Blog·Selling & scrap gold
Why Scrap Gold Pays Less Than Spot (and What “Gold Price Per Gram” Really Means)
If you've ever searched gold price per gram or scrap gold price and then gotten an offer that felt “too low,” you're not imagining it. The number on a ticker and the cash someone puts on the table are answering different questions. This guide connects those dots so you can use our gold calculator and scrap gold calculator the way buyers do—starting from melt value, then expecting a discount for their business model.
Three layers: spot, melt, and payout
Spot is the market's reference price for pure gold, usually quoted per troy ounce. It moves all day when markets are open.
Melt value is what your actual item is worth as raw metal: how much it weighs, times how pure it is (10K, 14K, 18K, etc.), times the going rate for that purity. That's what tools like ours calculate—see also our gold price per gram table for all common karats.
Payout is what a buyer pays you. Almost always it's a percentage of melt: they cover refining, testing, fraud risk, overhead, and margin. Pawn shops often sit on the lower end of that range; mail-in and refinery channels sometimes pay more, but with different tradeoffs (time, minimums, shipping). Our pawn shop vs melt value article breaks down typical bands.
Why nobody pays you 100% of melt
Turning jewelry back into salable metal isn't free. Buyers acid-test or XRF, melt batches, and pay refining charges. They also price in the chance of fakes, plated pieces, or stones left in settings. So when you see scrap gold prices discussed online, think in ranges (often roughly 70–90% of melt depending on channel), not the full melt number—unless you're selling large volume under refinery terms.
That's why searching only gold calculator or spot charts can mislead: the right mental model is melt first, then negotiate the haircut.
Karat and weight still drive everything
A gram of 14K is not a gram of pure gold—it's 58.5% gold by fraction. Our gold karat guide lists stamps (585, 750, etc.) and how purity maps to value. If your weight is in pennyweight or ounces, use the gold weight converter before you compare offers.
Live melt reference (per gram)
Below is melt-style value per gram by karat from our latest data—not a buyer quote. Use the scrap gold calculator to model typical payouts.
Checklist before you sell
- Weigh in grams (or convert) and confirm karat from stamps where possible.
- Run the homepage gold calculator for melt-style value.
- Run the scrap calculator for buyer-range estimates.
- Get multiple quotes; avoid high-pressure mail-in kits without comparing melt first.
- Read our how to sell gold guide for a fuller walkthrough.
FAQ
Bottom line: Scrap gold and spot belong in the same story, but not the same line item. Use melt as your anchor, payouts as the negotiation—and keep the calculators open while you shop offers.