Posting gold and silver safely

01

List, weigh and photograph everything before you pack

The packing takes ten minutes. The record you make first is what protects you if anything goes wrong in transit, and what lets you check the itemised offer against what you sent.

1. Write a list of every item with a short description covering the metal colour, the type of piece, any hallmark you can read and whether it has stones.
2. Weigh each item on kitchen or jewellery scales if you have them, and note the figure. It will not match a calibrated balance to the hundredth of a gram, but a large difference would stand out.
3. Photograph each item on a plain background in daylight, then photograph the whole group together. Include a photograph of the list.
4. Send those photographs before you pack anything. You get a rough idea back, free, and you are told whether the lot needs more cover than the standard level. If it has to go in two parcels, ask in writing for the first to be held until the second arrives, or each is offered on as a separate lot (clause 3.3 of the terms).
5. Keep the list and photographs on your phone or computer until the offer has been paid or the items are back with you.

The photo estimate route gives you a view of the items before you post, and the same photographs double as your record.

02

Packing that survives sorting machinery

A parcel goes through conveyors, chutes and sacks. You want nothing to move inside, nothing able to work through a seam, and nothing on the outside that says what is in it.

1. Bag each itemPut each piece, or each group of like pieces, in its own small zip bag. Chains go in flat so they do not tangle. Coins go in a capsule or a bag each. Dental gold is sealed in its own bag.
2. Inner box, paddedPlace the bags in a small rigid box, such as a jewellery box or a strong card box, with tissue or bubble wrap so that nothing rattles when shaken. A parcel that rattles invites attention and lets items chip. If you asked for a printed pack, seal the bagged items in its numbered tamper-evident bag first and write the number on your list.
3. Include the listA copy of your item list, with your reference or your name and contact details, goes inside the inner box so the parcel can be matched to you.
4. Photograph, then sealTake one last photograph of the open inner box with everything in it, then tape it shut on every edge.
5. Outer box, plainPut the inner box inside a plain outer box, such as the one in a printed pack, padded on all sides, and seal it on every edge with strong tape. Use a box rather than a padded envelope. From the outside it should look like any other small parcel.
6. No description of contentsWrite nothing on the outside that mentions gold, silver, jewellery, coins or a buyer's trading name if you can avoid it. The address label is enough.

03

Which service to use, and what the cover means

On a label Assaypost issues, the business chooses the carrier, the service and the cover, and they are set out in your confirmation before you post (clause 3.2 of the terms). No carrier account has been opened yet, so no carrier or service is named on this site. If you post on your own postage, use Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm, which Royal Mail offers for valuable items. Its retail compensation policy excludes jewellery sent by any service other than an appropriate Special Delivery Guaranteed one.

One level of compensation comes with the price of that service and higher levels can be bought for an extra fee. No version of either figure is copied onto this page, because the figures move and a stale one beside a Post Office counter is worse than none: read them on the Royal Mail page linked in the sources below, on the day you post.

• Hand the parcel over the counter at a Post Office branch and keep the receipt, which carries the tracking number. Never put a valuable parcel in a postbox.
• The tracking number lets you follow the parcel to delivery. Check it the next working day.
• On a label Assaypost issued, the carrier's cover is how the business insures itself, not a limit on what you are owed. Clause 7.2 of the terms puts the risk in the post on the business in both directions, and clause 12.4 says the carrier's cover is neither a cap nor something you have to claim under. Royal Mail's levels matter to you directly only on postage you bought yourself, when the contract with Royal Mail and its conditions are yours.
• The cover level that applies to a pack Assaypost issues is confirmed to you in writing, with your label, before you post; no figure for it is printed on this site yet. Read it, and say so if your lot is worth more than it covers.

04

When the lot needs more cover than the standard level

Some parcels are worth more than the ordinary cover on them. That is not unusual and it is not a problem, provided it is dealt with before the parcel is sealed rather than after it is lost. The one thing not to do is post it and hope.

You do not have to work out what the lot is worth to handle this. Describe it instead: send photographs of everything, say roughly what it weighs and what the marks say, and you will be told which of the arrangements below fits before anything leaves your house.

• A higher level of cover. Carriers sell higher compensation levels for exactly this. On an Assaypost label it is arranged before you post and costs you nothing, as the security and insurance page says.
• Two parcels on different days. Each gets its own list, its own photographs, its own seal number and its own tracking number, and each stays inside its cover. Ask in writing for the first to be held until the second arrives, so that both are offered on as one lot (clause 3.3 of the terms); otherwise each is treated as a separate lot.
• Not the post at all. A lot worth more than the highest cover a carrier offers should not be posted. Ask first, and do not pack it.

05

Where to send it and when to post

Send only to the delivery address printed on your label or confirmed to you in writing. Never send valuables to a PO Box: it cannot sign for a parcel the way a street address can, and a buyer who gives you nothing but a PO Box is one you cannot check. The address on the contact page is for letters only, so never post items to it.

• Post Monday to Thursday. A parcel posted on Friday or Saturday may sit in the network over the weekend, and fewer hours in transit mean fewer chances for something to go wrong. The same applies to the day before a bank holiday.
• Post before the branch's last posting time for the service, which is displayed in the branch.
• If tracking shows no delivery by the day the service should have delivered, send Assaypost the tracking number. On a label the business issued, the contract with the carrier is the business's, so the enquiry is made from this end and you are not asked to chase anyone. If your parcel is lost or damaged sets out what happens next.

06

What is recorded when your parcel arrives

The arrival record starts the chain of evidence that runs through to the offer. It begins before the parcel is opened, so that its condition on arrival is documented separately from anything you wrote (clause 8.1 of the terms).

• The tracking number, and the date and time of delivery from the carrier's scan.
• The condition of the outer packaging, whether intact, damaged, taped over, or opened and resealed.
• The number on the tamper-evident bag, if one was used, checked against the number issued with your pack.
• The parcel weight as received, before opening.
• The opening itself, photographed stage by stage as the seal is cut and the contents come out. A camera running through the opening is not switched on, so it is not a protection you have; the security and insurance page sets out what the photographic record does cover.
• The item count and condition against your enclosed list. If what arrived does not match, everything is photographed as found and you are written to before anything else is done (clause 8.3).

The how it works page shows where the arrival record sits in the full process, from label request to payment or return.

07

Seller risks and exceptions

• Understating the lot. On a label Assaypost issued, the carrier's cover is not a limit on what you are owed, but it does decide which service is used, so say roughly what you are sending. If you knowingly send far more than you said and the parcel is lost, what you are paid may be reduced so far as the loss was caused by not being told (clause 7.4 of the terms). A mistake about what something turns out to be worth is never treated that way.
• Loose items. A single ring in a padded envelope can work through a corner. Always use a rigid inner box.
• Labelling. Any word on the outside that hints at the contents raises the risk of theft. Keep the outside plain.
• Losing the receipt. It carries the tracking number, so photograph it as you leave the counter. On a label Assaypost issued, losing it costs you nothing you are owed (clause 7.3 of the terms). On postage you bought yourself it matters far more, because Royal Mail lists a certificate of posting among the evidence a claim for a lost valuable item needs.
• Sending to the wrong address. Use only the address on your label or in a written confirmation. Do not rely on an address given by telephone or found in a search result.
• Posting on your own postage. The terms that put the risk on the business are written for its labels. On postage you bought, the claim is yours, and Royal Mail's compensation depends on its own terms, its packaging standards and proof of value. Either way, keep your list, your photographs and your receipt: a trace or a claim rests on them.

08

When not to use the scrap route

The postal route is also wrong for a lot worth more than the highest cover a carrier offers, for very heavy silver, and for items whose provenance you cannot yet document, which the identity and provenance guide covers. In each case ask first, before anything is packed. What to have looked at before you sell shows how to pick out the pieces worth more whole.