A question costs nothing
Before you decide anything, send a few clear photos of your gold bullion on WhatsApp, or call. You will get an honest quick indicative figure and a straight answer about hallmarks, the postal cover, the XRF assay or the free return if you decline. None of it commits you to posting.
GoldPaid is a UK-wide postal gold and silver buying service with no branches. The flagship guide, selling gold by post in the UK, walks through how the whole thing works before you send a thing.
Gold bullion we buy
- Gold bars and ingots of any weight, 1g, 1oz, 100g, 1kg and larger
- 999.9 fine gold
- Branded bullion, PAMP, Metalor, Umicore, Royal Mint and others
- Cast, poured and minted gold bars
- Gold bullion coins, Britannias and Sovereigns
Bars are accepted with or without their original assay cards or sealed packaging. We pay for confirmed fine-gold content, not the card.
Cast bars and minted bars, what changes when you sell
A cast bar is poured into a mould and left to cool, so the face is uneven and the edges rounded. A minted bar is cut from rolled strip and struck, so it has sharp edges, a flat face and usually a sealed card.
- Cast bars are more common from 100g to 1kg, with refiner, weight, fineness and serial number stamped into the face.
- Minted bars are usual below 100g and normally arrive sealed in a tamper-evident card repeating those details.
When you sell for metal the distinction largely stops mattering: both are paid on confirmed fine-gold content and weight. One 1kg cast bar and ten 100g minted bars hold the same gold, and the premium paid on a small minted bar is not recovered in full on a metal sale. See gold bar values for size-by-size figures.
Assay cards, serial numbers and what to send
Every recognised investment bar carries a unique serial number, stamped into a cast bar or printed on the card of a minted one. Photograph it before posting: it records exactly what left your hands, and it lets the bar in the parcel be matched to the one you described.
- The bar itself. Do not clean, polish or file it, surface marks do not reduce the gold content.
- The assay card or certificate if you still have it. Helpful, never required.
- Sealed bars still sealed. Cutting a bar out removes the packaging that ties the printed serial number to the bar inside.
- Copies of any paperwork, invoice or dealer receipt. Keep the originals.
The full process, start to finish
- Ask, then send photos. Message us on WhatsApp with a few clear photos of your gold bullion. Lay items flat, in daylight if you can, and include any hallmarks or carat stamps in shot. We reply with a quick indicative figure and answer anything you want to ask. There is no charge and no obligation.
- Request the prepaid label. When you are ready, we email a free Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed label, tracked and signed for. No printer is needed: ask for a QR code and the Post Office counter prints it for you.
- Pack and post, tracked. Wrap items in any padded envelope or a small box and attach the label. Hand the parcel in over the Post Office counter so you get a receipt with the tracking number. Keep that receipt. There is no deadline.
- We weigh, test and value. On arrival each item is weighed on calibrated scales and tested by XRF spectrometry to confirm purity. You receive a written, itemised offer showing the weight, the purity, the rate used and the figure for each item, usually on the working day your parcel arrives.
- Accept or decline. Accept and you are paid by bank transfer on Faster Payments. Decline and everything is returned to you free of charge by tracked, signed-for post. The choice is entirely yours, and you do not need to give a reason.
New to posting valuables? Read the flagship guide on selling gold by post in the UK for a fuller walk-through of every step.
How a gold bar is verified
- Photo check first. We look at the stamps, the serial number and the form of the bar, and say honestly if anything looks wrong, before it is posted.
- Logged on arrival. The parcel is opened and checked against what you described, so the bar being valued is the bar you sent.
- Weighed and measured. A recognised bar is 999.9 fine, so its weight is its fine-gold content. Gold is unusually dense, so size and weight are checked against each other.
- XRF-assayed. The assay reads the fineness directly, at more than one point on the bar rather than a single spot.
- Written offer. You see the weight, the confirmed fineness and the figure in writing before anything is settled.
Where the figure comes from
There is no guesswork in the offer. We confirm purity by XRF assay, weigh on calibrated scales, and price against the live market rate on the day. Every one of those numbers appears in the written breakdown you receive before deciding. The full method is on how we value gold.
Gold bullion is the most direct thing to value: each bar is weighed and XRF-assayed to confirm the fineness, then valued against the live gold spot rate. Because investment bullion is 999.9 fine, the offer tracks the live market closely.
Postage, tracking and cover
Your parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery, and Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. Every parcel uses Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked from the counter to our door, signed for on arrival, and arranged with that compensation cover. For anything you think exceeds it, contact us first; we will arrange a suitable approach rather than leave a parcel underprotected. The detail sits on postage and cover and is it safe to post gold?.
Changing your mind is free
Declining costs you nothing. If the written offer does not suit you, say so, and your items come straight back by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail post at our expense. No fee, no questions, no chasing. See what happens if I decline the offer for the step by step.
Who this helps
This page is for an investor releasing part of a holding, and for a family that has inherited bars and wants the sale documented. Each bar is checked against its serial number and stamped weight, then weighed and assayed before any figure is written. Posting a sealed, tracked parcel also tends to feel safer than carrying high-value bullion into a high-street buyer.
When storing bullion stops feeling worth it
A bar bought as a long hold can quietly become a chore. The gold does its job; storing it does not. The reasons are familiar: home insurance that caps cover for valuables kept at home, a storage fee that renews every year, a house move, a spell abroad, or not wanting a relative to be the one who finds bars in a drawer. Selling part of a holding is a normal answer, and nobody has to send everything. Each bar is valued on its own line, so you can release two and keep the rest.
Tax on bars, and why coins are treated differently
This is the one point where bars and coins genuinely part company, and for anyone holding both it can change the order things are sold in. UK legal-tender gold coins, Sovereigns and Britannias among them, are exempt from Capital Gains Tax for UK residents whatever the gain. Gold bars are not legal tender, so a gain on a bar can be chargeable above the annual exempt amount. Investment gold is generally VAT-exempt. GoldPaid is not a tax adviser and this is general information, not advice, so check your position with HMRC or a qualified accountant.
Getting paid
Once you accept your written offer, payment is made by bank transfer using Faster Payments within one working hour of 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
Common questions
Do I need the assay card for my gold bar?
No. We confirm fine-gold content by XRF assay and weighing, so bars are accepted with or without their original assay cards or sealed packaging.
How close to spot is the offer for gold bullion?
Investment gold bullion is 999.9 fine, so the offer tracks the live gold spot rate closely, less our margin. Your firm offer is confirmed after the XRF assay and weighing of your specific bars.
Can I sell a high-value gold bar by post?
Yes. Message us before posting so we can confirm the right postal and cover approach for the value, including splitting items across more than one parcel where appropriate.
Should I open the sealed assay card before posting my bar?
No, leave it sealed. The card ties the printed serial number to the bar inside it. Bars with broken seals, or with no card at all, are still accepted; the XRF assay and the scales confirm the metal either way.
Do I pay Capital Gains Tax when I sell a gold bar?
Possibly. Gold bars are not legal tender, so a gain above the annual exempt amount can be chargeable, unlike UK Sovereigns and Britannias, which are CGT-exempt for UK residents. Investment gold is generally VAT-exempt. GoldPaid is not a tax adviser, so check your position with HMRC or an accountant.
What if I decline the offer?
Your bullion is returned to you free of charge by tracked, signed-for Royal Mail post. There is no fee for declining and no follow-up pressure.
Request a free prepaid Royal Mail label
Tell us where to send it. The label arrives by email, usually within about 30 minutes during working hours. Requesting one commits you to nothing: you get a written offer after the XRF assay, and if you decline, your items come back to you free.
Would you rather ask a question first, or send a photo? Message us on WhatsApp . It is the fastest way to get a sense of what something is worth before you post anything.
Related pages
- Sell bullion
- Sell silver bullion
- Sell gold & silver coins
- Gold bar values, 1g to 1kg
- Sell 24ct gold
- Sell gold bars by post, the full guide
- Postage & cover
- Gold price today, UK rates
- Silver price today, UK rates
- UK gold hallmark guide
- How we value gold
- Sell inherited and probate jewellery
- Sell antique gold and jewellery
- Sell broken gold jewellery