The Currency Bazaar

₹500 note

₹500

An ordinary ₹500 note in your pocket is worth exactly that — its face value. Most are. That is not a disappointment, it is the normal answer.

Collectors did pay more — but only for particular ones. Across 32 completed sales from 3 different shops, the middle price was ₹663, ranging ₹103 to ₹4,500. Every one of those was a specific variety — a fancy serial number, a particular governor's signature, an uncirculated bundle. An ordinary circulating note or coin is not one of them. If somebody offers you a collector price for pocket money, that is the opening move of a fraud.

What the prices actually looked like

Half of all sales fell between ₹393 – ₹1,292
Middle price₹663
Lowest / highest seen ₹103 – ₹4,500
Completed sales counted32
Independent shops3

These are prices somebody actually paid, not asking prices. We do not blend the two — what a seller hopes for and what a buyer paid are different numbers, and only one of them is evidence.

The varieties that do carry a premium

Questions people actually ask about this

Is a ₹500 note really worth ₹3 lakh?

No. A ₹500 note in ordinary circulated condition is worth ₹500 — its face value. The ₹3 lakh figure circulating on WhatsApp and YouTube is not a price anyone has paid; it is the number quoted to you shortly before somebody asks for a "registration" or "customs clearance" fee. Across 32 completed sales recorded at 3 independent coin shops, the middle price for the collectible varieties of this denomination was ₹663, and the highest single sale we have a record of was ₹4,500.

What is a ₹500 note actually worth?

₹500 if it is an ordinary one from circulation, which almost all of them are. Collectors pay more only for specific varieties — a fancy or repeating serial number, a particular Governor's signature, an uncirculated bundle, or a mint error. Those sold for a middle price of ₹663, with half of all sales falling between ₹393 and ₹1,292.

Is selling old coins online real or fake?

Selling is real; the fraud is real too, and it has one tell. A genuine buyer pays you. A fraud asks you to pay first — a registration fee, customs clearance, GST, insurance, or a refundable deposit — and once you send it there is always one more. If money has to leave your hands before any arrives, it is a fraud, whatever the website looks like. Every price on this page is a completed sale recorded at an independent shop, not an asking price and not an estimate.

Do I have to pay anything to sell a ₹500 note?

No. You never pay to sell — not a registration fee, not customs clearance, not GST, and not a refundable deposit. Money comes to you, never from you. Anyone who asks you to send money before you receive any is attempting a fraud.

This is one specific variety. For the ₹500 coin in general — including whether it is really worth ₹3 lakh — read the ₹500 coin page.

Selling one? You never pay anyone to sell. Not a registration fee, not customs, not GST, not a refundable deposit. Anyone who asks is the fraud — here is how that conversation goes. List yours and buyers talk to you in chat that is scanned for exactly those lines.

Built from 32 completed sales recorded across independent coin shops. A page only appears here once at least 8 sales from 2 or more shops agree with each other closely enough to mean something — most identities in our catalogue do not qualify, and have no page.

Have one of these to sell?

The prices above come from sales that actually completed. If you have one, put it in front of the collectors and dealers who buy these — your phone number is never shown, buyers message you on the site, and we take no commission on what you sell.

List my coins & notes