PLEASE READ ALL INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SHOP BELOW, PLEASE EXPAND BY CLICKING “READ MORE” - READING ABOUT POLICIES AND RULES IS BUYERS RESPONSIBILITY. YOU CANNOT GET UPSET OR DISGRUNTLED DUE TO NOT READING ABOUT US OR HOW WE OPERATE. WE CLEARLY STATE ON EVERY LISTING THAT EVERYTHING IS SOLD "AS-IS." I equally and wholeheartedly don't enjoy having a wall of text, but alas, rules and policies are rules and policies, so, your call if you don't want to read them but we got a lot of info to unpack so....here we go!! If you find an issue, please reach out directly as we are happy to fix and handle inquiries, but you also should read below to figure out what you're getting into. We may not be the gold shop for you, and that’s totally okay! We wish you the best, always!
EFFECTIVE AS OF 8/8/25: WE ARE NOW POSTING ITEMS AT 40% ABOVE MELT TO COUNTER RISING INFLATION COSTS AND FOR THE CURRENT MARKET SINCE WE OPERATE ON SPOT PRICE FOR PRICING AND NOT BY RETAIL PRICING METHODS.
WE DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS INDEFINITE OR TEMPORARY. WE WILL UPDATE AS WE KNOW MORE WHEN THE MARKET SETTLES. We are unsure if we will go back to 30% or what have you. This current market is too tough to make a call, but we will update our buyers as soon as we can on finality of the situation. The 10% increase is set to cover added overhead such as shipping inflation, premium inventory, etc. We have nothing to hide from our buyers, we just wish to offer gold at great prices that they will be happy with and still get a deal on!
CRIMSON WILL BE OFF 4/1 to 4/5, returning to work on 4/6! The shop will be open as normal, likely we will not have any listings but still some sales!
Overview: About Us
Millions of dollars worth of jewelry are sent off to be melted every single year by retailers and estate sellers. These pieces can be designer or even over 100 years old, gone in a flash. We aim to give these items to loving homes that will see them for the beauty that they are and not just a commodity that can be destroyed for gain. Everything is pre-loved, or better yet, possibly sat in a jewelry box for years collecting dust, regardless of the piece's story, we aim to give you real gold items without the retail tag price.
We are a US based estate buyer, specializing in 10-24 karat jewelry. We aim to provide really unique pieces at unbelievable prices! We guarantee all of our items to be gold items and as represented or your money back. If you are unhappy for any reason you can return your item within 7 days. Some returns may be subject to a 15% restocking fee, ask us for our full return policy and cancellation policy.
We have a full time customer service representative that works 5 days a week to answer your questions! She also happens to run the entire store from Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. Shipping is on Tuesdays and Fridays ONLY. Crimson will likely call you the following names with endearment: pumpkin, pookie pie, gum drop, snookums, cutie patootie, sweetheart, and other terms of cuteness, please be aware of this and don't take it with offense, this is just how she likes to address everyone and it sparks joy.
We list new items to our shop TUESDAY TO FRIDAY AT 7PM EASTERN TIME, subject to change depending on inventory or holiday. There are ONLY 2 people who run this shop, and neither of them OWN the shop. We are JUST employees who are paid by the hour. Crimson runs the store 85% (marketing, pics, sorting, customer service, etc) and the assistant works part time and does the items specs and listings. This is only stated so you understand we are human beings and only one single person is assisting you and everyone else on top of that. It’s a tough job, but Crimson’s gotta do it.
We ask that you first understand before purchasing that the item you are buying is used and is not new in the box, it has had many life events before reaching you. We ask that you understand prior to purchasing that if the images do not state any specific wear, that does not mean it does not have it. All items should be expected to be severely damaged and on their last attempt at life before being melted down. Some of our items have dents that are not very visible to the naked eye, some clasps are a little hard to open due to how old they may be, and if I knew a herringbone necklace that wasn’t kinky, I may not be friends with her (wink wink.) Either way, we do not get a lot of time with each item as we process thousands of items per week for you to get the chance to purchase. You are not just competing with other regular public buyers, other dealers and resellers shop here as well. Why is that? Because we are not kidding about our low profits, even other dealers have difficulty buying for the percentages we sell for. Offering gold to the public is a dream we get to fulfill, and you get to own real gold items for far less than what you would pay for them in a retail, high end store setting- it’s the same thing, we promise! We just ask you to have an open mind for when your item arrives, and if you don’t like how it looks on you, don’t like its patina, don’t like that one dent - then you can send it back! We may be an AS-IS jewelry store, but we are not monsters- returns are accepted via our return policy below.
I CANNOT tell you about any gemstones unless they have tested positive to be a diamond. I cannot tell you between natural diamonds or lab created. I cannot tell you the quality of diamond or anything at all that would relate to gems or diamonds. We sell items that are purchased wholesale. Gem weights are included in weight, though this is extremely minimal due to gemstones being almost as light as air and there is NO premium added for diamonds unless otherwise stating a premium for large diamonds/ if we paid a premium for the item/diamonds. Items with premiums are stated as having premiums for the diamond or designer, but still reasonably priced. This helps us branch out to more dealers in the network for new and exciting inventory!
We will NOT have mm, cm, or other specs available for our items. We will not attain them for you. We use Bob, our U.S. dime, that is 19.71mm (20mm roughly, but 5 '11 isn’t 6’0 we are aware) as a scale reference to make this easier, less time consuming, and less labor involved, as again, we operate on already very low profit margins. We also cannot do additional photos due to our level of volume and quick turnover. We cannot offer the same services as other sellers because our items are already priced to sell or priced close to their own refinery value in precious metal as a commodity, meaning other sellers CAN do those services because they ARE making more money to cover OVERHEAD AND EXPENSES, where we do NOT and therefore do NOT offer that service. We also cannot tell you hallmarks, makers marks, etc etc as this is included in a time consuming task.
Ordering: How to
Ordering items is easy here on our Etsy! Most listings have multiple items that are numbered in the first photo and you can select the item numbered in the photo via the drop down menu that correlates. This will state the weight or size and other descriptors to indicate it is the item in the photo. The karat of gold is in the title of each listing. In the last image of every listing is our spreadsheet that shows you our cost, the weight, the karat, the spot price we have locked in on for our “gentleman’s agreement” and the final 30% above melt pricing we are selling the item for. If you have questions on our math it is listed below for your review.
For Math purposes we have set an example below. On every listing in the last spreadsheet you will see a spot price available. Use this spot price for your math. Here is our current example to check your items price, weight, and karat. Gold on Kitco.com is currently at 2,354.30 per ounce. This is based on 1 ounce of 24k pure gold. Spot price updates every 30 seconds. 10k gold is 41.7% gold, 14k is 58.5% gold, and 18k is 75% gold content. Gold is measured by Troy Ounces, a troy ounce is made up of 31.1grams instead of the usual 28 grams per ounce you are used to. 2,354.30 divided by 31.1 is $75.70 per gram of 24k gold. Using this, you can now multiply that by the percentage of gold. $75.70 times .585 is then $44.285 per gram of 14k gold at FULL MELT. Taking this number and multiplying it by 30% (or 1.3) gives you $57.57 per gram of 14k gold in our shop. Gram weights for each item are located in the spreadsheet, feel free to check our math using this guideline, we have nothing to hide and are happy to fix any mistake if there is one.
The number you select in the drop down menu is the numbered item you are going to get from the photo. There is no way you will get all the items in the photos if you select one single item at checkout, that is just not how that works. The numbered image is the first image on every listing unless it is a single item listing, if a listing does not have any numbers, please contact us to fix the listing. If you have ordered an item in the listing and have received an item of a different correlating number, please reach out to us to fix the issue and resolve it with all buyers.
We will not presell any item you see in our instagram story previews to anyone, all items are eligible for purchase if you are the winning buyer. If you do not see something in the shop that we posted, it is likely SOLD OR MELTED. First buyer wins in our store, it is an retail type setting where we set the price and you attempt to win it before others. Our items may be AS-IS jewelry, but the best part is you can return it if you don’t like it! Woah!
Not all earrings come with backings, we cannot control what comes with backings and what does not and we cannot guarantee both backs are matching either. Everything is gotten through wholesale and we cannot find or specialize in specific items for anyone. We sell estate items, so some wear can be expected and should be expected whether it is stated on the photos or not, please keep an open mind. We do NOT do custom pieces or custom sizing and won’t alter any items by request.
We do NOT clean or polish our items unless by request, and it is not an "every time you order" request, special occasions are perfect for this. Since profit margins are small, it is a time consuming task to clean thousands of items per week. Cleaning your own items is also therapeutic and rewarding, as you can clean the item as best as you desire to your own standards or take to a skilled jeweler to get out the item’s true potential as some items may need a professional cleaning by a jeweler if they were very loved or super old. Please contact us on how to best clean your jewelry or specific item at hand. You can severely ruin items if you are going in blind, so please ask us! Pearls, opals, emeralds, and other fragile stone types can get damaged in a sonic jewelry cleaner. Please do not place your items in those!
YOUR ITEM MIGHT COME WITH AN ENGRAVING BECAUSE ITS ALL USED AS-IS JEWELRY, IF YOU DON'T WANT AN ITEM WITH ANY ENGRAVING, SHOP ELSEWHERE. Most of our engravings are from Christmas gifts, birthdays, special events such as wedding dates. WE DO NOT GIVE ANY DISCOUNTS BECAUSE AN ITEM IS ENGRAVED. We ALSO HAVE IN EVERY LISTING YOUR ITEM MIGHT COME WITH DENTS OR LIGHT SCRATCHING, THIS IS NOTED AND YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THIS WHEN PURCHASING. TARNISHING IS EASILY REMOVABLE BY USING ELBOW GREASE AND A POLISHING CLOTH. THESE ITEMS ARE MINUTES AWAY FROM BEING COMPLETELY MELTED DOWN INTO A BLOB OF GOLD AND NOTHING MORE. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, SEND IT BACK VIA OUR RETURN POLICY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP AN ITEM YOU DON'T LIKE OR DON'T WANT, SOMEONE ELSE WILL LOVE IT AND GIVE IT A PROPER HOME or I WILL JUST SMASH IT MYSELF. HENCE THE NAMESAKE, SMASHING GOLD.
Shipping Services: How we ship
We ship out our orders on Tuesdays and Fridays only. We ship between 9-11am, and we will not be adding or editing your order after a label has been created, no exceptions.
"How will you ship my item?" Great question! Here are our thresholds:
Anything from $20 (our minimum) to $199 will be USPS Ground Advantage with tracking,
Anything $200-499 will be USPS Ground Advantage with SIGNATURE REQUIRED,
Anything $500-1999 will be USPS Priority Mail with Direct Signature required, and
Anything above $2000+ is going to come to you via FedEx Economy Express with Direct Signature and ID required. FedEx cannot ship items to a PO Box per their own company guidelines, we do not use UPS, Global Post or other type of shipping service besides the two listed above. If you need your order shipped quicker, it is an added fee if it is not in the price range above for the upgraded shipping. Let us know via a personal message and not via comment at check out that you need upgraded shipping, thank you! Side effects may include: death, diarrhea, spontaneous combustion, congestion, heart failure, and loss of funds if you need FedEx overnight (which is pretty pricey and especially during a holiday, my friend)
We automatically combine your orders you have between our shipping dates. Orders made on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be automatically combined for Friday shipment. Any orders made Friday up until Monday night will be combined for Tuesday shipment. Combining is based on first and last name and address. If your orders are not all under the same name, they will not be combined without you telling us they are the same account. Our shipping rate is $4.00 base price plus $2.00 for every additional item. We post the shipping overage refunds within 48 business hours after your label has been generated. Please contact us if you have not received your shipping overage refund or with any questions!
Due to the current climate of shipping services with accurate delivery and insurance costs of coverage, we are only shipping to the United States. You can use a third party shipping if you desire but we do not condone or facilitate any lucrative shipping behaviors or customs fraud.
APO CLIENTS: APO Addresses are NOT covered by insurance. BUY AT OWN RISK, WE WILL NOT INSURE THESE. Most APO clients have no issues with mail, but on the off chance, we cannot cover these packages due to how it's all set up (i.e not a great system for tracking) so our Private Wholesale Insurance will not insure these and we do not purchase external insurance for anyone. Apologies!!
As a seller I CANNOT magically make your package appear. It is clearly 100% stated on Etsy that a seller is not responsible for anything that the shipping service does. If your packaging is arriving late due to the USPS, it is not a seller’s fault and not from our lack of service. It clearly states on the USPS website that you should wait anywhere between 8-14 BUSINESS days AFTER the last known scan for your tracking to issue a missing mail claim. This is NOT a rule by a seller OR by me, This is the USPS themselves. AS A SELLER WE TRY OUR BEST TO WORK WITH THE POST OFFICE BUT WE CANNOT MAKE ANY MIRACLE HAPPEN FOR YOU, we see the exact SAME information you do, we are not a government employee or a part of the postal service, we have a Representative that also handles various other business accounts. PLEASE listen to us if we guide you to resolve your USPS issue, we have worked with them for over 8+ years and have found the best methods over time to get your package back if missing or wrong delivery. We are happy to work with you, but a few day delay by the USPS due to weather, truck shortages, or sorting issues is not something a seller can fix for you instantaneously. We have a protocol in place for lost or missing packages that follow Etsy’s buyer protection program and our own business insurance. Your package is protected and insured.
Returns and Cancellations
We offer a quick and easy return policy of 7 days, please contact us directly for our return policy. This policy begins the day your item is received by its tracking number. If your item arrives on a Monday, you have until the following Monday to send it back with no restocking fees. This is only reflective of the ship dates, and NOT how long USPS take to deliver to us. Just as we hope you do not fault us for USPS delivery to you, we do not fault you for USPS delivery to us! Please DO NOT ship your items back to us before reading our policy, as you may not pack the item properly on its return journey and it may become damaged. We do NOT cover buyers return insurance or buyer’s shipping. That is buyer responsibility unless we have offered to cover the costs for any special reason.
Most of our returns do not get a restocking fee! In fact, it’s pretty rare to get one and fairly easy to ship your item back to us. The only time a restocking fee is usually enforced is if you are returning 3 or more items in one return from the same original shipment/package or return past the 7 day return policy. Pretty easy stuff but if you feel your return may get a restocking fee- feel free to ask! It likely will not!
UPDATE ON ORDER HOLDS: We currently can only hold items up to 18-21 days unless specially requested to a specific date (i.e. you will be on vacation.) We can only update your ship-by-date ONCE and we have to ship by that date or Etsy will remove our star seller status for not being on time for shipment. Sorry for the inconvenience, the star seller program helps us get exposure on the platform.
ANY order cancelled after 48 business hours will inquire about a 15% restocking fee as a holder fee, as this takes away the item's chance at a new home where it is loved, as most do not return for already sold items in our shop. We operate on low profit margins and cancellations, defaulted layaways, and returns hurt our business. If you cancel and or return more than 50% of all items ordered, we will ban you from shopping with us. If we experience higher return or cancellation rates, we may be inclined to raise our price percentage. In an effort to keep costs low for everyone we ask to keep your cancellation and return rate low for all of us!
Please remember that we use a PO Box for our orders and UPS or FedEx cannot send to those boxes, so your returns should always be sent via USPS. UPS and FedEx have this stated on their websites.
Layaways and Holds
We offer layaways to buyers, but we do NOT offer holds. These are different. A hold is holding an item for a specific customer for a short period of time (less than a week) to be paid in full and reserving only for that customer to buy that item, which lacks fairness, so we do not reserve that way as we pride ourselves on being a retail type shop where the first buyer wins. A layaway is a 4 total payment system that is a binding written agreement over 3 months time for any single item in our shop that is over $300 USD. Our layaway is of a shorter time frame due to how our business is modeled and the ever changing price of gold. Affirm or Klarna is offered via Etsy but we have not used this service personally and we do not associate with Klarna or Affirm personally. You should review all your options prior to purchasing for layaway to make the best decision for you!
Layaways are first come first serve, and are upheld by a strict policy. We do not offer an item for layaway until it has been listed for over 24 hours in the shop. Excluding weekends as we are closed. You cannot layaway an item if it is below the $300 threshold. Layaways are NOT eligible at the sale price, it is only at full price. Please message us for our exact layaway policy so you are aware of the requirements to a WRITTEN BINDING AGREEMENT before accepting. We will NOT set up a layaway until the policy has been sent to you, read, understood, and agreed to. Layaways are NOT returnable or exchangeable.
Etiquette and Proper Transaction Conduction
Any and all rude or derogatory messages will ban you from shopping with us. You cannot be unbanned and your future orders will be immediately cancelled. We reserve the right as any Etsy seller can- to decline a sale for any reason or to ban you so please keep this in mind. We are all in this world for the first time too, have some compassion and remember jewelry emergencies do not exist. There is no such thing. It is not life or death. This is a shiny, pretty thing to look at to pass the time. We will simply wish you well on your journey to find the best jewelry store for you, but we won’t be unbanning you and all your messages will be moved to spam and your account blocked and reported to Etsy. Etsy may see fit to remove your account from the platform based on your account history. That decision is not up to us, but keep in mind we will report you and to act accordingly on the platform by Etsy’s rules!
A sound piece of advice: You are never obligated to make a purchase from our store. No one is holding you at gun point to do so. If at any time you do not like what we are listing, our pricing, or other, you DO NOT have to shop here! We employ anyone to find the best deal for them across any channel and wish you luck on your journey to do so, but what we have offered is what we are sent from dealers and we have no control over what we get in, and our pricing it set up to be competitive as the price of gold is constantly changing, as well as Etsy taking fees, rising shipping costs, inflation for supplies, and my boss paying my assistant and I a livable wage to run the shop. The profit margins are SMALL. Others may offer you a better deal because they got a better deal (i.e they bought for below melt, which probably wasn't fair to the person they bought from honestly) where we then offer competitive pricing to both customers and to our dealers we work with to supply us. If none of that aligns with your ideals and how you wish to buy, the greatest news I have for you is that there are other sellers our there! We list the way we do for the reasons we do, but we know we won't make everyone happy, thats just how life works. We wish you luck on the journey of finding the gold you're looking for at the prices you are hoping for even if it's not with us!
If you have an ISSUE WITH YOUR ORDER, please CONTACT US DIRECTLY as soon as possible. We are not mind readers, I would NOT be here if I knew how to read minds. I would be on a boat in Monaco with millions of dollars and some very attractive company, seriously. I would even be close to world domination if I could read minds by now...wouldn't you think? We cannot fix any issue if you cannot communicate the issue. If you can't message me directly about an issue with your order to see how a seller fixes it before leaving a review, then I don't wish to have clients like that. Based on reviews, you can read that if any buyer had an issue we were happy to help solve it. Communication is a part of being human, and all feelings are valid and accepted, but unregulated anger over something so minuscule in the grand scheme of the world, without proper communication on your end is not a seller's fault. For those that know us, they know we try our best to make issues resolve or fix things, not giving us the chance to fix an issue is on the buyer. Please communicate the issue clearly, with calm collection, understanding that human error can and will happen, and that I am just another human being and not a robot! I DO have feelings too! And I CRY a LOT!
None of the items we post reflect on us as individuals. We post everything that we get from dealers to see if people want those items. We do not judge, this is a silly-zone ONLY. Every person on this planet is different, and some items we post may be of different religions, different backgrounds, different cultures, and different organizations that we are not associated with. Please do NOT project hate in this space for any reason, it is JEWELRY. EVERYONE loves jewelry and regardless of your feelings on any items we may list, I still love YOU! Be thankful we can do this for the public and move along if it's not something for you. We list items for everyone. Everyone is included in this space and community. If you project hate in this space....you guessed it...you are banned! Please be happy to be here, we are happy to be here with you and to assist you on your gold buying journey.
Money Back Guarantee
We are not a shady business by any means. All of our items are purchased from wholesale dealers across the entire country that they likely purchased from the public. By laws in many states, those dealers must hold the items for various amounts of weeks and report them to the state as being purchased (in case you thought we grave robbed...) They are tested when purchased then and tested when they come to our facility. We use a KEE tester and acid testing kits for our items. With that being said, we know mistakes can happen, and we know that every single day there is someone out there perfecting the best fake gold you have ever laid your eyes on - but we pre test our items prior to them making their way to you, so we have a money back guarantee that if your item is not the karat as stated or diamond if stated as such, that we handle this inquiry swiftly and with great care to make the issue right by you. We take this type of claim very seriously; remember it’s OUR money that we spent before you spent it with us, and we want our money’s worth too! We ask if any item is claimed to not be gold or stated as karat to just have photographic proof of hallmarks, acid or testing device used for your claim. You can purchase an acid testing kit online and we actually highly suggest owning one if you own or plan to own a lot of gold. You can use it on all gold from our shop, other shops, the flea market and more! There is gold out there, everywhere! For any more questions about this policy or about gold jewelry testing, please contact us and we are happy to assist.
Taxes, Fees, and other things:
TAXES ARE STRICTLY IMPOSED AND UPHELD BY ETSY. We CANNOT control taxes, nor will we alter any customs form or price of any item for any reason. For refunds, we can only refund the product total, all tax related questions in regards to returns can be handled and discussed with Etsy. Sellers do NOT handle taxes, we cannot touch them on any receipt or purchase order. SELLERS CANNOT see the form of payment you have used, they cannot refund you to another card, they cannot change the method of payment you have. THIS IS NOT THE SELLER'S FAULT, THIS IS HOW ETSY OPERATES AND WORKS FOR CUSTOMERS.
AS OF 1/10/24, our price MINIMUM for items is $20. Regardless of weight, the lowest price of any item is $20 in our shop, even if full melt is less. This helps our small business counter Etsy fees since we do not make more than $2 on a $20 item, and Etsy takes their cut. We really do operate on LOW profit margins to give you gold at insane prices. Thank you for understanding.
SALES AND SALES PROTOCOLS
We have occasional sales on our items that vary. We will not offer a discount on any item if the item is not yet on sale, and we will not adjust your order later if the sale increases by percentage after you place an order. We will not tell you when we will have a sale or by how much, as thats not information most companies share when creating sales. Our sales vary by market supply and demand, spot price, our position in the market, and the exact item itself if it is not qualified for a certain %. All of these are factored in at time of setting discounts for our items. We thank you for your patience, but all discounts only apply if the item is discounted at check out at the percentage it is being offered at.
IF YOU HAVE CHECKED OUT WITH THE WRONG ADDRESS- under Etsy's Buyer Protection Program, we cannot change the address to any address you have not previously used in your account on an order with us (if you have used the address for an order that is not with us, it still means it is invalid for your order with us however), or if you are a new client who has never ordered before then we cannot change the address as once we do this, we VOID Etsy's insurance on the package and become liable by Etsy if your package is lost or stolen. Because of this, we will not change the address for fear of fraud, hackers, or liability reasons. IF IT IS AN ADDRESS in your account that you have used in our shop with us before, it is then deemed acceptable and valid and we are happy to change the address for you since you have previously received packages at that address from us. We do not make the rules for having a package covered by Etsy’s insurance, this is an Etsy program with its own Etsy rules.
THANK YOU!
Thank you, and, may the odds be ever in your favor! We are pretty easy going, pretty nice, and honestly....hilarious. You can add us on our Instagram page under @SmashingGold as we post the new items every single day to our instagram stories so you can preview what is coming that evening at 7pm eastern time to the store! Most items we have are one of a kind or hard to replace, some antiques, some mass produced, some that should've been melted 25 years ago, but either way, we come stacked with gold every week to offer to the public at prices that dealers charge other wholesale dealers. This is your chance folks, come one, come all.....GOOD LUCK on your SMASHING Experience! You may not win them all, but any win is still a win no matter how small!
