How much do gold buyers pay?

Measure every offer against melt value

Melt value is what the pure gold in your pieces is worth at today's gold price: the weight, times the purity of the karat, times the price. A 14K piece is 58.3% gold, so 10 grams of 14K holds 5.83 grams of pure gold. Here's the math for 14K, with the same for 10K, 18K, and 22K.

An offer is easiest to judge as a percentage of that number. Gold is at $3,942 an ounce right now (the Kitco bid).

What consumer tests have found

Most of these tests date from the gold boom of 2009 to 2012, when mail-in kits were heavily advertised. We found no published test of buyers that post their rates as a percentage of the gold price. Percentages marked "about" are worked out from the dollar figures each test reported.

Why offers for the same gold differ so much

• The first offer is often the low one. Consumers Union told Congress in 2010 that first offers from mail-in services could be "as little as one-third of the actual value." In the tests above, offers went up when sellers complained or mentioned another offer.
• Mail-in offers can come after you've shipped, with a short window to say no. In one service's terms, the window started on the date the check was issued, so a check slow in the mail left less time to decline.
• Karats get weighed together. Palm Beach County's consumer affairs office warns about buyers who put all your gold into one pile, which can price 18K as if it were 14K, and about buyers who weigh in pennyweight (1.555 grams) and pay as if it were grams.
• Someone else's costs come out of your price. At gold parties, the same office notes, host commissions and the buyer's costs mean gold "may be bought at up to half of what it is really worth."

How to get a fair offer

• Know what you have: the karat stamp on each piece (see how to read gold stamps) and the weight in grams.
• Work out the melt value before you talk to anyone.
• Ask every buyer two questions: what percentage of melt value do you pay, and a percentage of which gold price? A good-sounding percentage of a buyer's own "spot" price, or of an old one, can be worth less than it sounds.
• Have each karat weighed separately, and watch the scale. In California, a buyer's scale should be sealed by a county weights and measures official and read zero before weighing, and you can ask for a weighmaster's certificate.
• Get more than one offer, in writing, and tell buyers you're comparing.
• Before mailing gold anywhere, read how long you have to turn down the offer and when that time starts, and insure the package for its full value. See how to ship gold safely.

What we pay

We publish our rates as a percentage of the live Kitco bid: 94% of melt value for scrap and karat gold, and 96% for gold coins and bars. At today's price that's $69.46/g for 14K gold. Your written estimate states your rate before you ship anything. See all our current bids →

Scrap prices are per gram of metal after melting, not per gram of what you send. Stones are removed, and dirt, glue, springs, and anything else that isn't gold or silver burn off or separate out, so the weight paid is usually less than your scale shows.

More: who pays the most for gold · the best place to sell gold

Sources

• Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, May 13, 2010, reporting Consumer Reports' 2009 mystery-shopper test.
• ABC News, "Gold Rush: People Rush to Sell Gold Instead of Finding It", Good Morning America, March 2009.
• CBS News, undercover test of a traveling gold buyer, May 30, 2012.
• CBS12 News, "Seller beware: offers from gold buyers vary widely despite record values", November 4, 2024.
• Palm Beach County Consumer Affairs, "Gold Party: Hidden Treasure" tip sheet.
• California Department of Food and Agriculture, "Selling Gold for Holiday Green?", December 20, 2011.

We pay more than pawn shops, jewelers, and mail-in gold kits: in Consumer Reports' tests, jewelers and pawn shops paid 36% to 71% of melt value, and mail-in kits 11% to about 29%. We pay 94% for scrap gold. Who pays the most?