What Is Spot Price? How It Affects What You Get Paid for Gold

What Is Spot Price, Exactly?

Spot price is the current price to buy or sell one troy ounce of pure gold, right now.

• Set by continuous trading on COMEX (New York) and the London gold market
• Always quoted for 24K (pure) gold, 1 troy ounce = 31.1 grams
• The same benchmark used by every gold buyer, from large refiners to local jewelers
• Not a daily fixed number, see below

How Often Does It Change?

Spot price moves continuously during trading hours, sometimes multiple times a minute.

• Driven by real-time supply, demand, currency values, and market activity
• The price at 9am and the price at 3pm the same day can differ meaningfully
• This is why any quote tied to spot price reflects one specific moment, not a fixed daily rate
• It's also why your offer is time-sensitive, and why two people checking spot price at different times of day will see different numbers

Does MailGoldOnline Pay Full Spot Price?

No, and no legitimate gold buyer does. Here's the honest reason why.

Spot price reflects pure, refined gold ready for immediate wholesale trade. Jewelry isn't that yet. It has to be tested, refined, and processed first, and that has a real cost.

This is true industry-wide, not just for us:

Bullion and coins sit in a tighter range because they're already near-pure and cheap to verify. Scrap and jewelry are different: the percentage depends on the size of what you send in, not just the item itself. A small shipment carries a fixed cost (testing, processing, shipping) that eats into a smaller total, so it nets a lower percentage. A larger shipment spreads that same fixed cost across more gold, so it can be offered a higher percentage, up to 90% on larger volume. That's the honest reason "up to 90%" is a range, not a flat number, and why two people sending in different amounts can reasonably see different percentages.

Be skeptical of any buyer advertising one flat, unusually high percentage without explaining how they calculated it: the honest answer is always a range tied to your item's actual karat, weight, condition, and volume. Here's how we calculate what your gold is worth, item by item.

How Spot Price Becomes Your Offer

Your offer = weight × purity (karat) × that day's spot price, minus refining cost.

• Weight, measured in grams on precise scales
• Purity, your item's actual tested karat, not just what a stamp says
• Spot price, the rate at the moment your item is evaluated
• Non-gold parts (stones, clasps, other metals) don't count toward weight, which is part of why an in-hand test beats a self-estimate

Don't want to do this math yourself? See how much your gold is worth for the full plain-English breakdown, or just send it in and let us test it for free.

Applying spot price to broken or mismatched jewelry or gold found at estate sales and auctions? These guides explain what to check before selling.

Should I Try to Time the Market?

No one can reliably predict short-term spot price moves, not even professional traders.

• Spot price can be higher or lower next week than it is today
• Waiting carries risk in both directions, not just upside
• If you need the value now, today's price is the only one that matters
• If you're holding gold purely as a long-term investment with no urgency, that's a different call, but not one anyone can predict for you with confidence

Not Sure What Your Gold Is Actually Worth?

You don't need to track spot price yourself or do any math. Send it in, we test every item with professional equipment, and you get a clear, itemized offer based on that day's market. No obligation, and everything ships back free if you decline.

Frequently Asked Questions