south park episode see cash for gold south park . this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . march 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message cash4gold headquarters pompano beach florida website www.cash4gold.com cash4gold sometimes stylized in advertising as cash4gold.com serves as a mail in refinery that buys gold silver and platinum primarily from jewelry . 1 cash4gold.com s original ownership team was beset by better business bureau complaints and filed for bankruptcy after overspending on large advertising efforts including a commercial which aired during the super bowl . in 2012 the assets of the company were purchased by direct holdings global . 2 the company changed its name in an effort to improve the better business bureau rating ; complaints however continue about their questionable business practices . 3 contents 1 process 2 security measures 3 company history 3.1 founding 3.2 controversy 3.3 bankruptcy and new management 4 advertising 4.1 super bowl xliii advertisement 4.2 commercial sponsorships 5 related businesses 5.1 the estate buyer 5.2 oropordinero.com 5.3 united kingdom 6 parody 7 references 8 external links process edit consumers request a pre paid envelope known as a refiner s pack online or by phone . customers place their gold materials in the pack and ship it to the cash4gold refinery in florida . a cash4gold employee weighs the items photographs them and assesses the items using such tools as acids x rays and electronic testing devices . then they send the customer a check for a value they determine . customers are given 10 days from the date on the check to ask for their jewelry back if they are not satisfied with the amount of their check . many people have complained about the fairness of this process and the valuations of the gold they mailed to the company . 4 cash4gold also purchases diamonds but will not pay for additional gem stones and recommends they be removed from jewelry prior to sending the jewelry for evaluation . security measures edit to ensure customers are the legal owners of the jewelry that is sent in florida passed legislation aimed at regulating the online gold buying industry . cash4gold worked with florida legislators to draft the bill . this new law also requires the company to get a driver s license number and a sworn statement from customers stating that they own the items they are selling . 5 sellers must be at least 21 years old and the senders addresses are verified . cnn visited cash4gold headquarters in march 2010 to see the company s methods of collecting processing and melting gold jewelry . in the visit steps shown included customer background checks a separation of the jewelry then processing the items for evaluations before sending customers their checks and melting items into gold bars . 6 in a follow up article written in 2012 cnn money described some of the business practices that led to the company s bankruptcy that same year . 7 company history edit founding edit cash4gold sometimes stylized in advertising as cash4gold.com was a pompano beach florida based company derived from albar precious metal refining created by former ceo jeff aronson . 8 9 10 david knight svp for international marketing and expansion joined the team in 2009 from ebay . 11 shawn kernes a former chief technology officer at stubhub was the company s coo . 12 in 2006 cash4gold had sales of 40 million with 14 employees . 13 14 by may 2009 the company employed about 300 people with nearly 800 000 customer transactions . 15 as of 2010 the company has received more than 1 700 ounces 48 kg of gold per day with 94 % of respondents accepting its cash offer . controversy edit under the leadership of jeff aronson the company claimed to pay between 20 80 % of the melt value of the items to the seller 15 though independent reports suggest less than 20 % of the value is the norm . 16 17 the norm for the gold buying industry is for the seller to be paid more than 90 % of the value of the gold . 15 channel 10 news in san diego did an investigation where they sent in a ring containing over 2 grams of gold worth 17 in weight to three different sites . the payout from cash4gold was 7.91 . 18 consumer reports using its mystery shopper team sent 24 identical gold pendants and chains purchased for 175 each to cash4gold.com and its competitors . the determined melt value of the jewelry was calculated at around 70 each when gold was above 900 an ounce . in comparison with pawn shop and jewelry store quotes which ranged from 25 to 50 cash4gold.com quoted between 7.60 12.72 melt value for the jewelry . similar low quotes were also given by cash4gold.com competitors goldkit around 7.81 20.59 and goldpaq around 8.22 13.11 . 19 when rob cockerham a blogger detailed drastic changes in cash4gold s valuation of jewelry after a complaint is made about an initial undervaluing 20 a search engine optimization consultant offered a few thousand dollars for rob to remove the criticism . 21 cash4gold ceo jeff aronson stated they had nothing to do with the incident though the consultant stated everyone at cash4gold was well aware of what was going on . 21 on cash4gold s blog the company afterwards posted a clarification statement allegedly by the consultant contradicting that quote cash4gold was not aware of all of the tactics being using sic in my reputation management services . 22 after a whistleblower posted on complaintsboard.com discussing the inner workings of cash4gold.com 23 the consumerist and other blogs were hit with a defamation suit by cash4gold.com after running the postings . 19 23 24 in september 2009 cash4gold.com dropped consumerist from their lawsuit . 25 26 27 bankruptcy and new management edit cash4gold filed for bankruptcy in july 2012 with its assets purchased by direct holdings global for 440 000 . 2 direct holdings global instituted sweeping changes including a new operations process and customer service center . advertising edit super bowl xliii advertisement edit the super bowl xliii advertisement featured ed mcmahon and mc hammer both of whom were well known for their financial troubles later on in their career . 28 the 30 second advertisement was created and produced by havas edge formerly known as euro rscg edge 29 and directed by super bowl ad veteran bryan buckley and his hungry man productions . 30 sources place the cost for the 30 second advertisement at 2.4 3 million . 1 9 cash4gold also played a 60 second ad in nbc s pre game show making it the first direct response advertiser in that venue . 31 the spot received considerable news coverage 9 and was seen by many commentators as a harbinger of the economic situation which was bottoming out in the united states at the time it aired . 32 cnbc s sports biz blog touted the cash4gold spot as the most relevant ad in this entire super bowl . 33 commercial sponsorships edit in the past cash4gold.com has signed sponsorships with milwaukee bucks 34 a multi car sponsorship with jd motorsports of nascar 35 jim dunn racing of nhra 36 and mma competitor randy the natural couture . 37 in addition to sponsorships of randy couture cash4gold also sponsored his charity the xtreme couture g.i. foundation which honors veterans of the u.s. armed forces 38 cash4gold sponsored mma train the troops events at camp pendleton marine corps air station miramar and marine corps air station yuma . the event brought professional mma fighters together with marines to help them prepare for deployment . 39 the three train the troops events were held at three marine bases and included 12 pro fighters and trainers as well as hundreds of marines . there were six four hour long training sessions . 40 cash4gold signed a one year deal with ucmma for their 2010 events 41 which adds to their interest in mixed martial arts and sponsorship deals with cristiane santos the cyborg brandon vera tim kennedy gray maynard leonard garcia and damacio page . 42 ucmma is an mma organization based in the uk and has a history of more than 40 high profile successful events . 41 equity partner mc hammer and cash4gold teamed up to donate resources to feed the children to help with relief efforts following storms in the philippines american samoa indonesia and georgia in the u.s. they also handed out meals to families affected by the recession in the stockton california area . 43 in december 2009 mc hammer and cash4gold helped feed the children launch breakfast2live a new campaign to persuade schools to put on some early morning munchies to raise cash for developing countries and support more school breakfast clubs . 44 for the 2009 holiday season cash4gold and mc hammer handed out toys at the broward county florida sheriff s office s annual toys for tots and teens event . 45 mc hammer and cash4gold also helped essie big mama reed for her annual toy give away presenting hundreds of pre selected children from local nursery schools with presents and taking photographs . they were partnered with the fort lauderdale police department and fort lauderdale parks & recreation . related businesses edit the estate buyer edit cash4gold launched a new division in 2009 called the estate buyer which caters to individual selling high end jewelry from brand name manufacturers . unlike cash4gold the estate buyer does not base its offers on the melt value of gold in an item but upon reselling the items . 46 operations for the estate buyer were not continued after the 2012 bankruptcy . oropordinero.com edit cash4gold.com also offers a spanish language website called oropordinero.com which makes its services more accessible to spanish speakers . 47 united kingdom edit in july 2009 cash4gold launched their services in the united kingdom operating from processing sites in sheffield 48 and within the first month they received over 4 000 packets 49 in 2012 the company was cited by the advertising standards authority for misleading advertisements . 50 various uk media organisations have undertaken trials of cash4gold s uk service and found their valuation greatly below the independently assessed fair market value . for instance in november 2009 the bbc s newsbeat programme had gold valued by an independent gold bullion dealer in mayfair london at around 300 . three jewellers in hatton garden then offered similar amounts for the same collection ; cash4gold s valuation cheque was for 63 raised to 100 when the researcher called to get their gold back . 51 parody edit cash4gold has attracted parodies of their business and advertisement models . the cats4gold website parodies cash4gold by encouraging visitors to post their gold in exchange for a cat or kitten depending on the quantity of gold sent . south park and that mitchell and webb look have also parodied cash4gold and similar companies . references edit a b christian science monitor got gold why tv ad men want yours february 4 2009 a b primack dan . pennies for cash4gold . cnn . retrieved 2 november 2012 . better business bureau page for cash4gold.com . retrieved 5 february 2014 . popken ben . 10 confessions of a cash4gold employee . consumerist.com . consumerist.com . retrieved 5 february 2014 . crist signs human smuggling bill . sunsentinel.com . june 11 2009 . retrieved may 3 2010 . cash4gold behind the scenes . cnn . march 5 2010 . retrieved april 28 2010 . pennies for cash4gold if cash4gold were a precious metal it would be pyrite . cnn . october 26 2012 . retrieved february 5 2014 . los