Can I sell my gold to a bank?

In most cases, no. Retail banks are not set up to buy gold, jewelry or scrap from the public, so if you walk into a branch with a gold chain or a handful of coins, the teller will almost always send you elsewhere.

There are practical reasons for this. Buying gold from an individual means confirming what the metal actually is, how pure it is and how much it weighs, and then paying a fair price against a market that moves all day. That requires testing equipment, trained staff and a relationship with a refinery that will turn the metal back into a sellable product. A typical branch has none of those things, and taking in unverified precious metals raises compliance and record-keeping questions that most banks would rather avoid. Some banks do sell bullion coins to customers, but that is a one-way transaction: they will sell to you, but they generally will not buy back from you.

Where people actually sell gold

Gold from the public is bought by businesses built specifically for it: coin shops, jewelers, pawn shops, online buyers and refineries. They differ mainly in how they test, how they price, and how many hands the metal passes through before it reaches a refinery. Every extra step in that chain is a business that needs its own margin, which usually comes out of the seller's payout.

Accurate Precious Metals is the refinery itself, not a middleman that resells to one. At our Salem, Oregon facility you can watch your item being weighed and tested, and staff price it against a live feed of the international gold and silver markets. Payouts run close to the live spot price on gold bullion and based on the metal content we measure on gold jewelry and scrap, with the exact offer depending on the product, purity, condition, volume and market conditions. There are no evaluation fees, no shipping fees and no hidden or receiving fees.

If you are not near Salem

You do not need to be local. Our insured mail-in program works in all 50 states. Submit the form, and once approved we send a free carrier-approved mailer with a prepaid label, insured up to $100,000.* The refinery tests and weighs your items, and your offer arrives by phone, email or text and holds for 14 days. Accept and payment typically arrives in 1 to 3 business days; decline and your items come back with free insured shipping.

What to do before you sell anywhere

• Look for karat stamps (10k, 14k, 18k, 22k, 24k) or fineness marks such as .999 so you know roughly what you have.
• Check the current spot price on our live gold price page; spot gold is currently around $4,166.71 per troy ounce.
• Separate bullion coins and bars from jewelry and scrap, since they are priced differently.
• Ask any buyer to weigh and test in front of you and to explain how the offer relates to the current market.

Your bank can help you deposit the check once you have sold; it just is not the place to make the sale. See what your gold could be worth.