To get an accurate picture of how much your gold is worth, obviously you need an up to date price.

As a traded commodity the price of gold fluctuates constantly, however all the gold buyers that we’ve come across so far base their price on the London Gold Fixing.

London gold prices are fixed twice a day at 1030am and 3pm London time by five members of the London Bullion Market Association. You can read more about the London Fixing over at Wikipedia.

For our purposes we will display the price in Pound Sterling per Troy Ounce as published by the London Bullion Market Association, and the equivalent values of the lesser carats based on that price.

Current Price of Gold – 2nd August 2011

Remember these prices are equivalent to the prices gold bullion is traded for on the markets and represents the maximum value of your gold.

This doesn’t take into account the cost of turning your scrap gold into bullion or the profits of the gold buyers. 80-90% of this value is realistically the most you can expect to receive and personally I would view with suspicion any goldbuyer offering this value and higher (unless of course their website simply hasn’t been updated following a significant price change).

For help calculating the value of your gold, refer to our guide: “How much is my gold worth”

If you have weighed your gold in either grammes or imperial ounces (for example on the kitchen scales) you can find the equivalent prices broken down on the following pages:
Gold Price Per Gram
Gold Price Per Ounce

Related posts:

1. Selling Gold – Guide to getting the best price
2. Gold Price per Ounce
3. Scrap Gold Prices

If you are thinking of selling gold, the chances are you have noticed the never-ending stream of adverts on the TV informing you that gold prices are at an all time high and now is the time to cash in.

Whether you should sell now or take a chance on the price rising further is a decision no one can make for you, but assuming you decide to sell, one thing is for sure – You want the best price possible.

The only way to be sure you are being offered a fair price is to know beforehand what your gold is worth.

You hear horror stories of online companies offering 20% of the value then only improving their offer when you ask for the items returned.

If there are independent jewellers nearby you can ask them for a valuation, even then it’s good to have an idea in your head as to the true value.

Our How Much is my Gold Worth guide will help you calculate the true value based upon the current market price. Remember this is only a guide and the amount you are offered will generally be less to accomodate the buyers profit margin, but ideally that will be no more than 10-20%.

Once you have an idea of the value, you can set about selecting one of the numerous gold buying sites to do business with.

Some sites display the prices they are offering – Although you will be offered the price on the day they process your items, you can get a good idea of their profit margins by simply deducting the price they are offering today from the actual value you can see on any decent news or financial trading site.

The sites that don’t display prices work on the principle that you send your gold off, they assess it and contact you with a valuation (or in some cases simply send you a cheque, which you are at liberty to return if you disagree with the amount).

These companies know that once you have gone to all the trouble of sending off your loot, you are likely to accept what they offer you (especially if you have the cheque in hand) rather than quibble about the price.

This is why it is essential to know what your items are worth beforehand, don’t be afraid to haggle – remember it is easier for them to simply increase their offer than to package and return your items, losing out on the postage, insurance etc that they have already paid for.

It is certainly possible to get good money for your gold at the moment if you enter the transaction with your eyes open. Best of luck, and feel free to drop by with comments, positive or negative of your experiences selling gold.

For an alternative way to make some easy money – I’d sell my phone

Related posts:

1. How To Make Money Fast For Christmas
2. How to tell what your gold is worth
3. Scrap Gold Buyers

The biggest concern most people have about sending their gold off in the post to a gold buying company believe it or not is not whether their items will be lost in the post (you can insure against that) but whether they will actually receive the true value of their gold.

This guide shows you how to estimate the value of your gold before you send it off.

Please bear in mind that the gold buyers are not interested in any gems and will remove them before weighing your piece(s).

Also if you have an item that you think has particular value because it is antique or is a designer piece, you are advised to seek an independent valuation. The value you’ll get from an online goldbuyer is based on what they’ll get for melting it down

If you have several pieces of jewellery to send off, repeat this process for each item.

1) Check that your item is real.

The easiest way to check if your gold (or silver or platinum for that matter) is real is to hold it up to a magnet. Real gold is NOT MAGNETIC – even gold that isn’t pure won’t contain enough metallic alloys to be attracted to a magnet. If your item is magnetic, chances are it’s worthless.

2) Check for hallmarks or stamps.

The only way we can estimate a value before sending off our jewellery is if we know the purity of the gold. Luckily most gold in the UK is stamped with a hallmark. Make a note of the markings -

This table will show you the purity percentage.

9k 375 37.50%
14k 583 58.33%
18k 750 75.00%
22k 917 91.66%
24k 999 99.90%

If you don’t see any markings you can still send your gold off to have it tested, but this guide will only be able to provide you with a very vague estimate.

3) Weigh your item (preferably in grammes).
Gold buyers have very accurate scales, the more accurate the scales that you can weigh your item on, the more accurate your estimate will be. Don’t forget to remove any gems or embellishments that aren’t gold before weighing the item.

4) Find the current price of Gold (preferably per gram).
Please bear in mind that if the price you get is per ounce, they are talking about a ‘troy ounce’.
A Troy ounce is a unit of measurement used almost exclusively these days in precious metals markets.
The difference between a troy ounce and a regular ounce?
31.103 grammes = 1 Troy Ounce
28.35 grammes = 1 normal everyday imperial ounce

Most online gold buyers will show their current prices on their websites. At the time of writing this they are quoting £22.50/gram.

5) Grab a calculator!

The most you can expect to receive will be as follows

Weight in grammes X Price per Gram X Purity Percentage

Example
10grammes x £22.50 x 37.5% (9carat) = £84.38

Please Note: Some sites may list prices for 9k, 14k etc – in that case just use that figure rather than applying the purity percentage to the pure gold value.

Hopefully this guide will help you decide whether it is worth your while selling your gold, and avoid any surprises when you get your valuation.

If your still undecided about selling gold, why not consider selling your phone

Related posts:

1. Selling Gold – Guide to getting the best price
2. Current Price of Gold
3. Scrap Gold Buyers