Gold rush

BRITAIN: Have a party with your girlfriends. Drink a little wine. Make a little money selling unwanted gold jewellery. What’s not to like?

Women in the UK are enthusiastically joining the “gold party” trend. Companies like Ounces2Pounds   pay women to host the parties and to invite their friends to bring gold chains, rings and other items for sale. Company representatives then weigh the items and write cheques to the owners. It’s the Tupperware party updated.

The record high price of gold is behind the gold party trend, which started in the US under the name Glitter2Green  (a play on the colour of the US dollar). Gold jewellery collected at the parties is then melted down.

In addition to the US and Britain, gold parties are also being held in Australia and Japan. In Britain, Ounces2Pounds holds up to 75 parties a month. As with Tupperware or Pampered Chef, the parties are held in private homes.

“Everyone is in the same boat,” says Krista Waddell, founder of Ounces2Pounds. “Bankers’ wives are selling everything, including oversized 80s-style earrings, single cufflinks, coins, broken bracelets, necklaces, charms, even a broken gold-plated iPod in the ‘gold rush’ parties in the States. These are people who wouldn’t be seen dead in a pawn shop — they’d be too embarrassed,” Waddell told The Guardian.

Krista Waddell"Everyone is in the same boat." 

First-time party hosts earn 10 per cent of the total sales at the party and a 3 per cent commission from future parties. They also receive £35 for entertainment costs. “Enough for quite a few bottles of reasonable supermarket wine,” Waddell says.

Alyson Smith has been working as a representative for Ounces2Pounds since September. “Before Christmas, it was really busy. I’ve been travelling all over the country and have even been to Ireland. It’s really nice to get together with your girlfriends and have the chance of making money with things you never use.” A recent survey by the consumer magazine Which? advises caution, however. The magazine found that a number of gold party dealers underpay their clients.