Scrap gold calculator: melt value, then your real payout
In short
Melt value is pure gold content times today's spot price, $141.74 per gram. A mixed lot of 10 g of 14k and 5 g of 18k holds 9.60 g of pure gold, worth $1,360.67. What you are paid is that figure times the buyer's percentage, and the percentage is the whole negotiation. Enter your pieces below, then change the payout to compare offers.
- 24k (99.9% gold)
- 22k (91.6% gold)
- 21k (87.5% gold)
- 18k (75% gold)
- 14k (58.5% gold)
- 12k (50% gold)
- 10k (41.7% gold)
- 9k (37.5% gold)
- grams
- pennyweight (dwt)
- troy ounces
- ounces (avdp)
- 24k (99.9% gold)
- 22k (91.6% gold)
- 21k (87.5% gold)
- 18k (75% gold)
- 14k (58.5% gold)
- 12k (50% gold)
- 10k (41.7% gold)
- 9k (37.5% gold)
- grams
- pennyweight (dwt)
- troy ounces
- ounces (avdp)
Spot $4,408.50/oz t = $141.74/g · gold-api.com · 2026-09-04
How to use the calculator
1. One line per karat
Add a line for each karat you have and put the total weight of that karat on it; the calculator does not care whether 10 g of 14k is one bracelet or six earrings. Mixed pieces, such as a ring with a 14k shank and an 18k setting, go on the lower karat line, which is how a buyer will treat them.
2. Weight in grams, gold only
Use a scale reading to 0.1 g. Leave out stones, steel clasp springs, watch movements and anything plated. If a stone cannot be removed, estimate its weight (a one carat stone is 0.2 g) and subtract it.
3. The payout field
Start at 100% to see melt value, then type the percentage a buyer offers, or work backward: divide a buyer's quote by the melt value shown to get their percentage, and compare buyers on that number rather than on dollars.
How to weigh and sort before you get a quote
Sort by stamp first: 10k, 14k, 18k and 22k are melted as separate lots and priced separately, so a buyer who weighs everything together and quotes one number is using the lowest karat for the lot. Weigh each lot in grams on a scale that reads to 0.1 g; a kitchen scale is fine for anything over 5 g. Remove what is not gold: stones, watch movements, steel springs in clasps, pins and posts on earrings, and any part that a magnet grabs. Gold-filled and gold-plated pieces (stamps GF, GP, HGE, RGP, or a 925 under the color) belong in a separate pile; their melt value is close to nothing and refiners buy them by the pound, if at all.
Melt value versus payout
| Lot: 10 g of 14k + 5 g of 18k | Melt value | At 50% | At 70% | At 85% | At 95% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure gold content 9.60 g | $1,360.67 | $680.34 | $952.47 | $1,156.57 | $1,292.64 |
The gold fraction is 0.417 for 10k, 0.585 for 14k, 0.750 for 18k, 0.916 for 22k. Everyone in the chain takes a cut of the melt value: a pawn shop or mall kiosk has the highest costs and pays the smallest share, a jeweler who accumulates scrap and sends it to a refiner pays more, a refiner or mail-in buyer usually pays the most because nobody stands between them and the furnace. The spread between the worst and best offer on the same lot is routinely wider than a month of gold price movement, so shopping the lot matters more than timing the market.
Ask every buyer the same question: what do you pay per gram for 14k today? A buyer who answers in dollars per gram by karat is quoting; one who answers with a single total for the bag is not.
Refining fees, minimums and the small-lot penalty
A refiner's percentage is not the whole story. Many charge an assay fee, a refining fee per lot or per ounce, and a lower percentage below a minimum weight, commonly around an ounce; on a 5 gram lot a $30 fee is a fifth of the value. Mail-in buyers fold the fees into a lower percentage and add shipping and insurance, which they may or may not cover. Ask for the net figure: what will I receive for this weight of this karat after every fee, and in how many days. Small lots often do better at a local jeweler who batches scrap than at a refiner whose minimums are built for the trade.
Mail-in versus local
Mail-in refiners and buyers
Highest percentages, but you ship the gold before you see the money. Use only a buyer that quotes a per-gram price before you send, insures the package for melt value, and returns the lot free if you refuse the offer. Photograph and weigh everything before it goes in the envelope.
Local jewelers
Lower percentage, cash or check the same day, and you watch the weighing and testing. The right choice for lots under an ounce and for anything you might change your mind about.
Pawn shops and kiosks
Fastest and lowest. Fine for cash today on a piece you do not care about; expensive for anything else.
Red flags at the counter
Weighing your lot with stones and clasps included. One price for a mixed-karat bag. Quotes in pennyweights only, which read 55% higher than grams. Refusing to name the spot price they are working from. Acid testing without asking, on a visible surface. A "today only" price. Keeping your gold behind the counter while you decide. Each of these is a reason to take the second quote, and two of them together are a reason to leave.
When melting is the wrong move
Melt value is the floor. Anything signed by a known maker, anything older than about 1950 with hand work, coins, and pieces with gemstones above a few points can be worth more sold intact to a jeweler, at auction or privately. Diamonds in particular are worth nothing to a scrap buyer and something to everyone else, so have stones removed and priced separately. If a buyer only ever talks about weight, that is the signal to get a second opinion from someone who sells jewelry rather than metal.
Today's melt value per gram, for reference
| Karat | Melt per gram | At 60% payout | At 80% | At 90% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24k | $141.59 | $84.95 | $113.27 | $127.43 |
| 22k | $129.83 | $77.90 | $103.86 | $116.85 |
| 18k | $106.30 | $63.78 | $85.04 | $95.67 |
| 14k | $82.92 | $49.75 | $66.34 | $74.63 |
| 10k | $59.10 | $35.46 | $47.28 | $53.19 |
Questions people ask
How do you calculate scrap gold value?
Sort by karat, weigh each lot in grams, multiply by the gold fraction, then by today's price per gram of pure gold ($141.74). Say 12 g of 14k (× 0.585 = 7.02 g gold) plus 4 g of 18k (× 0.75 = 3 g): 10.02 g of pure gold, $1,420.20 at spot. The buyer's percentage comes last; at 80% that lot pays $1,136.16, at 55% it pays $781.11. The lot did not change between those two numbers, only the buyer did.
What percentage of melt value do gold buyers pay?
It varies more than the gold price does. Mail-in refiners and large buyers advertise 90% and above on lots over an ounce; local jewelers who refine in batches sit lower; pawn shops and mall kiosks are lowest, sometimes under half. Small lots get a lower percentage everywhere, because assaying 3 grams costs the same as assaying 300. The only way to learn your number is two quotes per gram for the same karat on the same day.
Do I need to remove the stones before selling scrap?
Yes, or watch the buyer do it and deduct their weight. A half carat diamond weighs 0.1 g and hardly matters; a large amethyst or a glass cabochon can be a quarter of a ring's weight, and scrap buyers pay nothing for either. Diamonds above about a quarter carat are worth selling separately to a jeweler who sells stones; tiny melee diamonds usually are not worth the labor of unsetting.
Is it better to sell gold jewelry or scrap it?
Scrap it when it is plain, broken or dated, and unsigned. Sell it as jewelry when any of these is true: a maker's mark you can look up, hand work or age before about 1950, gemstones of real size, or a brand name. A signed piece from a known house can bring several times its melt value; a plain 14k band from a mall chain brings melt anywhere. A buyer who only talks about weight is telling you what they intend to do with it.
Do pawn shops pay melt value for gold?
No buyer does, and pawn shops pay the least, because a pawn loan must leave room for the item never being redeemed and then sitting in a case for a season. Expect a pawn offer around half of melt on 14k and less on 10k. Pawn is for cash today; a refiner is for the best price, and the difference on a 30 gram lot can be several hundred dollars.
What counts as gold weight?
Only the karat gold. Steel springs inside spring-ring clasps, earring butterflies and posts made of steel, watch movements, stones and glue are all removed or discounted by every buyer, so weigh without them or subtract an estimate. A lobster clasp on a good chain is usually gold; a spring ring has a steel spring inside it; a magnet finds the steel in seconds.