If you buy gold to resell, the only number that matters at the counter is the most you can pay and still make your margin. Work it backwards from what you expect to sell for.
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Most people buying scrap gold price forwards: they look at the metal, guess a number, and hope. Working backwards is more reliable. Start from what the piece will realistically sell for, subtract the margin you need, and what remains is your ceiling.
Be honest about the resale figure. If you sell to a refiner you will get a percentage of melt, not melt itself. If you sell on a marketplace you will lose ten to fifteen per cent to fees before postage. Both belong in the number you start from.
The discipline matters more than the arithmetic. A ceiling worked out before you walk in is a number you can hold to; a number worked out while somebody is waiting for an answer is a number you talk yourself out of.
Buy and sell precious metals regularly? MyGoldWorth keeps your purchase cost, live melt value, inventory and real profit in one place — so the sums above are done for every piece you own, not one at a time.
Get MyGoldWorthBuyers commonly work to between 20% and 40% depending on volume and how quickly they turn stock over. Thin margins need reliable volume to be worth the risk.
Only if you can sell it as jewellery for more. Paying full melt and selling to a refiner below melt loses money on every piece.
Read the hallmark, then verify. Acid testing is cheap and destructive in a small way; an XRF gun is expensive and not. Anything unmarked should be tested before money changes hands.