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 sterling silver by post from anywhere in the UK: silver jewellery, mixed 925 lots and anything stamped 925 or carrying the lion passant. Silver is paid on weight, so quantity matters more than it does with gold. Send a photo first and we will tell you whether it is worth posting. The prepaid label and the return if you decline are free.
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)
How much sterling silver do I need before it is worth sending?There is no minimum imposed by us, but there is a practical one. A few small items rarely justify the effort; a canteen of cutlery, a tea set or a few hundred grams of 925 jewellery usually does. Send a photograph and we will tell you honestly which side of that line yours falls on before you post anything.
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.
No pressure to begin with
Asking commits you to nothing. A WhatsApp message with a couple of photos of your sterling silver gets you a rough estimate 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.
The honest answer on whether silver is worth posting
Silver is worth a small fraction of gold per gram, so the arithmetic works differently and it is better to say so plainly than to let you discover it after posting. A single sterling ring holds only a few grams of silver, which rarely justifies the postage for either of us, and we will tell you so rather than take the parcel.
Where silver becomes genuinely worth sending is quantity. A canteen of cutlery, a tea service, a set of napkin rings, a tray, a collection of 925 jewellery accumulated over decades, these run to hundreds of grams and sometimes into the kilos, and they are easily overlooked in a house clearance precisely because nobody thinks of them as valuable.
Send a photograph before you send anything else. If your silver is not worth posting, that is a two-minute conversation and you have lost nothing.
Reading a sterling hallmark, and what is not sterling
British sterling silver is 925 parts per thousand fine and carries a lion passant, a walking lion in profile, alongside an assay office mark and a date letter. That lion is the quickest thing to look for, and it is why UK sterling is unusually easy to identify compared with most European silver.
The mark that catches people out is EPNS: electroplated nickel silver. It is not silver at all beyond a microscopic plated layer, it appears on an enormous amount of British tableware, and it has no scrap value. So do "silver plate", "A1", "Sheffield plate" and similar. We do not buy plated items and we do not charge to return them, but knowing what the letters mean before you pack a box saves you the disappointment.
A plain "925" stamp with no other marks is usually genuine sterling but is not a UK hallmark, and it is assayed like anything else rather than taken on trust. Our UK silver hallmarks guide works through the marks in detail.
Weighted and filled items, where the honesty actually matters
This is where silver can disappoint, so it is worth understanding before you post. Candlesticks, some trophies and most silver-handled knives are weighted: the silver is a shell over a filling of pitch, plaster or resin that exists to stop them falling over or to hold the blade. A pair of candlesticks can weigh two kilos and hold a couple of hundred grams of actual silver.
Only the silver is payable, so a quote based on gross weight will not survive the scales. We weigh what is payable, show it on the offer, and show it separately from the gross weight so you can see exactly where the difference came from.
The same applies to knife blades, which are almost always stainless steel in a sterling handle, and to bases that have been filled or bolted. None of it is a trick (it is just how these objects were made), but it needs to be on the paperwork rather than in the small print.
Please do not polish it first
Tarnish is a surface effect and it makes no difference at all to the assay or to the weight, so cleaning silver before sending it gains you nothing. Aggressive polishing can lose you something: it removes a thin layer of metal every time, and on an antique piece it can flatten the hallmark and the patina that made the item worth more as an object than as scrap.
If a piece might be collectable rather than scrap (a named maker, an early date letter, a complete cased set), say so and we will look at it on those terms instead. There is more on this in cleaning silver before selling, which is mostly an argument for leaving it alone.
Comparing silver buyers
Sterling silver is bought on weight, so a large lot is what makes it worth posting. Silver is bought on weight and on how much of that weight is actually silver, so the number worth comparing between buyers is not a headline figure but what reaches you once weighted bases, filled handles and non-silver fittings have been taken out.
The fair comparison is the written, itemised offer. Look at the payable silver weight it works from, whether the assay method is shown, whether anything is charged, and whether the return is free if you decline. GoldPaid charges nothing to test, quote or return your silver, and shows the gross weight and the payable silver weight as separate lines. There is more on how we assess your gold and silver.
Getting it here safely
We email you a Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed label, usually within 30 minutes between 8am and 9pm: tracked end to end 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. Print the label at home, or ask for a QR code and the Post Office counter prints it for you. If your items are worth more, message us before posting and we split them across more than one prepaid label. There is more on postage and cover. 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.
How payment reaches you
Accept the offer and we aim to send the money by Faster Payments within one working hour of your acceptance, straight to the bank account you provide. There are no cheques and no strings.
What you see before you decide
GoldPaid makes no price-beating claims. You get the XRF reading, the weight and the figure for every piece in writing, and you decide at home.
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.
Look for a lion passant, a walking lion in profile, alongside an assay mark and a date letter. If you find the letters EPNS, or the words silver plate or Sheffield plate, it is plated and has no scrap value. A plain 925 stamp is usually sterling and is assayed to confirm it.
Do you buy silver-handled knives?
Yes, but the honest position is that the blade is almost always stainless steel and the handle is filled to hold it. Only the payable silver counts, and both the gross and payable weights appear on your written offer so you can see the difference.
Should I clean or polish it before posting?
No. Tarnish makes no difference to the assay or the weight, and heavy polishing removes metal and can soften a hallmark. On antique pieces it can reduce what the item is worth as an object rather than as scrap.
Do you buy silver coins as well?
Yes, including pre-1947 British silver coinage, which is a different fineness from sterling and is priced accordingly. Those have their own page at sell pre-1947 British silver coins, because face value and silver content are two entirely different numbers.
What cover applies when I post a heavy box of silver?
Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used, and GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. For a heavy canteen it is worth telling us the rough weight first so the right service is used rather than assumed.
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 sterling 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.
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.
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.
One picture of everything laid out is usually enough for us to say whether it is worth posting and which postal option fits. If it is not worth sending, we will say so.
