How to Sell Gold in Dubai – Where to Sell, Today's Selling Rate and What to Expect

Where to sell gold in Dubai and the rest of the UAE

You can sell gold almost anywhere gold is sold. The main options, roughly in order of how many sellers use them:

• Buy-back counters in the Deira Gold Souk. Nearly every shop buys old gold, and the density of competitors within a few metres makes it the easiest place to get three quotes in an hour.
• Karama, Bur Dubai and Meena Bazaar. Smaller shops that serve the Indian and Pakistani communities and are used to buying 22K bangles and chains for cash. Often less formal than the souk and open late.
• Large chains' exchange schemes. The big jewellery brands with branches in malls, Abu Dhabi's Madinat Zayed and Sharjah's Rolla area take old gold against new purchases, usually at a published exchange rate. Convenient if you are replacing jewellery rather than cashing out.
• Bullion dealers and the Gold & Diamond Park. The right place for bars and coins; they know the brands and pay close to the metal rate.
• Licensed gold-buying companies. Specialist buyers with offices in Deira and some malls that pay by bank transfer and give a tested weight receipt.

Whichever emirate you are in, the metal rate is the same across the country, so shop around for the spread and the deductions rather than the rate. If you want a lender's valuation without selling, a gold loan uses the same purity test to set a credit limit.

Gold selling rate today vs the buying rate

Every shop works from two numbers: the buying rate it charges you when you purchase, and the selling rate it pays you when you sell. The selling rate sits a little below the buying rate, and the gap is the shop's spread. It covers the cost of re-melting or re-testing your gold and the risk that the market moves before the shop can resell it. On plain 24K bars the spread is narrow; on jewellery it is wider because the piece has to be melted.

What you lose when selling jewellery is not mainly the spread. It is the making charge and the VAT you paid originally, neither of which a buyer returns, because they bought labour and tax, not metal. A 22K bangle bought with a 10% making charge and 5% VAT needs the gold price to rise by roughly 15% before selling it breaks even. Bars and coins, which carry a small premium and no VAT, recover far more of their purchase price. The gold bar price page explains that difference.

Use the strip above to find today's rate for your karat: 24K is the full rate, 22K is 91.6% of it, 21K is 87.5% and 18K is 75%. A buyer's quote per gram should land close to that figure, less a few percent. Rates are indicative and move during the day.

How buyers test the purity of your gold

No reputable buyer pays on trust. The first step is the hallmark: a 916, 875, 750 or 999 stamp inside a ring or on a clasp tells the buyer the declared fineness, and a UAE or foreign assay mark adds confidence. Our hallmark and purity guide shows where to find these stamps and what they mean.

Then comes the actual test. Many shops now use an XRF analyser, a desktop machine that reads the surface composition in seconds without damage, and prints a percentage. The older acid test rubs the piece on a stone and applies acids of different strengths to see which karat the streak survives; it is cheap but only tests the surface and leaves a tiny mark. For heavy or suspicious pieces, a buyer may offer a fire assay or cut a small sample, which is only worth doing for large weights. A density test in water is a quick way to catch hollow or filled pieces.

Ask to watch the test and to see the reading. If a shop quotes a purity well below your hallmark, take the piece to a second buyer before accepting. Differences of a fraction of a percent are normal; a jump from 22K to 18K is not.

Deductions for stones, making charges and wastage

The quote you receive is built from the net gold weight, not the weight on your old invoice. The buyer deducts:

Making charges are not a deduction; they simply are not paid. A buyer values metal and nothing else, which is why a plain machine-made chain and an elaborate handmade one of the same weight and karat fetch the same price. If you paid a premium for craftsmanship, the only way to recover any of it is to sell the piece as jewellery, for example to a shop that will resell it intact, or privately. Our page on making charges in Dubai explains how to keep this loss small when you buy.

Documents and the process at the counter

UAE buyers are required to record who they buy from, so bring your Emirates ID or passport. Beyond that, the original invoice is the single most useful document: it states the karat and weight the piece was sold at, which removes any argument about purity, and a shop that sold the item will often buy it back on better terms than a stranger. For bars and coins, keep the sealed assay card and the dealer receipt together.

The process itself is short. The buyer inspects and removes stones if agreed, weighs the gold on a calibrated scale in front of you, tests purity, applies the deductions, and quotes a total. You are free to decline and walk out, which in the souk is often the fastest way to improve the offer. If you accept, you will sign a purchase form; payment is cash for modest sums or bank transfer for larger ones, and a transfer is safer for you too.

Scams and pressure tactics to avoid when selling gold

Dubai's gold trade is well regulated, but a seller in a hurry is still a target. The patterns to watch:

• The wrong rate. Quoting yesterday's rate on a day the price rose, or quoting the 18K rate for a 21K piece. Check the live strip on your phone before you walk in.
• Weighing with stones, paying without. Ensure stones are removed before weighing or that their weight is estimated transparently.
• Excess wastage. A buyer who claims a large melting loss on a clean 22K chain is padding the spread.
• The disappearing piece. Never let your gold leave your sight for testing in a back room; insist on testing at the counter.
• Door-to-door and online buyers. Offers to collect gold from your home or to pay after a courier delivery are a frequent fraud; sell in person at a licensed shop.
• Fake buy-back guarantees. A promise to buy back at the full purchase price later is worthless unless it is written on the invoice with conditions.

If something feels wrong, the Dubai Economy and Tourism consumer protection channel and the relevant emirate's police economic crime units take jewellery complaints seriously. Keep every receipt.

Selling gold coins and bars

Bullion is the easiest gold to sell because there is nothing to argue about. A sealed 10 g, 50 g or 100 g bar from PAMP, Emirates Gold, Al Etihad or Valcambi is weighed, the card is checked and the buyer pays the day's 24K rate less a small spread. Coins such as sovereigns, Maple Leafs or Krugerrands are bought by weight and fineness too, although a dealer who trades coins regularly may pay a little above metal value for popular issues in good condition. The gold coins page lists which coins Dubai dealers know best.

Opened packaging, scratched bars or unfamiliar refiner names bring the price down because the buyer has to re-test. Dealers in the DMCC area and the Gold & Diamond Park are usually the best counterparties for bullion, and for a kilo bar they are realistically the only ones. Bring the purchase invoice; for larger sums the buyer will ask about the source of the gold under anti-money-laundering rules, which is routine.

When is a good time to sell gold?

Nobody can time the market reliably, and this page does not give financial advice. A few observations help, though. Gold is priced in dollars, and because the dirham is pegged, your selling price in AED moves one-for-one with the international spot price; it does not matter whether Dubai itself is busy or quiet. Checking the price history before you sell tells you whether today's rate is near a recent high or low.

Local factors matter at the margin. Buyers are keener and spreads slightly tighter in the weeks before Diwali, Eid and the wedding season, when shops need old gold to turn into new stock. Selling in a sharp market dip tends to attract the widest spreads, because every shop is handling a queue of sellers at once. If you can, take quotes on a calm day and sell when you have two offers that agree.

Finally, think about what the gold is for. If it is a family piece, a loan against gold may solve a short-term cash need without losing it. If it is a bar you bought as savings, selling at the rate plus a small spread is the plan working as intended.