The scrap gold price per gram is the London spot price per troy ounce, divided by 31.1035 to get a price per gram of pure gold, multiplied by the fineness of the piece (0.375 for 9ct, 0.585 for 14ct, 0.750 for 18ct, 0.916 for 22ct, 0.999 for 24ct). That gives the melt value. A buyer then pays a percentage of melt - on published UK buyer rate pages in August 2026 the range runs from around 70% at the low end to just under 90% at the most transparent specialist buyers - and the gap is their refining cost, handling, risk and margin. We do not print a "today's price" here because it would be wrong within an hour; the arithmetic below is what to apply to the live price, and our scrap gold calculator does it for you.

How is the per-gram figure derived from the spot price?

Gold is quoted per troy ounce, not per gram and not per ordinary (avoirdupois) ounce. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. Everyone in the trade rounds that to 31.1035.

The reference price is the London Bullion Market Association benchmark. The LBMA Gold Price is set twice a day in auctions run by ICE Benchmark Administration, starting at 10:30 and 15:00 London time. It is quoted in US dollars; sterling and euro figures are published as indicative prices for settlement. Between the two auctions, dealers quote against the live spot market, which moves continuously while the market is open.

So the first two steps are:

  1. Take a sterling spot price per troy ounce.
  2. Divide by 31.1035 to get sterling per gram of pure (999) gold.

On 19 August 2026 at 22:00 BST, BullionVault's reference chart showed gold at £3,323.16 per troy ounce, or £106.84 per gram. We use that figure for the worked example below. It is a dated snapshot, not a price you can sell at.

What does the fineness number mean?

Almost no jewellery is pure gold. The carat system describes how much of the alloy is gold, in 24ths, and the hallmark fineness number states the same thing in parts per thousand.

Carat Hallmark fineness Gold content Multiply pure-gold price per gram by
9ct 375 37.5% 0.375
14ct 585 58.5% 0.585
18ct 750 75.0% 0.750
22ct 916 91.6% 0.916
24ct 999 99.9% 0.999

The UK legal standards for gold are 375, 585, 750, 916, 990 and 999. The 375 standard is unusual internationally - 9ct is a British and Commonwealth habit - and it is why UK scrap lots are low-grade by world standards: a kilo of 9ct contains 375 grams of gold and 625 grams of copper, silver and zinc that the refiner has to separate and that nobody pays for.

Step three, then: multiply the pure-gold price per gram by the fineness. That is the melt value per gram.

The worked example, dated

Spot of £3,323.16 per troy ounce on 19 August 2026 gives £106.84 per gram of pure gold. Melt value per gram by carat:

Carat Melt value per gram 70% of melt 85% of melt 90% of melt
9ct £40.07 £28.05 £34.06 £36.06
14ct £62.50 £43.75 £53.13 £56.25
18ct £80.13 £56.09 £68.11 £72.12
22ct £97.87 £68.51 £83.19 £88.08
24ct £106.74 £74.71 £90.72 £96.06

A 12.4 gram 9ct chain on that day had a melt value of £496.82. A buyer paying 70% of melt offers £347.77. A buyer paying 85% offers £422.29. A buyer paying 89.4% offers £444.15. Same chain, same day, a £96 spread between the bottom and the top of the published market.

To check the table: the same evening, Gold Traders' published rate page showed 9ct at £35.82 per gram and stated they were paying 89.4% of spot. £40.07 x 0.894 = £35.82. The arithmetic is the whole of it.

Put your own numbers into the calculator: it takes a spot price per troy ounce, a weight and a buy rate, and returns the per-carat figures. It has no live feed on purpose - you type in the price you are actually working from, and the page records nothing.

Why do buyers pay a percentage of melt rather than melt?

Because the melt value is what the gold is worth after it has been refined into 999 bars, and somebody has to pay to get it there. Between your counter and that bar:

  • The refiner's cut. The refiner assays the lot, melts it, separates the gold from the base metals and returns (or pays for) the fine gold. They keep a percentage - their "accountability" or treatment charge - and they price against the fix on a settlement day, not the day you bought.
  • Price movement. A buyer who pays today and settles with the refiner in a fortnight carries the metal price for a fortnight. Large buyers hedge; small ones just hope.
  • Testing error and bad stock. Some of what comes over a counter is plated, under-carat or has a steel spring bar in the clasp. The buyer who misses it pays for it.
  • Stones, solder and dirt. Weight on the scale is not gold weight. Stones are deducted or removed; solder is lower carat than the piece; hollow chains hold grime.
  • Cash, premises, compliance and margin. Anti-money-laundering records, ID checks, insurance, a trade-approved scale, the shop.

The honest buyers publish the percentage. The less honest ones quote a figure near spot in the advert and get to the same place through "testing fees", "refining deductions" and a low weight. Gold Traders' rate page says as much about its competitors: that some pay 40-60% of value once the deductions are in.

What are UK buyers actually paying?

We checked published rate pages on 19 August 2026. Figures are those buyers' own statements on that day, not ours, and they change daily.

Buyer type Published position, 19 August 2026 Source
Gold Traders (postal and trade buyer) "89.4% of spot for scrap gold / jewellery and 93.2% for Sovereigns"; 9ct £35.82/g, 18ct £71.65/g, 22ct £87.51/g, 24ct £95.53/g, updated 22:06 Rate page
London Gold Exchange (market guide page) Melt-value table by carat, with a "dealers pay" estimate of roughly 70-85% of melt and the statement that "specialist UK dealers typically pay 85-90% of the spot price for scrap gold; high-street buyers often pay less" Scrap gold prices page
High-street "cash for gold" counters, pawnbrokers, postal envelope schemes Rarely publish a percentage. Published survey pages and the buyers above put them below the specialist rates, sometimes well below. Not published

So as a working rule, as of August 2026: a transparent specialist buyer pays high-80s percent of melt; a typical high-street or generalist buyer pays 70-85%; anything that will not tell you a percentage before you hand over the goods is likely to be lower still. Sovereigns and other recognised coin trade a few points higher than jewellery scrap because the refiner's job is easier and the fineness is known.

How do hallmarks, weighing and testing change the price?

Hallmarks. A UK hallmark tells the buyer the fineness without testing: sponsor's mark, fineness number, assay office mark, and often a date letter. Hallmarked pieces are priced straight off the table. Unhallmarked pieces are tested, and tested pieces are priced cautiously. Gold articles under 1 gram are exempt from compulsory hallmarking, and foreign pieces may carry marks (a "750" stamp with no assay office mark, say) that are a claim rather than a guarantee. The rules are in the Business Companion hallmarking guide.

Weighing. Scrap is priced by weight alone, which makes the scale a legal instrument. Under the Non-automatic Weighing Instruments Regulations 2016 a scale used for trade in precious metals must be a trade-approved Class II instrument, verified for the location it is used in; the National Association of Jewellers' code of practice on weighing scales (assured advice under its primary authority partnership with Trading Standards) says plainly that trade-approved Class II scales must be used "when the weight alone determines the price of the item (e.g. buying scrap gold by gram)". Weights are quoted to 0.1 g or 0.01 g. Ask to see the scale. Stones should be weighed out or deducted, not quietly included.

Testing. Acid on a touchstone is the traditional check and is fine for sorting 9ct from 18ct. Electronic testers are quicker. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) gives a surface reading of the alloy in seconds and is what serious desks use. None of them read the inside of a thick piece, which is why buyers drill or cut anything large and unhallmarked.

What do refiners pay, and why does the buyer's percentage depend on it?

The buyer's percentage is set by what the buyer gets from the refiner, less margin. Refiners buy against the LBMA price and return a percentage of the assayed fine gold content, with a treatment charge and minimum lot sizes; terms depend on volume and are set per account rather than published as a headline rate. Figures of 95% to 98% accountability are widely repeated in the trade and in buyers' own explainers, but we could not find a UK refiner publishing a single rate card, so treat those numbers as indicative. The practical point for anyone reading a buyer's offer: the buyer is working to a couple of percent off the fix at the back end, so a buyer paying 70% at the front is keeping a large part of the difference.

What does VAT do to the scrap price?

Nothing, at the counter. A private seller is not VAT-registered and cannot charge VAT, so the price a member of the public is quoted is the price they get. The VAT question arrives when the buyer sells the accumulated lot on: a VAT-registered buyer selling scrap to a VAT-registered refiner at no more than the open market value of the gold must not charge VAT, and the refiner accounts for it under the reverse charge in section 11 of VAT Notice 701/21. That is covered in Do I charge VAT on scrap gold?.

The other counter-level rule is cash. A buyer that accepts or makes cash payments of £10,000 or more for goods - in one go or in linked payments - must be registered with HMRC as a high value dealer before taking the money; the threshold has been £10,000 sterling since 30 June 2026. See Do I need to register as a High Value Dealer?.

What we could not verify

  • A single, current refiner rate card. Refiners quote per account. The 95-98% accountability range above is trade folklore with wide support, not a published figure.
  • What high-street counters and postal envelope schemes pay as a percentage. Most do not publish one. The 70-85% range comes from a market guide page and from specialist buyers describing their competitors; it is consistent with our own experience but it is not audited.
  • Whether the published percentages include all deductions. A stated "89.4% of spot" is a clear claim; we have not tested whether any buyer's weighing, stone deductions or testing charges alter the outcome in practice.

Sources

This is general information, not financial, tax or valuation advice. Gold prices move continuously and buyer percentages change without notice; every figure above is dated and should be re-checked against the live market and the buyer's own published terms before you buy or sell. VAT and anti-money-laundering questions should go to your accountant or HMRC.

Milleso's gold desk prices each counter buy as weight x fineness x the spot you enter, records the percentage you paid and the spot you paid it against, and flags the lot as reverse charge or keep-for-stock at intake, so the figure you quoted is the figure on file when the refiner's settlement comes back.