Scrap gold calculator

How scrap gold is valued

Three numbers decide the scrap value of gold: how pure it is, how much it weighs, and the gold price that day. Multiply them and you have the melt value, which is what the pure gold in your pieces would fetch at the market price. A buyer then pays a share of that.

Say the gold price is $4,000 per troy ounce and you have 10 grams of 14K chain. There are 31.1034768 grams in a troy ounce, so the gold spot price per gram is $128.60. Your chain is 58.33% gold, which makes it 5.83 grams of pure gold with a melt value of $750.18. A buyer paying 80% would offer $600.15.

That's all the scrap gold calculator does. It runs the same sum for every item you add and totals them.

What the karat stamp means

Karat counts parts of gold out of 24. The rest is copper, silver, zinc or nickel, added to make the metal harder or change its color. Look inside the ring band or near the clasp for a karat mark or a three-digit number, which gives the purity in parts per thousand.

A 585 stamp claims 58.5%, a hair above 14 divided by 24. If you want to match the stamp exactly, pick "Other" and type the purity yourself. A stamp is a claim, too. Buyers test with acid or an X-ray scanner, and old or repaired pieces sometimes come in under their mark.

Troy ounces, ordinary ounces and pennyweight

Gold is priced by the troy ounce, which is 31.1 grams. The ounce on a kitchen or postal scale is 28.35 grams. Mix them up and you'll be off by almost 10%.

Some buyers weigh in pennyweight, written dwt. One pennyweight is 1.555 grams, and 20 of them make a troy ounce. A price quoted per pennyweight looks bigger than the same price per gram, so convert before you compare two offers. Grams are easiest. A pocket scale that reads to a tenth of a gram costs little and tells you what you have before anyone else weighs it.

Why offers come in below melt value

The buyer has to melt your pieces, have the metal assayed, and pay a refiner to separate the gold. There's rent and staff. The price can move between the day they pay you and the day they sell. And they need a profit. All of that comes out of the gap between melt value and your offer, and how wide a gap each buyer takes is their own choice.

How to get a fair quote

• Know your number first. Run the calculator at home so you can turn any offer into a percentage of melt.
• Ask two questions. What share of melt do you pay, and what's your price per gram for each karat today?
• Watch the weighing. Each karat should go on the scale separately, in front of you, in units you recognize. A mixed pile priced at the lowest karat costs you money.
• Get more than one quote. We'd collect at least three, on the same day, before letting anything go.

Our guide on how to sell gold covers the kinds of buyers and what to expect from each.

What the calculator doesn't cover

• Gemstones. Stones add weight on the scale and no gold. A scrap buyer may pay nothing for them, so ask for them back or have them valued on their own.
• Plated and filled items. Marks like GP, GF, HGE, RGP or "1/20 14K" mean a thin layer of gold over base metal. The gold content is a small fraction of the weight, and many scrap buyers won't take these pieces.
• Coins and bars. Bullion sells close to the gold price, and some coins carry collector value on top. Selling either one as scrap can leave money behind. See gold bars vs. coins and collectible coins vs. bullion.
• Pieces worth more whole. Signed, antique or finely made jewelry can sell for more than its metal. Get it looked at before it goes in the melt pile.
• Taxes and fees. Mail-in charges, testing fees and any tax on a sale aren't included.

Keeping your gold, or thinking of trading scrap for bullion? Read buying physical gold outside an IRA and where to store physical gold.