Rough estimates where possible; your final offer follows inspection.
No obligation. Free tracked return if you decline. We aim to pay within one working hour of acceptance.
GoldPaid buys gold and silver from Bournemouth by post: no shop visit, no pressure. Ask your questions first on WhatsApp, send a photo of what you have, request a free tracked Royal Mail Special Delivery label only when you are ready, and decide only after you have seen a written offer back from us.
Send a photo on WhatsApp for a rough estimate where possible, or arrange to post your items for assessment. We confirm our purchase offer after inspection, and you decide whether to accept. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Free Special Delivery label, usually within 30 minutesPurity tested in-house by X-ray (XRF)
Checked against the sources listed on this page on .
Do I need to visit a shop in Bournemouth?No. GoldPaid serves customers in Bournemouth by post using a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label. You do not need to visit a shop. The label arrives by email and you post your items from any UK Post Office.
Please send us photos on WhatsApp, and we will help you.
Send photos of your items and any hallmarks. We give a rough estimate where possible; your final offer follows inspection. You do not need to arrange postage to ask us a question.
We arrange postage with you after our conversation.
Before you post
The questions people ask before they send anything, answered here rather than at the end of the page.
Can I ask first?
Yes. WhatsApp a photo to 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm, every day, and we reply with an idea of what it is worth. Nothing is posted until you decide.
Is it safe to post?
Your parcel travels by Royal Mail Special Delivery, tracked and signed for. 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.
How is it tested?
Your parcel is signed for on arrival and opened at our Bristol office, where each item is weighed and tested with an XRF analyser, an X-ray test that reads the metal without marking it. Your written offer lists each piece with its weight, purity and figure.
What if I say no?
We return everything by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. Saying no costs you nothing.
When am I paid?
Only if you accept the written offer. We aim for the money to reach your bank within 24 hours of posting. We use Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, test your items promptly on receipt, and aim to pay by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance. The 24-hour target is an aim, not a guarantee: it depends on posting before the local cut-off, the applicable working-day delivery service, prompt acceptance, completed identity checks and bank processing.
How long does an offer last?
Each written offer is dated and holds for a limited time, because metal prices move. If it lapses, we re-run it at that day’s rate.
Who am I dealing with?
GOLDPAID LTD, registered in England and Wales, run by founder Rocco Clayfield. Our office is at Unit 217, Bristol Business Centre, 179 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG. We are postal only, so there is no counter to visit. Before we pay, we ask every seller for a photo of their passport or driving licence.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
The Russell-Cotes collection and marks from abroad
Sir Merton Russell-Cotes, mayor of Bournemouth and a local philanthropist, helped establish the town's first library and museum. In 1907 his wife Annie gave their house, East Cliff Hall, and its contents to the town as a museum, and Princess Beatrice formally opened it in 1919. The Grade II* listed villa, completed in 1901, displays objects gathered on the couple's travels, especially to Japan, alongside their paintings.
Collections built from travel raise a practical point about marks from other countries. Precious metal objects assayed and marked outside the UK must carry a mark that distinguishes them from items assayed here. A foreign piece is not worthless because its marks look unfamiliar.
The opposite trap is the bare number. A stamp of 925 on its own is not, strictly speaking, a hallmark. It is an unattested fineness mark, generally stamped by the maker, and a UK hallmark adds an independent test. Both kinds of item can be valued, but describing the marks accurately, with a photograph, saves time and avoids confusion.
Ask before you post, always
You never have to commit to anything to start. Message us on WhatsApp or call, tell us roughly what you have, and send a few clear photos for a rough estimate. Nothing leaves your hands until you decide it should, and there is no obligation even then.
GoldPaid is a UK-wide postal gold and silver buying service. Wherever you are, you sell gold or silver by post with a free tracked Royal Mail label. There is no shop to visit and no counter pressure.
Bournemouth in context, and how we handle what you send
Bournemouth is the largest town of the Dorset coast and sits at the centre of the BH postcode area shared with Poole and Christchurch. The town has a long Victorian resort heritage layered over a more recent professional, university and digital-services economy. Whatever an item turns out to be, the sequence is the same: ask questions first on WhatsApp, send a photo, post only when you are ready, and decide once a written offer is in front of you. Nothing is priced before it has been inspected.
Older jewellery is often unmarked or rubbed smooth, so we XRF-assay it rather than reading the stamp. Holiday-bought gold from Spain, Cyprus and Turkey carries unfamiliar hallmark formats, and the carat is settled by measurement rather than by what the stamp says.
What happens, from first message to payment
A photo and a question. Send photos of your gold or 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.
What a photo tells us, and what it cannot
Before your gold or silver is posted, a few clear pictures let us give you a rough estimate and point out anything you should know.
From a good photo we can usually read the hallmark and the mark of the assay office that tested the piece. We can spot purity stamps such as 375, 750, 916 and 925, which stand for 9ct, 18ct and 22ct gold and for sterling silver. We can judge approximate size and weight against a coin or ruler, and tell whether an item looks solid or plated. Marks like "GP", "rolled gold" or "EPNS", or base metal showing through worn edges, usually mean plating. Set stones, clasps and non-gold fittings are not precious metal, so we explain separately how they affect the value.
Photos guide an indicative figure only. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market. We confirm the firm offer after an XRF assay of your own items. See the gold hallmark guide and scrap gold value for more.
How we value what you send
Every offer is built from measured facts: confirmed purity, accurate weight, and the live precious-metal market on the day we test your items, with our margin already inside the figure. You see each figure in a written breakdown before you decide anything. See how we value gold and XRF testing explained for the full method.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market. Your written offer applies the weight and purity we measure to the live precious-metal market, with our margin already inside the figure.
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.
A Bournemouth BH-postcode parcel from the Dorset coast
Bournemouth uses the Royal Mail BH postcode area from BH1 through BH11, covering the town centre out through Westbourne, Boscombe, Southbourne, Winton and Charminster. Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed handles any BH postcode on the standard next-working-day route into our address, shared with Poole, Christchurch and the wider conurbation.
A mixed parcel makes no difference to the assay. Antique pieces, everyday modern gold, jewellery bought abroad and broken odds and ends can all travel together, and each is treated as its own item: separated by carat at XRF, weighed on its own, and given its own line and figure on the written offer. Nothing is averaged across the parcel.
From a Bournemouth Post Office counter, Royal Mail Special Delivery carries the parcel to our address. The thirteen-character Royal Mail tracking reference on the counter receipt is the only document you need. A phone photograph at the counter is enough, and the written offer follows by email.
Postage, tracking and cover
Every parcel uses Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked from the counter to our door and signed for on arrival. 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. For anything you think is worth more, contact us first and we split it across more than one prepaid label rather than send it in one parcel. The detail sits on postage and cover and is it safe to post gold?. If a parcel is lost on its way to us, the compensation claim goes to Royal Mail from you, the sender, using your Post Office receipt, and we give you our tracking records and help you make it. Lost parcels, step by step.
No obligation, ever
You are free to walk away at any point before you accept. Decline the offer and everything is repacked and returned to you free of charge, fully tracked and signed for. There is no assessment fee and no sales pressure afterwards. The detail is on 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.
Getting paid
Once you accept your written offer, we aim to pay by Faster Payments bank transfer within one working hour of your acceptance, directly to your account. No cheques to wait on, no conditions attached.
What backs the offer up
XRF spectrometry on every item, not a counter estimate
A written, itemised breakdown before you decide anything
Free tracked postage in, free tracked return out
No countdowns, no pressure, no fabricated reviews
An owner-run business whose founder, Rocco Clayfield, answers questions himself
What decides your offer
Every parcel is opened at our Bristol office and each piece is handled on its own. Nothing is averaged across the parcel.
Weight. Each item is weighed on scales. Stones, steel springs, non-gold clasps and cores are not paid as gold. The written breakdown explains the payable metal weight for each item, rather than treating everything on the scales as precious metal.
Purity. Each item is tested with an XRF analyser, which reads the metals at the points tested without marking the item. A surface reading alone cannot establish the composition of a plated or filled piece. Hallmarks, construction and different components all need to be considered alongside the test.
The market on the day. Gold and silver are priced against the live precious-metal market at the time your parcel is assessed, not at the time you posted.
Condition and intact value. Broken is fine and does not reduce a metal offer. Where a piece is worth more intact (a named maker, a collectable coin, a locket with provenance) we tell you before testing, so you can choose.
Anything that is not gold or silver. Plated, rolled-gold and base-metal items are listed on the offer at nothing and returned to you free. We never quietly keep them.
Why we do not publish a per-gram price list. A single printed rate hides the things that change the figure: hollow versus solid, stones, mixed carats in one bag, a mark that does not match the metal. We would rather show you the weight, the tested purity and the figure for each item, in writing, and let you decide. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
What you see before you decide. A written, itemised offer by WhatsApp or email: every item, its weight, its tested purity, and its figure. Accept and we aim to pay by bank transfer within one working hour. Decline and the whole parcel comes back by Royal Mail Special Delivery at our cost. No fee, no deduction, no questions.
How long does a parcel from Bournemouth take to reach you?
Royal Mail Special Delivery from any BH-postcode address normally reaches our address the next working morning. We usually weigh and XRF-assay your items the same day, and the written offer is emailed back to you during working hours on the day it arrives.
Can I ask questions before I post anything?
Yes, and we recommend it. Message us on WhatsApp or call, ask anything about the items, the cover, the testing process, or the return route if you decline. Nothing has to be posted until you are satisfied with the answers.
How is the parcel cover arranged?
The label we send is Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, fully tracked and signed for. 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. If your items may be worth more than £2,500, send a rough total weight first and we can split them across more than one prepaid label at no charge.
What happens if I do not accept the offer?
Your items are returned to you free of charge by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail Special Delivery. There is no fee, no pressure and no obligation to accept. You keep the written offer as a record.
How should I photograph my items before posting?
Lay each item flat on a plain surface in good daylight, then take one clear overall photo and a close-up of any hallmark or carat stamp. Photographing items next to a coin or a ruler helps show their size. From those photos we can usually read hallmarks, spot carat stamps and tell whether something looks solid or plated, which is enough for a rough estimate on WhatsApp.
Do I need to clean or polish my gold before sending it?
No. Please send items as they are. Value comes from the weight and purity of the precious metal, not the shine, and gentle wear, tarnish or small repairs make no difference to a postal valuation. There is no need to remove stones or dismantle anything either; set stones and non-gold parts are simply accounted for separately.
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.
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.
Message us with a clear photo of your items on WhatsApp, or call. There is no obligation at any stage and the only commitment is your decision to accept a written offer once you have seen it. Free tracked return if you decline.
