Process
How selling by post works, from your kitchen table to your bank
Six steps. You ask, you get a label, you post it, we go through it piece by piece, one written offer for the lot comes back, and you decide. Here is what happens at each one, and which of us is doing it.
No obligation. Decline and it all comes back free; ask for part of it back and a fresh offer is made for the rest.
In short
Assaypost is a postal buyer of gold, silver, platinum and palladium in the United Kingdom. You send photographs and get a rough idea back, free. If you go ahead, a prepaid tracked label comes to you and you post the lot when it suits you. Every piece is listed, weighed and tested, and one written offer is made for the whole lot. You accept it and are paid by bank transfer, or you decline it and everything comes back by tracked post at our cost.
Ask
- YouPhotograph what you have and send it. The whole lot in one picture, the marks close in, anything with a name on it. No form, no address, no obligation.
- WeA person reads the pictures and writes back: what the marks suggest, what looks plated or filled, what might be worth more whole than melted, and whether it is worth posting at all.
Get a label
- YouIf you decide to go ahead, ask for a prepaid label. It takes a few minutes and you can stop at that point without owing anything.
- WeWe email the label with your reference number, the service it uses and what it covers. Tell us roughly what is going in, and the service is chosen to suit it (terms, clause 7.4).
- Request received
We've got your request. Your label comes by email, with your reference number and the service it uses.
- Pack or label issued
Your label, or the printed pack if you asked for one, is with you. Post when it suits you; there is no deadline and nothing is owed if you change your mind.
Post it
- YouPack it so nothing moves, put nothing on the outside about the contents, hand it in at a Post Office counter and keep the receipt. Post the day it suits you.
- WeWe watch the tracking. Nothing is expected of you between the counter and the email that says it has arrived, and from the counter onwards the risk is ours (clause 7.2).
- In transit to us
Tracking shows the parcel moving. Keep the Post Office receipt somewhere safe until your case is closed.
It is itemised and tested
- YouNothing. If the parcel arrives opened, damaged or not as you described it, we stop and tell you before going any further (clauses 8.2 and 8.3).
- WeThe parcel is photographed sealed, then opened, and every piece is numbered, described, photographed, weighed alone and tested. Anything that looks worth more than its metal is set aside and looked at properly. Nothing is cut, melted, polished or taken apart, and no stone is removed, before you accept (clause 4.4).
- Received and seal recorded
It has arrived. We photograph the outer parcel and any damage, and the seal number where a sealed pack was used, before anything is opened. If it looks opened, damaged or light, we stop and tell you first.
- Weighed
Every piece is given a number of its own, described, photographed, and put on the balance alone before any testing starts.
- Tested
Marks are read under magnification, each piece is checked with a magnet, and density is measured in water where the shape allows. An acid test is used only if you agree to it in writing, and your offer records which tests each piece had.
- Specialist value check
Something in your parcel may be worth more whole than melted, so it is set aside and checked against reference material, and you are told before it is priced as metal.
One written offer for the lot
- YouRead it and query anything. The offer says how long it stays open, and if you need longer you only have to ask (clause 10.2). Nobody rings to chase an answer.
- WeWe send you the list of what arrived, described piece by piece, and one figure for the lot. Anything we think you should not sell to us is named in it, with what we suggest doing instead.
- Offer issued
The list of what we received and one written offer for the lot are sent to you. Read them, query anything that looks wrong, and take the time you need.
Accept and get paid, or decline and get it all back
- YouSay yes, say no, or name the pieces you want back and get a fresh offer for the rest (clause 6.3). Whichever it is, you say it. Silence is never taken as agreement.
- WeIf you accept, you are paid by bank transfer to a UK account in your own name. If you decline, everything is repacked, photographed and posted back tracked and signed for, at our cost and with nothing deducted.
- Offer accepted by you
You have said yes. Only then does anything go any further.
- Offer declined by you
You have said no. Nothing is sold, and everything is packed to come back to you.
- Payment sent
The money leaves for the account in your own name, carrying your reference so you can recognise it. The items become ours when it reaches your account, not before.
- Items returned to you
Everything you kept is repacked, photographed and posted back to you, tracked and signed for, at our cost.
- Closed
Nothing of yours is left in the building. The photographs, descriptions and readings stay on file for the period the privacy notice sets out, so you can ask about them later.
Photograph reserved
Photograph to follow: report beside the items
It goes here when there is something true to photograph. Nothing stands in for it in the meantime.
The two things only you can do
Silence never counts as yes
An unanswered offer cannot become an acceptance because a week went by, and your items stay locked away until you tell us what to do with them. Each offer states on its face how long it stays open; no number of days has been set yet, so none is given here. If it lapses, nothing happens to your items: they stay where they are until you ask for a fresh offer or for the lot back (clause 5.2). Need longer? Say so and the offer is held open, with no reason asked for (clause 10.2).
You can also keep something back. If you want your mother's ring returned and would sell the rest, say so and we send a fresh written offer for what is left. It is a new offer rather than a share of the first, and asking never costs you the first one: it stays open for as long as it would have done, so you can still take the whole-lot figure if you prefer it. Offers, returns and payment sets out how that works, and what happens if you want to query something first.
If you would rather be sure before you post
- Send a few photographsA photo estimate gets you a written reading of the marks, a view on whether anything looks plated, filled or weighted, and a warning if a piece would do better somewhere other than a buyer of metal. Free, and it commits you to nothing.
- Read what a test can and cannot showThe testing page sets out each method, what it can settle, and what your offer says when a test could not settle something.
- Ask an awkward questionIf the guides do not answer it, ask. Questions about a particular item travel better with a photograph attached, and you will get a reply from the person who would handle the parcel.
Worth reading before the parcel goes
- CustodyHow your parcel is looked after, the seal record, and where your items are kept while you decide.
- The limits of a testWhat the tests can and cannot show, and why a surface reading is never the whole answer.
- PackingThe packing guide: boxes, tape, and what not to write on the outside of the parcel.
Not sure what you have? Start with photographs.
Photograph the lot: the tangled chains, the single earrings, the canteen nobody uses, the bits you cannot identify. Send it over and you get a rough idea back, with no pressure of any kind. Post it afterwards if you want to, or do not.
Nothing is sold until you say yes. Decline and it all comes back by tracked post, free; ask for part of it back and a fresh offer is made for the rest.
If a piece is worth more than its metal
A signed brooch, a date-run sovereign, a watch that still runs, a piece of early silver: anything that looks worth more whole is flagged to you before it is treated as metal, and you can take it back at that point.