By Rocco Clayfield, Founder & Director, GoldPaid Ltd · Published 15 November 2025 · updated 2 June 2026
1. Posting without a tracked, signed-for service
Ordinary first-class is not adequate cover for gold. Use Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed (tracked, signed for, with cover up to £2,500 per parcel), or a comparable tracked, signed-for service. The free label GoldPaid arranges is exactly this.
2. Not keeping the Post Office receipt
The proof-of-postage receipt is your tracking number and your evidence the parcel entered the network. Without it, a compensation claim becomes extremely difficult. Keep it until you have been paid.
3. Accepting a verbal offer
A buyer who will not put the figure in writing is a buyer to walk away from. A written, itemised offer shows the purity, weight, rate used and figure, the working, and lets you compare or sleep on it.
Not sure how any of this applies to your own items? Send a photo on WhatsApp and ask. We answer honestly, there is no obligation, and nothing is posted until you decide. Or call 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm, 7 days a week.
4. Not photographing items before sending
A quick set of phone photos before packing is free and takes a minute. It is your own record of what was in the parcel, useful for any compensation claim and useful if you later want to check what you actually sent.
5. Writing "gold" or "jewellery" on the outside
Never. Plain packaging is part of keeping the parcel safe in transit. Nothing on the outside should hint at the contents.
6. Selling the wrong thing in the wrong place
A metal-value buyer is right for jewellery and scrap. A specialist coin dealer or watch dealer may be right for a genuinely collectable coin or branded watch. An honest postal buyer will tell you when a specialist is the better home for what you have, rather than buying a collectable as scrap. Our guide to getting the most for your gold lists the pieces worth holding back and why.
7. Comparing per-pennyweight or per-troy-ounce rates without converting
Different buyers quote in different units. Always convert to per-gram before comparing. A "high" per-pennyweight rate may be lower per-gram than a competitor's per-gram quote, see our weights guide.
8. Selling in a hurry after a loss
Inherited items rarely arrive at a moment when good decisions are easy to make. There is no rush. A reputable postal buyer will hold a no-obligation offer for as long as you need to think, and will return your items free of charge if you change your mind. Slow is, here, almost always cheaper than fast.
Common questions
Is it ever worth using uninsured post for gold?
No. The cost of a tracked, signed-for label is small relative to even a modest piece of gold jewellery, and any postal buyer worth using arranges the label for free.
How many quotes should I get before selling?
At least one written one. A postal buyer's written, itemised offer is free to obtain and free to decline, so the bar to comparing is essentially zero.
Can I trust online gold buyers in general?
Some yes, some no, the same as any category. The honest tells are: explicit testing method (XRF), written itemised offer, free tracked return if you decline, no countdown pressure, transparent company details.