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.
How a trade account works
- One monthly retainer that covers account management, dedicated WhatsApp routing, the private dashboard, and the priority queue.
- A per-item rate for every item tested, billed at the end of the month.
- Bulk prepaid envelope packs posted to your address so a parcel can go out the day a job arrives.
- A 48-hour SLA from receipt to report. Pawnbroker on-call jobs run on a 4-hour photo-first SLA.
- A private dashboard showing every job logged, scanned and dispatched, with downloadable PDFs.
- A single monthly invoice with full VAT detail, suitable for charity finance teams and small accounting practices.
The five trade tiers
| Tier | Retainer | Per item | SLA | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charity Shop Starter | £59 / month, first month free | £5 | 48 hours | High-street charity branches handling donated jewellery. |
| Pawnbroker On-Call | none | £20 | 4-hour photo SLA | Pawnbrokers needing a fast second opinion when in-house testing is contested. |
| Solicitor / Probate | none | £195 per probate pack | 48 to 72 hours | Solicitors handling estates that include jewellery. |
| Auction House | price on request | volume-based | 48 hours | Regional auction houses cataloguing jewellery lots. |
| Standard Trade | £99 / month | £8 | 48 hours | Antique dealers, estate clearers, refiners. |
The process, step by step
- Start with a photo. A clear WhatsApp photo of the item is enough for us to tell you which pack fits, what the report will show, and what the price will be.
- Pay and get your label. Once you order, a free Royal Mail Special Delivery label and a QR code for the counter are emailed straight back.
- Send it in your own time. Use any padded envelope. The label stays valid until used. There is no time pressure on you.
- Tested by handheld XRF. Each item is scanned at multiple points with a Thermo Scientific Niton XL2 precious-metal analyser. The full elemental table goes into the report.
- Report inside 24 to 48 hours. A written PDF report arrives by email, and your item is dispatched back on the same day, fully insured.
How items travel
Your parcel is insured up to £2,500 via Royal Mail Special Delivery. For higher cover we can arrange a tracked courier before you post, with the cover level agreed in writing first.
Special Delivery is signed for at every handover. We send a confirmation by WhatsApp when the parcel reaches us, and the same again on the return leg once the report has been issued.
If something cannot be tested
Items are returned by Royal Mail Special Delivery the same day the report is signed off. Return postage and insurance are part of the testing fee, not an extra at the end.
On the rare occasion an item cannot be read accurately, you receive a full refund of the testing fee and the item is returned the same day, with a short note explaining what happened and what an alternative test would involve.
Testing is testing
Plenty of gold buyers will offer a "free test" if you send your item in. That is a sales tool, not an independent service. This page is the other way round: you pay for the test and the report stands on its own. Whether you sell anything afterwards is a separate decision, and one we do not get involved in unless you ask.
The full reasoning is on the dedicated independence pledge page.
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.
The proof, not the promise
Anyone can say "best price". GoldPaid does not. Instead the process is laid bare: a measured XRF assay, calibrated weighing, the live market rate, and a written breakdown you read at home before you commit to anything. The reassurance here is structural, built into how the service works, rather than asserted in a slogan.
Common questions
Can I trial an account before committing?
The Charity Shop Starter tier is first month free by default. For the standard trade tier, we offer a 5-item trial at the per-item rate before the monthly retainer kicks in.
How does invoicing work?
A single monthly invoice on the first working day of the following month, with VAT detail, item logs and the dashboard reference for every job. Payment is 14 days net by bank transfer or direct debit.
What is the dashboard like?
A private URL with a login. Every job appears with timestamp, item photo, scan trace, PDF report and status (received, scanning, dispatched). Audit-friendly and exportable to CSV.
Can a trade account refer customers to the consumer side?
Yes — and that referral path is open and named. Trade accounts and consumer customers stay separate in the system; the independence pledge applies to both.
Related pages
- Charity shop starter tier
- Pawnbroker on-call tier
- Solicitor / probate tier
- Auction house tier
- How testing works
- Pricing — all tiers
- Independence pledge
- Sample report
- XRF vs hallmark vs acid test
- Probate pack
- Trade accounts
- Gold price today, UK rates
- Silver price today, UK rates
- UK gold hallmark guide
- How we value gold