Published 4 December 2025 · updated 16 May 2026
Three businesses, often confused for one
When people compare "places to sell gold", they usually have three quite different businesses in mind: a pawnbroker on the high street, a "we buy gold" cash-for-gold shop or jeweller's back-counter buying desk, and a postal precious-metals specialist that buys by mail. The three look superficially similar, you hand over gold, you receive an offer, but the underlying economics produce meaningfully different prices, and understanding why is the difference between accepting a reasonable figure and accepting the first figure.
All three are regulated. Pawnbrokers operate under the Financial Conduct Authority's consumer-credit framework because the core product is a loan. Cash-for-gold shops and postal buyers operate under HMRC money-laundering supervision because the core product is a metal purchase. None of that regulation sets the price you receive, the price is purely a function of the buyer's business model.
A pawnbroker is a lender, not a buyer
A pawnbroker's core product is a short-term loan secured against your item. You hand over the item, receive cash, and have the right to repay the loan with interest (typically expressed as a monthly percentage charge) and reclaim the item within a contractual redemption window, commonly six months. The largest UK chains in this space are H&T Pawnbrokers and Cash Converters, both of which publish their lending and buying terms openly and operate within the FCA consumer-credit regime.
A pawnbroker will usually also offer an outright sale price as an alternative to the loan. That outright price is set deliberately below the loan-against price, for two reasons. First, the pawnbroker prefers the loan, because the loan generates interest income and there is a meaningful chance you do not redeem and the item ends up in the shop's retail stock at full margin. Second, an outright purchase is a one-shot transaction where the pawnbroker is buying a piece that will most likely either resell retail (at a much higher margin than scrap) or, failing that, be sold on to a refiner at scrap rates net of the shop's costs. The outright offer has to make sense at the worst-case exit, which means it has to leave room for that exit.
In practice, UK pawn-counter outright offers for ordinary 9ct and 18ct jewellery often sit in the range of 30 to 60 per cent of the underlying metal value, depending on the shop, the item and the day. That is not a rule, and individual transactions vary. It is the working range a careful seller should expect, and the reason a second written quote from a buying-only specialist is almost always worth the postage cost.
A high-street scrap buyer is somewhere in between
A "we buy gold" cash-for-gold shop, or the buying desk inside a regular jeweller, has a simpler model than a pawnbroker. It buys metal outright, sorts it by carat, and either resells the better pieces retail (rings, chains in saleable condition) or sends scrap to a refiner. There is no loan book and no redemption optionality to price in, so the offer can be closer to the underlying metal value than a pawn-counter buy-out.
The constraint on the high-street scrap buyer is the shopfront. Rent in a footfall location, staff costs, security infrastructure, insurance, business rates and the cost of stock that does not move all sit between the live precious-metal rate and the offer. In practice that puts UK high-street scrap-buyer offers for ordinary jewellery somewhere in the 60 to 85 per cent of metal value band, with independent jewellers at the higher end and high-volume chain operators usually at the lower end. Specialist Hatton Garden buyers like Hatton Garden Metals publish indicative per-gram rates by carat and tend to sit near the top of this range on standard scrap, with bullion priced separately.
The counter dynamic matters here too, see why high-street gold buyers tend to pay less for the longer treatment. Once you are at the counter with your items visible, the friction of declining and walking out is real, which lets a shop price firmly. None of that is unethical; it is just how the format works.
A postal specialist has neither shop nor loan book
A postal precious-metals buyer like GoldPaid runs the leanest of the three structures. There is no shopfront paying rent in a high street. There are no loans on the book. There is no retail-resale operation eating margin. The only costs the offer has to fund are the labels, the XRF assay equipment, the chain of custody, the secure handling, the Faster Payments transfers, the free tracked returns when sellers decline, and the people running the desk. The remaining margin is what comes out of the gap between the live precious-metal rate and the offer you receive.
In practice, postal specialists who price honestly on this model can pay materially closer to the underlying metal value than either of the other two formats. GoldPaid's positioning is to publish indicative per-gram rates by carat on the calculator and the gold price today page, build the firm offer from the XRF-confirmed purity and the measured weight, and show the working in writing so the seller can sense-check it against the live rate. The honest test of any buyer at any tier is whether the offer is shown with the purity and the rate visible. If both are present, the seller can do the maths. If either is missing, the seller cannot.
Worked example: a 30g 9ct chain at three buyer types
Take a single 30g 9ct chain. 9ct is 37.5% pure, so the chain contains 11.25g of pure gold. Using a notional fine-gold rate of £60.00 per gram (use your live rate when you read this; the structure of the example does not change), the underlying metal value is 11.25g × £60.00 = £675.00. The question is what each of the three buyer types is likely to offer against that £675 figure.
| Buyer type | Typical share of metal value | Offer on £675 metal | How they make the rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pawnbroker (outright sale) | 30–60% | ~£200–£405 | Loan-default risk priced in; resale margin on better pieces; shop overheads |
| High-street scrap buyer | 60–85% | ~£405–£575 | Shopfront rent, multi-staff, counter friction |
| Postal specialist (GoldPaid) | 85–95%+ | ~£575–£640+ | XRF assay, labels, chain of custody, Faster Payments, free returns |
The figures are illustrative ranges, not promises. Your actual offer at any buyer depends on the live rate on the day, the buyer's margin on that day, and the specific items. The point is the shape of the spread, not the precise numbers. A chain that produces a £250 pawn-counter offer is the same chain that might produce a £600 postal offer, and the only difference is which business model is buying it.
Why pawnbroker rates are lower (and reasonably so)
It is tempting to read a pawn-counter outright offer as "ripping you off", but that framing misses what is actually being priced in. A pawnbroker is offering you instant cash, today, in your hand, with no postage, no waiting and no parcel risk. That speed-to-cash is the product, and it costs the pawnbroker working capital, premises and staff to deliver. The lower outright offer is the price of optionality and immediacy, not malice.
It also reflects loan-default risk. Even on an outright purchase, the pawnbroker is buying with the same balance sheet that runs the loan book, where a meaningful share of customers do not redeem and items end up on the retail shelf for unpredictable holding periods. The outright offer has to leave room for the worst-case exit on every piece, because a portfolio of pawn-counter purchases includes some that will not resell easily. A postal specialist, by contrast, is only ever buying for refining or selective resale, and can therefore price the metal more directly.
None of this is to argue that pawnbrokers should be avoided. It is to argue that they should be used for the product they actually sell, short-term secured credit and on-the-spot cash, rather than as a default outright buyer when an outright sale is the goal.
When a pawnbroker is still the right choice
There are three situations where a pawnbroker is genuinely the better option even with the lower headline offer. First, when you need cash in your hand in the next hour. Postal selling involves a working day in transit each way and a same-day or next-working-day Faster Payments transfer after acceptance, so the round trip is two to four days. If you need to make rent on Friday and your gold is in front of you on Thursday afternoon, a pawn-counter sale is what fits.
Second, when you intend to redeem. A pawn loan lets you raise cash against the item while keeping the option to buy it back within the redemption window. For a piece with sentimental value (a wedding ring, a parent's watch), the pawn route preserves that optionality in a way no outright sale can.
Third, when you would rather meet a person face-to-face before parting with the item. For some sellers, the postal model genuinely is not the right fit, and a regulated high-street pawnbroker offers the human counter experience with full FCA consumer-credit protection. Different people, different routes; both are legitimate.
A short comparison table
| Postal specialist (GoldPaid) | High-street scrap buyer | Pawnbroker | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core business | Outright purchase for refining/resale | Outright purchase for resale/scrap | Short-term loan against item; also buys |
| Regulator | HMRC money-laundering supervision | HMRC money-laundering supervision | FCA consumer-credit + HMRC |
| Testing method | XRF assay, written breakdown | Acid test, visual or XRF | Acid test or visual, often quick |
| Decision pressure | None, written offer, free decline | Counter dynamic in real time | Counter dynamic in real time |
| Get the item back? | No, once accepted | No, once accepted | Yes, if loan is repaid in time |
| Cash speed | Faster Payments after acceptance | Cash or transfer on the day | Instant cash on the spot |
| Decline cost | Free tracked, insured return | Walk out with the item | Walk out with the item |
| Typical share of metal value | 85–95%+ | 60–85% | 30–60% on outright |
Common questions
Will a pawnbroker pay less for an outright sale than a specialist buyer?
Almost always yes. A pawn-counter outright offer reflects the loan-based business model, the shop overheads and the worst-case-exit pricing that the pawnbroker has to apply across the book. Your specific offers should always be compared in writing.
Can I get my gold back if I sell to GoldPaid?
No. Once you accept the written offer it is an outright sale. Before you accept, you can decline freely and the items are returned to you by tracked, insured Royal Mail at no charge. If keeping the option to recover the item matters, a pawn loan is the right product.
How quickly can a pawnbroker give me cash?
Almost immediately at the counter, subject to ID and money-laundering checks. Postal selling involves a working day each way plus assessment, with Faster Payments on acceptance, so the round trip is typically two to four working days.
What percentage of metal value should I expect from a postal buyer?
A reputable postal specialist running on lean overheads can pay materially closer to the underlying metal value than a high-street alternative. Indicative per-gram rates by carat are published on the <a href="/gold-calculator">calculator</a> and the firm figure is built from the XRF assay against the live rate.
Is it worth getting a pawn quote and a postal quote on the same items?
Yes, especially for anything above a small amount. Both quotes are free. The pawn quote tells you what immediate cash is on offer; the postal quote tells you what the outright sale figure looks like with the working shown. Compare on like-for-like (both written, both itemised) and choose deliberately rather than by default.
Are pawnbrokers regulated?
Yes, UK pawnbrokers operate under the Financial Conduct Authority's consumer-credit framework because the loan is the core product. Both H&T Pawnbrokers and Cash Converters publish their terms under that regime. Scrap buyers and postal buyers are regulated under HMRC's money-laundering supervision instead, because they are buying metal rather than lending.
Why not just sell to whoever is nearest?
Because the spread between buyer types is wide enough to matter, often hundreds of pounds on a mid-sized lot. Convenience is a real value, but it is rarely worth more than the difference between a 40 per cent offer and a 90 per cent offer on the same metal.
Where can I see what GoldPaid actually pays?
Indicative per-gram rates by carat sit on the <a href="/gold-calculator">gold calculator</a> against the live rate, and the underlying fine-gold rate is published on <a href="/gold-price-today-uk">gold price today</a>. The firm offer is built from the XRF-confirmed purity and the measured weight of your specific items.