Cash4Gold's Rush

A Pompano Beach company has emerged as one of the country's highest-volume gold dealers by capitalizing on many consumers' desire to turn their jewelry into cash.

Mike Vogel | 5/1/2009

MELTDOWN: The company melts between 3,000 to 4,000 fine ounces of gold and 800 pounds of silver a week. [Photo: Newscom/Palm Beach Post]

AD BUY: Cash4Gold’s has processed around 800,000 transactions since the company was founded in 2007. Customers mail in their gold using the company’s “refiners return pak.”

Cash4Gold won’t disclose its ad spending numbers and says TNS’ numbers are “remarkably inflated.” At one point in 2008, the company said in another news report it was spending $2 million to $3 million a month in ads. Aronson says his spending is “bigger” now. But according to Florida Trend’s calculation, even at the $2 million to $3 million a month rate, the ad spending works out to $60 to $90 per transaction.

Aronson says nearly 94% of consumers take Cash4Gold’s offer. In recent months, the company’s ads emphasize its own size rather than offering “top dollar.” Though the “top dollar’’ ads still appear, newer ads replace that graphic with the words “America’s #1 Gold Buyer.” The company says the change reflects an evolution of its marketing message. Aronson refers to a page on his site that tells consumers that selling their gold to Cash4Gold might not be their best option.

At the end of March, Aronson was looking forward to the completion of Cash4Gold’s new headquarters, a “mini Fort Knox,” in Pompano Beach. Business is good. “We’re on pace to outdo last year multifold,” Aronson says. He says he will expand into Europe this year.

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