Why this page exists
Gold buyers put “HMRC registered” on their websites as though it were a mark of quality. It is not. It is a cash-handling registration, and a buyer that never touches cash has nothing to register for. Most sellers have no way of telling those two things apart, which is exactly why the phrase gets used the way it does.
So rather than say nothing, or borrow a credential we do not hold, this page sets out what GoldPaid is and is not, with the primary sources next to each statement. If you want to check a sentence on this page, you should not have to take our word for any of it.
How GoldPaid pays: bank transfer only, never cash
Payment is made by Faster Payments, a direct bank transfer to the UK account you nominate, once you have accepted your written offer. There is no cash option, there is no cheque option, and neither is available on request. You provide bank details only at the point you decide to accept, never as a condition of being given an offer. The mechanics are on payment methods.
GoldPaid also receives no cash. It is a postal buyer with no shop and no public premises, so there is no counter at which cash could change hands in either direction. That single fact is what the rest of this page turns on.
What the high value dealer rules actually say
The rules sit in the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. Regulation 14(1)(a) defines the term, and as the regulation stands today it reads:
“high value dealer” means a firm or sole trader who by way of business trades in goods (including an auctioneer dealing in goods), when the trader makes or receives, in respect of any transaction, a payment or payments in cash of at least £10,000 in total, whether the transaction is executed in a single operation or in several operations which appear to be linked
Two details are worth pulling out, because they are the ones people get wrong.
- The trigger is cash, not value. The size of the transaction is irrelevant on its own. A £40,000 sale settled by bank transfer does not make anyone a high value dealer. A £10,000 payment in notes does.
- Cash means physical money. HMRC’s guidance defines it as “notes, coins, or traveller’s cheques”. Regulation 14(2) then closes the obvious gap: a payment does not stop being a payment in cash because the cash was handed to somebody else for the other party’s benefit, or paid into a bank account for their benefit. Walking notes into a branch still counts. A transfer from our business account does not.
A note on the figure, because it changed recently
You will see three different numbers quoted around the internet, so here is the position as at the review date at the top of this page.
| Figure | Status |
|---|---|
| £10,000 | The figure in force. Substituted for “10,000 euros” with effect from 30 June 2026 by regulation 9 of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026. |
| 10,000 euros | The previous figure, in force from 2017 until 30 June 2026. HMRC’s own guidance page still displayed it on the date we reviewed this page; that page was last updated in August 2022. |
| 15,000 euros | Out of date by two regimes. It was the threshold under the earlier 2007 regulations and has not applied for years. |
We are flagging the mismatch between the regulation and HMRC’s guidance page rather than quietly picking whichever figure suits us. The legislation is the law; the guidance page is a summary of it that has not been refreshed. If you are a trader working out your own position, read the regulation and take your own advice, and do not rely on this page.
None of it changes GoldPaid’s answer. We make and receive no cash at all, so the threshold is not approached at any figure, in any currency, in any year.
What GoldPaid does not hold, and does not claim
This is the part of the page that matters most, so it is stated flatly and without hedging.
- GoldPaid is not registered with HMRC as a high value dealer. It has no reason to be, because it handles no cash. It does not appear on that register and does not claim to.
- GoldPaid is not supervised by HMRC for anti-money-laundering purposes, and is not supervised by any other anti-money-laundering supervisory authority.
- GoldPaid is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Buying physical precious metal is not a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, so no gold buyer is FCA authorised for that work, and any that says otherwise is wrong.
- GoldPaid is not inside the regulated sector for the purposes of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The duty in section 330 of that Act to report suspicion applies where the information “came to him in the course of a business in the regulated sector”. That is not us, so the practice described in the next section is voluntary, not a statutory duty being discharged.
- GoldPaid holds no trade licence for buying precious metal, because none exists. The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 excludes gold and silver from its definition of scrap metal, so council scrap metal licensing does not reach this trade.
- GoldPaid is not an assay office and cannot apply or certify a hallmark. Only the four UK assay offices can. See hallmarking and the dealer’s notice.
If you ever see any of the above contradicted in GoldPaid advertising, on this site or anywhere else, it is an error and we want to know about it. Tell us through contact and we will correct it.
What GoldPaid does hold, and where to check it
Two registrations, both real, both checkable, and neither of them an anti-money-laundering credential.
| Registration | Number | What it actually covers |
|---|---|---|
| Companies House | 17382540 | GoldPaid Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. It confirms the company exists, who directs it and what it has filed. It is not a licence and not an endorsement. |
| Information Commissioner’s Office | ZC214216 | Data protection registration. It covers the handling of personal information under UK data protection law. It has nothing to do with money laundering, and we do not present it as though it did. |
Both can be looked up independently, at Companies House and on the ICO register. Checking a buyer’s registrations yourself, before you post anything, is a habit worth having with any gold buyer, including this one.
What GoldPaid does apply, as a matter of practice
Sitting outside a regime is not the same as doing nothing. None of what follows is required of us by the Money Laundering Regulations. We do it because a precious metal buyer that keeps no records and asks no questions is a useful thing for a thief to have, and because an honest seller benefits from a clean, documented transaction.
- Ownership confirmation. You are asked to confirm in plain words that the items are yours to sell, or that you are authorised to sell them, for example as an executor. This is also a term of business, set out in the terms and conditions.
- Name matching. The name and address on the Royal Mail label, the name we have corresponded with, and the name on the bank account we are asked to pay are checked against each other. A mismatch is not automatically a problem, but it is always a question.
- Photo ID on higher-value parcels. We ask for a photograph of UK photo ID where the value warrants it, and we tell you before you post rather than after your items have arrived. Nobody should discover a document request only once their jewellery is out of their hands.
- An itemised, retained record. Every parcel is logged on arrival against the description you gave, every item is XRF-assayed and weighed, and the written offer records what was found. That record is kept, which means there is a trail if anyone ever needs one, including you. See how we handle your parcel.
- Record retention. A limited company must keep records for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to. A purchase from you forms part of those accounting records, so six years is the floor, not a policy we chose. How the personal information inside those records is handled, and your rights over it, are in the privacy policy.
- Refusal. We can and do decline. Where we are not satisfied about ownership or identity we do not proceed, we do not pay out, and the items are returned to the sender by tracked post at our cost. Where there are grounds to, we report the matter to the police and cooperate with them.
Read that list as what it is: ordinary diligence by a business that would rather not handle stolen property. It is not a regulatory permission, it is not supervision by anybody, and it does not make GoldPaid “AML registered”. No wording on this site should ever suggest that it does.
How to check any gold buyer’s claims
Apply this to us as readily as to anyone else. It takes about five minutes and it is the single most useful thing you can do before posting valuables to a stranger.
- Look up the company number on Companies House. Check the name on the website matches the registered name, and see how long it has been filing.
- Test any “registered” or “regulated” claim by asking which register. A straight answer names the register and gives the number. A vague answer is the answer.
- Treat “FCA regulated” on a gold buyer as a red flag, not a reassurance, because gold buying is not an FCA-regulated activity.
- Do not read absence from the HMRC high value dealer register as a warning, for a buyer that pays by bank transfer. There is nothing for it to be on the register for.
- Ask how and when you get paid, in writing, before you post. Payment method, and the point at which the figure becomes firm, are the two things that most often turn out to differ from the advertising.
Our own version of this exercise, applied to competitors and to us, is in red flags when choosing a postal gold buyer.
What are the limits of this page?
A plain-English summary written by a gold buyer, not legal advice, and three things about it are worth stating openly.
- The law moves and this page is a snapshot. The threshold in regulation 14 changed on 30 June 2026, and HMRC’s guidance page had not been updated to match when we reviewed this. Check the review date at the top, then check the legislation, before relying on anything here.
- This page describes GoldPaid’s position only. Whether another business is inside or outside high value dealer scope depends on how that business is paid, which we cannot know or vouch for.
- Money laundering law is wider than the registration regime. The principal offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 apply to everyone, regulated or not. Being outside high value dealer scope is not a licence to be incurious about where items came from, which is why the practice section above exists at all.
If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it. On a compliance page, an error is worse than a gap.
Sources
- Regulation 14 of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (legislation.gov.uk), which defines “high value dealer” and what counts as a payment in cash.
- Regulation 9 of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/621), the instrument that substituted £10,000 for 10,000 euros with effect from 30 June 2026.
- Money laundering supervision for high value dealers (HMRC guidance on GOV.UK), the source of the definition of cash as notes, coins or traveller’s cheques, and of the requirement to register before making or accepting a qualifying cash payment.
- Section 330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which limits the failure-to-disclose duty to information arising “in the course of a business in the regulated sector”.
- Section 21 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, whose definition of scrap metal excludes gold, silver and alloys of which 2% or more by weight is gold or silver.
- Company and accounting records (GOV.UK), the source of the six-year retention period for company records.
Reviewed 6 August 2026. Statements of law on this page are summaries of the sources listed and are not legal advice. GoldPaid does not hold, and this page does not assert, any HMRC anti-money-laundering supervision, Financial Conduct Authority authorisation, or registration under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.
Common questions
Is GoldPaid registered with HMRC as a high value dealer?
No, and it does not need to be. High value dealer registration under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 applies to a business that makes or receives cash payments at or above the threshold in regulation 14. GoldPaid pays by bank transfer only and takes no cash at all, so there is nothing to register for. If GoldPaid ever decided to pay or accept cash at that level, it would have to register with HMRC before making the first such payment, not after.
Is a gold buyer that is not on the HMRC register a warning sign?
Not on its own. A buyer that pays solely by bank transfer has no reason to appear on the high value dealer register, so its absence tells you nothing. The reverse is also worth knowing: “HMRC registered” in a gold buyer’s advertising does not mean HMRC has vetted its prices, its testing or its conduct. It means the business handles large cash payments and has met a cash-handling obligation.
Is GoldPaid regulated by the FCA?
No. The Financial Conduct Authority authorises firms carrying on regulated activities under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and buying physical precious metal from the public is not one of them. No gold buyer is FCA authorised for that work. Any gold buyer describing its gold buying as “FCA regulated” is describing something that cannot be true of that activity.
How does GoldPaid pay me?
By Faster Payments bank transfer to the UK account you nominate, once you have accepted your written offer. Never in cash, and never by cheque. You give your bank details only at the point you decide to accept, never as a condition of receiving an offer.
Will GoldPaid ask me for identification?
Sometimes, and it depends on the parcel. For most parcels the name and address on the Royal Mail label and the name on the bank account are enough. On higher-value parcels we ask for a photograph of UK photo ID, and we tell you that before you post rather than after your items have arrived. We also ask you to confirm, in plain words, that the items are yours to sell.
Do you have to check my identity by law?
No. Customer due diligence duties under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 attach to businesses inside the regulated sector, and a bank-transfer-only precious metal buyer is not one. The checks described on this page are GoldPaid’s own practice, not a statutory obligation we are performing. We do them because they make stolen goods harder to move and because they give an honest seller a clean record of the transaction.
How long do you keep records of my sale?
For at least six years. GoldPaid Ltd must keep its accounting records for 6 years from the end of the last company financial year they relate to, and a purchase from you is part of those records. Personal information is handled as set out in the privacy policy, and the retention section there governs anything beyond the accounting record.
What happens if you think an item is stolen?
We stop. We do not pay out, we do not melt or move the item, and we keep it identifiable and separate while we look into it. Where there are grounds to, we report the matter to the police and cooperate with them. We would rather lose a transaction than launder somebody else’s property, and an honest seller is never worse off for that policy.