Do not sell anything here without getting three in-person offers elsewhere first, especially if…read morethey've already treated you well on a smaller sale.
The name is the strategy. When you inherit something and search for its value online, you get prices all over the map and nothing you can use. That's what "Friendly" is for. They know what your item is worth. You don't. And they'll tell you what they need you to believe.
They earned my trust first. On my early visits I sold them a few small items and got reasonable prices. Gerald, one of the owners, added an extra $50 on one of them, saying he'd rather keep me as a customer for life than squeeze me once. He offered to take me to lunch. It worked. By the time I walked in with something valuable, I'd stopped comparing them to other buyers. I heard the same customer-for-life line the day they paid me $1,800 for $13,000 of gold. The line doesn't change; the price does.
I brought in a set of inherited antique pocket watches, over 150 years old. I never opened the cases to look for hallmarks because I was afraid I'd damage them. I was told they were gold plated and was paid $1,800 for half the set. They were solid 14k gold. Miami Coin by the Falls later paid me over $13,000 for the other, identical half.
When I went back the next day, Ron, the other owner, kept me behind the glass partition and told me the 150-year-old watches had already been melted and sold to a smelter, and that he had no paperwork on the transaction. Florida's secondhand dealer law (Chapter 538) requires precious-metal buyers to record each transaction and hold items before disposing of them. He would not tell me how much gold went to the smelter or what he was paid for it. Then he told me to leave and not come back. I have filed a complaint with the state.
What I'd tell anyone walking in:
The first thing they'll ask is "How much do you want for it?" That question isn't about your price. It's about how much you know. They knew exactly what my watches were worth the second they looked at them. These people are not your friends. If you don't answer, the number they offer is the second test: too low to be real, just to see whether you'll push back. Write it down and leave. Nothing they tell you about your item is true until someone who isn't buying it says the same thing.
Here is what a legitimate buyer looks like. Miami Coin by the Falls has the spot price of gold in the window. They put my watches on a scale in front of me, told me they were worth their melt value, and gave me a price per gram before I said a word. Nobody asked how much I wanted. At Friendly, Ron told me the watches couldn't be weighed and that weighing wasn't the industry standard. He said there was a little salvageable gold in them, showed me a dusty plastic bag of similar old pocket watches he said he couldn't sell, and offered $1,800 like he was doing me a favor. Same watches, one day apart. Whatever you're selling, ask for the price per gram and watch them weigh it. If they won't, you're not in a coin shop. You're in a place that buys things from people who don't know what they have.
The storefront says "Estate Appraisals" in huge yellow letters. That is not an independent market-value appraisal. It's a number they're willing to pay, presented as what your items are worth. Get an appraisal from someone who isn't also the buyer.
Ask for a receipt listing each item, its weight, and the price paid. If they won't give you one, that tells you everything.
Read the other reviews with this in mind: most are from people selling inherited items who say the price felt fair. None mention a weight, a per-gram price, or a second offer. About a fifth were posted in the two months after I raised this dispute. Then get real offers, but not from the Gold Bug two blocks away, which came in below Friendly when I priced items there.
Everything they told me about my watches was wrong, and by the time I found out, the watches were gone. Get your other offers first.
