Empire Gold Buyers

Yeah as of this minute I still haven’t gotten even an acknowledgement from this company that they got my gold three days ago, let alone an offer… there’s only one email address and one phone number published and apparently neither one is attended or monitored. Glad I didn’t send my truly valuable things…

As soon as my negative review posted, the «owner» of empire started blowing up my phone. Wants to talk about my review and about what happened. I asked him to email me a response and I would gladly look at it because I was at work and I didn’t have time to be talking about it. Interestingly, his voice was extremely similar to the man who made me the offer the week before. I didn’t track names, so I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure. That was Wednesday. This is Saturday. No email.
It should also be noted that, this week I went to a reputable estate buyer here in Chicago and he paid me almost DOUBLE what Empire originally offered me. People! Almost Double! For exactly the same items. Actually I kept one of the gold rings, so on fewer items.
Shame on you Empire Gold Scammers! I wish I had some email documentation because I would report them to the BBB, but I suppose they are too sly for that.

My Experience was similar to those shared on this Unilocal website. I carefully had my 14k and 22k items digitally weighed and then calculated price according to what they were paying on there website. When the Sales person called, with the amount it was significantly less then Quoted Price (I also calculated in that days Gold Price-​which had gone up since I sent in the Items) I was sure I was being Cheated, but let the sale go through. Found out weeks later from a local dealer, I could have gotten much more. VERY DISSATISFIED.

Shysters! Empire Gold Buyers claim to pay 80% of the price of gold, but they don’t. Instead, they find all kind of ways to run-​down your old jewelry by rounding-​down the numbers in their favor.
My experience: A jeweler in my area weighed my gold wedding ring @ 8.9 grams; Empire received the same ring and called it only 8.7 grams. Stamped on the piece was «14k.» Google ‘14k gold’ and you find 14k is ~ 58% pure gold, but Empire argued only 51% for my particular ring. Lastly, the price if gold on the day the business contacted me was $ 1,652/oz, but they insisted it was down to $ 1,640. When I later calculated their supposed 80% pay-​out quote, their price after all of their haggling, $ 204.75 should have been paid out, but they only gave me $ 196.80, which was really only 76.9% of the price of gold. Take away the convenient advantage of all their little self-​serving deductions and they really only paid 66.2%! 66% is still better than some of their competitors, but they are not paying out the 80% they guarantee. What a bunch of hustlers!

I’m kind of sad to write this review. I was really hopeful that these guys were the real deal and not just some snazzy late-​night commercial. *sigh*
So, one night we were sitting around, eating popcorn and watching movies on the TV when this commercial came on for Empire Gold Buyers. Being the pack rat that I am (and trying desperately to stop), I decided to go through my jewelry box and get rid of anything that was old, broken and maybe worth something. I collected up some goodies and went to their website. It was easy to send an inquiry and within minutes my phone was blowin’ up with a salesperson on the other end drooling at the thought of getting their hands on my gold. She sounded really eager, kind of like those kids chasing the leprechaun on those Lucky Charms commercials. Anyway, I got kind of a creepy feeling and decided not to deal with them.
Several weeks later I receive a Fed Ex return envelope and instructions how to send them my gold. Um, I didn’t ask for this stuff, but there was a 100% guarantee with it so, like many before me I’m sure, I decided I had nothing to lose and sent it off (taking pictures and weighing things before parting with my stuff). Within two days I get a call from a sales guy offering me… well…a pittance for everything. I asked some detailed questions, didn’t like the answers I got and asked them to send back my stuff.
The salesman said they pay per Troy ounce (which is normal), but when I asked what the difference was between a regular and Troy ounce he said that a Troy ounce is less than a regular ounce. SO BUSTED! Thank you college chemistry! It’s the other way around. Then he said that they could only render .22% from the 24 carat gold I sent them (high quality from Tiffany’s) and they would pay me 80% of the going rate for that — all in all, about 77% less then what they advertise on their website.
I’m sure this is a great place for people that are desperate for cash or uneducated or hocking stolen goods, but I think I’ll just keep my little tokens. It was a fun adventure though, one that allowed me to check off the curiosity for another product advertised on late night TV.