Buy gold and silver over your counter. We do the rest.

How it works

You buy gold and silver from the public in your own shop, under your own name, at a price you set. We buy it from you at the programme rate. The difference is yours.

1. Step 1

   You buy from the public

   Under your own name and at your own price. We never set what you pay and we never contact your sellers.

2. Step 2

   You post it to us

   Tamper-evident pouch, signed record sheet, prepaid insured label. Drop it at any post office.

3. Step 3

   We test it on camera

   Every parcel is opened and tested on camera the day it arrives. You get the clip and an itemised quote on WhatsApp.

4. Step 4

   You are paid the same day

   Accept the quote and the money goes by bank transfer or Revolut the same day, at the programme rate.

What you get

• A starter kit. Scale, acids, touchstone, file, magnet, loupe, pouches, prepaid labels and a pad of record sheets. Posted to you, no charge, topped up whenever you run low.
• The day's price per gram on WhatsApp. Every morning, before you open, so you know what to pay before the first seller walks in.
• Prepaid insured postage. An Post labels already addressed to us. Tracked and insured. You never pay to send.
• Same-day payout. Bank transfer or Revolut the day you accept the quote.
• No fees, no exclusivity, no minimum. Nothing is deducted from the quote. Buy as much or as little as suits the shop, and sell to whoever you like.

Counter calculator

Pick the metal and purity, type the weight, and the figure is what we pay you for that item today. Pay the seller less than it and the rest is your margin. Shops on the programme confirm the sale from the same page: a weight and a tap, photos and the seller record if you have them.

The calculator is on the web page: /buyerprogram/calculator

Today's programme prices

What we pay you today, per gram of the item as it is, off the live market. Pay the seller less than this and the rest is your margin. These figures move with spot through the day; the morning WhatsApp message carries the same board.

A hallmark tells you the row to read. 375 is 9ct, 585 is 14ct, 750 is 18ct, 916 is 22ct. Silver marked 925 or Sterling is the sterling row. Stones are not metal: allow for their weight when you quote.

Starter kit

Everything in the box, in the order it is packed. Nothing in it is charged for.

Pocket scale, 0.01 g

Weigh every piece before you quote. Zero it with nothing on the pan.

Gold testing acids: 9ct, 14ct, 18ct and 22ct, with a touchstone

One bottle per carat. The stone is for the streak test.

Silver testing acid

One bottle. Used on a file scratch, never on the surface.

Needle file

For the small notch the silver test needs, and for getting under plating.

Magnet

Gold and silver are not magnetic. If it pulls, hand it back.

10x loupe

For reading hallmarks.

Tamper-evident pouches

One pouch per parcel. Write the pouch number on the record sheet.

Prepaid insured An Post labels

Already addressed to us. Post at any post office and keep the receipt.

Record sheet pad

One line per purchase. A sheet goes in every parcel.

Running low on acid, pouches, labels or sheets? Message us and more goes in the post.

How to test gold

Four checks, in this order, every time. Takes two minutes once you have done it a few times. Never skip the magnet or the acid because the hallmark looks right: fakes carry hallmarks too.

1. Read the hallmark. Use the loupe. Look on the clasp, the inside of a ring, the back of a pendant. The number is the fineness in parts per thousand:375 = 9ct585 = 14ct750 = 18ct916 = 22ct999 = 24ctA hallmark is a strong sign, not proof. No hallmark does not mean no gold, and a hallmark does not mean gold. Carry on to the next checks either way.
2. Try the magnet. Hold it to the body of the piece. Gold is not magnetic. If it pulls, even slightly, it is not solid gold: hand it back. Clasps and springs can be steel, so test the piece itself, not the catch.
3. Acid on the touchstone. Rub the piece firmly on the stone to leave a clear streak about a centimetre long. Put one drop of the acid for the carat you expect on the streak (go by the hallmark; with no hallmark start with 9ct).
   • The streak stays bright: the piece is at least that carat. Try the next acid up to find the top.
   • The streak fades slowly: it is below that carat. Try the next acid down.
   • The streak vanishes or fizzes green or brown: base metal or plate. Hand it back.
   • Wipe the stone clean between pieces so streaks do not mix.
4. Weigh it and quote. Zero the scale with nothing on it, then weigh to 0.01 g. Take the row for that carat from the board above: grams times the price per gram is what we pay you. Quote the seller less than that. We pay for metal only, so if a piece has stones, allow for them in what you offer.

How to test silver

Silver is worth far less per gram than gold, so the test has to be quick. A readable hallmark and a clean magnet check are enough to buy on. Use the acid for anything unmarked or doubtful.

1. Read the hallmark. Any of these marks means solid silver:925SterlingSter958800835900So do the assay office marks: the crowned harp and Hibernia (Dublin), the lion passant (English sterling), the thistle (Edinburgh), the anchor (Birmingham) and the rose (Sheffield). 925 and Sterling are the sterling row on the board; 800, 835 and 900 are continental standards and we quote them on the day.
2. Try the magnet. Silver is not magnetic. If it sticks, hand it back, whatever the mark says.
3. Hallmark-only option. A clear hallmark from the list and a clean magnet check: you can buy without the acid. The acid is for pieces with no mark, a worn mark, or a mark you do not recognise.
4. Acid on a file scratch, never on the surface. Acid on the surface only tests the plating and leaves a stain the seller will not thank you for. Pick a hidden spot (inside a rim, under a foot, the back of a clasp), cut a small notch with the file deep enough to get under any plating, and put one drop of silver acid in the notch.
   • Bright red or dark red: sterling, 925 or better.
   • Brown: a lower silver standard, around 800. We quote it on the day.
   • Green: base metal or plate. Hand it back.
   • Wipe the acid off straight away; it keeps working if you leave it.
5. Weigh it and quote. Same as gold: zero the scale, weigh, read the silver row, quote less. Weighted pieces (candlesticks, knife handles, some trophies) have a filled base of pitch or cement; we pay for the silver only, so ask us before you buy one.

Never buy

If any of these marks appears anywhere on a piece, hand it back. They mean plated, filled or base metal, and there is nothing in them to melt. A plated piece in a parcel is sorted out at test and returned to you, but it has already cost you what you paid for it.

• EPNSelectroplated nickel silver: a thin silver skin on nickel
• EPelectroplated
• Silver Plateplated, whatever else it says
• Sheffield Platea copper core with silver fused to it
• A1a plating grade, not a silver standard
• Nickel Silverno silver in it at all: copper, nickel and zinc
• German Silverthe same alloy as nickel silver
• Rolled golda thin sheet of gold bonded to base metal
• Gold filledthe same, thicker; still worthless to melt
• GP, GF, RGPgold plated, gold filled, rolled gold plate

Also hand back anything the magnet pulls, anything that fails the acid, and anything unmarked that you cannot test. When a seller tells you it is gold and the tests say otherwise, the tests are right. The complete list of marks, good and bad, with what each one means, is on the testing page.

Buying rules

Precious metal buyers in Ireland have to know who they are dealing with and keep a record of what they buy. These four rules keep you, us and your sellers on the right side of that.

1. Photo ID from every seller. Passport, driving licence or Public Services Card. Look at it, check the face, write the type on the record sheet. No ID, no purchase, whoever they are.
2. No one under 18. No exceptions, and no buying from an adult on a minor's behalf.
3. Refuse anything suspicious. A piece engraved with another name, a seller who cannot say where it came from or is in a hurry to be gone, a handful of identical items, chains that look freshly cut. You are never obliged to buy. If it does not feel right, it is not.
4. Record every purchase. On the record sheet, at the counter, before the seller leaves. The sheet is the paper trail for the parcel.

Record sheet

One A4 sheet, 15 lines, one line per purchase. Print a few at a time and keep them by the scale. The pad in the kit is the same sheet.

• Date
• Seller name
• ID type
• Description
• Weight (g)
• Price paid (€)

Fill in the shop name, the date and the pouch number at the top, sign the declaration at the bottom and put the sheet in the parcel with the pouch. A parcel that arrives without its sheet is held until we have the details from you, so it is worth the thirty seconds.

Sending to us

1. Confirm first. Every item you bought should be on a confirmed sale in the calculator above. Tap Ready to send on the sale when the parcel is going. The rate you confirmed at holds for 7 days from confirmation; after that the parcel is priced on the day it arrives.
2. Pouch it. Everything from the sheet goes in one tamper-evident pouch. Seal it and write the pouch number on the sheet.
3. Sheet inside. The signed record sheet goes in the parcel with the pouch, not in the pouch.
4. Prepaid label on. Stick one of the prepaid labels on a padded envelope or small box, drop it at any post office and keep the receipt. It is tracked and insured from the moment it is scanned.
5. Minimum parcel. We confirm the minimum worth posting when the kit goes out. Under it, hold the metal until the next parcel is worth the trip.
6. Big parcels: talk to us first. The label insures up to €2,000. Anything worth more than that, message us before you post and we arrange collection or split it into two parcels.

Post Monday to Thursday where you can, so nothing sits in a depot over the weekend.

What happens next

1. A Bosca number. The parcel is logged the morning it arrives and you get its Bosca number on WhatsApp. Every message about that parcel carries the number.
2. Opened and tested on camera. The pouch seal is checked, the parcel is opened and every line on the sheet is weighed and tested by XRF, all on camera.
3. The clip and the quote. You get the clip and an itemised quote on WhatsApp: each piece, its weight, its purity and the price at that day's programme rate, or the rate you confirmed the sale at if the parcel reached us inside the honour window.
4. Accept and you are paid the same day. Bank transfer or Revolut. The payout is logged against the Bosca in your portal with a statement you can print.
5. Decline and it comes back. Returned to the shop tracked and insured, at your cost for the return postage.
6. Our test result is final. The XRF reading on the day is the purity we pay on. If a piece tests lower than its hallmark, the quote says so and shows the reading.

Worked example

A seller brings in a 9ct gold chain. The hallmark reads 375, the magnet does not pull and the streak holds the 9ct acid. You weigh it and price it on the calculator.

You pay the seller

€500

We pay you at the programme rate

€792

You keep

about €290

An example, not a quote: the figures move with the market and the chain. Pay more and keep less; pay less and the seller may walk. Where you set your price is your business.

Contact

A piece you are not sure of, a question about a quote, acid running low: message us. A photo of anything doubtful before you buy it saves everyone a parcel.

Liffey Metals, Dublin. WhatsApp is the quickest way to reach us; email for anything you want on paper.