How it works

When you come into our store your items will be sorted according to their purity. Gold for example in: 9K, 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K etc and Silver: .800, 925 and sterling. Platinum Jewelry is usually stamped with PLAT and a purity like 950 which means 95% platinum content. If you like, you can sort your items into different karats before you come into the store to save time.  If not, we can quickly sort your gold items into piles of different karats. Other items like coins, paper money, antiques etc will be sorted and evaluated separately.

Next we use a very strong rare earth magnet which is many times stronger than a refrigerator magnet. So strong if fact that if two magnets are stuck together you can not pull them apart without sliding them. Precious metals like gold, silver and platinum are not magnetic, however some non- precious metals are also non-magnetic like copper for example. So further testing is needed  in addition to our magnet check in order to rule out some non-magnetic base metals.

Acid testing is used to confirm the stamped purity of the gold we sorted in step 1 and to determine the purity of un-stamped items. We use pre-mixed strengths of nitric acid, one for each karat of gold. We start by taking a small sample of gold by rubbing the item onto a hard testing stone. This sample does not harm the appearance of the piece and the amount of gold it removes is microscopic.

Next we place a drop of 10K acid on the sample, if the sample disappears then the item is not gold. If it does not disappear then we use 14K acid on the sample, if it disappears then the item greater than 10K but less than 14K. It it does not disappear we move on to the next karat of test acid and so on until we determine the correct purity. For silver, acid is also used but normally applied directly to the piece itself.  The acid will turn different colours. For example a creamy colour for silver 90 to 100% . A gray colour indicates 77-90% silver and a light green colour means the item is 65 to 75% silver.

The use of testing acids can be dangerous and proper safety equipment should be worn and manufacturers safety data observed. We encourage you to watch the testing process, but please do not touch the acids or get to close to the test stone.

Accurate weighing is an important step in selling gold & silver because the payout is determined by the weight of the gold in grams. You should only sell your gold to someone using a certified government approved scale. We use an A&D FX300inc laboratory balance that is certified by measurement Canada and sealed by the government to prevent tampering. If you are in doubt about a company’s scale, ask to see their Certificate and approval sticker.

We will weigh each karat of gold separately and then your silver and then other items like silver and gold coins so we can determine the proper payout based on the weight in grams. Sometimes we need to make adjustments or remove large stones to get an accurate weight. We’ll let you know and ask your permission before doing this.

Aaron Buys Gold uses the purity of your items, their weight and the live market price of gold to determine the payout you receive. Unlike some gold buyers, we base our offers off the live market price of gold not a “fix”. This means you always get the most accurate, up to the minute price for your gold. We do not purchase stones other than diamonds. For diamonds we will give you an offer based on the weight, clarity and color if the diamond meets our requirements.

We will present you an offer to purchase your items, if you are happy with the offer then we will require you to present 1 piece of government issue photo ID such as a drivers licence, passport, firearms licence etc. The purpose of this is to determine your age (we do not purchase from anyone under 18 years old) and to meet legal requirements for purchasing second hand goods. All personal information is kept confidential subject to our privacy policy. 

In most circumstances we are happy to pay you in cash, however for larger payouts it may be desirable for both you and us to pay by cheque. We also take jewelry and other items in trade for any items we carry such as gold & silver bullion, coins and collectibles. We no longer pay by beads and monopoly money as they were quite unpopular 🙂

Aaron & his family believe in giving back to the community. As great as it is for us all to have nice things, jewelry diamonds and coin collections and there is nothing wrong with that, however we believe in paying it forward and more business we do, the more we vow to put part of that success back into the community.

When you do business with Aaron you are helping us to help others in the community, for this reason we thank you for your consideration in choosing us. We are currently looking for more causes and charities to support. If you know of one, feel free to let us know. We are particularly fond of children’s charities  and charities that fight illness.