UK scrap silver prices come from the international silver spot price, converted to pounds per gram and multiplied by the purity of your item and the buyer's payout rate. Spot is currently £— per gram, which makes sterling silver worth £— per gram in metal. InstaSilver pays 80% of that: £— per gram of sterling.
How scrap silver prices are set
There is no separate "scrap price" for silver. There is one global silver price, and every buyer in the country works backwards from it. Understanding those four steps is all you need to judge whether an offer is fair.
- Spot price. Silver trades internationally as XAG, quoted per troy ounce, mostly in US dollars. This is a live market price that moves every second the markets are open.
- Converted to pounds per gram. One troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, not the 28.35g of an ordinary ounce, which is a common and expensive confusion. The dollar price is converted at the live exchange rate, so the sterling price moves with both the metal and the pound.
- Adjusted for purity. Your items are not pure silver. Sterling is 92.5% silver, so only 0.925g in every gram is actually the metal being priced.
- Multiplied by the payout rate. This is the only part that varies between buyers, and it is where all the difference lies. Ours is a flat 80%.
Today's scrap silver rates by purity
These figures recalculate from the live spot price every time the page loads. There is nothing to ring up and ask for.
| Purity | Silver content | Metal value /g | We pay /g | We pay /100g |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 999 fine | 99.9% | £— | £— | £— |
| 958 Britannia | 95.8% | £— | £— | £— |
| 925 sterling | 92.5% | £— | £— | £— |
| 900 coin | 90.0% | £— | £— | £— |
| 800 | 80.0% | £— | £— | £— |
| 500 | 50.0% | £— | £— | £— |
The 80% rate is flat across every purity. Some buyers quote a headline rate that only applies to fine silver and drops sharply for sterling: always check which purity a rate refers to.
Worked examples
The arithmetic for a 500g box of mixed sterling, at today's price: 500 × 0.925 = 462.5g of pure silver. 462.5 × £— = £— of metal. Multiply by 0.80 and you have £—.
| What you're sending | Sterling weight | Metal value | We pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odd spoons and forks | 200g | £— | £— |
| Small box of mixed sterling | 500g | £— | £— |
| Six-place canteen | 1,400g | £— | £— |
| Tea service with tray | 2,500g | £— | £— |
| Full house clearance lot | 5,000g | £— | £— |
Illustrative weights. Your payment is calculated on the verified weight after XRF testing, at the rate you locked.
Why no buyer pays 100% of spot
Spot is the price of refined, deliverable, market-grade silver in bulk. What arrives in a jiffy bag is a tea strainer, a bent fork and a christening mug at three different purities, with stainless steel and pitch attached. Turning one into the other costs money, and that cost has to come from somewhere.
- Testing. Every item is XRF analysed so purity is measured rather than assumed.
- Refining loss. Melting sterling and separating the copper never returns 100% of the theoretical silver content.
- Logistics. Free inbound tracked postage, free insured returns on anything we don't buy, secure handling and storage.
- Market risk. The rate is locked when you accept. If silver falls while your parcel is in transit, that loss is ours, not yours.
- Margin. The business has to make something, and we would rather say so plainly than dress it up.
The honest question is not whether a buyer takes a margin, since all of them do, but how much, and whether they tell you before you post. Across the UK postal and high-street market, payout rates commonly sit somewhere in the 50-75% range, and many buyers won't publish a figure at all until your silver is already in their building. We publish ours and pay it flat.
What moves the price
Silver is unusual in being half precious metal and half industrial commodity. Roughly half of annual demand comes from industry (solar panels, electrical contacts, brazing alloys, medical uses), and the rest from investment and jewellery. That gives it two sets of drivers, and makes it noticeably more volatile than gold.
- Industrial demand, especially solar manufacturing, which has become a major consumer of physical silver.
- Investment flows into and out of silver ETFs and physical bullion, which tend to surge during inflation scares and financial stress.
- The dollar-sterling rate. Silver is priced in dollars, so a weaker pound raises the UK price even when the metal itself hasn't moved. This cuts both ways.
- Interest rates, which change the opportunity cost of holding a metal that pays no yield.
Day-to-day swings of 2-3% are ordinary. That is precisely why a locked rate matters: it removes the market from the two or three days your parcel spends in the post. You can follow the current price on our live silver market page.
What counts as scrap silver
Scrap simply means silver bought for its metal content rather than its form. It does not mean damaged or worthless, and there is no penalty for condition. Dented, bent, broken, monogrammed, missing lids, mismatched patterns, black with tarnish: all paid at the same rate per gram.
We buy sterling and Continental flatware, hollowware, trays, frames, jewellery, coins, bullion, and single odd pieces. What we can't buy is silver plate, because there is no recoverable silver in it, and we don't pay for the non-silver parts of an item: stainless knife blades, wooden or bone handles, and the pitch or plaster filling in weighted candlestick bases. Those are removed before weighing, and we show you exactly what was deducted.
How to compare offers properly
Before accepting anything from anyone, work out the benchmark yourself: weight × purity × spot per gram. That is the metal value. Any offer is simply a percentage of that number, and expressing every quote as a percentage is the only way to compare them like for like.
Then check the four things that quietly reduce a headline rate:
- Which purity is the advertised rate for? A rate quoted on fine silver looks far better than the same rate on sterling.
- What is deducted after arrival? Assay charges, refining fees, handling, postage and minimum lot fees all come off the top.
- When is the rate fixed? A quote given today but priced whenever the buyer gets round to processing it isn't a quote.
- What happens if you decline? Free insured return should be standard. If returning your own property costs you money, that is a red flag.
Our guide to getting the best price for silver works through each route in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is the scrap silver price per gram in the UK today?
Pure silver is currently £— per gram. Sterling (925) holds £— of silver per gram, and InstaSilver pays 80% of that, or £— per gram. These figures update from the live market.
How do I calculate what my scrap silver is worth?
Weight in grams × purity × silver price per gram × the buyer's payout rate. For 500g of sterling at today's price that is 500 × 0.925 × £— × 0.80 = £—.
Why do silver buyers pay less than the spot price?
Spot is the price of refined bulk silver. Buyers cover testing, refining loss, postage, insurance, the market risk of holding a locked rate, and their own margin. Rates across the UK market commonly fall between 50% and 75% of spot; we pay a flat 80% and publish it.
Is scrap silver worth more than antique value?
Usually, but not always. For ordinary Victorian and Edwardian silverware in mixed condition, metal value often meets or exceeds what the piece would fetch at auction after commission. For rare makers, complete boxed sets or pieces with provenance, get a valuation first. We would rather tell you that than buy something worth more than we pay.
Do you pay more for larger quantities?
No, and we think a flat rate is fairer. The percentage is the same whether you send one spoon over the £50 minimum or five kilos from a house clearance. There are no volume tiers to negotiate and no minimum lot fees.
Does condition affect the scrap silver price?
Not at all. Bent, broken, dented, monogrammed or heavily tarnished silver pays exactly the same per gram as pristine silver, because it is the metal being bought. Don't polish anything before sending it.
How is the rate locked?
When you accept your quote we hold that rate for 48 hours. Post within the window and we pay at the locked rate however the market moves in transit. The only thing verified on arrival is the physical metal, its weight and its purity, never the price.