How the Gold Buyer Score works
The gold-buying industry runs on a question nobody answers before you ship: what will you actually pay, and can you prove it? This methodology scores every national buyer on that question and shows the math.
v1.0 · published 2026-07-10
The rules
- Evidence or nothing. Every sub-criterion score cites what the buyer publishes: their site, their FAQ, their BBB record, their review profiles. Undisclosed means zero, never an assumption.
- Fine print beats headline. When a banner says “insured up to $100k” and the FAQ says $5,000 unless you call first, we score the FAQ.
- Same rubric for everyone, including the company behind this site. goldbuyer.io is operated by the team behind Offramp, one of the buyers scored on this site. Every buyer, including Offramp, is scored against the same public methodology with cited evidence, and Offramp's weaknesses are shown like everyone else's. Offramp's reputation score is 20 out of 100 because it has no review history. That is what the rubric says, so that is the score.
- Partial credit, no vibes. Every sub-criterion has a defined point scale. Re-scores happen quarterly or when a buyer changes its published terms, with a change log.
Categories and weights
Payout
30%The only number that ultimately matters: what percentage of your gold's melt value reaches your bank account.
| Advertised payout rate | /50 | Published % of melt value. 90%+ = 50, 80–89% = 40, 70–79% = 25, undisclosed = 0. |
| Rate disclosure | /25 | Payout rate stated plainly on the site before you ship, not revealed only in the offer. |
| Price protection | /25 | A price lock or floor between estimate and offer, with published terms. |
Proof & Transparency
25%You mail your gold to a stranger. The differentiator is whether they prove what they received and how they valued it.
| Assay method disclosed | /25 | Names the testing method (XRF, fire assay) rather than 'we evaluate your items.' |
| Assay on video | /35 | Seller can watch their own assay (recorded or live). The industry's rarest proof. |
| Itemized offers | /20 | Offer breaks out each item's weight, karat, and value — not one lump sum. |
| Published pricing methodology | /20 | Public page explaining exactly how offers are computed from spot. |
Tracking & Process
15%The days your gold is in transit are the days you can't sleep. Insurance and visibility are what make mail-in rational.
| Shipping insurance | /40 | $25k+ = 40, $10k = 30, $5k = 20, $1k = 10, undisclosed = 0. |
| Status tracking | /30 | Online tracker with real states (received, testing, offer) — not just carrier tracking. |
| Payment speed | /30 | Published time from acceptance to payment. Same/next day = 30, 2–3 days = 20, vague = 5. |
Client Services
10%When something goes sideways with an heirloom, you need a human.
| Reachable by phone | /40 | Real phone number with published hours. |
| Free insured returns | /40 | Decline the offer, get your gold back: free and insured, in writing. |
| Support channels | /20 | Chat/email with stated response times. |
Technology
10%Live pricing tools before you ship signal a buyer with nothing to hide about spot-price math.
| Live-price calculators | /50 | Karat/weight calculators tied to live spot, public and free. |
| Pre-ship estimate | /30 | A way to get a real range before mailing (photo estimate, quote tool). |
| Digital offer flow | /20 | Accept/decline online with the evidence attached. |
Reputation
10%Track record still counts — new entrants score low here until they earn it, including the one that runs this site.
| Independent reviews | /50 | BBB rating/accreditation and Trustpilot/Google score with meaningful volume. |
| Operating history | /30 | 10+ yrs = 30, 5+ = 20, 2+ = 10, under 2 = 0. |
| Clean record | /20 | No unresolved regulatory actions or systematic complaint patterns. |
Tiers
Category scores (0 to 100) are weighted into a total, which maps to a grade.
Think a score is wrong? Every review page lists the evidence behind each number. If a buyer changes its published terms, we re-score.
Back to the rankings