Rough estimates where possible; your final offer follows inspection.
No obligation. Free tracked return if you decline. We aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance.
There is no single best way to sell gold in the UK, because it depends on the piece. Signed, antique and collectable jewellery can fetch more at a specialist auction or dealer. Everyday and broken gold sells for its metal, so weight and purity decide it: get written figures for the same weight and carat and compare them. If you have already decided to post, our sell gold by post page covers the rest.
Send a photo on WhatsApp for a rough estimate where possible, or arrange to post your items for assessment. We confirm our purchase offer after inspection, and you decide whether to accept. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Free Special Delivery label, usually within 30 minutesPurity tested in-house by X-ray (XRF)
Does a postal buyer always pay more than a high-street jeweller?Not always, and we cannot promise to beat any named buyer. Get two written figures on the same items and compare what each one offers. A jeweller who can resell a wearable piece may pay more than its metal is worth, and on antique or signed pieces a specialist auction may pay more.
Please send us photos on WhatsApp, and we will help you.
Send photos of your items and any hallmarks. We give a rough estimate where possible; your final offer follows inspection. You do not need to arrange postage to ask us a question.
We arrange postage with you after our conversation.
Before you post
The questions people ask before they send anything, answered here rather than at the end of the page.
Can I ask first?
Yes. WhatsApp a photo to 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm, every day, and we reply with an idea of what it is worth. Nothing is posted until you decide.
Is it safe to post?
Your parcel travels by Royal Mail Special Delivery, tracked and signed for. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post.
How is it tested?
Your parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and tested with an XRF analyser, an X-ray test that reads the metal without marking it. Your written offer lists each piece with its weight, purity and figure.
What if I say no?
We return everything by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. Saying no costs you nothing.
When am I paid?
Only if you accept the written offer. We aim for the money to reach your bank within 24 hours of posting. We use Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, test your items promptly on receipt, and aim to pay by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance. The 24-hour target is an aim, not a guarantee: it depends on posting before the local cut-off, the applicable working-day delivery service, prompt acceptance, completed identity checks and bank processing.
How long does an offer last?
Each written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, because metal prices move. If it lapses, we re-run it at that day’s rate.
Who am I dealing with?
GOLDPAID LTD, registered in England and Wales, run by founder Rocco Clayfield. Our office is at Unit 217, Bristol Business Centre, 179 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG. We are postal only, so there is no counter to visit. Before we pay, we ask every seller for a photo of their passport or driving licence.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Short answer
The routes are a high-street jeweller, a pawnbroker, a specialist auction and a postal buyer, and each suits a different kind of piece. Below is what to ask each one for; we do not rank other buyers or quote their rates. If you have decided to post, selling gold by post sets out the free label, the XRF test and the written offer.
What to ask each route for before you sell
We know how we value gold, not what a jeweller or pawnbroker pays. Ask a counter for its written figure on the same weight and carat, get our written figure too, and compare the two.
The trade-off with posting is the postal step: you hand a parcel in at a Post Office rather than walking into a shop. Selling gold by post shows what that involves, from the free label to the written offer.
Route
What to ask for
Suits
High-street jeweller
A written figure for the same weight and carat
Being paid on the day, with no posting
Pawnbroker
The loan amount, the interest and the price to buy it back
A loan against the gold rather than an outright sale
Specialist auction
The estimate, the seller’s commission and any lot fees
Signed, antique and collectable pieces
Postal precious-metal buyer
A written figure for the same weight and carat, and whether postage and returns are free
Everyday 9ct–22ct jewellery and scrap
Auction vs postal, when antique and signed jewellery pays more elsewhere
For everyday scrap and broken jewellery, the piece sells for its metal, so weight and purity decide it.
Signed designer jewellery (Cartier, Tiffany, Bulgari, Boucheron and the like), Victorian and Georgian pieces with collector interest, and rare-date or proof coins can fetch more at a specialist auction than their gold is worth, because collectors pay for the object rather than the metal. Send a photo on WhatsApp first and we will tell you how we would value a piece like that before you post it.
What should you check before posting gold to any online buyer?
Several UK companies buy gold by post. Their terms differ in four places: the figure they offer for your gold, who pays for postage and cover, what a declined parcel costs to get back, and how and when they pay.
Ask every buyer, us included, for a written figure on your piece before you post, then check the written offer matches it. The cleanest comparison is one photograph of one piece, with its weight and carat, sent to each buyer with a request for a written figure.
Cover and returns: Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. Some buyers pay for the label and some leave it to you; some charge to return a declined parcel and others, GoldPaid included, return it free. Gold buyer terms compared quotes five buyers’ published terms, each dated.
Which route is right for your piece?
If your piece is everyday 9ct, 18ct or 22ct jewellery, such as chains, rings, earrings, bracelets and bangles, or scrap and broken pieces, compare a postal buyer’s written figure with a counter’s written figure for the same piece. If it is a signed Cartier ring or a rare-date Victorian sovereign, send a photograph first and we will tell you whether an auction house or a coin specialist suits it better.
No single route pays the most for every piece. Our written offer, set beside one or two other written figures, is how to check before you commit. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Where can I compare each route in more detail?
The summary above is deliberately short. Each route has its own detailed comparison, written to say plainly where the other side wins:
Get in touch and show us. A WhatsApp photo of your gold is all we need to give you a rough estimate before anything is posted.
Get your free label. We send a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, fully tracked. If you have no printer, a QR code for the counter does the same job.
Send it at your own pace. Wrap it in any padded envelope and hand it in at a Post Office whenever it suits you.
See the written offer. Everything is weighed, metal is XRF-assayed and any stones are assessed separately, usually on the working day your parcel arrives. You then get an itemised breakdown showing exactly how the figure was reached.
Decide. Say yes and the money is sent by Faster Payments. Say no and your items come straight back, free and tracked.
Your parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and XRF-tested before the written offer is prepared.
Postage, tracking and cover
Every parcel uses Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked from the counter to our door and signed for on arrival. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. For anything you think is worth more, contact us first and we split it across more than one prepaid label rather than send it in one parcel. The detail sits on postage and cover and is it safe to post gold?. If a parcel is lost on its way to us, the compensation claim goes to Royal Mail from you, the sender, using your Post Office receipt, and we give you our tracking records and help you make it. Lost parcels, step by step.
If you decide not to sell
There is never any obligation to accept. If the offer is not for you, simply decline, and we return everything free of charge by tracked, signed-for post, with no fee and no follow-up pressure. The full return process is on what happens if I decline the offer.
The written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, because metal prices move. If it lapses before you decide, we re-run it against the live precious-metal market on the day, at no charge. You can also accept part of a parcel and decline the rest, with no minimum and no penalty for splitting it.
Getting paid
Once you accept your written offer, we aim to pay by Faster Payments bank transfer within one working hour of your acceptance, directly to your account. No cheques to wait on, no conditions attached.
What backs the offer up
XRF spectrometry on every item, not a counter estimate
A written, itemised breakdown before you decide anything
Free tracked postage in, free tracked return out
No countdowns, no pressure, no fabricated reviews
An owner-run business whose founder, Rocco Clayfield, answers questions himself
What decides your offer
Every parcel is opened at our Bristol office and each piece is handled on its own. Nothing is averaged across the parcel.
Weight. Each item is weighed on scales. Stones, steel springs, non-gold clasps and cores are not paid as gold. The written breakdown explains the payable metal weight for each item, rather than treating everything on the scales as precious metal.
Purity. Each item is tested with an XRF analyser, which reads the metals at the points tested without marking the item. A surface reading alone cannot establish the composition of a plated or filled piece. Hallmarks, construction and different components all need to be considered alongside the test.
The market on the day. Gold and silver are priced against the live precious-metal market at the time your parcel is assessed, not at the time you posted.
Condition and intact value. Broken is fine and does not reduce a metal offer. Where a piece is worth more intact (a named maker, a collectable coin, a locket with provenance) we tell you before testing, so you can choose.
Anything that is not gold or silver. Plated, rolled-gold and base-metal items are listed on the offer at nothing and returned to you free. We never quietly keep them.
Why we do not publish a per-gram price list. A single printed rate hides the things that change the figure: hollow versus solid, stones, mixed carats in one bag, a mark that does not match the metal. We would rather show you the weight, the tested purity and the figure for each item, in writing, and let you decide. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
What you see before you decide. A written, itemised offer by WhatsApp or email: every item, its weight, its tested purity, and its figure. Accept and we aim to pay by bank transfer within one working hour. Decline and the whole parcel comes back by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. No fee, no deduction, no questions.
Ask for a written figure on the same weight and carat, and whether it is a metal price or a resale price. A jeweller who can resell a wearable piece may pay more than its metal.
How can I check a buyer’s offer before posting?
Send one photograph with the weight and carat and ask for a written figure before posting. Compare the written figures, then check the final offer matches the one you were quoted.
When is auction the better route?
For signed designer pieces (Cartier, Tiffany and similar), Georgian and Victorian jewellery with collector interest, rare-date sovereigns and proof coin sets. Those can fetch more at a specialist auction than their metal is worth.
Where is the best place to sell gold in the UK?
It depends on the piece rather than on one shop. Everyday and broken gold sells for its metal, so use a buyer that tests the purity, weighs accurately and puts a figure in writing, whether a high-street jeweller or a postal precious-metal buyer, and compare written figures for the same weight and carat. Signed, antique and collectable pieces and rare coins often fetch more at a specialist auction or dealer. A pawnbroker suits a loan rather than a sale.
Does the gold market price change much day to day?
Yes, it moves every trading day. That is why a written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, and is re-run against the current market if it lapses.
Is there any reason to use a pawnbroker rather than sell outright?
Only if you want to buy the piece back later. Pawning is a loan, so you pay interest to redeem it; if you do not want the piece back, an outright sale avoids that cost.
Not the question you had? The full GoldPaid FAQ covers the rest, from postal cover and ID checks to what happens if you decline the offer.
Speak to us before you post
Please send us photos on WhatsApp, and we will help you. We give a rough estimate where possible and arrange postage with you after our conversation. Your final offer follows inspection.
Message us with a clear photo of your items on WhatsApp, or call. There is no obligation at any stage and the only commitment is your decision to accept a written offer once you have seen it.