The short answer
Selling in London? How posting to GoldPaid compares with walking into Hatton Garden.
Where Hatton Garden Metals is genuinely stronger
It would be easy to write a comparison page that only flatters us. This is the honest list of things they do that GoldPaid does not.
- LBMA Affiliate Membership. Announced on their own news page on 27 October 2025. GoldPaid holds no LBMA affiliation, and we are not going to imply otherwise.
- Review volume. Their Trustpilot profile carries reviews in the thousands. GoldPaid’s Trustpilot profile is much newer. Whatever the live figures show on the day you check, the fair comparison is that theirs rests on more evidence.
- A counter you can walk into. If you are in or near London and want to hand items across a desk and be paid in the room, a postal service cannot match that.
- Published per-gram rates. Hatton Garden Metals displays live buying rates per gram by carat on their homepage and states those rates are "guaranteed for a full 7 days". Seeing a number before you engage is a real advantage; day-rate figures move continuously and are not restated here, so read them live from the source. GoldPaid does not publish a per-gram rate board; you get a rough estimate from a photo and a written offer after assessment. For how the gold price moves and selling by post, see the gold price and selling by post.
- A resale channel. They run a sister site, second-hand-jewellery.com, selling pre-owned jewellery. A buyer who can resell a wearable piece rather than melt it can afford to pay more than metal value for it. If your piece is intact, attractive and saleable, that is a structural advantage GoldPaid does not have.
- Bullion both ways. They buy and sell bullion. GoldPaid only buys.
The sourced comparison
| Hatton Garden Metals | GoldPaid | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | London counter plus a postal option | Postal only, UK-wide, no premises |
| Rates | Published live per gram by carat, "guaranteed for a full 7 days" per their site; read live at hattongardenmetals.com | No published rate board; a rough estimate from a photo, then a written offer set by weight, purity and the live market: see the gold price and selling by post |
| Order of events | You enter weights and carats, quote is verified on arrival | Photos and questions first, XRF assay, then a written offer |
| Postal cover | Tracked postage bags stated as covering up to £2,500, with larger consignments recommended to be split | Royal Mail Special Delivery; Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used |
| Cap on the guaranteed price | Up to £5,000 of gold in a single transaction on the guaranteed-price service | No advance locked price, so no cap; larger parcels discussed before posting |
| Payment | Faster Payments, stated as same day | Faster Payments; we aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance |
| Probate valuation | Paid service from £220 plus VAT, seen in person at the London store | Free written metal figure by post (not a probate valuation, not independent) |
| Resale channel | Yes, via a sister site | No resale channel |
| LBMA affiliation | Affiliate Member since October 2025 | None |
What the difference in order of events actually means
Their guaranteed-price service asks you to list your items by weight and carat, and it then honours the on-screen price provided that the items received match the details you listed. That is a reasonable protection on a figure given before anyone has seen the metal, and it works well if you already know exactly what you have. It works less well for the ordinary case: a drawer of mixed chain where some stamps are worn, some pieces are plated, some are 9ct and one turns out to be 18ct. To use a price-first service you have to guess, and a wrong guess unwinds the quote.
GoldPaid inverts that. You send photos on WhatsApp and ask whatever you want before committing anything. Every item is XRF-assayed and weighed on arrival, and the written offer sets out confirmed purity, weight, the rate used and the figure. You are never asked to know what you have before you sell it. The trade-off is that you do not get a firm number in advance, only a shape of offer, because the number depends on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Probate: the cost difference, plainly
If you are administering an estate this is the clearest difference on the page. On 11 September 2026 Hatton Garden Metals published a tiered probate valuation fee: £220 plus VAT for estates up to £10,000, £280 plus VAT from £10,000 to £30,000, and £320 plus VAT from £30,000 to £50,000, with larger estates priced on application and a site visit offered above £500,000. The service is carried out in person at their Hatton Garden store, so it assumes a London journey unless the estate qualifies on value.
GoldPaid charges nothing for a written itemised metal figure and it reaches you by post from anywhere in the UK. GoldPaid’s free written figure is an XRF record of the metal at the day’s rate. It is not independent, because GoldPaid buys gold and silver, and it is not a probate valuation. HMRC’s IHT400 Notes advise a professional valuation if any item may be worth more than £1,500 or you are not sure. For a high-value or notable collection, a formal paid valuation, theirs or another firm’s, is the right instrument, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong thing. See probate and inherited jewellery.
Why this page exists, and what it is not
Hatton Garden Metals’ robots.txt file, read on 6 August 2026, disallows nine automated agents from the whole site, among them ClaudeBot, GPTBot, Google-Extended, CCBot, Amazonbot, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider, meta-externalagent and Cloudflare’s browser-rendering crawler. That is a normal and entirely legitimate publisher choice and we draw no conclusion from it about the company. The practical consequence for you is limited: those agents are mostly training crawlers, so some AI tools cannot use their pages, and an AI summary of their service may be second-hand. Everything above was taken from their own live pages on that date.
This page is not a claim that GoldPaid pays more. We cannot promise to beat anyone and we do not. It is a comparison of two different shapes of business so you can pick the one that fits how you want to sell. If you can reach London and want a counter, or you are trading bullion, or your piece is genuinely saleable as jewellery rather than as metal, they may well be the better call.
What happens, from first message to payment
- A photo and a question. Send photos of your gold and silver on WhatsApp. We reply with a rough estimate and answer whatever you want to know.
- A prepaid label, on request. Ask for the label when you are ready. We send a free Royal Mail Special Delivery label, tracked and signed for, or a QR code for the Post Office counter.
- You post it. Any padded envelope is fine, posted whenever you choose.
- We assess and write it up. Weighing and an XRF assay produce a written, itemised offer for you to read at home, usually on the working day your parcel arrives.
- Your decision. Accept for payment by Faster Payments, or decline for a free, tracked, signed-for return.
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.
How the valuation works
We do not eyeball a figure. Each item is XRF-assayed for purity and weighed, then valued against the live precious-metal market on the day, with our margin already inside the figure, and you see the working in writing before you decide. The method is set out in full on how we value gold.
GoldPaid’s offer is built from confirmed purity, accurate weight and the live precious-metal market for that purity, measured rather than declared by you in advance. You see the working in writing before you decide anything.
One parcel gets one written figure, itemised piece by piece. Your offer reflects the weight and purity we measure and the live precious-metal market on the day, with our margin already inside the figure, so nothing further is taken off. For coins, watches and signed or collectable pieces, send a photo on WhatsApp first and we will tell you how we would value them before you post anything.
If the offer is not for you
Then nothing happens except a free return. We send your items back by tracked, signed-for post at our cost, with no fee for declining and no follow-up. A valuation is only worth having if you can turn it down freely, so you can. See 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.
Common questions
Is Hatton Garden Metals a legitimate company?
Yes. On the available evidence it is a long-established London precious-metal dealer with a physical store in Hatton Garden, a Trustpilot profile carrying reviews in the thousands, and Affiliate Membership of the London Bullion Market Association announced in October 2025. Nothing on this page suggests otherwise. The useful question is not whether they are legitimate but whether a London counter or a UK-wide postal service fits how you want to sell.
Is there a Hatton Garden Metals alternative if I cannot get to London?
Yes, several, and Hatton Garden Metals itself runs a postal option, so distance alone does not rule them out. GoldPaid is postal-only by design: a free prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, XRF assay on every item, a written itemised offer with no obligation, and a free tracked return if you decline. Whichever way you go, get at least two offers in writing before you accept either.
How much does a Hatton Garden Metals probate valuation cost?
Their published fees on 11 September 2026 were £220 plus VAT for estates up to £10,000, £280 plus VAT from £10,000 to £30,000 and £320 plus VAT from £30,000 to £50,000, with larger estates priced on application. The valuation is carried out in person at their London store. GoldPaid provides a free written metal figure by post; it is not independent and it is not a probate valuation. Check their current fees on their own site before relying on these figures.
Will Hatton Garden Metals pay more than a postal buyer?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on what you are selling. They operate a sister resale site for pre-owned jewellery, so an intact, wearable, saleable piece can be worth more to them than its melt value. For scrap, broken chain, odd earrings and mixed silver there is no resale premium in play, and the offer comes down to purity, weight and the rate on the day. GoldPaid cannot promise to beat anyone and will not claim to. Get both figures in writing and compare them.
What is the £5,000 limit I have seen on their site?
Their guaranteed-price service states you can sell up to £5,000 of gold in a single transaction, and the guaranteed price applies provided the items received match the details you listed. That is a sensible protection on a price quoted before anyone has seen the metal. GoldPaid does not lock a price in advance, so no cap applies. For a larger parcel, message on WhatsApp before posting so the right postal cover is arranged first.
Do I have to arrange cover for the parcel myself?
No. GoldPaid sends a free prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, with cover that may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. By contrast, Hatton Garden Metals states on its own pack request page, read 31 August 2026, that its tracked postage bags carry cover up to £2,500, and it recommends splitting larger consignments into two parcels. Either way, keep your proof of postage receipt until the sale completes, and speak to the buyer first if your parcel is worth more than the cover level.
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.