We all understand the concept of comparison sites. You visit the site, enter your details and a list of companies comes up suitable for your needs. Unfortunately, all the Gold Price Comparison sites we have found do not work like this. This article will show you why you should take most, if not all gold price comparison sites, as total junk.
Gold Price Comparison Sites Reviewed
http://www.GoldPriceCompare.co.uk
goldpricecompare.co.uk appears to have conducted some quite intensive research.
The Gold Refiners website was clear and easy to navigate. Requesting a gold pack was straightforward. It arrived the following day. Packaging and sending off the gold items was also straightforward. I selected to receive my valuation by email - the only one of this test bunch to offer this option. Within 24 hours (as they explicitly promise on their website) I received their offer by email. This offer was for £178.43. When I replied to this, declining the offer, I received a phone call the same day offering me another £10, as a "gesture of good will". When I declined this, the person I spoke to agreed to return the items, without any fuss or pressure. The items were back with me, sent by registered post, the following morning. Overall, I was pleased with the service provided. As I understand it, the price I was offered for the items was about 80% of their estimated true value. When you consider some of the costs involved in running this type of operation, the need for the company to return a profit and the volatility of the price of gold, I believe this represented reasonable value. It is, I feel, considerably greater than a number of the other companies in the comparison would have been prepared to offer, given the low offers received from them during our test. Positive: Good price offered; Rapid offer by email Negative: None
What Goldealers find suspicious about this is that goldpricecompare.co.uk and goldrefiners.co.uk are both registered to the same address. So if these companies were separate entities, the writer of the review requested the gold pack from 26 Thurloe Street. The gold pack got posted to by goldrefiners.co.uk from 26 thurloe street back to 26 thurloe street. What’s more, the writer of goldpricecompare.co.uk declined the offer, instead of going to visit goldrefiners.co.uk in the same building, they simply telephoned them to see if they could get a better rate. The writer then declined the offer and the item was returned to them by registered post (once again, posting from 26 Thurloe Street, back to 26 Thurloe Street).
http://www.comparegoldprice.co.uk/
This site also appears genuine on the surface, it appears to compare the service of 4 gold buyers. Below is a list, in order of the companies CompareGoldPrice.co.uk recommend in order.
- goldrefiners.co.uk
- thebritishgoldrefinery.co.uk
- postgoldforcash.com
- postalgold.com
Now instantly, this list to us is extremely suspicious. The comparison site does not include any of the best known or best paying gold buyers.
http://www.sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk
This is another gold price comparison site. The companies it recommends for you to sell your gold are as follows in order:
- goldrefiners.co.uk
- postalgold.com
- cashmygold.co.uk
- postgoldforcash.co.uk
- money4gold.co.uk
- cash4gold.com
So once again, goldrefiners.co.uk come up top in the gold price comparison. But what do we find when we look a little deeper? Goldrefiners.co.uk must be a pretty good gold buyer! Let’s look a little deeper…
Comparegoldprice.co.uk and sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk and goldrefiners.co.uk and goldpricecompare.co.uk are all registered to the same address 26 Thurloe Street in South Kensington. What’s more, all domains resolve to the same server (IP addresses) 213.171.192.250 and 213.171.193.250.
Registrant:
David Smith
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrant's address:
26 Thurloe Street South Kensington
London
London
SW7 2LT
United Kingdom
It is also worth noting that the whois lookup for goldrefiners.co.uk has been changed from the same address to a PO Box address. Possibly to hide this fact?:
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
Furthermore, not a single one of the sites listed offer an online calculator to help you to value your jewellery.
On the 14th February 2011, The OFT released a press release entitled OFT Takes action against gold buying companies
In this press release, it states that money4gold has ceased trading. Somehow, it is still listed in the online gold price comparison over 1 year later! From this, we can deduce that the comparison site is either no longer being maintained (meaning that the comparison is now useless) or that the comparison site does not actually check the rates being compared from the companies it lists – also useless.
OFT Takes Action Against Postal Gold Companies
If we wanted to pick more holes, we probably could, but I think we have provided enough evidence to prove that these sites are to be taken with a pinch of salt. It appears after doing a little investigation that these sites are simply set up by the same people and designed for you to send your gold to goldrefiners.co.uk.
So how can I compare gold prices?
Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to do this without doing your research.
If an online gold buyer does not have positive reviews on trusted sites, then do not use them. Gold price comparison sites are NOT trusted sites. – Goldealers Ltd
Goldealers will always recommend that you speak to friends and family for a recommendation. We understand that given possible financial hardship, it is difficult to speak with friends and family, so when you seek reviews, make sure that you visit third party review websites like Freeindex or Trustpilot or MoneySavingExpert.
To get an accurate valuation for your gold, feel free to use our Precious Metals Calculator. The price you see is the price that we pay on the day.
Our Facebook page is active, feel free to ask public questions here.
Goldealers Ltd use a 3rd party review service called Freeindex. You can view and leave feedback for Goldealers Ltd on Freeindex.
Domain name: goldpricecompare.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: 20-Sep-2009 Expiry date: 20-Sep-2013 Last updated: 03-Oct-2011 Registration status: Registered until expiry 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 10:19:41 24-Oct-2012
WHOIS sellinggoldjewellery.co.uk
Skip to main content Home Nominet Search form Log in to Online Services Home Who we are .uk Domain names Become a registrar Resolving disputes & complaints How to participate News & reports Home Result of WHOIS query: 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 Expiry date: 25-Jun-2013 Last updated: 02-Jul-2011 Registration status: Registered until expiry 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 12:37:51 23-Oct-2012
WHOIS goldrefiners.co.uk
Domain name: goldrefiners.co.uk Registrant: Star Refining London Limited Registrant type: UK Individual Registrant's address: PO Box 31 London London EC1N 8WG United Kingdom Registrar: Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS] URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk Relevant dates: Registered on: 27-Jan-2006 Expiry date: 27-Jan-2014 Last updated: 10-Apr-2012 Registration status: Registered until expiry 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 12:35:27 23-Oct-2012
WHOIS comparegoldprice.co.uk
Result of WHOIS query: Domain name: comparegoldprice.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: 20-Sep-2009 Expiry date: 20-Sep-2013 Last updated: 03-Oct-2011 Registration status: Registered until expiry 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 12:33:15 23-Oct-2012
