The search is blunt: how to sell gold, old gold rate today, gold buyback. The shop answer is usually a single number that feels final. It is not. When you sell old jewellery you are selling assayed metal, minus a spread, minus any stones the jeweller will not pay for. You are not selling the making charges you paid in 2018, the design you loved, or yesterday’s “new gold” board.
That spread is why two counters on the same street can differ by 4–10% on the same bangles. 2026’s high nominal gold price makes the rupee or taka cheque look large — which is exactly when rushed sellers stop asking for the assay. This guide is the sell-side companion to our buy-side notes. It is consumer research, not a dealer quote and not legal or tax advice.
Check the live metal benchmark on gold price today before you leave the house. Value the weight with the gold calculator. If you are exchanging into a Dhanteras set, pair this with the Dhanteras 2026 buying guide.
How to sell old gold — quick answer
- You are paid for fine gold content after an assay, not for the ticket price you originally paid.
- Making charges are gone. Treat labour paid at purchase as a wearing cost, not a resale asset.
- Get three quotes — jeweller buyback, a second hallmarked shop, and (where available) a bank or branded refiner desk.
- Never accept one net figure that mixes old-gold recovery and new-jewellery making charges.
- Bring ID, the original invoice if you have it, and a calculator. Photograph the scale reading.
What “Old Gold Rate Today” Actually Means
The new-gold board is the shop’s selling rate for 22K or 24K metal. The old-gold rate is the shop’s buying rate. The gap is the spread: testing, melt, refining, profit, and the risk that your “22K” assays lower. In tight markets the spread can be 2–4% of metal value. In festival weeks or with unhallmarked mixed jewellery it can be 8–15%. That range is why “old gold rate today” is not a number you should take from a Facebook post.
Start from live spot, convert to your currency, apply purity, then subtract a realistic buyback spread. Example geometry, not a quote: if 22K metal value is 100, a fair jeweller buyback might land near 92–97 after assay. A pawn-style counter that needs a wide margin might offer 80–90. Run your own numbers against India, Bangladesh, and UAE tables the same morning.
BAJUS-style boards in Bangladesh and association rates in India are typically sell-to-you references. They are not a legal floor for what a shop must pay when you walk in with old jewellery. Treat them as a negotiation anchor, then watch the assay. BAJUS context: BAJUS gold rate today.
| Line on the deal | What it is | Who it favours |
|---|---|---|
| New 22K / 24K board | Shop’s selling rate for metal | The shop, until you compare a live benchmark |
| Old gold rate | Shop’s buying rate before or after assay | You, if it is disclosed and close to the board |
| Assay / purity cut | Adjustment if the piece is below stamped karat | Whoever reads the XRF honestly |
| Melt / refining fee | Sometimes baked into the old rate, sometimes extra | The shop if it is hidden |
| Stone / enamel deduction | Weight or value removed from the ticket | You, if stones are returned intact |
Step-by-Step: How to Sell Gold Jewellery Without Getting Rushed
Clean the pieces. Remove obvious non-gold parts you can unscrew. Separate 22K from 18K from gold-plated fashion jewellery — mixed lots get paid at the worst assay. Weigh at home on a decent gram scale so you have a number before their scale becomes the only number in the room.
At the counter, ask them to weigh in front of you and write gross weight. Ask how they will test: XRF gun, touchstone, or fire assay. XRF is fast and usually good enough for hallmarked jewellery; fire assay is slower and used when they dispute purity. Ask whether stones will be returned. Then ask for the old-gold rate and the implied recovery in local currency before you say yes.
Take that number to a second shop. The ten minutes of walking is the highest-return activity in this entire market. If you are exchanging, do the sell math first as if you were taking cash, then decide whether the new piece is still worth it. Product choice on the buy side: 22K vs 24K.
Selling vs Exchanging vs Melting: Pick the Job
A cash sale is cleanest: you leave with money and no new making charges. An exchange is convenient for Dhanteras shopping and often the shop’s favourite, because two spreads sit on one invoice. A melt / refine is for broken, mixed, or unhallmarked lots where a refiner’s recovery can beat a jewellery counter — at the cost of time and a refining fee.
If you need a new bridal set next week, exchange at a hallmarked jeweller after you have a competing cash bid in your pocket. If you do not need new jewellery, take cash or a bank/refiner route. Convenience is a fee. Festival weeks make that fee larger because the shop knows you want the new piece more than you want a 2% argument.
Pawn shops and “we buy gold” boards can be a same-day option. They are rarely the best rate. Use them as a floor quote, not as the destination, unless speed is the entire point — medical bills, travel, a deadline. Bars and coins with invoices usually buy back tighter than jewellery because there is less labour fiction and less purity drama.
| Channel | Typical fit | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Hallmarked jeweller buyback | 22K jewellery with stamps and a receipt | Wide old-gold spread; pressure to exchange |
| Second jeweller / chain store | Price-checking the first offer | Still a jewellery spread, but competition helps |
| Bank / branded bullion desk | Coins and bars with serials and invoices | May refuse jewellery or mixed karats |
| Refiner / licensed melt | Broken, unhallmarked, or large lots | Time, fees, and you must trust the recovery report |
| Pawn / walk-in gold buyer | Speed | Widest haircut; weakest documentation |
Purity, Hallmarks, and Why the Gun Disagrees With the Stamp
A 916 stamp means the piece was presented as 22K. It is not a cosmic guarantee after years of wear, solder repairs, or a dishonest original workshop. An XRF reading of 90.1% instead of 91.67% is a real money argument. Ask to see the screen. If the gap is tiny, it may be surface dirt or a solder joint. If the gap is large, you need a second test, not a louder voice.
Gold-plated and “gold colour” fashion jewellery will fail. So will 10K and 14K Western pieces sold into a 22K market — they are gold, but not at the 22K board. Learn the stamps before you travel: karat and purity guide and hallmarks explained.
Hollow jewellery, “fancy” lightweight pieces, and items with heavy solder can weigh like gold and assay like a headache. That is not always a scam. It is chemistry. Your defence is a written recovery weight, not a speech about what you paid in 2019.
India, Bangladesh, and the UAE: Local Sell-Side Rules of Thumb
In India, prefer BIS-hallmarked pieces with HUID where the rules require it. GST you paid on making charges is generally not a cheque you get back. Keep the invoice anyway — some desks pay a slightly tighter spread with paperwork, and you want a record for your own accounts. City boards differ; compare Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai as context, then still get a local assay.
In Bangladesh, BAJUS publishes reference selling rates; buyback is a shop decision. USD/BDT moves the board as much as London does. Take the live Bangladesh gold price and the vori guide with you. One vori is about 11.664 g — the same as a tola — so per-vori quotes can be compared once purity matches.
In the UAE, 22K souk buyback is often closer to metal value than a high-labour South Asian bridal ticket, especially on plain kilos and simple jewellery, but tourist-hour quotes still wander. Ask in grams, not in a “special offer” per piece. VAT treatment differs for investment-grade bullion versus jewellery — check the current rule on the invoice, not on a blog memory. Hub: UAE gold price and best countries to buy gold.
Worked Example: Turning a 50-Gram Set Into a Real Number
Suppose you have a 50-gram 22K necklace, hallmark 916, no stones. Fine gold content is 50 × 0.9167 ≈ 45.84 grams of 24K-equivalent metal. Look up that morning’s 24K per-gram benchmark, convert 45.84 grams, then apply a buyback spread. If the shop skips the fine-gold step and offers a round “per gram 22K old rate,” convert their offer back to implied 24K so you can compare it with the live table.
If they then offer to “just take making charges” on a new 80-gram bridal set, write both legs down. Old recovery on one line. New metal on the second. New making on the third. Tax on the fourth. The difference you pay should equal those lines, not a story. Festival exchanges that skip this arithmetic are how 2026’s high ounce price still produces a bad family deal.
Use the weight converter for tola and vori, and the gold profit calculator if you still have the original purchase price and want a rough gain/loss — remembering that making charges on the old ticket are sunk.
Scams and Pressure Tactics to Walk Away From
The scale that faces the wall. The “today only” rate that expires if you go next door. The offer that requires you to buy a new set before they will test the old one. The melted sample taken from a hidden corner of a hollow piece without showing you the reading. The cash shortfall “because the manager has gone to the bank.” Leave.
Unlicensed street buyers, hotel-room gold dealers, and social-media “we visit your home” crews are a theft and counterfeit problem, not a convenience feature. Sell in a shop you can find again, with CCTV, a printed invoice, and a government ID record if the jurisdiction requires it. If a deal is only available without paperwork, you are the paperwork.
If you are selling a large amount, tell someone where you are going and do not carry the cash across town on a motorcycle you just advertised. That is not gold-market analysis. It is how people keep the proceeds.
Taxes, Records, and What This Guide Will Not Pretend to Know
Capital-gains treatment, GST, VAT, and cash-transaction limits differ by country and change with budgets. India, Bangladesh, the UAE, the UK, and the US do not share a rulebook. This site will not invent a tax rate for your invoice. Keep the buy receipt, the sell receipt, and the assay printout. Ask a qualified tax professional if the cheque is large.
For household decisions, the economic point is simpler than the tax point: jewellery is a poor round-trip investment because labour dies at the door. Bullion and regulated paper gold are cleaner if the only job is purchasing power. Inflation context: gold vs inflation and spot vs retail.
GoldPriceTracer publishes spot-derived benchmarks so you can see whether a buyback is in the same universe as the world price. We do not set BAJUS, BIS, or souk rates, and we do not buy metal. Execute with a dealer you can sue if they cheat you.
Bottom Line: Sell Metal, Not a Memory
How to sell old gold in 2026 is a process: weigh, assay, compare three quotes, insist on a written recovery, and keep the invoice. The old gold rate today is a spread under the new board, not a public official number. Making charges you already paid are not coming home.
If you are selling to fund Dhanteras jewellery, do both legs in daylight. If you are selling because you need cash, take the best documented bid and do not apologise for shopping it. Confirm live metal on gold price today the morning you go.
Tools: calculator · weight converter · hallmarks · making charges. Editorial standards: editorial policy, data sources, and disclaimer.