Scubacat
Elite Member
They pay the value as spot stands at the time of their receipt. You probably sent it when silver was $34, and they received it after it dropped to $30.
I believe ARA has a "lock in" option that you can exercize to avoid that. The problem is that if silver went from 30 to 34 after you locked in at 30, you've shot yourself in the foot.
Two questionable points here:
The first is that ARA is in the business of dealing in precious metals. If there's any value to your gold, they will profit by buying it from you. If they say there's "no value", you can bet there's "no value". If some "local gold scrap buyer" gave you money for it anyway, then either the buyer doesn't know what he's doing (in which case you got lucky, and I'd be selling him all the stuff nobody else will buy) or he bought your pieces for reasons other than gold content.
The second point is your comment that the buyer paid you "half price or whatever". This implies that you have no idea what your "gold" was worth in the first place. If I had, say, a 15 dwt 10K ring and a 5 dwt 14K wedding band, I know EXACTLY what they're worth at spot, so if I sold them I'd also know EXACTLY what percentage of spot they paid me instead of guessing "half price or whatever".
I would not want to start a discussion here. But I feel some clarification should be done.
Pooling. According to ARA website: "Upon completion, your options for settlement are a check or your metal returned. You also have the option of pooling your metal and watching the market for settlement at your discretion." That is what I asked them to do and called it pooling. I assume that is what you call "lock in". I gave my instructions using their terminology.
No value. The fact they rejected the scrap gold bought from a reputable jeweler is the reason I say I do not understand their MO. If you say that ARA knows better than Kay, Zales and the like (I had the receipts for the things and one of the bits even had 14K stamp) then we are probably sold junk in those stores instead of gold.
Local gold scrap buyer. They buy and sell gold and silver coins and they have been around for a while. Still in business.
Half price or whatever. I make my money somewhere else (trading silver and gold futures at work) I would not worry about minor differences. You may call it stupid but I do not even have scales. People are in general honest. I just bring or mail whatever I want to sell to the company that does it and trust their estimate. If you count money then it is not that much fun for a hobby (Point for another thread, perhaps?). I just sell it and move further doing more metal detecting or diving. It is scrap after all. I keep coins I like but not the scrap. It is a nice extra to the hobby: some coins to pay for gas and batteries. That is what this thread is about: "Do you hack your finds?"
I gave just the facts. I do not judge the guys. I am not saying they are bad or good.
Even in that condition...great find and smart idea to convert to silver.
