Selling guide, live prices ·
Sell gold in South Africa,
Your gold is worth its melt value, the weight in grams times the karat purity times the live gold price, R2 195,95 a gram for fine 24ct today and R824,30 for 9ct. What a buyer hands you is a percentage of that melt, and the gap between the two is the whole game. Coming out square takes three things: a legitimate, licensed buyer, your ID and the right paperwork, and enough carat literacy to know a low offer when you see one. This page is the map to all three.
What it is worth · melt value
Mass × purity × the live price
The metal floor, the same whoever you sell to. Fine 24ct gold is R2 195,95 a gram right now; 9ct, at 37.5% gold, is R824,30. Weigh the item, apply its karat purity, and you have the melt value. Work yours out →
What you are paid · payout
A percentage of melt
Never the whole melt. Scrap jewellery is typically bought at 70 to 90 percent of melt; coins trade closer to it. That gap is the buyer's margin, and it is the one number worth shopping around. See what buyers pay →
Live melt per gram by karat · source goldapi.io (XAU/ZAR spot)
What your gold is actually worth
Every piece of gold has a floor value called the melt value: the weight in grams multiplied by the karat purity multiplied by the live rand gold price. A 10 gram 9ct chain contains 3.75 grams of pure gold (10 × 0.375), worth R8 243 in metal at today's price. That figure is the same whoever you sell to, which makes it the number to measure every offer against. The calculator does the arithmetic for any weight and karat.
What you will actually be paid
No buyer pays the full melt; they pay a percentage and keep the rest as margin. For scrap jewellery that percentage is typically 70 to 90 percent of melt, so the 10 gram chain above, at 80 percent, fetches about R6 594. Coins are different: a Krugerrand is resold as a coin rather than melted, so it changes hands much closer to melt, while broken chains and odd earrings are sold as scrap. What separates a fair buyer from a poor one is whether they tell you their percentage. What buyers actually pay tracks it.
Finding a buyer who will not clip you
A legitimate South African gold buyer is registered three times over, under three separate laws: an SADPMR licence or permit, a SAPS second-hand goods dealer registration, and FIC registration for trades of R100 000 or more. That is why a real buyer asks for your ID and logs the sale; the law requires it, and a buyer who skips it is the one to walk away from. How to verify a gold buyer sets out exactly what to ask to see.
What you need to bring
Selling is quick when you arrive ready. Bring your original identity document or passport, because the buyer is obliged to record who they buy from and keep a copy for at least five years, plus proof of residential address and any certificates or receipts for the item. Expect it to be weighed and tested in front of you, with a written breakdown of weight, carat, melt value and payout. What you need to sell gold covers the paperwork in full.
Tax on the sale
For most people selling personal jewellery there is no tax to worry about. The exception is coins: gains on Krugerrands and gold coins fall inside Capital Gains Tax, because SARS treats a coin made mainly from gold as an asset rather than a personal-use item, a point many sellers get wrong. Tax on selling gold works through it with SARS's own figures. This is general information, not tax advice.
How not to get clipped
The underpayment game is played in the open once you know it: a scale kept out of your sight, a 9ct price quoted for 18ct or 22ct metal, a headline gold price followed by a much lower payout with no breakdown, and pressure to decide before you can get a second quote. Know your carat, watch the weighing, ask for the melt-versus-payout breakdown in writing, and get two quotes. Gold scams and how to dodge them lists every tactic and its counter.
The Goldza desk
General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Every legal and tax point above is set out with its source on the linked pages. Confirm current requirements and figures with the SADPMR, SAPS, the FIC and SARS.
Take this with you
The seller's checklist
- Your original ID document or passport. A copy is taken and kept for at least five years.
- Proof of residential address.
- Any certificates or receipts you have for the item.
- Expect it to be recorded, weighed and tested in front of you, with a written breakdown.
- The buyer will not take your ID, or wants cash only with no paperwork.
- The scale is out of your sight, or you never see the weight.
- No carat test in front of you, or a 9ct price for what you were told is 18ct or 22ct.
- A headline gold price is quoted, but the payout is a much lower, unexplained figure.
- Pressure to decide now, and discouragement from getting a second quote.
- Know your carat: SA jewellery is often 9ct (375), also 14ct (585), 18ct (750), 22ct (916).
- Melt value = grams × purity fraction × the rand gold price per gram.
- Payout = melt value minus the buyer's margin. Ask what that margin is.
- Get at least two quotes. A confident, compliant buyer will not object.
Common questions
Selling gold in South Africa, answered
- Where can I sell gold in South Africa?
- You can sell to licensed gold buyers, jewellers, pawnshops and refiners. What matters is not how close the shop is but whether it is legitimate: a compliant SA gold buyer is registered with the SADPMR, with SAPS as a second-hand goods dealer, and with the FIC for larger trades. Searching "gold buyers near me" finds you shopfronts, not licences, so ask to see the registration, get at least two quotes, and measure every offer against the melt value of your gold.
- What is the right order to sell gold in South Africa?
- Work out the melt value first, so you have a number before anyone quotes you: weight in grams times the karat purity times the live gold price, which is R824,30 a gram for 9ct and R2 195,95 for fine 24ct today. Then check the buyer is licensed, then get at least two written quotes, and only then decide. Doing it in that order turns a blind quote into a percentage you can compare; doing it backwards is how people get underpaid.