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 Shaftesbury by post, with no shop to visit. Nothing about selling from Shaftesbury involves a shop. You ask first, send photos by WhatsApp, post with a free prepaid Royal Mail label of your choosing, and the written offer is yours to weigh up at home.
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)
Do I need to visit a shop in Shaftesbury?No. GoldPaid serves customers in Shaftesbury by post using a prepaid Royal Mail label. You do not need to visit a shop. The label is sent to you 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.
How selling gold from Shaftesbury by post works
GoldPaid serves customers in Shaftesbury by post using a prepaid Royal Mail label. You do not need to visit a shop. We work the same way for every UK address, so a Shaftesbury seller gets the identical postal process, the same assay and the same written offer as anyone else.
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.
You do not have to post anything to get an answer. Ask your questions first and send photos of your gold or silver on WhatsApp for a free rough estimate. Request a label only when you are comfortable.
This is a UK-wide postal service with no branches anywhere. Wherever you live, it works the same way: a free prepaid Royal Mail label in, a written offer back, and a free return if you decline.
A note on Shaftesbury, and how each item is assayed
Shaftesbury is a hilltop Dorset market town with long views over the Blackmore Vale, known for its steep cobbled Gold Hill. It is a settled town serving a rural district on the edge of the county. Selling from Shaftesbury is done by post, UK-wide, so there is no shop to visit.
Wear does not reduce what gold is worth. A band worn thin over fifty years is worth what it now weighs at its measured purity, and the assay reads the metal under the surface rather than the surface itself.
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.
Posting gold from an SP-postcode address: how the next 24 hours go
The SP letters at the start of a Shaftesbury postcode place it in the Royal Mail SP area. There is no separate handling for the town itself, and a Special Delivery parcel normally reaches our address the next working morning.
A parcel can arrive with mixed contents: a worn chain folded beside an inherited brooch, a few single earrings, a piece of hallmarked silver. A mixed arrangement makes no difference to the assay. Each piece is separated by carat at the XRF analyser and weighed on its own before the written offer is built.
Whoever posts the parcel is handed a receipt with a thirteen-character tracking number on it. Photograph it at the counter; that number is the one piece of paper that matters until we confirm the parcel has arrived.
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.
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.
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.
Is selling by post right for you? Who we help in Shaftesbury
People sell gold and silver for all sorts of reasons. The situations below are the ones the service is built around, and each links to a page that explains it in more detail.
Broken and worn gold jewellery. Snapped chains, single earrings, bent rings, tangled or clasp-less pieces. Condition makes no difference; we pay for the metal.
Scrap gold. Odd, mixed-carat or unhallmarked pieces, each paid at its own measured carat rather than as a lump.
Gold sovereigns and coins. Send a photo of your coins on WhatsApp first and we will tell you how we would value them before you post anything.
Silver. Hallmarked tableware, cutlery, coins and jewellery, weighed and valued alongside any gold.
Unwanted jewellery of any kind. Gifts that were never worn, pieces from a past relationship, anything simply sitting unused in a drawer.
If none fits exactly, it makes no difference. Send a photo on WhatsApp and we will talk it through before anything is posted.
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
Can I send photos before I post anything from Shaftesbury?
Yes, and it is the best way to start. Send a clear photo of your items to our WhatsApp before anything is posted. We can give you an informed idea of what to expect and answer your questions while your gold stays safely with you.
How long does a parcel from Shaftesbury take to reach you?
Posted by Special Delivery from Shaftesbury, a parcel normally reaches us the next working morning. Items are normally assayed and weighed the day they arrive, the written offer is emailed the same day, and once you accept we aim to send the Faster Payments transfer within one working hour of acceptance.
Can I ask questions before I post anything?
Yes. That is how the service is meant to work. Ask us about the assay, the cover, the timing or the decline process first, by WhatsApp or phone, and post afterwards, never before.
How is the Royal Mail 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, tell us first and we can split them across more than one prepaid label at no charge.
What happens if I do not accept the offer?
If the offer is not for you, your items are returned free of charge by tracked, signed-for post. You keep the written offer as a record, and there is no obligation to sell.
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.
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.
Start with the easy part: a clear photo of what you have, sent to our WhatsApp. The label, the post, the assay and the offer all follow only because you have asked for them.
