Where to Sell — and What Each Buyer Really Pays
Every buyer's offer is a percentage of melt value. Once you've run your items through a calculator, this page tells you what percentage each type of buyer typically pays, and how to keep the spread small.
The payout ladder
| Buyer | Typical payout (% of melt) | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pawn shops | 40–60% | Same-day cash, small lots | Flat-dollar offers with no scale in sight |
| Local jewelers | 60–80% | Karat jewelry, quick and face-to-face | Deducting stone weight without itemizing |
| Coin & bullion dealers | 75–95% | Junk silver, bullion, coin lots | Buying collectible dates “as bullion” |
| Mail-in refiners | 85–95% | Larger scrap lots (100 g+) | Lowball post-assay revisions — use one with a return guarantee |
Five questions that protect you
1. “What percentage of melt do you pay?” Any serious buyer answers instantly. A blank look or a flat-dollar answer is your cue to leave.
2. “Can you weigh it in front of me, in grams?” Scales at the counter, visible display. Troy/avoirdupois games disappear when everything is in grams.
3. “Are you pricing any of these as collectible?” Better-date coins and signed jewelry deserve more than metal price. If the buyer says everything is scrap, get a second opinion on anything old or unusual.
4. “What are your deductions?” Stones, solder, steel springs, knife-handle cement — legitimate deductions, but they should be itemized, not hidden inside a low number.
5. “Is the quote locked to today's spot?” Metal prices move. A quote should reference the spot price at the moment of sale, not last week's.
Getting more than melt
Three categories routinely beat scrap pricing: pre-1933 US gold (always carries a premium — see gold coin values), better-date silver coins (check dates before bulk-selling — see coin melt), and signed designer jewelry, which can sell on the secondary market for multiples of metal. When in doubt, a coin shop appraisal or a second offer costs you an hour and can change the price class entirely.
MeltCheck doesn't buy metal and isn't paid by any buyer listed by category above. If that ever changes — for example, referral partnerships with vetted refiners — it will be disclosed on this page, next to the numbers, not buried in a footer.