Big Boys Hobbies

My Dealings with ARA

choppadude said:
I emailed the owner and told him of this post I read and that based on that I would not consider doing business with him.

This is the response I received:

"Oh, no! We will lose tens of dollars a year without ya'll. We are setting a 5 ounce minimum just to weed you dead beats out."
Click to expand...

Now there is a company that cares about it's customer...
 
Steve said:
If the guy is making 2% Or so business wise it makes sense to get rid of the little fish. That 2% likely won't even cover the cost to issue the check. Then need pay the employee, roof over head, tax, etc . 5oz minimum or decrease to 90% spot.
Most institutions are being run the same way. Try selling something on ebay. EBay fees, PayPal fees, then tax on top (%22 total cost). Or a bank fee with hidden cost is just as bad.
The little guy is continually being squeezed to feed the big fish. It's a broken system
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The thing about it, Steve, is that it's not just 2%. They keep all the other metals in the alloy, and pay nothing for those.

If you were to turn in a platinum and 18K gold ring, for example, you'd have to choose which payout you'd want, they won't split it and pay for both. That's an extreme example, but 14K gold is often alloyed with silver. 2% spot plus keeping 100% of the alloy metals can add up. Especially when you've got silver rings with gold accents, and have it in the silver pile.

Skippy
 
Skippy SH13 said:
The thing about it, Steve, is that it's not just 2%. They keep all the other metals in the alloy, and pay nothing for those.

If you were to turn in a platinum and 18K gold ring, for example, you'd have to choose which payout you'd want, they won't split it and pay for both. That's an extreme example, but 14K gold is often alloyed with silver. 2% spot plus keeping 100% of the alloy metals can add up. Especially when you've got silver rings with gold accents, and have it in the silver pile.

Skippy
Click to expand...
The 18k/pt is the same in asia. But it's always the lower priced of the 2. Nickel is common in gold and even if it's silver I suspect the cost of recovering it is greater than the value. The owner should have gone about it another way
Edit.. if the 18k/pt weighed 5g I will receive $ for the lower of the two worth 5g.
 
Its feedback like this that makes a guy happy hunting fresh Clad! :laughing: I was at a Family reunion this past Summer, and during a lull in the conversation around the campfire, my Father, to my shame, outed me...told everybody I am a Metal detectorist...Well, of course the questions started pouring in, and I dont know WTH I was thinking, I started answering instead of denying my new hobby gayness,, waxing eloquent about Gold and Silver and my knowledge of PM's, History etc...showing off like usual, and thats what got me once again into Big Trouble...

My Brothers Wife, flashed her big rock ring, and said, "Whats this worth?".....It appeared to be about a 3gr 14k typical totlot drop, stone being 1/2 carat thereabouts...Without thinking of the deeper ramifications to my response, in an effort to display my new found metallurgical finesse, I casually and honestly said, "Thats worth $100 tops!"....

Lord God Almighty! Immediate Outrage! You woulda thought I just handed her a S'more with a melted turd in it, parked my 2001 Prism next to her new Mercedes, or slapped her stupid Kid!

She told me what it was appraised for, in the multiple thousands of course, etc...I ignorantly said, "Yeah? You wanna know whats its REALLY worth? See what you can sell it for on the open market?" "Take it into a pawn shop if you dont believe me, they might offer you $50 for it!" Of course, It all went down hill from there...

Right then and there I knew, besides Family...Gold and Diamonds are big trouble! Best to be avoided! ...Sheeit, I sold one damn nice Tungsten to a guy last year for $60...wasnt worth a penny metal wise, but he liked it, and the "Retail Market" said it sold for $600, so he jumped on the chance to rip me off, and I graciously let him do it!.......

PM's are tough to get honest Spot for..lots of extra effort involved, who needs that? Its probably best to avoid hunting for Gold altogether, Clad and cans are where the real easy money is at!...:laughing:
 
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ScubaDetector said:
Skippy, ALL the folks that ran ARA are gone. Nobody left. Nicky, John and Shawn are history and it was sold to someone else. These folks are not nice to deal with at all. ARA respected everyone, big fish and little fish. These folks don't respect anyone it seems.
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yeah, I'm catching that. If you got a respectable 96% business, please let us know, in a nice big "eye catching" post, and I'll move to that place.

My son is sitting on about an ounce of gold that he'd like processed, but I'm sure he'd lose $$ to ARA at this point over just taking it local (too many stones).
 
Skippy SH13 said:
yeah, I'm catching that. If you got a respectable 96% business, please let us know, in a nice big "eye catching" post, and I'll move to that place.

My son is sitting on about an ounce of gold that he'd like processed, but I'm sure he'd lose $$ to ARA at this point over just taking it local (too many stones).
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Tried the classifieds ? Someone will likely scoop em up
 
Scuba since you are coming to Florida anyway, you might want to swing by here and walk in. Never tried mailing them anything. Walk in it was not even any paperwork hassle. I think the patriot act page is for people who scrap over $50,000 a year? But I would pull any stones before scrapping at any refinery. That way you know what you got. No idea how you get treated by mail? But they do send you a shipping label. Even ARA didn't do that in the good ol days.
https://orlandogoldrefinery.com/

Edit. Might want to call them. Last page says 80% payout and up to public. But they were paying us 97% last time we went. maybe cause we told them how we harvest the gold?
 
Mud-puppy said:
Its feedback like this that makes a guy happy hunting fresh Clad! :laughing: I was at a Family reunion this past Summer, and during a lull in the conversation around the campfire, my Father, to my shame, outed me...told everybody I am a Metal detectorist...Well, of course the questions started pouring in, and I dont know WTH I was thinking, I started answering instead of denying my new hobby gayness,, waxing eloquent about Gold and Silver and my knowledge of PM's, History etc...showing off like usual, and thats what got me once again into Big Trouble...

My Brothers Wife, flashed her big rock ring, and said, "Whats this worth?".....It appeared to be about a 3gr 14k typical totlot drop, stone being 1/2 carat thereabouts...Without thinking of the deeper ramifications to my response, in an effort to display my new found metallurgical finesse, I casually and honestly said, "Thats worth $100 tops!"....

Lord God Almighty! Immediate Outrage! You woulda thought I just handed her a S'more with a melted turd in it, parked my 2001 Prism next to her new Mercedes, or slapped her stupid Kid!

She told me what it was appraised for, in the multiple thousands of course, etc...I ignorantly said, "Yeah? You wanna know whats its REALLY worth? See what you can sell it for on the open market?" "Take it into a pawn shop if you dont believe me, they might offer you $50 for it!" Of course, It all went down hill from there...

Right then and there I knew, besides Family...Gold and Diamonds are big trouble! Best to be avoided! ...Sheeit, I sold one damn nice Tungsten to a guy last year for $60...wasnt worth a penny metal wise, but he liked it, and the "Retail Market" said it sold for $600, so he jumped on the chance to rip me off, and I graciously let him do it!.......

PM's are tough to get honest Spot for..lots of extra effort involved, who needs that? Its probably best to avoid hunting for Gold altogether, Clad and cans are where the real easy money is at!...:laughing:
Click to expand...

Yep that's our Mud! :laughing:
Totally true though, tell somebody diamonds are pretty much worthless and they look at you like you fell out of a tree.
Reality is painful and easiest denied to the television/smartphone crowd!
 
itsaring! said:
Scuba since you are coming to Florida anyway, you might want to swing by here and walk in. Never tried mailing them anything. Walk in it was not even any paperwork hassle. I think the patriot act page is for people who scrap over $50,000 a year? But I would pull any stones before scrapping at any refinery. That way you know what you got. No idea how you get treated by mail? But they do send you a shipping label. Even ARA didn't do that in the good ol days.
https://orlandogoldrefinery.com/

Edit. Might want to call them. Last page says 80% payout and up to public. But they were paying us 97% last time we went. maybe cause we told them how we harvest the gold?
Click to expand...

I might just do this Larry whenever I'm up there visiting Mickey. Thanks!
 
Did they return the stones? If so you can weigh them and know exactly how much.

ScubaDetector said:
Tom,

We don't always agree and I for sure won't be offended if you feel I deserved the response I received. I don't believe anyone deserves to be treated that way but we all have our opinions.

I feel I was taken. I can lose that amount of money. Not that big of deal. However, other folks might be counting on 98%. ARA has never done me wrong in the past and I had plenty of dealings with the last owners, John and Nicki and their main receiver Shawn.

They said my weight was right on and so was the spot price. No way those two stones could have weighed that much. My other bands not 14K or 18K? I don't believe it. I know what 10K gold looks like when I find it.

I gave folks the heads up so they can decide for themselves if they want to trust ARA. I will not anymore.

I found another company that will do 96%. I am going to try them as they are family owned.

I didn't come here to bash them. However, as a business owner, you treat nobody the way I was treated. Everyone has their opinion and that is fine by me. If you are happy with the way they have treated you, that is great.
Click to expand...
 
A few problems with this post. First: two of your rings had big fake stones and enamel that could have easily been 3-4 dwt explaining your $125 loss. 2nd: you figured your assay at dead nuts with no melt loss for your stones despite the fact that you found the stuff you sent in and don't really know what it was despite being stamped. You really think nothing is stamped 14k that is not? 3rd: The owner runs 3 businesses and did talk to you via email. I am the owner and I am the one that emailed you back and forth and told you to go play a game of hide and go !!!! yourself. We are not the same business that you
shipped to 4 years ago and do not do business with individuals. If you do not have a tax ID #, we do not want your material. Go sell it to a pay shop for 30% less than we pay.
 
There is absolutely NO WAY those two stones took 125.00 off the value. EVERYONE here knows that.

Second, Plenty of other places pay 94-96% and I found another one that will be happy to do business with folks that metal detect for fun and profit and pays 96%.

Third with your attitude nobody here will do business with you anyway.

So enjoy your business, what you have left of it anyway, and since you told another member here you could care less about our gold, I have no idea why you showed up.

Your unprofessional emails spoke for themselves.
 
Safedweller said:
A few problems with this post. First: two of your rings had big fake stones and enamel that could have easily been 3-4 dwt explaining your $125 loss. 2nd: you figured your assay at dead nuts with no melt loss for your stones despite the fact that you found the stuff you sent in and don't really know what it was despite being stamped. You really think nothing is stamped 14k that is not? 3rd: The owner runs 3 businesses and did talk to you via email. I am the owner and I am the one that emailed you back and forth and told you to go play a game of hide and go !!!! yourself. We are not the same business that you
shipped to 4 years ago and do not do business with individuals. If you do not have a tax ID #, we do not want your material. Go sell it to a pay shop for 30% less than we pay.
Click to expand...


Well that sure is interesting. Assuming this isn't a fake account post, at the very least this says that the owner doesn't understand that what you put on the internet is forever.


.
 
Guess he does not realize that many members of this forum are also members of many other forums. Will not be long before this thread is shared on those forums also
 
KinTN said:
Well that sure is interesting. Assuming this isn't a fake account post, at the very least this says that the owner doesn't understand that what you put on the internet is forever.


.
Click to expand...

Seems legit to me. The old ara was likely a ma and pa shop that could pay out a high % as they likely did most of the work. Things change when taking into account if employees, tax, etc. Less than 5oz would likely be a loss for the new company at anything over 90%.
 
KinTN said:
Well that sure is interesting. Assuming this isn't a fake account post, at the very least this says that the owner doesn't understand that what you put on the internet is forever.


.
Click to expand...

Very true.....
 
Safedweller said:
A few problems with this post. First: two of your rings had big fake stones and enamel that could have easily been 3-4 dwt explaining your $125 loss. 2nd: you figured your assay at dead nuts with no melt loss for your stones despite the fact that you found the stuff you sent in and don't really know what it was despite being stamped. You really think nothing is stamped 14k that is not? 3rd: The owner runs 3 businesses and did talk to you via email. I am the owner and I am the one that emailed you back and forth and told you to go play a game of hide and go !!!! yourself. We are not the same business that you
shipped to 4 years ago and do not do business with individuals. If you do not have a tax ID #, we do not want your material. Go sell it to a pay shop for 30% less than we pay.
Click to expand...

Gee, i can't see why they are losing business, at least now we all know ARA is not what it used to be and should be avoided...
 
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