Most postal gold buyers feed a refinery: everything is scrap to them, whatever it is. Chapman Gold is a jeweller with a live shopfront, which means we can honestly pay more for pieces that deserve to be worn again. Our rates are published, our working is shown, and every parcel is opened on camera. No theatre, no lowballing, no haggling.

What is your gold worth today?

Fetching the live gold price…

Your weight on your scales gives your honest figure: no tricks, no deliberately mean estimates. When your piece arrives, our bench verifies the weight on calibrated scales and reads every mark under the loupe, and the published rate is applied to the verified facts. The rate you see is the rate you get.

How selling works

1. Photograph it. Six simple shots with your phone, listed below. Email them to us.
2. Our read within 24 hours. What it is, what we would pay, in plain English. Identification is free whether you sell or not.
3. Send it in. Royal Mail Special Delivery, and your postage is refunded in full when we buy. Pieces indicating £250 or more get a free insured send-pack. A copy of photo ID (passport or driving licence) comes with the parcel: no parcel is processed without verified identity, which protects you, us, and the piece's provenance.
4. Opened on camera, verified on the bench. One continuous shot from sealed parcel to the scales. Calibrated weight, every mark read under the loupe and photographed, and independent verification at a UK assay office on anything whose marks do not settle it. Testing is non-destructive: nothing is cut, filed or acid-tested without your explicit consent.
5. Your offer, showing the working. Verified weight, verified carat, the published rate applied, and the live gold price. The facts and your rate are locked. The pounds stay live, tracking the gold price to the very moment you accept, because currency moves every day, which is rather the point of gold. Your offer is open for seven days: accept at any moment, and that moment's figure, at the same live price this page shows, is what we pay. If the week passes, your piece simply comes home free and insured, unless you tell us you would like longer.
6. Paid the same day. Bank transfer on acceptance, every time. And if we do not buy, or you simply change your mind before accepting, your piece comes back to you free, insured, without argument.

The six photos

One standard set, so nothing is disputed later. Your phone camera is all you need: take the six shots one after another, then the button below opens your email with everything ready to attach. Daylight by a window beats any flash.

• The whole piece, flat on a plain background
• Beside a ruler or tape measure, so the length is readable
• On scales if you have any, with the reading visible
• Close-ups of every mark you can find: zoomed and in focus. Sharp photos of the marks beat pretty photos of the piece
• The clasp, the fittings, and any damage, honestly
• The back or inside

Just want to know what you have? Send one sharp photo of the marks instead and we will identify it free: try the Hallmark Identifier first if you enjoy a puzzle.

For the exceptional: consignment

Named, antique and exceptional pieces deserve better than a buy-it-now. Consignment lets your jewellery reach our collectors while you keep ownership until the day it sells. We photograph, research, hallmark-verify and present your piece to the standard you see across this site, and we agree the reserve with you before anything goes live. Consignment pays 110% of the metal value, paid when the piece sells.

Consignment is a conversation rather than a parcel: it is arranged in person or by agreement, and it is how we handle estates and collections too. Start the conversation, or simply mention it when you email your photos.

The terms, in plain English

• Published rates, no haggling. Everyone gets the same published rate. We will never pay less because someone needs the money quickly, and we do not negotiate down, ever.
• Online figures are indicative. They use your stated weight and carat. The offer that counts is made after our bench verifies both, and it always shows the working: weight, carat, rate, and the live price used.
• If we cannot be certain. Very occasionally a piece with no readable hallmark defeats non-destructive testing: heavy plating over a convincing core can fool non-destructive testing. We never guess, and we never cut, file or acid-test without asking. In that rare case we contact you with a straight choice: a tiny acid scratch test on an unobtrusive spot, done only with your consent, or your piece straight back, free and insured. No charge either way, and no offer is ever made on metal we have not proven.
• Your rate is locked for seven days. What is locked is the rate, not the pound figure. Once verified, your rate never changes. The pound figure is live, moving with the gold price up to the moment you accept, the same live price shown across this site: what you see is what we pay. Accept any time within seven days and the money arrives the same day. If the seven days pass without a decision, your piece returns free and insured, unless you ask us for more time.
• You can say no at any point. Decline the offer, or just change your mind before accepting, and your piece returns by insured post at our cost. Always free, no argument, no restocking nonsense.
• Postage refunded. When we buy, your Special Delivery cost is added to your payment in full.
• Who can sell. You must be 18 or over and the legal owner of the piece. Photo ID is required with every parcel, and no parcel is processed without it.
• Payment by bank transfer only. Never cash. Your money arrives the same day you accept, fully traceable, which protects your provenance as well as ours.
• Your photos and ID are held securely under our data retention policy, used only for this transaction and the records the law expects a serious buyer to keep, and never sold or shared for marketing.