Gold premium calculator: is your dealer's price fair?
Premium = price ÷ (fine gold in troy ounces × spot price) - 1. Enter a dealer's price below and the calculator does the rest with live spot. As a benchmark, the cheapest common 1 oz coins and bars in our October 2026 checks cost 1.68% to 3.33% over spot, depending on the country.
Check the premium on any gold quote
Live spot from gold-api.com (Loading). Type your own spot to match the moment of a quote. The weight box is fine (pure) gold in troy ounces; 1 troy ounce = 31.1035 g.
How do you use the premium calculator?
Pick the currency of the quote
US dollars, pounds, Canadian dollars or Australian dollars. The spot price switches to match.
Enter the price of one item
Use the single-item price for the payment method you will actually use. Bank transfer and card prices often differ.
Choose the coin or bar
The preset fills in the pure gold content. For anything else, type the fine gold weight in troy ounces yourself.
Read the result
You see the value of the gold inside, the cash you pay above it and the premium as a percentage. Then compare it with the fair-premium table further down.
If you want to understand why premiums exist and what drives them up or down, read gold premiums explained. This page is the practical check: is the number in front of you reasonable today?
What does the formula actually do?
The spot price is the wholesale price of one troy ounce of pure gold. The calculator multiplies spot by the pure gold in your item to get its melt value (what the gold alone is worth), then compares the price with it. The premium is the extra above melt value, as a percentage.
Melt value = fine troy ounces × spot. Premium = price ÷ melt value - 1.
The fine weight matters. An American Eagle weighs 33.931 g but is 91.67% gold, so it holds one troy ounce of pure gold. A full Sovereign holds 0.23542 oz. The presets use these pure gold figures, so you do not need to work them out.
Worked examples: real quotes from four countries
These are single-item prices captured automatically from each seller's product page in the GoldVetted price check, 10 and 11 October 2026, with spot from gold-api.com at the same time. Gold markets were closed during both checks, so spot was not moving.
| Country, seller and item | Price | Fine oz × spot | Melt value | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada: Gold Stock Canada, 1 oz Maple Leaf, random year (wire) | CA$6,079.19 | 1 × CA$5,978.73 | CA$5,978.73 | 1.68% |
| UK: Chards, 1oz Britannia, best value | £3,259.95 | 1 × £3,171.03 | £3,171.03 | 2.80% |
| UK: Hatton Garden Metals, Sovereign, mixed years | £767.48 | 0.23542 × £3,171.03 | £746.53 | 2.81% |
| Australia: The Perth Mint, 1oz cast bar | A$6,184.39 | 1 × A$6,012.71 | A$6,012.71 | 2.86% |
| US: SD Bullion, 1 oz American Eagle (wire) | US$4,335.39 | 1 × US$4,195.60 | US$4,195.60 | 3.33% |
| US: SD Bullion, 1/10 oz American Eagle (wire) | US$492.03 | 0.1 × US$4,195.60 | US$419.56 | 17.27% |
GoldVetted automated price check: UK and US on 10 October 2026 (1/10 oz Eagle on 11 October 2026, same spot), Canada and Australia on 11 October 2026.
Take the UK Sovereign as a worked sum. Melt value is 0.23542 × £3,171.03 = £746.53. Then £767.48 ÷ £746.53 = 1.0281, so the premium is 2.81%, or £20.95 in cash. Type £767.48 into the calculator, choose "Full Sovereign" and enter £3,171.03 as spot, and you get the same answer.
What is a fair premium for each type of gold?
A "good" premium depends entirely on what you are buying. A 5% premium is high for a 1 oz bar but cheap for a tenth-ounce coin. Use this table, built only from our October 2026 data, to judge the figure the calculator gives you.
| Product type | Range found | Examples behind the range |
|---|---|---|
| Vaulted gold on a platform (no coin in hand) | about 0.5% | BullionVault London kilo price plus 0.5% commission, 11 Oct |
| 1 oz bullion coin, random or mixed year, bank transfer | 1.68% to 5.45% | Maple Leaf (Gold Stock Canada) to Eagle (APMEX) |
| 1 oz bar, cast or minted | 2.86% to 3.35% | Perth Mint cast bar to Perth Mint Swan minted bar (Jaggards' standard price was 4.80%) |
| Sovereign, mixed years | 2.81% | Hatton Garden Metals |
| Sovereign, current year | 4.14% to 8.14% | Chards to The Royal Mint |
| 1 oz coin, current year, bought from the mint | 7.13% | The Royal Mint Britannia 2027 |
| 1/2 oz coin | 2.62% to 9.29% | American Eagle, SD Bullion to APMEX |
| 1/4 oz coin | 10.26% to 17.75% | Eagle at SD Bullion to Royal Mint Tudor Beasts Panther |
| 1/10 oz coin | 17.27% to 21.54% | American Eagle, SD Bullion to APMEX |
| Paying by card instead of transfer | +1.80 to +4.39 points | Jaggards to APMEX |
| Proof or collector coin | about 55% | Royal Mint 2026 Horse 1oz Lunar proof, £4,905 vs £3,171.45 of gold |
GoldVetted automated price checks, 10 and 11 October 2026; full tables in the premium tracker. These are ranges we observed among the dealers we could price, not limits. Premiums change daily and widen when demand surges.
A simple rule from this data: if a common 1 oz coin or bar comes out above about 5% by bank transfer, at least one other dealer was probably cheaper on the same day. If a quote comes out below spot from a seller of new stock, be careful. The US Mint says any offer of a bullion coin below market price deserves extra scrutiny, and our gold scams guide explains why.
What does the round trip cost: buying and selling back?
The premium is what you pay to get in. The buyback discount is what you lose getting out, because dealers usually buy at or below spot. Add the two together for your real cost of owning gold, before storage or delivery.
| Route | Buy premium | Buyback vs spot | Loss on round trip | Gold rise needed to break even |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1oz Britannia: buy at Chards, sell to Hatton Garden Metals | 2.80% | -3.28% | £192.80 (5.91%) | about 6.3% |
| 1oz Britannia: buy and sell at Hatton Garden Metals | 3.47% | -3.28% | £214.04 (6.52%) | about 7.0% |
| Sovereign: buy and sell at Hatton Garden Metals | 2.81% | -3.43% | £46.58 (6.07%) | about 6.5% |
| Vaulted kilo bar: buy and sell on BullionVault (0.5% commission each way) | about 0.50% | -0.09% before commission | about 1.1% | about 1.1% |
Hatton Garden Metals buyback prices from 10 to 11 October 2026 (spot £3,171.03 to £3,171.45). BullionVault buy £101,790/kg and sell £101,702/kg captured 11 October 2026 at 23:32 BST (spot £3,166.01/oz), plus its published 0.5% commission each way; storage fees not included. Break-even = buy price ÷ buyback price - 1, assuming the buyback stays the same distance below spot. We did not capture buyback prices in the US, Canada or Australia this month.
Two lessons. First, coins bought from a dealer usually need gold to rise by roughly 6% to 7% before you are back to even. Second, platforms that hold gold in a vault for you cost far less to trade in and out of, but you own a share of large bars rather than coins at home, and you pay storage each year. Our guide to gold dealer spreads goes deeper, and the dealer buyback calculator works out your own figure.
Hatton Garden Metals shows its buyback price next to its selling price on each product page, so you can check the full round trip before you order. See Hatton Garden Metals' prices
Which other gold calculators might help?
- Melt value calculator: the gold value of a coin or piece of jewellery, without a dealer price.
- Gold value calculator: value by gram, ounce or karat.
- Storage cost calculator: what a vault will charge over several years.
See all gold calculators, or pick a country guide to compare dealers: US, UK, Canada or Australia. The calculator gives you a number; it does not tell you whether to buy. This page is general information, not financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use the gold premium calculator?
Choose the currency your dealer quotes in, type the price for one coin or bar, and pick the coin from the list so the fine gold weight fills in. The live spot price loads by itself. The result shows the gold value, the cash you pay above it and the premium as a percentage.
What is a fair premium on gold?
It depends on the product. In our October 2026 checks, common 1 oz coins and bars cost 1.68% to 3.59% over spot at the cheapest sellers, when paid by bank transfer. Current-year coins from a mint cost about 7%, quarter-ounce coins over 10% and tenth-ounce coins over 17%. The table on this page lists each type.
Why does the calculator ask for fine gold weight, not total weight?
Because spot is the price of pure gold. A 22 carat coin such as the American Eagle weighs 33.93 g but holds one troy ounce (31.10 g) of pure gold. Using the total weight would make the gold look more valuable than it is and the premium look smaller than it really is.
Can I use this calculator for silver?
No. The live price feed on this page is for gold only. The formula is the same for silver (price divided by fine silver weight times silver spot, minus 1), so you could type your own silver spot price into the spot box, but the coin presets are gold coins.
Why is my premium different from the dealer's own figure?
Usually because of timing or payment method. Spot moves every few seconds on weekdays, so use the spot price at the moment of the quote. Many dealers also show a lower price for bank transfer than for card. In our checks, card prices were 3.81 to 4.39 points higher at four US and Canadian dealers.
Does a low premium mean a good deal?
Not on its own. You also lose money when you sell, because dealers usually buy back below spot. In our UK check, buying a Britannia and selling it straight back cost 5.91% to 6.52% in total. Delivery charges, minimum orders and sales tax in some US states also add to the cost.
Sources
We checked these primary and official sources when writing and fact-checking this page.
- US Mint: Bullion consumer awareness (understand premiums; scrutinise offers below market price)
- CFTC: 10 things to ask before buying physical metals (markup or premium, buy-back price)
- gold-api.com: live spot price feed used by this calculator (XAU in USD, GBP, CAD, AUD)
- NIST: precious metals conversion (1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 g)
- US Mint: American Eagle gold coin specifications (33.931 g, 91.67% gold)
- Chards: 1oz Gold Britannia, Minty (priced 10 Oct 2026)
- Hatton Garden Metals: 1oz Gold Britannia, selling and buyback prices (priced 10 Oct 2026)
- SD Bullion: 1 oz American Gold Eagle, random year, wire and card prices (priced 10 Oct 2026)
- The Perth Mint: cast bars (1oz cast bar priced 11 Oct 2026)
- BullionVault: tariff (0.5% dealing commission)
Not financial advice. GoldVetted provides general information to help you compare options. It is not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Gold prices go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you pay. Check tax rules with the official source or a qualified adviser before you act.