Sell Placer Gold for the Highest Payout

What happens after we receive your gold

You watch every step. Then you decide.

Mailing gold to someone you have never met takes trust, so we removed the part where you have to take our word for it. Your lot is filmed from the moment it arrives, and the recording is yours whether you sell to us or not.

A prospector washing silt from a black gold pan in a shallow creek

1
Your package arrives
Tracked and insured from your door. We confirm delivery the same day it lands.
2
Opened on camera
Recording starts before the seal is cut and runs unbroken from there. Nothing happens off screen.
3
Cleaned and weighed
Black sand and moisture come out first, so the scale reads gold and nothing else. The display is readable on video.
4
Photographed and tested
Clear photos of your actual gold, then purity testing, so your payout reflects what is really there.
5
Sorted by size
Screened into dust, flakes, pickers and nuggets. Bigger pieces earn more, and you see the split.
6
Your offer
A written breakdown with every number in it. Accept and get paid, or decline and we ship it back free.

The full process, step by step →

What we pay

Bigger gold earns more, because it is rarer.

Every rate is a share of the actual gold in your lot — your weight multiplied by your tested purity. Pickers and nuggets clear more than melt value because we sell those pieces whole to collectors instead of melting them down. Here is everything we buy, including the material most mail-in buyers turn away.

85%

Dust

Fine material that sifts straight through a 40 mesh screen. It sells by weight, so the rate tracks refinery pricing closely.

90%

Flakes

The classic panning result. Jewelers and hobbyists both want it, which lifts the rate above plain melt value.

95%

Pickers

Big enough to pick up one at a time. Collectors buy these by the piece, so they earn close to full metal value.

105%

Nuggets

Sold whole to collectors and never melted. That is exactly why the rate clears 100% of the gold content.

How placer gold is valued — weight, purity and grade explained →

Run the numbers yourself — the payout calculator, with the full arithmetic shown →

Standout nuggets and quartz specimens get priced one at a time. Shape, character and visible quartz all add value that has nothing to do with metal content, and weighing such a piece like scrap would shortchange you badly.

A natural gold nugget with visible white quartz still attached — A piece like this is worth more whole than melted — the quartz and the shape are part of the value.

Your options

We would rather you know the whole field.

If a specialist collector dealer would beat us on a showpiece nugget, we will tell you. Here is what the alternatives typically look like. Who buys placer gold, and where to sell it →

Where	Typically pays	The catch
Pawn shop	40–60% of melt	Most will not take raw placer, black sand or concentrates at all
Mail-in gold buyer	Up to 85% of refined value	Shipping often insured only to $5,000 — about 1.4 troy ounces — and everything gets melted, so nuggets earn no premium
Scrap refiner	Up to 95% of gold content	Minimum lot fees of $100–500, and small lots get estimated rather than assayed
Selling it yourself	Retail, minus fees	Marketplace fees near 13%, plus photography, shipping and buyer disputes
Nugget specialist	90–100% of gross weight	Great for showpiece nuggets, not interested in your fines
Placer Gold Buyers	85–115% of gold content	We take the whole lot, fines included, grade it by size, and pay above melt on the coarse gold because we sell those pieces whole

Rates above are what these buyers publish or are commonly reported to pay; they change, and yours depends on your material. The point is the shape of the market, not a promise about any one competitor.

Where we buy from

Every creek runs a little different.

Placer gold is never pure, and how pure it is depends on where it came from. Alaska assays alone range from roughly 620 to 927 fine depending on the district. We price against your region’s real numbers instead of applying one blanket discount to everybody.

Alaska
California
Arizona
Nevada
Oregon
Idaho
Montana
Colorado
Georgia & the Carolinas

A braided sub-arctic creek with exposed gravel bars and a spruce treeline

Questions

What people ask before mailing gold to strangers.

How do I know you weighed it honestly?

Because you watch it happen. Recording begins before your package is opened and runs unbroken through cleaning, drying and weighing, with the scale readable the whole time. You get that video whether or not you accept our offer.

What if I don’t like the offer?

You say no and we ship your gold back, insured, at our cost. Nothing is melted, mixed with anyone else’s material, or altered before you accept. Your lot stays exactly as you sent it the entire time it is with us.

How do you work out purity?

We test it rather than guess. Placer gold varies enormously by district, so a blanket assumption would shortchange some sellers and overpay others. Your tested figure appears in your written offer alongside the weight and the rate.

Is my gold too small to bother with?

Probably not. Insured freight in both directions costs real money, so there is a minimum below which shipping outweighs the gold, but it is lower than most people expect. The current figure is shown when you request a shipping kit.

Do you buy nuggets and specimens?

Yes, and those get quoted individually rather than off the rate table. Shape, character and attached quartz all add value unrelated to melt, and a good nugget is worth far more whole than melted.

What about black sand and concentrates?

Send clean, dry gold when you can — it is quicker and the numbers are unambiguous. If yours still has magnetite in it, just say so, and we handle the separation on camera as part of intake.

When do I get paid?

As soon as you accept your written offer. Precious-metal dealers are subject to state rules on payment methods and holding periods that differ from state to state, so your exact timing is confirmed with the offer itself.

All questions →

Find out what your gold is worth.

Run the numbers in under a minute. If they look right, we will send you a prepaid, insured shipping kit.

Get my estimate

Sell your placer gold for the highest payout.

How much is your placer gold worth?

You watch every step. Then you decide.

Your package arrives

Opened on camera

Cleaned and weighed

Photographed and tested

Sorted by size

Your offer