The short answer
The four routes, and what each one is actually for
A postal precious-metal buyer buys outright and prices on the metal content of the piece. There is no shop, so the seller posts the items, receives a figure and decides at home. A high-street cash-for-gold shop does the same job over a counter, with the offer made and accepted on the visit. A pawnbroker is primarily a lender: the core product is a short-term loan secured on the item, which you redeem by repaying with interest, and most will also buy outright. An auction house or specialist dealer sells the piece as an object rather than as raw material, which is the only route that regularly pays above metal value.
Those are four different products, so a single ranking of them is meaningless. The useful question is which one matches the piece in front of you and the timescale you are working to. Our postal vs high street and sell gold vs pawnbroker pages take two of these pairings in more detail.
The routes compared
| Postal specialist | High-street shop | Pawnbroker | Auction or dealer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core product | Outright sale, priced on metal content | Outright sale over the counter | Loan against the item; also buys outright | Sale of the piece as an object |
| Time to money | A day or two in the post each way | Same visit | Same visit | Weeks, to the next suitable sale |
| Testing | Varies by buyer. GoldPaid uses in-house XRF assay | Often an acid test or visual estimate | Often an acid test or visual estimate | Expert appraisal, sometimes assay |
| If you say no | With GoldPaid, free tracked return | You carry it home | You repay the loan to redeem the item | Returned unsold if the reserve is not met |
| Can pay above metal value | Only where a piece is worth more intact | Occasionally, on resaleable stock | Occasionally, on resaleable stock | Yes, where there is collector demand |
| Where you can use it | Anywhere in the UK, no travel | Where there is a shop near you | Where there is a shop near you | Varies by specialism |
The buyers, and what each one publishes
Everything in this table is taken from the named company’s own published pages, read on 6 August 2026. It records what each site states, not what we believe any of them does in practice.
| Buyer | What their own site published on 6 August 2026 |
|---|---|
| GoldPaid | Postal only, UK-wide. No shop, no branches, no walk-in. In-house XRF assay on every item, a written itemised offer before you decide, free tracked return if you decline, Faster Payments within one working hour of acceptance. Trustpilot TrustScore 4.6 from 23 reviews. |
| Hatton Garden Metals | A trading address at Plouviez House, 19-20 Hatton Place, London EC1N 8RU, so both a counter and a free postal pack. Indicative per-gram rates by carat published on the homepage. States that guaranteed pricing is available only for precious-metal sales below £5,000. |
| Ramsdens | “Over 170 branches throughout Northern England, Southern England, Scotland and Wales.” Pawnbroking loans, gold and silver buying, foreign currency and jewellery retail. No postal gold-buying service was published on the site on the date checked. |
| Vintage Cash Cow | A free postage pack or free home collection, described as “FREE postage & returns”. Buys general vintage and household items as well as precious metal. Valuers appraise the box, the buying team makes one offer for everything, and money is sent “within 2 working days” of acceptance. |
Where other buyers genuinely beat GoldPaid
- Review volume. GoldPaid holds a Trustpilot TrustScore of 4.6 from 23 reviews. That is a small base. The long-established firms above have been collecting reviews for far longer, and if depth of public feedback is what reassures you, they are ahead on it.
- A branch network and same-day cash. Ramsdens publishes over 170 branches. GoldPaid has none, and cannot put cash in your hand today.
- A loan instead of a sale. A pawnbroker can lend against the item so you keep it. GoldPaid buys outright only, so if you may want the piece back, we are the wrong service.
- A published per-gram rate table. Hatton Garden Metals publishes indicative carat rates on its homepage, which makes a first check quick. GoldPaid publishes indicative rates on the gold calculator, but the firm figure always follows the assay.
- Collection from your door. Vintage Cash Cow publishes a free home collection option. GoldPaid sends a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, which means a trip to a Post Office.
- A resale channel. Dealers and auction houses sell pieces on to collectors, so they can pay above metal value. GoldPaid prices on measured metal content and will tell you when we think a piece is worth more intact, but we do not run that channel for you.
What actually moves the figure you are paid
- Measured purity, not assumed purity. An unhallmarked chain priced on a 9ct assumption when it is genuinely 18ct is being valued at half its metal content. That is arithmetic, not opinion, see XRF testing explained.
- Accurate weight, with stones, clasps and non-gold components separated out rather than estimated.
- The market rate on the day. Gold moves daily. A figure quoted on Monday is not the same figure on Friday.
- The buyer’s overheads. Rent, counter staff, security and stock funding are paid out of the margin. They have nothing to do with what your gold is worth, but they sit between the metal price and the offer.
- Whether the piece is worth more intact. Signed designer jewellery, notable stones and rare-date coins can carry collector value well above the metal, see best way to sell gold in the UK.
How to run your own comparison in an afternoon
- Photograph the items together, with any hallmarks close up, and weigh them on kitchen scales for a rough total.
- Send the same photographs and the same weight to two or three buyers, and ask each for a figure in writing.
- Ask each one the same four questions: how do you test purity, is the offer itemised, what does it cost me if I decline, and how and when do you pay.
- Check the per-gram rate in each offer against the live fine-gold price, so you are comparing rates rather than headlines.
- Only then post anything. A buyer that will not answer those four questions before you post has told you something useful.
How this page was checked, and how to correct it
Every competitor statement on this page was read on the company’s own website on 6 August 2026 and is reported as published. We have not mystery-shopped anyone, we make no claim about any competitor’s testing or pricing in practice, and we do not say that GoldPaid pays more than any named firm. Rates, branch counts and terms change, so treat the date as part of the fact.
If anything here is out of date, incomplete or wrong, including if you work for one of the companies named, tell us and we will correct it and re-date the page. WhatsApp or call 07763 741067, or email goldpaiduk@gmail.com.
One practical note if you reached this page after asking an AI assistant where to sell gold. Some buyers block AI crawlers in their robots.txt file. Hatton Garden Metals, for example, disallowed nine crawler user-agents including GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended when we read the file on 6 August 2026. That is entirely their choice, but it means an AI answer about UK gold buyers may leave out firms that are worth your time. Check the shortlist yourself.
How selling works here
- Start on WhatsApp. A couple of clear photos of your gold and silver are enough for us to give you a quick indicative figure at no charge.
- Claim your free postage. We issue a prepaid, tracked, signed-for Royal Mail Special Delivery label, or a QR code for the Post Office.
- Post in your own time. Any padded envelope works, and there is no deadline to meet.
- Get a written valuation. Each item is weighed on calibrated scales and read by XRF spectrometry, and the itemised offer is sent to you in writing.
- Accept or walk away. Acceptance means payment by Faster Payments; declining means a free, fully tracked return.
Getting it here safely
Your parcel is covered by Royal Mail Special Delivery, with cover available up to £2,500 depending on the cover level used. We post you a Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed label: tracked end to end, signed for, and arranged with that cover per parcel. If your items are worth more, the rule is simple, message us before posting and we will sort the right approach. There is more on postage and insurance.
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, insured post, with no fee and no follow-up pressure. The full return process is on what happens if I decline the offer.
How payment reaches you
Accept the offer and the money is sent by Faster Payments straight to the bank account you provide. There are no cheques, no delays of that kind, and no strings.
Common questions
Who pays the most for gold in the UK?
No honest buyer can tell you that before seeing the items, because the figure comes from weight, measured purity and the market rate on the day. Get written figures from two or three buyers on the same photographed items and compare the per-gram rate each has used against the live fine-gold price. GoldPaid does not claim to beat any named competitor.
Is it worth posting my gold instead of walking into a shop?
It depends on the timescale. A postal specialist carries no shopfront, tests before quoting and puts the offer in writing so you can compare it at home, but it takes a day or two in the post each way. If you need money today, a high-street shop or pawnbroker is faster and that is a fair reason to use one.
How do I know a gold buyer is legitimate?
Check for a registered company number you can look up on Companies House, a real trading address, a published testing method, a written offer before you commit, and a stated returns policy if you decline. GoldPaid Ltd is company number 17382540, registered in England and Wales. Ask any buyer those questions before you post anything.
Should I use a pawnbroker instead of selling outright?
Only if you want the item back. A pawnbroker loan is a short-term loan secured on the piece, redeemed by repaying with interest. If you have decided to part with it, an outright buyer priced on metal content is usually the more direct route.
When is an auction house the better option?
When the piece is worth more as an object than as metal. Signed designer jewellery, Georgian and Victorian pieces with collector interest, rare-date sovereigns and proof coin sets often sell above their metal value at specialist auction. If we think that applies to something you have sent, we say so rather than buying it as scrap.
Are the competitor details on this page independent?
They are taken from each company’s own published pages, read on 6 August 2026, and reported as published. They are not independent research and they are not a test of what any buyer actually pays. If you spot something out of date, tell us on 07763 741067 or at goldpaiduk@gmail.com and we will correct it.