Sometimes, the darkest moments can lead to the brightest ideas.
Just ask Brandon Aversano.
Amid a battle with testicular cancer, Aversano conceived the concept for a business that aims to do nothing less than revolutionize how people sell gold, jewelry and items made of other precious metals like platinum and palladium.
The concept didn’t stay in the idea stage.
Aversano put in the hard work and in June 2023 he officially launched Alloy, a Newtown-based company that strives to provide a customer-friendly and transparent platform where individuals can sell their gold, jewelry and precious metal items at fair prices based on what the items are actually worth, he says.
“We’re all about giving customers a fair, safe, empathetic and honest experience,” states Aversano.
That’s just, he asserts, what is lacking in the experience many people encounter when they try to sell their jewelry/precious metals.
During his fight with cancer, Aversano wasn’t able to work for a time and his medical bills piled up. To help ease the financial strain, he made a difficult decision: Sell pieces of jewelry he had inherited from his grandmother. “The thought was to get some cash to help pay down the bills,” Aversano admits.
Aversano researched what the jewelry was worth and then went to shops to sell it.
He says he was “floored by how awful” the experience was: Ridiculous low-ball offers, rude haggling, even a sense of being intimidated, he says. He next looked for online options, but says he found the web destinations to be “digital versions of the brick-and-mortar shops. They try to prey on naivete and even the desperation some people may be feeling.”
Aversano ended up not selling the jewelry. Still, the wheels of his brain were turning. “I thought, ‘There’s probably a lot of people who’ve gone through what I just did. Can I create something much better – fairer, honest, where people won’t feel intimidated?’”
He set about doing just that.
Aversano is a graduate of The George Washington University and has worked as a business strategy analyst for Deloitte, a global operations manager for JetBlue and a vice president/business manager for JP Morgan & Chase, among other roles. Originally from the Allentown area, Aversano comes from an entrepreneurial background, his family having started a business called Allied Tank in 1946. It ran for several generations, he says.
Aversano put that business background to work, found a software/technology partner, and ultimately created Alloy. The business-building included establishing relationships with large precious metal refineries to whom bought pieces are sent.
For Alloy users, the process includes filling out a short online questionnaire (under a minute) and getting an appraisal kit and an estimate from Alloy. Money can be deposited directly via Paypal, Venmo and other avenues.
“We operate at the edge of our margin and give our customers the best price,” Aversano asserts. “And, we cut out the horrible process of being low-balled and intimidated and preyed on. With us, if you don’t want to interact with a person, you don’t even have to.”
So far, Alloy has interacted with hundreds of customers, according to Aversano. Average payout has been $512. Offer acceptance rate by customers is 95%, the company says. “In our first month alone, we did 13 times more than what we projected we would,” Aversano says.
Now with a clean bill of health, the 30-something Aversano is excited about what the future holds. “We feel we’ve built something that will really benefit people,” he says.
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