Precious Metal Scrap
Gold scrap price isn't set by how nice a piece looks, it's set by purity and weight, full stop, which is exactly why the first offer at a pawn shop or a mail-in gold buyer is so often well below what the metal is genuinely worth. Here's how valuation actually works, who this material realistically suits, and how to sell it properly.
Gold is measured in karats, 24 karat is pure gold, 18k is 75% gold by weight, 14k is roughly 58%, and 9ct, the classic Australian and UK jewellery standard, is 37.5%, each karat figure is a known, fixed fraction of pure gold, not a vague quality label. Silver is most commonly sterling, 925, meaning 92.5% pure silver alloyed with other metal for durability. A buyer determines purity through testing, XRF (X-ray fluorescence) machines give a fast, non-destructive reading, acid testing is the older, still-common alternative, then values the piece against that day's gold or silver price for the actual precious-metal content, not the item's retail price, brand, or how it looks.
That distinction is exactly why the same item can get wildly different offers from different buyers, one testing accurately and paying close to genuine value, another guessing conservatively or simply offering less because there's nothing forcing them to compete for it.
The two methods work differently, and it's worth knowing the difference. XRF testing fires X-rays at the surface and reads the elements that bounce back, non-destructive, fast, and accurate to within a fraction of a percent on modern equipment, but it only reads the surface, which matters on gold-plated or heavily layered pieces. Acid testing scratches a small mark and applies acid formulated for a specific karat, if the mark survives, the piece is at least that pure, cheaper equipment but it damages the item slightly and is more a threshold check than a precise reading. A buyer testing genuine volume typically uses XRF first and falls back to acid testing to confirm an edge case, not the other way around.
Dental practices generate a genuine, recurring stream of gold and precious-alloy waste from crowns, bridges, and old restorative work.
Workshop filings, rejected or damaged pieces, and old stock are a real, ongoing source for jewellers and manufacturers, not just a one-off clean-out.
Circuit boards and connectors carry gold plating in small but recoverable amounts, a genuine byproduct of electronics recycling at volume.
Sterling silver items and pre-1945-era or bullion coins carry real melt value independent of any collectible premium.
In practice, that makes dental practices, jewellers, e-waste processors, and collectors or estate liquidators dealing in genuine volume the sellers this category best suits, not a single ring or a handful of old coins, honestly worth saying upfront rather than overselling the fit.
Consolidating volume before selling makes a real difference too. A dental practice saving crowns and old restorative work over months rather than sending each piece off individually, or a jeweller accumulating filings and rejected stock, ends up with a genuinely tradeable lot instead of a series of tiny, hard-to-value transactions, worth the wait if the flow is regular.
To be direct: precious metals aren't one of ScrapTrade's live-priced calculator materials, purity varies too much piece to piece for one standing rate to be meaningful. For genuine volume, list it on the general marketplace with clear photos and whatever purity information you have, hallmarks, karat stamps, sterling marks, then negotiate directly with an interested buyer or post it to the Wanted Board so someone set up to test and value it properly can make you a real offer. If what you're actually holding is a catalytic converter rather than jewellery or bullion, see our dedicated catalytic converter scrap guide instead, that market works differently again.
Precious metal supply tracks population, jewellery, dental, and manufacturing activity more than any one regional industry. Sydney has the country's largest concentration of jewellers, dental practices, and manufacturing activity generating this material as a genuine byproduct, on top of being ScrapTrade's home market. Brisbane carries a real, growing base of the same kind of activity as South-East Queensland's population and services sector expands.
Neither city is a requirement. Dental practices, jewellers, and e-waste processors generate this material anywhere in Australia, and ScrapTrade connects buyers and sellers nationally regardless of where a listing is posted from.
Refining precious metal from ore is enormously more resource- and energy-intensive than recovering the same metal from existing jewellery, dental alloy, or electronic components, and unlike some materials, gold and silver never degrade with reuse, refined scrap is chemically identical to newly mined metal. That's exactly why a properly tested, genuine-volume load has real, consistent value to a buyer who can refine and reuse it directly, not a discount category next to the metal's headline price.
Precious metal is exactly the category where an untested, single-buyer offer costs sellers the most, since the gap between a conservative guess and an accurate purity test can be substantial. On ScrapTrade, you describe your volume and purity information properly, then negotiate directly with an interested buyer or post it to the Wanted Board so someone equipped to test it accurately can make you a real offer, negotiation is on by default on every listing. Every listing is GPS-video verified before it goes live, and payment sits in escrow from the moment a deal is confirmed until pickup or delivery is done, so neither side is exposed first. The full case for why that beats a single offer is on Why Choose ScrapTrade and Trust & Safety.
By purity and weight. Gold is measured in karats, 24k being pure, 18k and 14k common in jewellery, each a known fraction of pure gold by weight. Silver is commonly 925 sterling, meaning 92.5% pure. A buyer tests purity, XRF testing or acid testing are the common methods, then values it against that day's metal price for the actual gold or silver content, not the item's retail or sentimental value.
Because their business model depends on the spread between what they pay and what the metal is actually worth, plus they're often the only option a seller checks. A live reference price and competing verified buyers close that gap considerably, the value doesn't change, but who captures it does.
Possibly not the best fit for a single small item, ScrapTrade is built around genuine trading volume, dental practices, jewellers, e-waste processors, and collectors consolidating real quantity. For a single piece, a reputable local buyer offering a transparent, purity-based price is often simpler.
No, precious metals aren't one of ScrapTrade's live-priced calculator materials, purity varies too much item to item for a single rate to be meaningful. List genuine volume on the general marketplace with clear photos and whatever purity information you have, then negotiate directly or use the Wanted Board to reach a buyer set up to test and value it properly.
Briefly, yes, but if what you specifically have is a catalytic converter, see our dedicated guide to catalytic converter scrap instead, that market works differently again, priced per vehicle model rather than by purity and weight.
No, that's part of what makes them genuinely different from many other materials. Refined gold and silver are chemically identical whether they came from ore or from recycled scrap, there's no quality ceiling that degrades with reuse the way there can be with some other metals and alloys.
You genuinely can't get a lab-accurate reading without XRF or proper acid-testing equipment, but a few checks help you sanity-test a buyer's offer: look for a hallmark stamp (9ct, 18k, 375, 750, and similar), a magnet test (gold isn't magnetic, so attraction usually means it's not solid), and weighing it accurately, since even correct purity is worthless if the weight's wrong. None of that replaces a proper test, it just tells you whether an offer is in the right ballpark.
Describe it properly, negotiate directly, or post it to the Wanted Board.
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