Sell Your Used Gold Necklace — 0% Fees

A used gold necklace typically sells for £40 to £400, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Gold necklaces are priced from carat and weight first and design second, so weigh it and photograph the clasp hallmark before writing anything else.

The short version

Typical range: £40 – £400 — see the full gold necklace 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 stamped on the clasp or a small tag near it, and photograph it clearly.
Weigh the necklace on a scale reading to a tenth of a gram, and measure its length.
Check the clasp works and inspect the chain for stretched or repaired links, which are common failure points.

The photographs that sell a gold necklace

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.

The necklace laid out flat on a plain background, full length
The clasp and hallmark, close and legible
The necklace on a scale with the weight readable
The clasp mechanism, plus any repair, kink or worn link

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 It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover.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, chain type, length and weight: “9ct Gold Rope Chain Necklace, 20 inch, 8.4g”. Chain style is a real search term — rope, curb, box, Figaro — and weight lets buyers sanity-check the price against metal value immediately.

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 total weight in grams
Length in inches or centimetres, and the chain style
Clasp type, and whether it works securely
Any pendant included, and whether it is the same carat

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about a gold necklace. 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 does it weigh?”

Give grams to one decimal place. Together with carat it sets the floor price, and withholding it looks evasive.

“Is it hallmarked?”

Photograph the mark on the clasp. Unmarked gold still sells but buyers discount for the uncertainty, and WishThrift does not verify items.

“Are any links damaged or repaired?”

Run the chain through your fingers and look for kinks or solder marks. Repairs are fine when disclosed and a problem when found later.

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 necklace 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 £220 sale — roughly the middle of the range for a gold necklace — 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	£220
Poshmark	−£44	£176
eBay	−£30	£190
Mercari	−£22	£198
Etsy	−£14	£206

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 clear Christmas lift. Gold has a scrap floor, so honestly priced pieces rarely sit.

Small and valuable. Confirm cleared payment first, post tracked and signed for, and photograph the item and packaging before sending.

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 is a used gold necklace worth?

Typically £40 to £400, driven mainly by carat and weight with design and brand on top. See the gold necklace value guide for the condition breakdown.

Where is the hallmark on a necklace?

Usually stamped on the clasp itself or on a small flat tag beside it. It can be tiny, so photograph it with your phone’s macro mode and let the buyer read it themselves.

Is a broken chain still worth selling?

Yes. Gold retains its metal value regardless of condition, and broken chains sell readily for repair or scrap. Describe the break honestly and give the weight, which is what the buyer is really pricing.