Sell your 18K gold online with clarity

18K is 75% pure, so its melt baseline is three-quarters of the live gold price per gram applied to your piece’s net gold weight. This figure moves daily. It is also not the whole answer at this karat. More 18K jewelry carries designer, stone or craftsmanship value on top of its metal than any other purity, so a melt calculation alone can understate what you are holding. Get an itemized estimate that separates the gold from everything else before accepting a number based on weight.

The same thing, in two conventions. 18K and 18KT are American karat notation: 18 parts gold in 24. 750 is the European millesimal fineness mark, meaning 750 parts gold per 1,000. Both describe 75% purity. On imported and designer pieces, 750 is often the only purity mark present, usually beside a maker’s punch or an assay mark worth photographing too.

Per gram, yes as 18K holds 75% gold against 14K’s 58.5% so identical weights are not close. Whether your 18K piece beats your 14K piece is a different question. Weight matters as much as purity, and a heavy 14K chain can outvalue a light 18K one comfortably. 18K also appears more often in finer and designer work, which adds value beyond the metal. Weigh both, photograph both hallmarks, and have them estimated together.

Everything that is not gold comes off the scale first: this means stones, non-gold setting components, clasps and spring rings, steel pins and links in watch bracelets, and the filler used inside hollow pieces. The remainder is your net gold weight, and only that figure is multiplied by 0.75 and the current price. 

Be sure to ask any buyer to show the deduction line. It is where offers on the same item diverge most and a breakdown you can actually read is the difference between comparing offers and guessing between them.

Yes. Damage does not remove gold; a snapped 18K chain or a ring with a cracked shank still carries its full metal weight. The 18K-specific question is whether repair makes more sense than melting, and at this purity it more often does. Designer and finely made pieces frequently justify restoration, and that option vanishes the moment an item is scrapped. Send it in its current state.

Usually not and it is worth finding out before you do. A signed 18K piece from a recognized maker, an antique setting, or well-made work with its marks intact can be worth substantially more as jewelry than as metal, and scrapping is irreversible. Be sure to photograph the hallmarks, maker’s punch and any serial number, then have the piece assessed whole. If melt value exceeds its worth as a finished piece, you will see both figures and can choose. You just cannot choose backwards.

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Immediacy, but at a cost. Pawn shops and high-street gold buyers pay quickly because they price for a quick resale. Most work from metal weight, which is the worst possible fit for 18K, where the signature, stones or workmanship often carry more than the gold does. That is not a claim that every such buyer underpays. It is a mismatch between how they price and what 18K frequently is. If speed is not your constraint, get a specialist estimate first and compare. Here is more on choosing a buyer

Insist on the same breakdown from everyone. A comparable offer shows verified purity, gross and net weight with deductions listed, the gold price used and its time stamp, and anything valued apart from the metal: stones, brand, condition. Offers presented as a single figure can only be accepted or refused, never compared. Be sure to also check what surrounds the number too. Whether shipping is insured, who pays return postage if you decline, how long the offer stands. Yours holds 30 days, returns are free, and declining costs nothing.