Should You Sell Your Gold Online or at a Shop?

When you decide to sell a piece of jewellery, you’ve got two paths: walk into a “we buy gold” shop, or use an online service. Both work — but the experience, the price and the guarantees are radically different.

This isn’t a comparison designed to talk you into anything. It’s information so you can choose with your eyes open.

1. The price you receive

At a physical shop: the appraiser makes you an offer on the spot and usually expects an immediate answer. That “now or never” pressure works against the seller. On top of that, the fixed costs of running a shop — rent, staff, premises security — feed into higher margins and therefore lower offers for you.

Online: the offer is calculated using the day’s LBMA price, with a transparent breakdown you can verify yourself. No in-person pressure. You receive the offer, compare it, and decide from your sofa. If you’re not convinced, your jewellery comes back to you at no cost.

2. Transparency of the process

At a physical shop: the appraisal happens in front of you, but it’s rarely explained how they got to the number. “This is worth X” — without breaking down weight, karats or reference price. Some shops don’t even use professional equipment: they rely on acid tests or a visual estimate from the appraiser.

Online (a professional service): everything is documented. Weight on a calibrated scale. Purity analysed by XRF. Explicit reference to the LBMA price. A full breakdown of the calculation. Information that lets you compare with any other offer on an objective basis.

3. Security

At a physical shop: you’re not posting anything — that’s its strong point. But there’s a less comfortable side: many people don’t feel at ease walking into a “we buy gold” shop carrying valuable jewellery, especially in certain areas.

Online: postal shipping is the bit that generates the most doubts. With the right safeguards in place, it is much safer than carrying valuables to a shop. A professional service offers: insurance with a recognised insurer, tamper-evident packaging, door-to-door tracking and opening under video surveillance. If the service you’re considering doesn’t offer these four things, it doesn’t deserve your trust.

4. Convenience

At a physical shop: you need to travel, find parking, queue. If you don’t live near a shop you trust, it can mean a long trip and a lost morning.

Online: you request a pack, it arrives at your home in 24–48 hours, you put your jewellery in it, and you send it from home or drop it off at the post office. The whole process is remote, with no travel and no dependence on opening hours.

5. Sales pressure

This is the factor a lot of people underestimate.

At a physical shop: the appraiser wants to close the sale right then. That’s understandable — it’s their business model. But it creates a dynamic where you feel pushed to accept without time to think or compare.

Online: you receive the offer in writing. You have days to decide. If you want to ask questions or negotiate, you do it by WhatsApp, without the pressure of sitting across from someone who needs you to say yes.

When does each option make sense?

A physical shop can make sense if:

• You have a low-value piece (under €50) where posting it doesn’t justify the effort
• You personally know the jeweller and trust their professional judgement

An online service makes sense for everything else:

• Mid- or high-value pieces
• You need an offer based on the real market price
• You want a documented, transparent process
• You’d rather decide without pressure

The smartest way to compare

Get a free online valuation and use it as a reference when you visit a physical shop. That way you’ve got two offers on the table and you pick the better one with real data. You lose nothing — and you gain information.