Are gold buying sites offering a good deal?

simple answer. NO. No . No.

without naming names or making specific comments and bearing in mind that there might be some reputable companies offering a good service...

generally they will offer only a tiny fraction of the scrap value and they wont pay anything for gems that might be set in jewellery.

i wasnt aware of tesco moving into this area! if so it is clearly because they can see a profit to be made so dont assume that they will "clean up" the market by joining it but lets hope that does happen.

i would suggest that if you really need to sell your gold or precious metals that you should visit a few local high street jewellers and ask them to weigh and value the items. If any of them are willing to pay for the item as a resaleable object that will give much more than scrap. all the "online" companies pay scrap because whatever you send in will be melted.

there has been much coverage on these types of companies on BBC Watchdog and other consumer shows and not many people have have a good outcome.

one thing that is worth considering is that if you have broken or unworn items that you could ask a local jeweller to melt them and make something new for you. what might otherwise cost (for example) £30 per gram to buy will cost you nothing for the materials you pay just for the labour. whereas you might only be offered £5 per gram for scrap and then what can you do with the money?

the final thing to consider, TV adverts are not cheap, and these gold adverts are often targeted at a certain type of viewer that will be home during the day and might be followed by an advert asking you if you have had an accident at work or fallen off a ladder recently..... do tread carefully!

and of course to add to moneywatch's comments, you cant expect to get 100% of the scrap value as there is no incentive for the dealer to buy and therefore no market would exist but given that tesco based on the above is only offering 70% thats still a huge markup.

how would you feel if you went to a tesco atm and withdrew £100 but it only dispensed £70? especially if you knew there was a way of getting more but it involved a little more effort......