Buyer types
Nobody on this list is a recommendation. The percentages in the first three rows are the same labelled estimates the scrap gold calculator uses. They are not a survey of named firms, and a small lot often lands at the low end. Where a percentage would be a guess, the cell says the offer varies and why.
| Buyer | Payout | Speed | Risk | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mail-in refiner | About 85–95% of melt. Typical, varies. | Days, plus shipping and assay. | You part with the metal before you are paid. Insurance and a written assay matter. | A clean, weighed lot large enough that shipping is worth it. |
| Local jeweler | About 65–80% of melt. Typical, varies. | Same day if they buy scrap across the counter. | Quotes differ sharply between shops. Some would rather sell you a new ring. | A modest lot, and a second opinion you can walk to. |
| Pawn shop | About 50–70% of melt. Typical, varies. | Fast cash. | The business is loans as well as buying. A low percentage can be the product. | Speed, when you have already checked melt and can walk away. |
| Coin and bullion dealer | Typical, varies. Identifiable bullion is often nearer melt than a bag of mixed rings. Damaged or odd pieces are priced as scrap. | Same day for common coins. | A dealer may price the collectible market, which can be above or below melt. | Coins and bars a mint actually made, not plated copies. |
| Online marketplace | You set the asking price. Fees, shipping and returns come out. Not a melt percentage. | However long the listing takes. | Non-payment, switches, and the cost of your time. You are the seller of record. | A piece someone wants as jewelry, not as anonymous grams. |
| Estate sale or auction | Typical, varies. A desirable piece can beat melt. Fees and a weak day can land under it. | Weeks, on the sale calendar. | Seller’s commission, a reserve you might miss, and no guarantee of a bidder. | Named makers, intact sets, and pieces with a story a scrap buyer will not pay for. |
“About 85–95%” does not mean a refiner owes you 95. It means, on this site, that band is the labelled top of the scrap range, and real contracts move with weight, whether the lot is already melted, and how the buyer handles under-karat surprises. If your lot is a pair of earrings, expect a worse percentage than a workshop’s sweepings. The methodology page records the bands as estimates.
Prepare the lot
Sort by karat before you leave. 10K, 14K, 18K and 22K are different metals for this purpose. A buyer who weighs them together and pays one price has blended your gold with your alloy. You can still sell that way. You should know what you gave up.
Weigh each pile on your own scale and write grams or pennyweights on a note. Photograph the pieces and the scale. You are building a record, not a court case. If a shop’s weight is far from yours, you want to notice before you nod.
Write down the spot price at the time you leave, and whether your calculator said Live or Sample. Shops do not have to use the same feed. They do have to tell you which price they used if you ask. The calculation guide is the arithmetic you will be replaying at the counter.
Pull out anything plated or gold-filled. A single GF chain in a 14K pile is how a careful buyer cuts the whole offer, and how a careless one pays you for gold that is not there. Stones you can remove without harm belong in a separate bag. Stones you cannot remove should be mentioned, so nobody pretends the carat weight is grams of gold.
Questions to ask a buyer
- What did it weigh, and in what unit? Pennyweights and grams must not be mixed in your head. Ask them to repeat the number while you look at the scale.
- What karat did you assign to each pile? “It tested around 14” is a start. “The 18K pile tested 17.2 and we are paying 14K” is a different deal. Write the number they will actually pay on.
- What gold price are you using? Per troy ounce, and as of when. Then you can see whether the gap is their percentage or a stale price.
- What percentage of melt is this offer? If they will not say, divide their offer by your melt estimate. The quotient is the percentage, even if they prefer not to name it.
- What fees come off the headline? Assay charges, refining charges, shipping and a “lot fee” change a pretty percentage into a smaller cheque. Ask for the net.
- When do I get paid, and by what method? Same-day cash, a cheque after assay, or a wire. “Soon” is not a date.
How to read an offer
Compute melt on the scrap gold calculator from your weight and the karat they claimed. The offer box on that calculator takes the amount they named and shows it against melt. You are looking for a percentage you can live with, not for a moral victory over the spot price.
Work an example in symbols. If melt is M and the offer is O, the share is O ÷ M. An offer that is half of melt is a 50 percent payout, whatever story sits around it. If their weight is lower than yours, redo M with their weight before you argue. The gap might be stones they removed, or a scale you should watch a second time.
Compare offers from the same afternoon. A jeweler at 70 percent of a morning price and a pawn shop at 60 percent of an afternoon price are not yet comparable until both are on one spot price. The calculator’s Custom price is for that replay. Label it as custom when you do it, so you do not pretend it was the live feed.
A good offer is specific. Weight, karat, price per troy ounce, fees, net cheque, date. A weak offer is one round number and a reason to hurry. You can say no. The metal will still be metal tomorrow, and the spot price will have moved, which is a reason to recompute, not a reason to freeze.
Mail-in safety
Shipping gold is handing a stranger a parcel and trusting a process. Read that process before you buy a label. A serious refiner publishes how to pack, how they assay, what happens if the assay is under the stamp, and how you are paid. Match the parcel to that process.
- Photograph every piece and your scale. Keep the photos off the parcel.
- Pack so stones and thin chains are not loose, and so the outside does not announce the contents.
- Use a trackable service and insure for an amount you can explain. Insurance is not a promise the carrier will agree with your melt math. Read the policy.
- Do not ship to an address you only saw in an unsolicited message.
- Ask for an itemised receipt: received weight, assayed fineness, the gold price, fees and the net. A single “we paid you” total is not an itemised receipt.
- Know the hold. Some firms wait until the assay clears. “Paid when we feel like it” is a hold you did not agree to. Get the window in writing before the gold leaves.
If the assayed karat is far under your sort, you should be able to ask what was in the melt. A contract that says they may return the metal, or pay the lower karat, is something you accept at the start. Discovering it after the melt is how disputes stall.
Scams and red flags
- A buyer who will not weigh in front of you, or who cups the scale.
- A test you are not allowed to watch, followed by a karat far below the stamp and no chance to take the piece back.
- Pressure, a “today only” board, or a price that expires while you are still in the chair.
- Requests to ship first and “see what we can do,” with no published assay terms.
- Offers to pay in store credit at a higher “percentage” that only spends in that shop.
- Anyone who says this website, or any calculator, guarantees their price. We do not.
- A story that your gold is “only plated” when you can see a clear solid-karat hallmark and they will not show the test.
Leaving is free. If the conversation makes the numbers harder to write down, that is the information. Get a second test from the list in is my gold real? before you accept a surprising karat.
When selling as jewelry beats scrap
Melt value is a floor for anonymous metal and a ceiling only if nobody wants the object. A signed piece, a matched set, an intact antique, a well-set stone or a coin with a collector market can clear more than melt in a jewelry sale, an auction or a dealer’s case. Scrapbing it turns that possibility into grams.
The break-even is not a formula this site will fake. It is a question: would a person pay more for this object than a refiner will pay for its gold? If you do not know, ask a jeweler who sells used pieces, and ask a scrap buyer, on the same day. The gap between those conversations is the jewelry premium, positive or negative. Stones you would pay to reset belong on the jewelry side of the line. A cracked shank with no stones belongs on the scrap side.
Coins need the same split. The coin melt calculator prices the metal. A common bullion coin often trades near that metal plus a premium a dealer can explain. A rare date can trade far above it. Do not melt a question you have not identified.
A note on taxes
Selling gold can be a taxable event. Whether it is, and how the gain is measured, depends on where you live, what you sold, and what you paid for it years ago. Jewelry, coins and bullion are not always treated the same, and a loss is not always useful. Nothing on this page is tax advice, and the calculators do not know your cost basis.
Keep the receipt from the buyer: date, description, weight and the amount paid. The page on whether scrap gold is taxable points at the IRS forms that describe a sale. It is general information. Ask a tax professional before you decide a cash sale does not need a record. The professional can apply the rule where you live. This site cannot.
Questions
Who pays the most for scrap gold?
Mail-in refiners often pay the highest share of melt, because that is their business, and the site’s labelled band is about 85 to 95 percent. That is typical and it varies with weight, purity and the contract. A local jeweler is often lower and faster. No band is a quote.
Is a pawn shop a bad place to sell gold?
It is a fast place, and the labelled band on this site is about 50 to 70 percent of melt, typical and variable. Use it when speed matters more than the last percent, and still ask for weight, karat and the gold price they used.
Should I sell a ring as scrap or as jewelry?
Scrap ignores the maker, the stones and the demand for that design. If the ring is intact, signed or set with stones someone would reset, show it as jewelry first. Broken, anonymous, stone-less metal is what scrap buyers are for.
How many offers should I get?
Two or three, on the same day, against the same melt value. Offers for the same gold can sit far apart. An offer you cannot break into weight, karat and price is not comparable.
Is mail-in refining safe?
It can be, if you insure the parcel, use a trackable service, photograph the lot, and keep an itemised receipt that states weight, assay and the price. A buyer who will not put the assay in writing is a reason to stop, not a reason to ship more.
Do I owe tax when I sell scrap gold?
Rules differ by country and by whether you are selling jewelry, coins or bullion, and by what you originally paid. This page is not tax advice. Ask a tax professional before you assume a scrap sale is invisible.
Can this website buy my gold?
No. ScrapGoldCalc does not buy gold and does not refer you to a buyer for a fee. The calculators estimate melt value so you can judge an offer someone else makes.
What is a red flag in a gold-buying shop?
A price with no weight, a scale you cannot see, pressure to decide before you write the numbers down, a vague “we pay the most,” and any request to ship gold before you have a written process. Leave.
This is a melt-value estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.