How to Sell Gold for the Best Price

Every offer you receive is, in the end, a percentage of one number: the value of the pure gold in your items at today's spot price. Buyers know this number to the cent. Most sellers don't, which is exactly why first offers are often 40–60% of what the gold is worth.

To calculate melt value you need three things: the weight in grams, the purity, and the live price of one gram of pure gold. Multiply them together. A 12 g 14k chain contains 12 × 0.585 = 7.02 g of pure gold. If pure gold trades at $135 per gram, the chain has a melt value of about $948. Our scrap gold calculator does this for any karat, unit and currency, and the karat pages show a per-gram table you can print and take with you.

Write the melt value down for each item before you contact anyone. It turns a vague negotiation into a simple question: what percentage of this number will you pay?

Buyers who price a mixed bag usually value everything at the lowest karat they find. Separate your pieces by hallmark first — 375 or 9k, 417 or 10k, 585 or 14k, 750 or 18k, 916 or 22k, 999 or 24k — and weigh each group on its own.

A digital kitchen scale that reads to 1 g is good enough for chains and bracelets; for rings and earrings a jewelry scale reading to 0.01 g is worth the small cost. Weigh in grams, not ounces: a kitchen ounce is 28.35 g while the troy ounce used for gold is 31.10 g, and mixing them up creates a 10% error.

• Remove stones, pearls and steel parts where you can — they add weight but no gold value.
• Keep items marked GP, GEP, HGE, RGP or GF aside. These are plated or filled and contain very little gold.
• Unmarked pieces are not necessarily fake: many older or hand-made items were never stamped. Ask for a free acid or XRF test.

Melt value is the floor, not the ceiling. Signed designer jewelry (Cartier, Tiffany, Bulgari), antique and Art Deco pieces, and gold watches from known brands often sell for several times their gold content through auction houses, specialist dealers or resale platforms.

Bullion coins and bars are a separate case. They need no refining, so bullion dealers typically buy them at 97–99% of spot. Selling a Krugerrand or a 1 oz bar to a scrap buyer who pays 80% throws away hundreds of dollars.

Each type of buyer has different costs and therefore pays differently. The table below is a realistic range for scrap jewelry; actual offers depend on quantity, karat and local competition.

• Online mail-in refiners: 80–95% of melt value. Best for larger lots; check insurance, return-shipping terms and how fast they pay.
• Local bullion or coin dealers: 75–92%. Fast and transparent, especially for coins and bars.
• Independent jewelers: 60–85%. Convenient; some resell good pieces rather than melting them.
• Pawn shops: 50–80% when buying outright, less for a loan. See our guide on how pawn shops price gold.
• Gold parties, hotel buy events and TV mail-in kits: often 20–50%. Avoid unless they quote in writing first.

Ask every buyer the same question: "What percentage of melt value do you pay for 14k?" A buyer who refuses to answer, or who only quotes a lump sum without stating weight and karat, is hiding their margin.

Get the offer in writing with the weight and karat they measured for each group. If their weight differs from yours by more than a gram, ask them to weigh again in front of you. Then compare: on a $2,000 lot the gap between 70% and 88% is $360.

Timing matters less than people think — gold rarely moves more than 1–2% in a day — but avoid selling on weekends when some buyers widen their spreads because markets are closed.

In many countries selling personal jewelry at a loss is not taxable, but gains on investment gold can be. In the United States, physical gold is taxed as a collectible with a maximum 28% long-term rate; in the United Kingdom, UK legal-tender gold coins such as Sovereigns and Britannias are exempt from capital gains tax; in Germany, gains on physical gold held for more than one year are tax free. Rules change, so check with your local tax office or an adviser for large sales.

Reputable buyers ask for photo ID — this is a legal requirement in most places to prevent the sale of stolen goods, and a good sign rather than a bad one.

Before you sell, make sure you can tick every item on this list.

• Melt value calculated for each karat group using today's price.
• Stones and non-gold parts removed or their weight noted.
• Bullion, branded and antique pieces set aside for specialist buyers.
• At least two written quotes stated as a percentage of melt value.
• Payment method and timing agreed before you hand anything over.