Patent ID: 8429021

Claim:
A method for appraising an item at a retail location, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a variety of food products at the retail location; (b) by a transaction point computer at the retail location: (i) physically receiving the item to be appraised from a consumer, the item having at least one constituent selected from the group consisting of a precious stone, a semi-precious stone, a precious metal, and a semi-precious metal; (ii) in response to physically receiving the item to be appraised from the consumer, automatically asking the consumer via an output device to select for purchase a food product; (iii) receiving the selection of the food product for consumption by the consumer at the retail location; (iv) delivering the selected food product to the consumer; (v) determining a composition of the item using an evaluating device; (vi) associating an exchange value with the item using data obtained by the evaluating device and market data obtained over a network; and (vii) relaying the exchange value of the item to the consumer; wherein the delivery of the food product occurs prior to the relaying of the exchange value.