Cash4Gold

Summary

• Cash4Gold is a mail-in gold buyer made famous by its Super Bowl commercial
• Today, the term “cash 4 gold” can refer to gold buying in general, like “Kleenex” does for facial tissues
• Alternatives to Cash4Gold include jewelry stores, pawn shops, “We Buy Gold” stores, and premium online gold buyers. SellYourGold.com is one of the leading online gold buyers and guarantees the highest payouts.
• The infamous Super Bowl commercial starred MC Hammer and Ed McMahon
• The brand became such a cultural touchstone it wound up in a South Park episode

Who is Cash4Gold?

Cash4Gold, also known as Cash4Gold.com, is a mail-in gold buyer located in Pompano Beach, FL. The company is famous for its Super Bowl commercial starring rapper MC Hammer and entertainment personality Ed McMahon. The Super Bowl ad was 30 seconds long as is rumored to have cost about $3 million to produce.

While the company was founded in 2007 by its original owners, Cash4Gold went bankrupt in July 2012 and was purchased by Direct Holdings Global. Several factors led to the failure of the business:

• News outlets and magazines including Channel 10 News in San Diego and Consumer Reports found that Cash4Gold paid much less for gold than its competitors
• A former Cash4Gold employee posted a long review of the company called "10 Confessions of a Cash4Gold Employee" which was featured on The Consumerist. Cash4Gold sued the blogs who published the review which resulted in a minor scandal, but later dropped the lawsuit.
• The extremely expensive Cash4Gold Super Bowl commercial cost much more to produce than benefits it brought to the business.

What Is the Difference Between "Cash4gold" And "Cash for Gold?"

"Cash4Gold" is the trading name of a mail-in gold buyer operating out of Florida. "Cash for gold" is, in essence, another name for the gold buying industry as a whole, similar to the term "We Buy Gold."

The confusing part is that gold buyers not affiliated with the "Cash4Gold" company frequently use this stylized text in their advertising. For example, you may have seen neon-lit signs reading "Cash 4 Gold" in the window of a pawn shop. In this way, the term "Cash4Gold" has come to be a generic name for a product, similar to Tupperware or Kleenex.

Alternatives to Cash4Gold

As discussed above, one of the factors that led to the bankruptcy of the original Cash4Gold company was its reportedly low payouts of gold as compared to its competitors. With this in mind, you may want to consider alternatives to Cash4Gold when selling your precious metals:

• Jewelry Stores are a decent alternative to Cash4Gold. Because these stores frequently work with jewelry made of precious metals, they're often equipped to buy gold back from you. However, don't expect to sell gold back to a jeweler for the same amount you initially paid. Jewelry often sells for many times its precious metal value.
• Pawn Shops are another alternative to Cash4Gold. They sometimes employ a jeweler or precious metals specialist who will buy your gold from you. As viewers of the hit reality TV show "Pawn Stars" are well are, pawn shops, unfortunately, have a reputation for being tough negotiators. If you want to sell precious metals at a pawn shop, be prepared to receive a low initial offer and be ready to negotiate.
• We Buy Gold stores popped up all over the country in the wake of the initial success of the Cash4Gold company. Ownership and business practices vary widely from one store to another, so it's difficult to offer advice on these stores as a whole. Read reviews of your chosen location carefully before using its services.
• Premium online gold buyers can be a great alternative to Cash4Gold. You can avoid talking to a jeweler face to face, there's no back-and-forth negotiation like with a pawn shop, and many online gold buyers have been around long enough to accumulate many reviews. SellYourGold.com has over 1,000+ 5-star consumer reviews on TrustPilot, an A Rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Cash 4 Gold Near Me

If you’re looking for Cash 4 Gold near by, you should know that the Cash4Gold company doesn't actually operate any Cash 4 Gold store locations. That company operates a mail-in gold buying service, although its name has become synonymous with gold buying. Try searching for "gold buyers near me" or "we buy gold near me" if you’re not having much luck.

Cash4Gold Super Bowl Commercial

During Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, Cash4Gold introduced itself to the world with a now-infamous TV commercial. The Super Bowl ad spot starred 80s rap icon MC Hammer and TV entertainment personality Ed McMahon, both of whom were famous for their financial problems. In the commercial, MC Hammer and Ed McMahon search their homes for items with gold to send in to Cash4Gold, including cufflinks, a gold medallion, a gold microphone, gold records, gold golf clubs, a gold sledgehammer, gold parachute pants, and (ludicrously) a gold toilet.

Cash4Gold episode of South Park

The famous Cash4Gold Super Bowl commercial brought the company so much notoriety that the satirical animated TV show South Park featured the company as a side plot in one of its episodes. The Cash4Gold supply chain formed the backdrop for the "Jewelry Polka," now commonly referred to as the "Cash for gold South park song."