off people and exchanges it for little return.
It's a modern day magic beans story.

Should there be some sort of regulation of this industry?
Obvious one is a 30 day waiting period to change your mind after selling.

I used to pretty much agree with you. Then I got chatting to a lad who buys a lot of gold. Turns out, the gold in your necklace/ring/grannies brooch is not the same as the gold in your bank-vault bar. The bar is graded, stamped and is pretty much what it says on the tin. The gold people are selling in cash for gold shops is a mish-mash of alloys, with a percentage of gold. Could be 99%, could be 25%..so when they melt it down, and skim off the additives leaving pure gold, you've got a lot less than you started with. Then it has to be graded and stamped/certified..more cost..so the return is not as huge as you'd imagine, and the prices paid are not the rip-off you might assume. You get ripped off waay worse every time you stroll into a jewellers and buy a ring or a chain. Now that stuff, that's a serious rip off.

On a related note, my missus is in the jewellery business, more the high-end stuff than the high-street stuff and knows her onions- you would not believe just how little that ring on your finger is really worth, the one you paid 2k for.

kneemos

Agent Coulson wrote: »

There was a thread a couple of months ago about this and the OP on that thread was saying Cheque for Gold which I thought was a great Idea.

I know cheques are be phased out but maybe bankers draft for Gold.

Something that is traceable instead of cash might be an Idea.

They're going to be sent off for melting down anyway so don't see how it matters.

Stavros Murphy

kneemos wrote: »

They used to have fences back in the day.Or is that a TV myth?

That day would probably be today so. There are buyers for everything hot - it's how the market works.

After a recent attempted burglary, the local guard gave me the skinny.

Break-ins at the moment are all about cash and jewellery. The money goes in the pocket and the jewellery goes to cash 4 gold. Our local branch's security cameras apparently have a habit of going offline when the little turds come in with someone's dead mother's wedding ring. Very convenient.

bop1977

I thought these places were closing up due to the drop in gold value.

Wibbs

Agent Coulson wrote: »

I know cheques are be phased out but maybe bankers draft for Gold.

Something that is traceable instead of cash might be an Idea.

+1000.

Deleted User wrote: »

After a recent attempted burglary, the local guard gave me the skinny.

Break-ins at the moment are all about cash and jewellery. The money goes in the pocket and the jewellery goes to cash 4 gold. Our local branch's security cameras apparently have a habit of going offline when the little turds come in with someone's dead mother's wedding ring. Very convenient.

Yep. It's quite clear that these "cash for gold" outlets are the ideal fence for stolen goods. Untraceable and easy. I'd close them in the morning if I could, or instigate AC's solution of cheque/bank account for gold. I'd bet that takings would drop across the board in such a scenario. Hell I've directly heard of these dribbling junky morons nicking brass items because they were golden in colour and even leaving hard cash behind when faced with shiny things. Then again the scum involved are... well mindless scum, the detritus of humanity and would be better served as control groups when measuring the intelligence of chimps. Or better yet fed to the chimps when the chimps feel the need for extra protein in their diet. Though I fear such a diet of mouthbreathing oven chips fed troglodyte scum would upset the great apes digestion.

bigneacy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

After a recent attempted burglary, the local guard gave me the skinny.

Break-ins at the moment are all about cash and jewellery. The money goes in the pocket and the jewellery goes to cash 4 gold. Our local branch's security cameras apparently have a habit of going offline when the little turds come in with someone's dead mother's wedding ring. Very convenient.

Sounds to me like a typical guard talking out of his arse about something he knows nothing about.

They love a good story them guards. Because as we all know before cash for gold it was nigh on impossible to sell gold. Sure they used to just walk past cash & gold and go straight for the VCRs. Me bollix.

Electronic equipment is hard to shift because there is a database of stolen electronic's barcodes- look at your expensive electronics and you'll find a hard to remove bar code somewhere. That's what the pawnbrokers and electronic buyers scan and cross check against before purchasing.

I thought these places were closing up due to the drop in gold value.

They are. It's just the jewellers, pawnbrokers and the bigger English companies left now.

downonthefarm

And our good friend tom gear does a roaring trade with the junkies

Wibbs

bigneacy wrote: »

Sounds to me like a typical guard talking out of his arse about something he knows nothing about.

Oh really? The guy or gal who deals with this crap on a daily basis as part of their job doesn't have an insight? The dogs on the bloody street know these outlets are the ideal fencing operations. That's not to say that many customers aren't genuine, but one would have to be an idiot to see that cash for gold with zero traceability is a boon for the would be scum.

FISMA

The_Minister wrote: »

Should there be some sort of regulation of this industry?
Obvious one is a 30 day waiting period to change your mind after selling.

No. If a 30-day waiting period is not enough, than what is?

Also, who would regulate this? Would they be anything like the bank regulators?

bigneacy

Wibbs wrote: »

Oh really? The guy or gal who deals with this crap on a daily basis as part of their job doesn't have an insight? The dogs on the bloody street know these outlets are the ideal fencing operations. That's not to say that many customers aren't genuine, but one would have to be an idiot to see that cash for gold with zero traceability is a boon for the would be scum.

Go into one of those places with your rings etc. ID, proof of address and a signed contract of sale is standard. Most places will digitally record the product along with your ID. Do you think they guards don't know where the cash for gold places are? Would that not be their first port of call?

If you stole gold you wouldn't head to the high street with it- you'd send it off via postal gold or sell it to a 'scrap merchant'