1On arrival
On camera, on the scale
Your kit is opened on film (your video is available on request). Purity is acid-tested, with x-ray verification where needed, and each karat group is weighed separately.
Home / How It Works
Five steps, start to paid. Reversible until the moment you say yes.
It starts online with a photo, not a shipment. You see your estimate first, shipping is free and insured both directions, and you approve the offer or everything comes back.
Steps 1 and 2: Your estimate, online
Text a photo and answer a couple of quick questions on the free estimate page. The GoldVara team, with over 40 years of combined experience, reviews every submission personally and replies with your estimate, usually a value range, by email or text. It's free, there's no obligation, and nothing ships until you've seen a number. If a photo can't support a range, we tell you what you have and what happens next instead of guessing.
Step 3: Your free insured kit, two ways
fastest
Express Label
In your inbox within minutes
- Prepaid, insured shipping label by email in minutes
- No printer, no tape: show the QR code at a FedEx Office, a FedEx Ship Center, or a Post Office counter and they print the label for you
- Free shipping supplies at both carriers' counters, or use your own box; discreet and unbranded either way
- Fully insured, underwritten by Jewelers Mutual: coverage available up to $100,000
easiest
Full Kit
Mailed to you in 2 to 4 days
- Everything arrives at your door: mailer, padding, prepaid insured label
- Drop it at your local post office, or choose FedEx and schedule a pickup; the driver scans it at your door
- Insured to match what you're sending: up to $5,000 by USPS or $25,000 by FedEx. Sending more? We'll email you an Express Label with box instructions instead.
- Best if you don't have packing materials handy
Ships free via USPS or FedEx: tracked at every step to a secure, non-branded, 24/7-monitored facility, and we've never lost a package.
Steps 4 and 5: On the scale, then paid
From the moment your kit arrives to the moment you're paid, in order.
12The offer
Your itemized offer
We notify you by email and text, and you view your offer online: photos of your items on our scale, a description of each piece, and every line item priced, with any deduction (a non-precious gemstone's weight, for example) noted in plain sight.
3Your call
Approve or decline
Approve and we move straight to payment: upload a photo of your ID and tell us how you'd like to be paid, by ACH, Zelle, or a check in the mail. Decline and everything returns free, fully insured, no questions.
4Payment
Payment is processed
Our team issues the payment as requested. ACH takes one business day to move from our bank to yours, Zelle is instant, and a check arrives at your door in two to four business days.
The parts nobody else shows
- Filmed unboxing
Every shipment is opened on camera. Want the footage of yours? Ask. It's yours.
- Photos on the scale
Your offer includes photographs of your actual items on our scale, next to their line items.
- The right to say no
Decline and everything returns free, insured, no questions. The offer is an offer, not a hostage note.