Trading Standards issues warning and advice to residents looking to cash in on their gold

Worcestershire County Council's Trading Standards team is warning residents looking to 'cash in' by selling their gold to be on their guard and has issued some advice to ensure people are not left out of pocket.

With gold prices hitting record levels there's been a boom in the number of firms advertising 'Cash for Gold'.

Selling unwanted gold items for ready cash is becoming increasingly popular and Worcestershire County Council Trading Standards officers would like to offer some advice to ensure residents obtain best value and not become a victim of a scam.

These tips include:

1. Beware not to deal with people calling at your door asking if you have any jewellery to sell;

2. Be careful responding to any advertisement particularly where the business has no fixed premises address;

3. Do shop around and try and get several quotes on the amount your gold is worth not just what they want to give you.  Gold should be weighed on accurate scales, which have been verified and stamped by an authorised person, before you are offered a price for it;

4. If your gold jewellery contains any precious stones make sure their value is taken into account.  It may be better to take this to one or two professional jewellery shops to have these evaluated and;

5. Finally, don’t accept an offer until you have worked out how much your gold is worth or had it valued by several people.  Remember when you decide to sell your gold, antique and sentimental value will not be taken into account.

Residents looking to find out exactly what type of gold they are selling can check the hallmark to find out how pure it is. 

• Nine carat contains 0.375 gold
• 18 carat contains 0.75 gold
• 24 carat contains 0.99 gold. 

To work out its weight people can look up the daily gold price, which is given in measures called troy ounces. The value of the gold is measured by multiplying the weight in grams by 0.3215 to give the figure in troy ounces. 

Anyone wishing to check the world gold price in sterling pounds can do so by logging on onto www.invest.gold.org.  It's worth remembering that these figures will be pure market value and it's unlikely anyone will be given this much by a buyer as there is not room for profit, however it will give you an estimate of value of gold.

Cllr Derek Prodger MBE, County Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Safe Environment, said: "It may be very tempting to send off your jewellery and other items of gold to any one of these companies, in the hope of achieving a good price.

"However, residents should be wary of using any less than reputable businesses, and with the help of your local Trading Standards officers, we hope that this advice will save any anxiety when parting with valuable processions."

If you have any issues or complaints concerning the above please contact consumer direct on 08454 040506 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk, which offer first-line advice for all Trading Standards.

A host of information for residents is also available on the team's webpages at www.worcestershire.gov.uk/tradingstandards.