Calculator Methodology

What the numbers are

Metal results are reference values: the weight of the metal content multiplied by the international spot price, converted to your currency. They are not local, dealer, bank or association rates and exclude premiums, making charges, wastage, taxes and fees unless a calculator lets you add them explicitly.

Constants

Where market data comes from

Spot prices and exchange rates are fetched server-side from third-party data providers selected by the site owner, and stored as timestamped snapshots. Browsers read the stored snapshot, not the provider, so API keys are never exposed and every visitor sees the same data.

Freshness

Each snapshot is labelled by the age of the provider’s own timestamp: Live, Recent, Delayed or Unavailable for metals; Current, Delayed or Unavailable for exchange rates. If a refresh fails we keep the last good value, show its original time, and never present it as newer than it is. After a longer period without fresh data, calculators that need it stop and say “Current market data is temporarily unavailable.”

Safeguards

• A sudden jump of more than a configured percentage from a recent value is rejected as a probable bad quote.
• Failed requests are retried with increasing delays; error messages never include API keys.
• Charts use recorded snapshots only. If history is short, the chart is short. No data is back-filled or estimated.
• If you choose to type your own price when data is unavailable, the result is labelled “not market data”.

Casting and density estimates

Weight estimates use typical alloy densities and the volume you give. Actual alloys vary by supplier; treat results as estimates and confirm with your own measurements.