I tried looking on the wiki, as well as on this forum, for information regarding tagging “gold buyers” (I sadly don’t know a better term in English): shops (or chains of shops) that buy gold (and sometimes silver, coins etc.). An example from Belgium is Comptoir de l’or/Goudwisselkantoor. There doesn’t appear to be a single generally accepted tagging scheme. Based on a quick Overpass query for name=Goudwisselkantoor in Belgium (so, to be clear, just one specific chain), I already identified the following ways to tag these places:
they all seem suitable and I guess there are subtle differences so it is not completely strange that there are different tags to choose from (buying gold is a service/business that is a part of several different types of businesses)
I don’t really think shop=cash_for_gold and shop=gold_buyer are really trying to reflect some sort of nuance, and are really just duplicates of each other. The latter fits the tagging scheme of other shops more closely IMO. An automated edit of one into the other should be discouraged of course, as it may be some were actually shop=pawnbroker all along.
That being said, I understand the need for a tag for a shop that Just buys gold. There could be an ancillary tag that determines what kinds of gold they accept perhaps?
Out of the above examples, I believe amenity=bureau_de_change, amenity=money_transfer and shop=collector + collector=coins don’t reflect what’s actually meant here. I agree with @PeachyOne in that shop=gold_buyer fits better into the existing shop=* scheme and that automated edits shouldn’t be performed without great caution.
According to Taginfo, shop=gold_buyer currently has 434 uses worldwide, versus 2 for shop=cash_for_gold. Furthermore, the former has its own wiki page, while the latter doesn’t. So there appears to be a clear preference for shop=gold_buyer already.
However, that leaves two questions open: some of these shops also accept coins and/or other noble metals. How should that be tagged, and is shop=gold_buyer an appropriate name when other metals are also concerned?
I would say gold buying is the colloquial terminology for these sorts of establishment even if they also accept say, silver or gemstones. One would be hardpressed to find this sort of business that accepts gems but not gold, unless as a sidebusiness of a jeweller.
Tagging could also reflect if they accept other metals/precious stones as well.
Apologies, I’m not a native English speaker so I don’t really know what these places are most commonly called. It does appear that shop=gold_buyer is the most appropriate tag for the general situation then.
I don’t really think shop=cash_for_gold and shop=gold_buyer are really trying to reflect some sort of nuance, and are really just duplicates of each other.
agreed, but someone dealing gold coins is clearly different (or can be) to someone buying just precious metal, and to a pawnbroker (who might also buy gold).
Yes, I’d say shop=gold_buyer is likely the best choice.
Couple of similar options come to mind about what they will accept:
buys (accepts?)=gold / silver / jewels / coins etc; or use the same concept as listed under https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:recycling:* :
buys:gold=yes/no
buys:silver=yes/no
buys:coins=yes/no
etc