Broken chains, single earrings, dental gold, tangled pieces, old settings — if it's gold, it has value. Get paid today.
That tangled chain in your jewelry box, the single earring missing its pair, the old dental crown in a drawer — all of it contains real gold with real value. The condition of the piece doesn't matter. What matters is the karat purity and weight of the gold inside.
At GetGoldValue, we pay starting at 80% of the live gold spot price or higher* for scrap gold — significantly more than most pawnshops and cash-for-gold stores that typically offer 50–60%.
*Payout percentage depends on gold content (karat/purity), item type, weight and volume, and is subject to change. Final offer after in-person or mailed evaluation.
The value of scrap gold depends on two things: its karat purity (how much of the piece is actual gold) and its weight in grams. We use XRF spectrometry to determine the exact purity of every item — no acid tests, no guessing. Once tested, your payout is calculated in real time against the live spot price.
For example, a 14K gold chain weighing 20 grams contains about 11.66 grams of pure gold. At current prices, that could be worth hundreds of dollars — and we pay starting at 80% of that value or higher*, which is far above average.
Not sure what your scrap is worth? Use our free live gold calculator to get an instant estimate. Enter the karat and weight, and you'll see your estimated payout in seconds — no signup, no obligation.
When you bring scrap gold to GetGoldValue, the first thing that happens is not a guess and not an acid scratch. It is an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scan that reads the elemental composition of your piece in under ten seconds without touching or damaging the metal.
What XRF actually measures. The spectrometer fires a focused beam of X-rays at the metal surface. Different elements absorb and re-emit energy at characteristic wavelengths. The instrument reads those wavelengths and returns a precise elemental breakdown: 58.3% gold, 20.1% silver, 21.6% copper, for example. That reading tells us the exact karat of the alloy without any destructive testing.
Why this matters for your payout. A piece stamped 14K might test at 13.2K if it was made in a country with loose stamping standards or if the alloy composition shifted during manufacture. It might also test at 14.4K. The XRF reading determines what we pay — not the stamp alone. For sellers, this means a buyer who uses XRF cannot round down arbitrarily; the data is right there.
What you see during the test. We run the scan with you watching. The result appears on the instrument display: elemental percentages and calculated karat equivalents. We then apply the current spot price to calculate your payout per gram at that karat. You can verify the arithmetic yourself if you looked up the spot price before arriving.
Gold-plated pieces. XRF penetrates past surface plating and reads the base metal underneath. A gold-plated brass bracelet shows up immediately as brass. There is no ambiguity and no arguing about it. If a piece is plated, we tell you before any offer is made.
No. The value is based entirely on the gold content — karat purity and weight. A broken chain has the same gold value as an intact one of the same karat and weight.
We use XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectrometry, which gives a precise reading of the gold content without damaging the piece. No acid tests, no scratching.
Definitely. Dental gold is typically high-karat (often 16K–22K equivalent) and can be surprisingly valuable. We test and pay for the actual gold content.
Gold-plated items contain very little actual gold and typically aren't worth selling for melt value. However, gold-filled items (marked GF) contain more gold and may be worthwhile — bring them in and we'll test for free.
Even a small pile of broken pieces can add up to hundreds of dollars. Find out what yours is worth.
A mixed bag of scrap gold is rarely one thing. Broken chains, single earrings, dental pieces, bent rings, and a few items that only look like gold all land on the counter together. The buyer's job is to split that pile into groups that can be priced honestly. Here is the sequence, so you know what to expect and what to ask.
Sorting comes first. Pieces are grouped by stamp and by what they are made of:
Testing comes second. Stamps can be worn, wrong, or faked. Most buyers use an acid scratch test on a hidden spot, an electronic conductivity tester, or an XRF analyzer that reads the metal composition without damaging the piece. XRF is the most precise for mixed alloys and solder joints. Ask which method is being used; a buyer who tests in front of you is easier to trust than one who tests out of sight.
Weighing and payout come last. Each pile is weighed separately, usually in grams or pennyweights, after stones and non-gold parts come off. The offer then follows a simple formula:
weight × purity × current spot price × the buyer's payout percentage
Here is an illustration only. Ten grams of 14K at an assumed spot price of $80 per gram holds 5.85 grams of pure gold (10 × 0.585), which is $468 at melt value. A buyer paying 90% of melt would offer $421.20. Real spot prices move daily and payout percentages vary by buyer, so run the math with your own numbers.
Before you accept, ask for three things in plain terms: the weight of each karat pile, the spot price used, and the payout percentage. Then get a second quote and compare. The percentage is where offers differ most, and it is the one number a buyer may not volunteer.