How much is scrap gold worth?

The short formula

Every valuation of scrap gold, from a pawnshop counter in Manchester to a refinery in Switzerland, comes down to the same arithmetic: net weight in grams × fineness × spot price per gram × payout percentage. The first three terms give the melt value, the price a refiner would pay for the metal with no margin. The last term is the buyer's share, and it is the only number that really varies between offers.

Net weight means the weight of the gold parts only. Stones, pearls, steel springs inside clasps, watch movements and any plated or base-metal components are not paid for. Fineness is the share of pure gold in the alloy: 0.375 for 9 carat, 0.585 for 14 carat, 0.750 for 18 carat, 0.916 for 22 carat and 0.999 for 24 carat. The spot price is the wholesale price of one gram of pure gold, which is derived from the price per troy ounce (31.1035 grams) quoted on the international market.

Our scrap gold calculator does all of this with the live price and lets you set the payout percentage with a slider, so you can see exactly what a 70%, 80% or 90% offer means in money.

A worked example

Say you have a 9 carat chain that weighs 12 g, an 18 carat ring that weighs 4 g with a small diamond, and a 14 carat pendant of 3 g. The diamond weighs about 0.1 g, so the ring's net gold weight is 3.9 g. The pure gold content is 12 × 0.375 = 4.5 g, plus 3.9 × 0.75 = 2.93 g, plus 3 × 0.585 = 1.76 g, a total of 9.19 g of fine gold.

Multiply 9.19 g by today's spot price per gram and you have the melt value of the whole lot. If the spot price were 100 per gram in your currency, the melt value would be 919; a high-street shop paying 65% would offer about 597, while a specialist paying 88% would offer about 809. The difference — more than 200 on a small handful of jewellery — is the reason to learn this formula.

Notice that the 12 g chain, the heaviest item, contributes less than half of the pure gold. Low-carat jewellery is mostly copper and silver, so weight alone tells you very little. Always price each karat separately, which the calculator lets you do by adding several items.

What share of melt value you should expect

Payouts follow the cost structure of the buyer. A jeweller or pawnshop on a busy high street has rent, staff and testing costs and sends small lots to a refiner a few times a year, carrying the price risk in between. A specialist scrap buyer or bullion dealer handles far more metal, tests with XRF analysers and sells to refiners weekly. A refinery itself deals in kilograms and charges a small fee.

• High-street jewellers and pawnshops: typically 50–75% of melt value.
• Cash-for-gold postal services: 40–80%, and the first offer is often the lowest.
• Specialist scrap gold buyers and bullion dealers: 80–92%.
• Refiners (usually for 100 g of fine gold or more): 95–98% minus an assay or refining charge.

Factors that change the value of your scrap gold

Karat matters more than anything else. 18 carat gold is worth exactly twice as much per gram as 9 carat, and 22 carat almost two and a half times as much. If an item is not stamped, a buyer will test it with acid on a touchstone or with an XRF gun; ask them to do it in front of you and to tell you the result.

The spot price moves every minute the market is open. A 3% move in a week is common, and in volatile months gold has moved 10% or more. If you are selling a meaningful amount, check the live gold price and the price charts and compare quotes on the same day.

Lot size changes the percentage. A single ring may attract a lower rate than a bag of jewellery, because the buyer's fixed costs are spread over fewer grams. Combining items, or selling with family members, can push you into a better bracket.

Condition is mostly irrelevant for scrap: broken chains, single earrings and dented rings are all melted. The exception is jewellery that is worth more as jewellery. Signed pieces from known makers, antique items with clear hallmarks and gem-set pieces with good stones should be appraised before you treat them as scrap.

Scrap gold value per gram at a glance

Because fineness is fixed, you can read the value of any karat as a share of the spot price per gram: 9 carat is worth 37.5% of spot, 10 carat 41.7%, 14 carat 58.5%, 18 carat 75%, 21 carat 87.5%, 22 carat 91.6% and 24 carat 99.9%. Our karat price table shows today's figures for each, and every karat has its own page — for example the 18k gold price per gram or the 9 carat price in pounds.

For coins the logic is the same but even simpler, because the gold content is guaranteed by the mint. A Krugerrand contains exactly one troy ounce of gold and a British sovereign 7.32 g. See the gold coin melt values for every common coin.

How to check an offer in two minutes

Before you visit a buyer, weigh your items on a kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g, group them by hallmark and enter them into the calculator. Write down the melt value of each group. When you get an offer, divide it by the melt value: that is the buyer's payout percentage. Anything under 60% for a decent lot is a poor offer; anything over 85% is good for a retail seller.

Ask the buyer to state the weight and karat they are paying for. If their weight is lower than yours by more than a few tenths of a gram, ask to see the scale. Reputable buyers use trade-approved scales and will happily show the reading. Our guide on how to sell gold covers the rest of the process, including ID requirements and payment.

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is treating the gross weight as gold. The second is accepting a single flat price for a mixed bag without asking how it was worked out — buyers often price everything as the lowest karat in the bag. The third is selling in a hurry at the first shop you walk into. Gold does not go off; taking a day to compare two or three quotes almost always pays.

Finally, be wary of items stamped GP, GF, RGP, HGE or 1/20 12K. These are plated or gold-filled and contain very little gold. Our hallmark guide explains how to tell real gold marks from plating marks.