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 is a UK-wide postal gold and silver buying service, and you sell from Lancaster by post: no shop visit, no pressure. Ask your questions first, send photos on WhatsApp, post with a free tracked Royal Mail Special Delivery label when you are ready, and decide only after you have seen a written offer.
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 Lancaster?There is nothing to visit in Lancaster. GoldPaid is fully postal: you receive the prepaid label by email, drop the parcel at any Post Office counter, and the whole exchange continues by WhatsApp or email from your own home.
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 Silverdale Hoard and its first show at Lancaster City Museum
In September 2011 a metal detectorist found over 200 pieces of silver jewellery and coins in a field outside Silverdale. Buried around AD 900, the hoard included 27 coins, 10 arm-rings, two finger-rings, 14 ingots and 141 fragments of arm-rings and ingots chopped into hacksilver. Together they weigh a little over a kilogram.
A Lancashire coroner declared it treasure on 16 December 2011, and Lancashire County Museum Service bought it in 2013. Its display at Lancaster City Museum from October to December 2013 drew record attendance. One coin carries the name AIRDECONUT, a ruler not otherwise known, which is why the find matters to historians.
Viking owners chopped arm-rings and ingots into hacksilver and still used the pieces as currency. The metal kept its worth after it was cut, and the same applies to a snapped bangle, a knotted chain or a ring worn through at the back. There is no need to repair a broken piece before selling it. Keep any fragments together in one bag, and mention any marks you can find on the larger parts.
How selling gold from Lancaster by post works
GoldPaid serves customers in Lancaster by post using a prepaid Royal Mail label. You do not need to visit a shop. We do not run a shop or branch in Lancaster, and we do not need to: you never have to travel, you are not committed to anything until a written offer is in front of you, and you are free to turn it down.
From an LA-postcode address, the sequence runs like this.
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.
The first step is a conversation, not a commitment. Send a photo of your gold or silver on WhatsApp, or call, and you will get a rough estimate and a straight answer to anything you want to ask. You decide what happens next.
Because GoldPaid works entirely by post across the UK, you do all of this from home, in your own time. No shop, no queue, and nobody watching over your shoulder while you think.
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.
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.
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.
Posting gold from an LA postcode
The LA postcode area covers Lancaster and the districts around it. A parcel handed in at any Post Office counter inside that area joins the same Royal Mail Special Delivery pipeline; Royal Mail does not run a different track based on where you post from.
Check your branch’s opening hours on the Post Office branch finder, and keep the counter receipt: it carries the tracking number.
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.
Declining, made simple
A quick message is all it takes to decline, and you do not need to give a reason. Your items are then returned free of charge on a tracked, signed-for service, with no fee and no pressure to reconsider. What happens if I decline the offer covers it fully.
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
Common questions
How long does it take from Lancaster?
Royal Mail Special Delivery from Lancaster is a next-working-day service to us. The assay, the weighing and the written offer normally all happen on the day of arrival, and if you accept the figure we aim to send your bank transfer by Faster Payments within one working hour of acceptance.
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 if you decline. Nothing needs to be posted until you are satisfied with the answers.
How is the Royal Mail cover arranged?
Special Delivery Guaranteed is the only postage we use. It is fully tracked and signed for. 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. If your items may be worth more than that, tell us first and we will confirm the appropriate postal option.
What happens if I do not accept the offer?
Decline and everything comes back free of charge, tracked and signed for. We do not charge an admin fee for it, and nobody rings you afterwards to talk you round.
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.
The full process, start to finish
Ask, then send photos. Message us on WhatsApp with a few clear photos of your gold or silver. Lay items flat, in daylight if you can, and include any hallmarks or carat stamps in shot. We reply with a rough estimate 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 and tested by XRF spectrometry to confirm purity. You receive a written, itemised offer showing the weight, the purity 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 via 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.
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.
Start with the easy bit: a clear photo of what you have on WhatsApp. Everything that follows, the label, the post, the assay, the offer, only happens because you have asked for it.
