How we get the numbers
Short version: we read what online bullion dealers already publish on their websites — buyback / sell-to-us pages — and show those offers as a percent of that day’s spot.
We do not need to cold-call local jewelry shops for the MVP. Locals can come later as optional self-submitted listings.
Where buybacks come from
- Dealers like JM Bullion, APMEX, SD Bullion, Monument Metals, Bullion Exchanges, Money Metals Exchange, and others post what they’ll pay for common coins, bars, and sometimes scrap.
- Those pages change through the day. This MVP ships with a clearly labeled sample dataset shaped from public quotes; the file layout is ready for a scheduled refresh script.
- Spot itself can come from a free public feed (we try ChartGoldPrice in the browser) or fall back to the sample spot in
data/buybacks.json.
What “% of spot” means
For a 1 oz gold Eagle, if spot is $4,158 and a dealer bids $4,098, that’s about 98.4% of spot (roughly 1.6% under). For scrap jewelry we use % of melt (weight × purity × spot), because karat pieces aren’t pure.
Typical online ranges (rules of thumb, not guarantees):
- Recognized gold coins/bars: often ~97–99% of spot
- Silver bullion: wider — sometimes ~85–97% depending on product
- Scrap gold jewelry: online dealers often ~80%+ of melt; pawn/kiosk can be much lower
What we don’t do
- We don’t buy or sell metal.
- We don’t invent testimonials or “guaranteed highest price” claims.
- We don’t treat sample demo numbers as live quotes — always confirm on the dealer’s site before you sell.
What’s next (no spending yet)
- Re-run
node scripts/refresh-buybacks.jsto rewritedata/buybacks.jsonfrom FindBullionPrices + XAUS spot - Wire newsletter signups to a real email tool (when you’re ready to connect an account)
- Optional local-shop listings people submit themselves
- Free static hosting (GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify free tier) when you want it public