Guide · Scrap Gold & Silver
How to Sell Scrap Gold: Get a Fair Price Step by Step
To sell scrap gold for a fair price, sort it by karat, weigh each pile in grams, and work out its melt value before you talk to any buyer. Then get at least two or three written offers and compare them as a percentage of that melt value. Buyers always pay less than full melt, but the gap between a good offer and a poor one can be large.
The whole process takes an evening with a kitchen scale, a magnifier and a calculator. Here's how to do it in order.
1. Gather everything and separate the real gold
Empty the jewelry box onto a towel. Broken chains, single earrings, an old class ring, a bent bracelet: for scrap purposes, condition doesn't matter. A snapped chain is worth the same per gram as one that still closes.
Now pull out anything that probably isn't solid gold. Look for stamps on clasps, ring shanks and earring posts with a magnifying glass.
- Keep: pieces stamped 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 24K or the number marks 417, 585 and 750.
- Set aside: pieces stamped GF, GP, RGP, HGE or EP. These are gold-filled or gold-plated and hold very little metal value.
- Unknown: unmarked pieces go in their own pile for a buyer to test.
Our guide to reading gold karat stamps shows every common mark, and if a piece is plated, the gold-filled vs gold-plated breakdown explains why it's rarely worth selling for metal.
2. Check for anything worth more than scrap
Before anything goes in a melt pile, ask whether it could sell for more as a finished piece. Signed designer jewelry, antique pieces, good watches and rings with valuable stones can be worth far more to a jeweler or reseller than their gold weight.
Gold coins are the same story. A pre-1933 US gold coin is 90% gold, but some dates and mint marks carry collector premiums, so read about what old US gold coins are worth before treating one as scrap. If you inherited a mixed box, take the possibly valuable pieces to an appraiser first.
3. Sort the real gold by karat
Karat tells you how much of the weight is actually gold. This is the single biggest reason a buyer's quote can look wrong, so keep each karat in its own bag.
| Stamp | Also marked | Gold share |
|---|---|---|
| 10K | 417 | 41.7% |
| 14K | 585 | 58.5% |
| 18K | 750 | 75% |
| 22K | usually just 22K | 91.67% |
| 24K | .999 | 99.9% |
Why bother? Because some buyers weigh everything together and pay you the 10K rate on the lot. If half your pile is 18K, that habit costs you real money.
4. Weigh each pile in grams
A digital kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 gram is good enough for a first estimate. Switch it to grams, zero it with an empty dish on top, and weigh each karat pile separately. Write the numbers down.
Expect buyers to quote in grams or pennyweight (dwt). One pennyweight is 1.5552 grams, and 20 pennyweight make one troy ounce. Our explainer on what a pennyweight is covers the conversion if a shop quotes you per dwt.
Stones, pearls and steel springs add weight but no gold. A buyer will deduct for them or ask to remove them, so do the same in your own estimate.
5. Work out the melt value
Melt value is weight × gold share × the gold price per gram. Today pure gold is about $130.92 per gram, which puts the karats at roughly:
- 10K: $54.59 per gram
- 14K: $76.59 per gram
- 18K: $98.19 per gram
- 22K: $120.02 per gram
The scrap gold calculator below does the sum for you. Enter the grams and karat for each pile and it uses the live gold price.
Scrap gold calculator
Add each item (or each karat) with its weight. Remove stones and non-gold parts first.
Melt = weight × purity × spot price per gram. Refiners and buyers deduct for assay, refining and profit, so offers are usually 70–90% of melt for karat jewelry.
A worked example
Say Maria has 12 grams of 14K chains and 6 grams of 18K rings, and, to keep the maths simple, pure gold is $100 a gram.
- 14K: 12 g × 0.585 × $100 = $702
- 18K: 6 g × 0.75 × $100 = $450
- Total melt value: $1,152
If a buyer lumps it all together as 14K, they'd count 18 g × 0.585 × $100 = $1,053, nearly $100 less before they even apply their payout rate. Sorting by karat keeps that money in your pocket.
6. Understand what buyers pay
No buyer pays 100% of melt. They have to test, refine and sell the metal, and they need a margin. What matters is the percentage they offer, so convert every quote into one.
Using Maria's $1,152 melt figure as an example, here's how different offers compare:
| Offer | Share of melt |
|---|---|
| $920 | about 80% |
| $690 | about 60% |
| $460 | about 40% |
These are illustrative figures, not market rates. Payouts vary by buyer, by the size of your lot and by karat, so the only way to know what's fair locally is to collect several quotes.
7. Compare the main types of buyers
Each type of buyer has trade-offs. For most people with more than a few grams, a local coin and bullion dealer or a jeweler who buys scrap is the best place to start, because you see the weighing in front of you and get paid on the spot.
| Buyer | Upside | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Coin or bullion dealer | Know metal prices, often quote openly as a % of spot | Some only buy larger lots |
| Jeweler | Can spot pieces worth more than scrap | Offers vary widely |
| Pawn shop | Fast cash | Often lower offers, may favor loans |
| Cash-for-gold store or event | Convenient | Lumping karats, rushed decisions |
| Mail-in buyer | Easy from home | Your gold leaves your hands before you see an offer |
| Refiner | Can pay close to melt on large lots | Minimum weights and fees |
Our comparison of cash-for-gold shops, refiners and pawn shops goes deeper on each one.
8. Sell at the counter without getting rushed
When you visit a buyer, bring your sorted bags and your written weights. Then follow a simple routine:
- Watch every piece get weighed, and check the scale is set to grams or dwt and zeroed.
- Ask the buyer to test and price each karat separately.
- Ask for the offer in writing, broken down by karat, with the weight and price per gram.
- Convert the offer into a percentage of your melt estimate.
- Walk away and compare. A fair buyer will still be there tomorrow.
Pressure is a warning sign. So is a buyer who won't say what price per gram they're paying. Our list of gold buyer tricks to watch for covers rigged scales, lumping and the "today only" pitch.
Timing, records and taxes
Gold moves every trading day, and your melt value moves with it. The chart below shows how the gold price has moved over the past year. Trying to time a peak is guesswork, but it helps to know whether today is far from recent levels before you sign.
Gold price chart (USD per troy oz)
Over the past year, gold moved from $4,122.00 to $4,072.10 per troy ounce (-1.21%), with a high of $5,318.40 and a low of $3,898.90 (daily closes).
Keep the buyer's receipt and any record of what you paid for the pieces. Profits on sales of gold may be taxable, and the rules depend on your situation, so check with a tax adviser before filing. You can follow the daily price on our live gold price page.
Your selling checklist
- Pull out signed, antique, coin and gemstone pieces for appraisal first.
- Set aside GF, GP, RGP, HGE and EP pieces.
- Bag the real gold by karat and weigh each bag in grams.
- Run the numbers in the scrap gold calculator on the day you sell.
- Get two or three written offers, each broken down by karat.
- Turn every offer into a % of melt and take the best one you trust.
Written by Editorial Team and checked against official sources under our editorial policy. Spotted an error? See our corrections policy.
