Declining an offer and getting your items back

01

What the itemised offer lists, and why the list comes first

A single figure for a parcel tells you nothing you can check. A list does. Every piece that arrived gets its own line, described well enough that you can lay it beside the list you kept and see that the two match. Clause 5.1 of the terms says what each line carries.

Item number and description

A reference and a short description, matched to the photographs taken as the parcel was unpacked (clause 8.1).

What it weighed

Its weight on the balance as it arrived, with nothing taken off it or out of it.

What was left out of its weight

Stones, fillings, steel springs, blades, glass or a watch movement: what each is, how much of it there was taken to be, and why. It is estimated in place. Nothing is taken off a piece to find out (clause 4.4).

What the marks and the tests say

The hallmark as read, each test that was run and where on the piece, any test you asked not to have, the fineness concluded, and anything the tests could not settle.

Worth more than its metal

A note on any piece that looks worth more whole than as metal, with the reason in plain words, given before that piece is priced as metal (clause 4.4).

Pieces that are not bought, such as plated chains or base-metal crowns, still get a line of their own. That is how you know they arrived. They are left out of the offer and come back to you with anything else you decline (clause 11.1).

Under the list sits one figure for the whole lot, reached by a person who has had all of it on the bench. Nothing is taken off it afterwards: no testing fee, no handling fee and no charge for sending back what you decline (clause 5.3).

02

Accept, decline or ask for pieces back: nothing happens until you say so

An offer is a question, not a sale. You accept by pressing the button in your offer or by saying so in writing (clause 6.1). Opening the email or following its link is not acceptance, and neither is silence (clause 6.2). If the offer lapses without an answer, your items stay where they are until you ask for a fresh offer or for everything back (clause 5.2).

• Accept, and you are paid by bank transfer to a UK account in your own name. The items become Assaypost's when the money reaches your account, not when it is sent (clause 7.1).
• Decline, and the whole lot comes back by tracked, signed-for post at Assaypost's cost, with nothing deducted. You do not have to give a reason.
• Ask for pieces back. Name them and you get a fresh written offer for what remains. The first offer stays open on its original terms, so asking costs you nothing (clause 6.3).

Three timings are not fixed yet: how long an offer stays open, how soon payment follows a yes, and how soon a return is posted after a no. None has been set, so none is printed on this site. The period an offer stays open, and when payment follows, will be stated on your offer (clauses 5.2 and 7.1).

03

What happens to your items while the offer is open

Until you accept, the items are yours and are held unprocessed (clause 6.1). Nothing is melted, cut, filed, polished or taken apart, and no stone is taken out of its setting (clause 4.4). Nothing is acid-tested and no surface is cleaned or prepared unless you agreed to it in writing, item by item (clause 4.2). A piece you decline comes back as it arrived, apart from any test mark you agreed to.

• Stones stay set. Their weight is estimated in place and the line says so. No stone comes out before you have accepted an offer for that piece.
• The offer is not reduced while it is open, unless something stated in it turns out to be wrong. If that happens you are told what and why in writing, and you may decline the lot there and then (clause 5.2).
• Nobody rings to chase you. If you want longer, ask: the offer is held open, or re-issued on the same terms if it has lapsed, and your items stay untouched meanwhile (clause 10.2).

04

How to query a line before you decide

If a line does not match what you expected, ask before you accept or decline. Three things are most likely to surprise: a weight below what your kitchen scales said, a fineness below what a stamp claimed, and how much was left out for stones or fillings. Each line already carries its reason, and a person can talk you through it.

1. Name the itemQuote the item number and say what you are asking about: the weight, the fineness, what was left out, or a note that the piece may be worth more than its metal.
2. Ask for the evidenceThe photographs taken as the piece was unpacked, its balance reading and its test results can be sent to you. They were made when the piece was examined, not produced because you asked.
3. Ask for another testWhere a fineness is in doubt, another non-destructive test can be run and added to the line, such as a density check. A test that could mark the piece is only proposed in writing, and only run with your written consent (clause 4.2). The XRF guide explains what each method can and cannot settle.
4. Take the time you needA question does not cost you the offer. Say you need longer and it is held open, or re-issued on the same terms if it has lapsed (clause 10.2).

If the answer does not satisfy you, ask for that piece back. It comes home at Assaypost's cost and you get a fresh offer for the rest, or you can decline the lot. If you think something went wrong, the complaints process has three stages, and nothing in your parcel is processed while a complaint about it is open (clause 13.1).

05

Keeping one piece back and selling the rest

This is the part people do not expect, so here is how it would run. A parcel holds a dozen things: broken chain and single earrings nobody has thought about in years, and a ring that belonged to the sender's mother and went in because they could not decide.

The offer arrives with twelve lines, each describing one piece. Against the ring is a note: it holds a stone a jeweller should see before the ring goes anywhere. Under the list is one figure for the lot.

The sender replies in one sentence: keep the ring out, and tell me what the rest would come to. A fresh written offer comes back for the other eleven pieces, with the first still open beside it. The new figure is not a slice of the first. It can be lower than the ring's weight would suggest, because a price for a mixed lot is carried by its best pieces (clause 6.3).

The sender compares the two and chooses. The ring goes home by tracked post at Assaypost's cost with the note about the stone, so there is something to hand the jeweller. Nothing in that needed a reason or an apology, and asking for a piece back is not treated as a complaint.

06

Returns go back free, tracked and signed for

Whatever you decline comes back by tracked, signed-for post at Assaypost's cost, whatever the reason and whatever it is worth (clause 6.3). It is repacked in a fresh sealed bag and photographed as it goes in, as the offers, returns and payment page describes, and you are sent the tracking number when it leaves. The risk stays with Assaypost until the parcel is delivered to you, not merely until it is sent (clause 7.2).

• Returns go to the address you gave when you asked for your label. If that has changed, say so before the parcel is sent.
• Pieces that are not bought, such as plated chains, come back with the rest. Nothing is thrown away on an assumption.
• No time has been set yet for how soon a return is posted after a decline, so no figure for it appears on this site.
• If a return arrives damaged, keep all the packaging, photograph it as it arrived and tell Assaypost. The lost or damaged parcel guide explains what happens next.

07

Seller risks and exceptions

• Deemed acceptance elsewhere. Some terms treat silence, or a payment you did not send back in time, as a yes. Read any buyer's terms for that before you post. Assaypost's terms rule it out in clause 6.2.
• Return postage charged elsewhere. A charge to send back what you decline pushes you towards yes. Here the return is at Assaypost's cost (clause 5.3).
• Letting an offer lapse. Nothing is sold and your items stay put, but you then have to ask for a fresh offer or for the lot back (clause 5.2). If you need longer, say so and it is held open (clause 10.2).
• Taking pieces out changes the figure. A fresh offer for what remains can be lower than the weight removed would suggest. The first offer stays open, so asking costs you nothing.
• Stones and fillings. If you are surprised by what was left out of a piece's weight, ask before you decline. The reason is on the line and can be explained.
• An item on hold. A piece held over a question about identity or where it came from is not paid for or returned until the question is settled. The responsible sourcing page sets out what starts a hold, what ends one and how long it can last, and the rest of your lot is offered on or returned as usual.

08

When not to use the scrap route

This route is also wrong for anything you are not sure you want to part with. Asking for a piece back costs you nothing, while an accepted piece cannot be recalled (clause 6.4). When in doubt, have it sent home. What to have looked at before you sell shows which pieces to pick out before anything is posted.