How to Buy Gold Bars Online
You must be very careful when you buy gold bars online. Gold transactions tend to be for large amounts of money. This exposes you to the possibility of being ripped off. It is important to deal with a reputable gold dealer and to keep careful records of the transaction. Gold bars are considered a reliable investment during uncertain economic times. While national currencies can collapse, gold has always had value in modern economies.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Decide what size gold bars you wish to buy online. When you buy gold bars you are paying for the value of the gold inside them plus a small premium for making the gold bars. The smaller the gold bar, the larger the percentage of the premium built into the price. It therefore makes sense to buy the largest gold bars you can afford.
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2
Understand the difference between cast and minted gold bars. Cast gold bars are made by pouring molten gold into a cast. Minted gold bars are stamped out of a strip of previously cast gold. Minted gold bars tend to have a slightly higher premium attached to them.
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3
Avoid getting concerned about the purity of the gold bar. Most gold bars are between 96.5 percent and 99.9 percent pure gold. It does not actually matter how pure a gold bar is since you are paying for only the gold inside the bar. A 1-oz. gold bar contains 1 oz. of pure gold regardless of its purity.
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4
Learn the difference between the different systems for weighing gold bars. In the United States, gold bars are usually weighed in ounces. However, they can also be weighed in grams or pennyweight. To convert grams to ounces, divide by 28.35. To convert pennyweight to ounces, divide by 18.23.
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5
Find the spot price of gold. This is what gold is selling for on financial markets around the world. Any newspaper financial section or gold-related website will list the spot price of gold. The spot price of gold is usually listed in dollars per ounce.
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6
Determine how much money you wish to invest in gold bars, then divide that number by the spot price of gold in ounces. The result is the approximate number of ounces of gold bars you can buy. The actual number will probably be a little bit less since you must factor in the manufacturing premium and transaction fees.
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7
Compare prices of gold bars among the most reputable gold dealers in the industry. These include monex.com, goldbarsworldwide.com and golddealer.com. All of them have well-established reputations. Most will offer similar prices. The difference will be in the transaction fees, taxes and postage. You can also compare their prices to other gold dealers, but beware anyone who offers you a drastically better price. The profit margin on gold bars is thin. Someone undercutting the price by a large margin is probably not being honest.
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8
Ask for a discount. Several states don't charge sales tax on gold bar sales over $1,000. Some gold dealers will tell you about this while others will just pocket the savings. The more gold bars you buy, the more leverage you have while bargaining with a gold dealer.
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9
Send payment through a wire transfer. This way there is a record of the transaction and it can't get lost in the mail. Make sure that your shipment is insured.
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