Why GoldPaid exists
I started GoldPaid because most people who want to sell a piece of gold have a perfectly reasonable question, "what is this actually worth?", and the existing routes do not answer it well. A counter can put a figure on the spot, and a postal pack can end in a single take-it-or-leave-it number, in both cases with no working shown. GoldPaid is built on the opposite idea: explain the maths, weigh and test every item, put a written breakdown in front of you, and let you decide at home in your own time.
The dishonest economics in this category
A lot of postal gold buyers advertise "best price guaranteed" or "highest price paid in the UK". Read it carefully and there is no maths behind it. No one can guarantee the best price without knowing every competitor’s margin, every day, and no one publishes that. The phrase is a marketing claim, not a fact. The same problem applies to any undated, unaudited "we pay 95% of spot" headline: without a date, a defined method, an itemised breakdown and a verifiable calculation on the piece in front of you, the percentage is a slogan rather than a promise.
Can any gold buyer honestly promise the highest price?
Why we do not claim "highest price"
A postal assay service costs real money to run. The XRF spectrometer, the Royal Mail Special Delivery label on every parcel, the free tracked return when you decline, the time to write up an itemised offer rather than blurt a number over a counter, the bank fees, the AML checks, none of that is free. We have to take a margin to pay for those things and to make GoldPaid sustainable. So we will not pretend the margin does not exist. What we will do is keep it honest, show the working, and let our offer compete on transparency rather than on a slogan.
The four operating principles
- Ask first. Message GoldPaid on WhatsApp with a photo or a question before anything else. Nothing has to leave your hands until you are ready, if ever.
- Photo first. A clear photo and a weight gives us enough to send back a rough estimate. That is the start of the conversation, not a commitment.
- No shop. GoldPaid has no high-street branch anywhere. No counter, no opening hours, no overhead in the offer.
- Decline free. If the offer is not for you, your items come back free of charge by Royal Mail Special Delivery, tracked and signed for. There is no fee for declining and no follow-up.
Why we will never publish fake reviews
GoldPaid is a young service. Real customer trust grows slowly, and that is how it should work. We will never buy reviews, write reviews, or pad a star rating. Our reviews are collected and hosted by Trustpilot, where GoldPaid cannot edit or remove them; the reviews page links to the profile. If we ever have to choose between an empty reviews page and a faked one, we will choose the empty one.
Why we publish documented assays
Every offer we make comes with a written, itemised breakdown: each piece, the XRF-confirmed purity, the weight in grams, the per-gram rate we used that day, and the figure we are offering. You can check the arithmetic. If it does not add up, tell us. We would rather you push back on a sum than feel quietly suspicious about it. The full method is on how we value gold.
Royal Mail Special Delivery, both ways
Every parcel we ask you to send travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, fully tracked and signed for, and Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. We pay for the label in, and we pay for the tracked return out if you decline. A higher-value lot is split across more than one prepaid label at no charge, and we tell you how before you post anything. See postage and cover for the detail.
How we will know we are doing well
We are not going to put up a "10,000 happy customers" counter. We have no way to verify a number like that and neither does anyone else who prints one. Instead, here is what we are watching:
- A growing corpus of genuine, attributable customer reviews, written by real sellers, published as they come in. No padding.
- Referrals from small jewellers, charity shops and probate solicitors, because those only come if the service is good.
- Returning customers and recommendations to family. Repeat sellers and word-of-mouth are the only honest measure of whether a service like this is working.
Rocco Clayfield
Founder, GoldPaid
Common questions
Why does GoldPaid not guarantee the "highest price"?
Because no postal buyer can verify that claim. No one publishes every competitor’s margin, every day. We will not print a slogan we cannot defend. What we will do is show you the rate we used on your items, the XRF-confirmed purity, the weight and the arithmetic, so you can check it.
What is the margin you take?
It varies by item, weight and carat, and it pays for the XRF spectrometer, Royal Mail Special Delivery postage both ways, free tracked return if you decline, AML checks and the time to write up an itemised offer. We will not pretend the margin is zero. We will keep it honest and shown.
How do I hold GoldPaid to its position?
Push back on any figure that does not add up, purity, weight, per-gram rate, total. Use the complaints procedure if a response falls short. Tell us on WhatsApp or write to goldpaiduk@gmail.com. We would rather hear it and fix it than miss it.
What happens if I am not happy with the offer?
You decline and your items come back free of charge by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail. No fee for declining, no follow-up pressure, no "discounted" second offer to manipulate the decision.
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.