Sell Your Used Gold Earrings — 0% Fees

Used gold earrings typically sell for £30 to £300, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Small gold items are priced almost entirely on carat and weight, so the two numbers that matter more than any photograph are the hallmark and the gram figure.

The short version

Typical range: £30 – £300 — see the full gold earrings value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Jewellery & Watches

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Find the hallmark, usually on the post, the butterfly back or the inside of a hoop, and photograph it.
Weigh the pair together on a scale reading to a tenth of a gram.
Check both backs are present and matching, and inspect any stones for looseness.

The photographs that sell gold earrings

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

Both earrings together on a plain background
The hallmark, close and legible
The pair on a scale with the weight visible
The posts and backs, plus any stone or damage close up

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Carat, style and weight: “9ct Gold Hoop Earrings, 2.1g, Pair”. Style is a genuine search — hoops, studs, drops. Confirm in the title that it is a full pair with both backs, because a single earring or missing butterflies is a common and irritating surprise.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Carat from the hallmark, and the total weight in grams for the pair
Style, and the diameter or drop length
Whether both backs are present and matching
Any stones, their type if known, and whether all are secure

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about gold earrings. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“What do they weigh?”

Weigh the pair and give grams. On small gold items weight is most of the value and buyers ask immediately.

“Are they hallmarked?”

Photograph the mark. Hallmarks on earrings are very small, so use macro mode rather than describing them from memory.

“Are both backs included?”

Check and confirm. Missing butterflies are cheap to replace but should never be a surprise at handover.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The gold earrings value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £165 sale — roughly the middle of the range for gold earrings — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£165
Poshmark	−£33	£132
eBay	−£22	£143
Mercari	−£16	£149
Etsy	−£11	£154

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Steady year round with a Christmas lift. Gold’s metal floor means fairly priced pieces sell quickly.

Tiny and easily lost in transit. Use a small box rather than an envelope, post tracked, and photograph both earrings before sealing.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

What are used gold earrings worth?

Typically £30 to £300, driven by carat and weight with design and any stones on top. See the gold earrings value guide for the range by condition.

Do people buy used earrings?

Yes, readily, particularly gold ones where the metal holds value. Hygiene is the buyer’s only real hesitation, so clean them properly and say that you have.

Can I sell a single earring?

Yes — single gold earrings sell for their metal value and to people who have lost one of a pair. Just be explicit in the title that it is a single, not a pair.