JUPITER, FL (WFLX) - On this Saturday, a group of women are enjoying the afternoon at the Out Of The Blue Restaurant in Jupiter examining jewelry,gold to be exact.
But in the midst of the "ooo's and awww's" is Susan Kingston, who is looking for ways not only to make cash by buying old gold, but also put cash into the pockets of her customers.
She started holding these gold parties four years ago when she realized there's a market for women looking to sell their jewelry and do it among friends. "The gold and silver markets are sky high as a result of the economy, so it's the perfect opportunity for me to present an alternative to ladies who want to sell old jewelry but are not comfortable walking into a pawn shop," she said.
A gold party is an opportunity for women looking to get rid of old, broken or unwanted jewelry and walking away with cash or a check.
Kingston says in a healthy economy gold would typically be between $400 to $450 an ounce, but in this economy it's going for $1,700 an ounce.
She calls gold parties a win-win situation. She gets paid and so do her clients like, Kathy Olsen. "What I really like about her business is she has no overhead," said Olsen. "I've visit pawn shops, and I never get close to what Susan offers."
Kingston's profits are going to a non-profit organization to help special needs children and their parents. "Since I have no employees, I can happily share my commission with my hostess or non-profit organizations," said Kingston.
What makes most of the women here happy is once they receive cash for old jewelry they can turn around and shop for more jewelry out of a catalog. "I can use my paycheck to pay my bills and use gold money to spend it and shop," said Olsen.
She says she's made about $700 since starting to sell her gold. Kingston says some ladies do get a rude awakening when they realize what they thought was real is fake. "One of the funniest situations I ran into though is when ladies sit with me and discover through my testing process what they thought was gold isn't, and they sit there bashing their ex-boyfriend or husband.
In some cases the gold parties are profitable, but also revealing.
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