How much will you get for your old gold?

You get roughly: weight in tola × (karat ÷ 24) × today's 24K tola rate, minus the jeweller's deduction (katoti). Making charges and wastage you paid when you bought the jewellery are not paid back.

The formula, step by step

1. Weight: the jeweller weighs the piece. 1 tola = 11.664 grams.
2. Purity: the jeweller tests it (a karat meter or acid test). 22K is 22 parts of 24 pure gold, so 22 ÷ 24 = 0.9167. 21K is 0.875, 18K is 0.75.
3. Pure gold: weight × purity. 2 tola of 22K holds 2 × 0.9167 = 1.833 tola of pure gold.
4. Value: pure gold × today's 24K tola rate.
5. Deduction: the jeweller takes a cut for melting loss and their margin, often a few percent. Ask the figure before they test.

A worked example

Example rate only. Check today's rate at your local sarafa bazaar before you go.

If the piece tests at 21K instead, pure gold is 1.75 tola and the value drops to Rs 525,000 before the deduction. Purity matters more than anything else.

What is never paid back

• Making charges (banwai) you paid when you bought it.
• Wastage (kaat / khot) added on the bill.
• Stones and beads: their weight is taken out before the gold is valued.

That is why selling a piece bought last month usually gives much less than the bill.

How to check the deal

• Get the weight and the tested karat in writing before you agree.
• Compare two jewellers. Their rate and deduction can differ.
• Exchange (old gold for new) often gets a better deduction than cash. Ask for both.
• Take your CNIC: most jewellers record it when they buy gold.

Try the numbers on the gold price calculator, and see tola, gram, masha and ratti for weights.

For jewellers

Munshi's jewellers software keeps the daily gold rate, weighs old gold in with the tested karat and the deduction, gives the customer a printed slip with their CNIC, and puts the gold into stock and the books. Start free and try it on your counter.