You stay in control
A photo on WhatsApp is enough for us to tell you which testing pack fits, what the report can and cannot tell you, and what it will cost. Only when you are comfortable do you order the pack.
No part of this involves a shop visit. The testing service is postal-only, anywhere in the UK, with the phone and WhatsApp answered 8am to 9pm, seven days a week.
What independence means here
Plenty of gold buyers will offer a "free test" if you send your item in. That is a sales tool, not an independent service: the buyer’s offer is the product, and the test exists to set the offer. Nothing wrong with that on its own, but it is not independence.
On the testing service, the report is the product. You pay for it. The report tells you the composition of the item, and that is the end of the transaction unless you ask for something more.
The five fire-wall rules
- You pay for the report. The testing fee is the consideration. Nothing in the report is contingent on the buying side of the business.
- Nobody is paid more for a conversion. GoldPaid is a small, owner-run business with no sales floor and no commission scheme, so nobody working on a test earns anything extra if a testing customer goes on to sell. The incentive is to write the best possible report, not to convert.
- The report contains no offer. An indicative scrap-equivalent value is shown at the spot rate on the test date, clearly labelled as not an offer. There is no "we would pay X" line anywhere in the report.
- You have to opt in. If you want an offer afterwards, you ask for it. We do not chase. There is no follow-up sequence, no upsell email and no nudge after a test.
- The escalation route is named. Where the test result is contested, the report points you at the UK Assay Office fire-assay route rather than at our own re-test, so the route to a definitive answer never sits inside GoldPaid.
Why this exists in writing
Customers come to a postal testing service because they want a straight answer. The minute they suspect the test is just the setup for a sales conversation, the report loses its value. We say so openly because the fastest way to keep the report honest is to make the fire-wall visible.
If, in practice, you find any of the five rules being broken (an upsell email, a chase after a test, an offer embedded in a report), tell us straight on WhatsApp and we will fix it. The pledge is the standard, not a slogan.
If you do want a no-obligation offer
You can. Ask on WhatsApp, give us the item details (the XRF report is helpful but not required), and a written quick indicative figure comes back the same day. There is no pressure to accept, free return if you decline, and the same Royal Mail Special Delivery cover applies. The buying side of the business runs at sell gold by post in the UK. Go there directly when you want it.
Postal cover and safety
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, and if a parcel may be worth more than that we split it across more than one prepaid label at no charge, each with its own tracking number and cover.
Tracking begins the moment the parcel is scanned at the Post Office counter. You receive the tracking reference straight after we issue the label, and again the moment the parcel arrives with us.
What you get back, and when
Your item is returned by Royal Mail Special Delivery on the same working day the report is issued. Return postage and its cover are included in the testing fee. There is no separate return charge.
If, for any reason, an item cannot be tested (badly damaged surface, non-metallic core, equipment misalignment), we tell you straight, refund the testing fee, and return the item the same day.
What this report is, and what it is not
The report identifies the elemental composition of an item to the accuracy of the analyser. It does not replace a UK hallmark, an Assay Office fire assay, or a written valuation from a qualified valuer for insurance reinstatement purposes. We say so in plain English on the front page of every report.
If a report leaves any doubt, we will tell you what the next step would be, typically a UK Assay Office fire assay (destructive but definitive) for high-value disputes, or a written insurance valuation from a qualified independent valuer for reinstatement cover.
Built to be trusted, not just believed
- Owner-run, with founder Rocco Clayfield personally accountable for the service
- Every item XRF-assayed, the result shown to you in writing
- Free tracked postage both ways, so a valuation is genuinely no-obligation
- Honest about its limits, including when a specialist would suit you better
- No fabricated reviews and no invented numbers, anywhere on the site
Common questions
Can a testing customer become a selling customer?
Of course. Many do. The testing report tells them the item is solid 18ct gold and they decide afterwards to sell. The point is that the order of operations is theirs. They ask for the offer; the offer does not ambush them.
Why does the report show an indicative scrap-equivalent value at all if not as an offer?
Because it is the most useful single number for someone deciding what to do with the item next. Holding it back would make the report less useful. Labelling it openly as not an offer is the right balance.
What if I want the test and an offer in the same workflow?
Ask. We run both in one go, so you receive the test report and a separate written quick indicative figure for the same item, each clearly labelled. The two outputs are kept distinct on purpose.
Has the pledge ever been broken?
Not that we know of. If it happens, this page is where it gets recorded, along with what we did about it.
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.
Request a prepaid Royal Mail label for your XRF test
Two quick steps. Tell us which pack you want in the box below and we will confirm the price and how to pay before anything is charged. The label itself is prepaid and costs you nothing, and your items are returned to you free once the report is issued. Testing is a separate, paid service: if you are here to sell rather than to have items tested, the assay is free as part of selling and how it works is the page you want.
Two things worth knowing before you start, rather than after. Everyone sends a photo of a UK passport or driving licence, whatever the parcel is worth — it applies to every seller, so it is never a comment on you. And the parcel is handed in at a Post Office counter rather than dropped in a postbox: the receipt they give you is the proof of postage any compensation claim depends on.
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.