Safety
Avoiding Gold-Selling Scams in the UK: Lowballs, Fake Scales & Postal Traps
Most UK gold buyers are legitimate, but the sums involved attract sharp practice. Here are the tricks to watch for — and why knowing your melt value beforehand defeats nearly all of them.
1. The undisclosed low payout
The most common "scam" is entirely legal: quoting a price that's a small fraction of melt and hoping you don't know the difference. Defence: get the melt value and a realistic payout band from the calculator first. If an offer is 40% of melt and fair is 85%, you'll spot it instantly.
2. Weight and carat games
- Downgrading carat: claiming your 18ct is 14ct or 9ct. Always know your hallmarks — see the decoder.
- Dodgy scales: reputable buyers use calibrated, trade-approved scales and let you watch. Weigh at home first so you know the ballpark.
- Mixing lots: valuing all your gold at the lowest carat present. Insist each carat is weighed and priced separately.
- Troy vs metric ounce: a troy ounce is 31.10 g, not 28.35 g — a sneaky way to under-weigh.
3. Postal traps
Mail-in refiners are usually the best payers, but use only reputable ones. Good signs: fully insured freepost, your parcel photographed/filmed on opening, a clear published per-gram rate, and a no-obligation offer with free return of your gold if you decline. Bad signs: no insurance, "melted on arrival" policies, or pressure to accept fast.
4. Pressure and "today only" offers
Any "this price is only good right now" line is a pressure tactic. Gold's value doesn't evaporate overnight. Walk away and compare.
Your one-line defence
Know your melt value and realistic payout before you talk to anyone. An informed seller is almost impossible to scam. That's the entire point of this site.
All figures are estimates of melt value, never offers. Not financial or tax advice.