Sell gold by post from Northern Ireland: same UK service, same free label

The Broighter gold and the Dublin harp on older Ulster silver

In February 1896 two ploughmen, Tom Nicholl and James Morrow, turned up a hoard of Iron Age gold outside Limavady in County Londonderry. The Broighter Gold, from the 1st century BC, includes a miniature ship, torcs, a bowl and chain necklaces. After a 1903 court ruling it went to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, and replicas of the collection are kept at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Dublin also explains the marks on a lot of older family silver from across the island. The Dublin Assay Office was set up in 1637 to assay and hallmark gold and silver made throughout the whole of Ireland. Its crowned harp was struck on 22ct gold and sterling silver, a date letter system followed in 1638, and from 25 March 1730 a figure of Hibernia was added to show that duty had been paid.

An older teapot or spoon handed down in an Ulster family may therefore carry the harp, Hibernia and a Dublin date letter rather than a British town mark. Those marks help to date a piece and confirm its standard, and a clear photo of them lets us tell you what we see before anything is posted.

No pressure to begin with

Asking commits you to nothing. A WhatsApp message with a couple of photos of your gold from Northern Ireland gets you a quick indicative figure and a straight answer to any question. Whether you post anything is your call, made later.

GoldPaid has no high-street branches. It is postal-only and UK-wide, so you never have to travel.

Is the process different from a Northern Ireland address?

The one small honest note: a handful of remote BT addresses and some island addresses may see the occasional next-working-day-plus-one, which Royal Mail flags on the tracking. That is a delivery timing point, not a service point, the parcel is still covered and still tracked throughout.

The five-step process from Northern Ireland

1. Send photos on WhatsApp to 07944 014111, or fill in the form on request a prepaid label. UK number, same reply times (8am to 9pm, seven days).
2. Free label emailed to you, usually within about 30 minutes during working hours. Print at home, or ask for a QR code and the Post Office counter prints it for you.
3. Hand the parcel in at any Post Office branch. Every BT postcode is served by a Post Office branch; keep the proof-of-postage receipt with the tracking number until the sale is complete.
4. Next-working-day delivery to us for the great majority of BT postcodes, with tracking updates through the Royal Mail network.
5. Written XRF-backed offer, and Faster Payments to a UK account on acceptance, or a free tracked return by Royal Mail if you decline.

The process, step by step

1. Get in touch and show us. A WhatsApp photo of your gold from Northern Ireland is all we need to give you a quick indicative figure before anything is posted.
2. Get your free label. We send a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, fully tracked. If you have no printer, a QR code for the counter does the same job.
3. Send it at your own pace. Wrap it in any padded envelope and hand it in at a Post Office whenever it suits you.
4. See the written offer. Everything is weighed, metal is XRF-assayed and any stones are assessed separately, usually on the working day your parcel arrives. You then get an itemised breakdown showing exactly how the figure was reached.
5. Decide. Say yes and the money is sent by Faster Payments. Say no and your items come straight back, free and tracked.

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.

Where the figure comes from

We measure purity with XRF, weigh every item, and value it against the live precious-metal market on the day we test, with our margin already inside the figure. Every one of those numbers appears in the written breakdown you receive before deciding. The full method is on how we value gold.

The XRF test, the weighing and the per-item written breakdown are identical whether your parcel travelled from Belfast, Bristol or Birmingham. Every offer depends on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live market on the day.

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.

Northern Ireland postal cover, in plain terms

Every parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, and Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. For NI as for the rest of the UK, higher-value consignments are best split across more than one parcel so each is sent within the cover level set on its own label; message us before posting and we arrange it. Full detail on postage and cover.

How your parcel travels

Your items travel on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, fully tracked and signed for on delivery. 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, message us first and we can split them across more than one prepaid label at no charge. See postage and cover for the full picture. 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.

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 Special Delivery at our expense. No fee, no questions, no chasing. See what happens if I decline the offer for the step by step.

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.

Why postal is often the better route from NI

Specialist postal gold buyers cluster in Great Britain, and a Belfast or Derry seller can otherwise face a ferry-plus-drive to reach a comparable counter valuation. Posting removes that entirely: the parcel travels tracked, you compare a written itemised offer at home in your own time, and if it does not suit you the return is free. Local Northern Ireland jewellers remain a perfectly good route for face-to-face conversations, particularly for antique or signed pieces where a specialist opinion beats scrap; the two are not mutually exclusive.

Being paid

If you accept, we aim to pay by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance, directly to your bank account. It is the last step, and a simple one.

Why sell to GoldPaid

GoldPaid is a small, owner-run UK business built on one promise: show the working. Every item is weighed and XRF-assayed, and every offer is itemised in writing. Postage is free and tracked both ways, and there is never a countdown or a hard sell. If something is worth more to a specialist than to us, we say so.

Common questions