Gold Price for Jewellers in the UK

Making charges and pricing

UK retail jewellery is usually priced as a finished item, and prices shown to consumers must include VAT. Bespoke work, alterations and repairs are quoted per job. In the trade, gold is bought and sold per gram by carat. Bullion dealers and scrap buyers typically pay a percentage of the value of the fine gold content, which allows for assay, refining and margin.

Hallmarking and purity marks

Under the Hallmarking Act 1973, it is illegal to sell or describe an item as gold in the course of business unless it is hallmarked, in a shop or online. Items under the exemption weights are excluded: 1 gram for gold, 7.78 g for silver, 0.5 g for platinum and 1 g for palladium. Hallmarks are applied by the four UK Assay Offices: London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Edinburgh. The three compulsory marks are the sponsor's mark, the fineness mark and the assay office mark; the date letter is optional. The legal gold standards are 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct), 916 (22ct), 990 and 999.

Anyone selling precious metal articles must display the official Dealer's Notice explaining hallmarks, and online sellers must make it readily visible on their site.

Tax on sales and scrap

New jewellery carries 20% VAT. Investment gold is exempt (VAT Notice 701/21). It covers bars and wafers of at least 995 fineness in weights accepted by the bullion markets, and qualifying coins. Second-hand jewellery bought without VAT, for example from a private individual, can usually be resold under a VAT margin scheme, so VAT is paid only on the margin if the scheme's conditions and record-keeping rules are met. Precious metals as such are excluded from the margin scheme.

No VAT is charged when you buy gold from a private individual. When one VAT-registered business sells another scrap gold (including broken or scrapped jewellery), fine gold or gold grain, the special accounting scheme applies: the buyer accounts for the VAT, not the seller. The scheme also covers other goods containing gold sold at no more than negligibly above the value of their gold. Finished jewellery sold as jewellery is excluded (VAT Notice 701/21).

Customer checks and reporting

A business that accepts or makes cash payments of £10,000 or more for goods, in one transaction or several linked ones, is a high value dealer under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. The threshold was €10,000 until the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 changed it to £10,000 from 30 June 2026. A high value dealer must register with HMRC before accepting or making such payments. It must then carry out customer due diligence, keep records and report suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency. Card and cheque payments do not count as cash, and many jewellers refuse cash at or above the threshold so that they do not need to register.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, which applies in England and Wales, excludes gold, silver and any alloy that is 2% or more gold or silver by weight. In Scotland, dealing in second-hand goods, including second-hand jewellery, needs a second-hand dealer's licence from the local council under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. Goods taken in part exchange for new ones are excluded.