Cash4Gold: Passing the Test for its Customers

Every day, Cash4Gold provides instant cash to thousands of satisfied customers all across the nation in exchange for their unwanted jewelry and scrap gold. Cash4Gold, which provides a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, is committed to helping educate its customers. In that spirit, today’s entry looks at gold testing methods and explains the multi-layered testing process that Cash4Gold undertakes with every single piece of gold it receives.

The ability to accurately appraise the quality and amount of gold in the items it receives is of central importance to Cash4Gold and essential to understanding the precious metals refining business. It is considered so critical that the company requires every new employee to undergo rigorous instruction in the testing processes, and actually requires every worker to serve first as a “tester” before moving on to other positions within the organization.

Each of the Cash4Gold testers has three methods at his/her disposal to accurately assess the jewelry that pours in every day from customers all around the United States: electronic testing, scratch testing and x-ray fluorescence testing.

Jewelry that is received by Cash4Gold is first subjected to state-of-the art electronic testing devices. An alligator clip attaches the metal to the small device. After a few drops of test solution are added to the test area, the machine quickly and accurately provides the accurate gold quality (measured in karats) on its digital display screen.

In the event that the quality of the gold measured by the electronic tester differs from the quality of the gold as reported by the customer who sent it in (we will explore the danger of trusting engravings in a future posting), the piece will then undergo a second test—the scratch test. The scratch method is the oldest method used in the jewelry industry and you may have seen it performed by a jeweler or pawn shop operator.

Scratch testing involves the use of needles verified as having certain levels of gold and low-grade acid solutions corresponding to each karat level. By treating the pieces with acid and comparing scratches from the needles, the tester can confirm what kind of gold is contained in the piece.

If both the electronic testing and scratch methods do not confirm clear results, pieces are subjected to an X-ray fluorescence scan. The machine used for this test is an incredibly powerful, remarkably expensive and capable of providing detailed analysis by measuring the intensity of the generated gold X-rays by wavelength dispersion analysis. When testing is complete, a full report displays which indicates the gold content as well as other alloying metals such as copper, silver, zinc, etc. This method is remarkably accurate.

Cash4Gold understands and appreciates the tremendous level of trust involved in handling its customers’ jewelry and testing the quality of the gold items it receives. The company insists on the highest levels of transparency and honesty and is always happy to send back the belongings of customers who decide not to accept their cash offer.