By Rocco Clayfield, trading as GoldPaid; the business incorporated as GOLDPAID LTD (company 17382540) on 5 August 2026 · Published · updated
The mechanics in one minute
A troy ounce of gold has a single global price quoted in US dollars. To turn that into a GBP price you divide by the current £/$ exchange rate. If gold is $4,470 and the £ buys $1.33, an ounce is £3,361. If the same gold price holds but the £ strengthens to $1.36, the same ounce is £3,287, about £74 lower, with no change in the underlying gold. For background on how the gold price and postal selling fit together, see the gold price and selling by post page.
Not sure how any of this applies to your own items? Send a photo on WhatsApp and ask, call 07944 014111 (8am to 9pm, 7 days a week), or ask for a free prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label. Whichever you pick: nothing is posted until you decide, your parcel is tracked and signed for, the written offer follows the XRF assay, the return is free if you decline, and we aim to pay by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance.
How big the FX effect can be
Through 2025 and 2026 the £/$ has moved between roughly 1.25 and 1.40. On a £3,300/oz gold price that ~12% spread is worth roughly £350-400 per ounce, more than many days of underlying gold movement. The FX channel is one of the loudest things in the GBP gold price chart, and it is the reason GBP and USD charts of "gold" frequently disagree about whether prices are up or down on a given day.
What this means for a postal sale
GoldPaid sets your final offer at the live precious-metal rate on the day the parcel is XRF-assayed, in GBP. That means the rate you see is the rate you are quoted on, not last week’s. If sterling strengthens overnight while your parcel is in transit, the GBP price drops, and the offer reflects that; if sterling weakens, the GBP price rises. The version of "we pay live spot" is that we accept the FX risk both ways once we assay and price.
For sellers, the takeaway is the same as for the underlying gold price: a fortnight-out plan can be obsolete by the day you post. Treat the offer letter when it arrives as the actual decision point, not the indicative figure from when you first messaged.
How to think about £/$ if you are deciding when to sell
You cannot predict FX any more reliably than gold itself. A sensible rule is: if your reason for selling is unrelated to the market (you have inherited a lot, you are clearing for a move, you need the cash for a specific purpose), the FX rate on any given day is noise. If your reason is market-timing, you are taking a view on two markets at once, gold and sterling, and the answer is that even professionals get this wrong regularly.