While best known for its large selection of consumer goods and services, from groceries to electronics to clothing, travel booking, insurance, and optical, Costco has recently added several 1 oz gold bars to its lineup.
The warehouse club periodically offers Rand Refinery 1 oz Gold Bars and PAMP Suisse 1 oz Gold Bars, which are available for sale on its website.
When the bars are available on the retailer’s website, members must log into their accounts to see the pricing. The pricing is based on the spot gold price plus a traditional retail markup that conforms to their pricing model.
Observations comparing recent sales against the prevailing gold spot price during the same time have shown that the premium appears to be 2.3%-3%.
“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling one-ounce gold bars,” CFO Richard Galanti told investors during a recent quarterly earnings call.
“Yes, but when we load them on the (web)site, they’re typically gone within a few hours, and we limit them to two per member.”
Costco has made both brands available so far and readily available from many trusted and reputable online bullion dealers.
In general, gold bars come with lower premiums over the spot price of gold than coins. Investors can often get more gold for their money when buying bars than coins.
While buying gold bars from Costco may be a convenient option for some investors, other factors must be considered before making a purchase.
Costco Offers Only 1 oz Gold Bars
Both PAMP Suisse and RAND Refinery offer fractional gold bars at various price points, making them more affordable to a larger group of investors looking for a trusted store of value.
The Lady Fortuna line has been PAMP’s signature line for decades, and fractional gold bars are available in sizes as small as one gram and in industry-standard increments of 5 grams, 10 grams, and 20 grams. These fractional gold bars are more accessible and make an excellent value store.
No Buyback Program
Costco does not offer a buyback program for gold bullion. So, when it comes time to sell, you must find a different gold buyer. Looking through the number of bullion dealers and coin stores in your area is an excellent way to check how easy it might be to sell locally.
Online bullion dealers update their prices in real-time according to changing market conditions, while Costco prices its gold bars at a fixed price. These bars are sold only on its website for a limited time.
Depending on the timing of your purchase, you might pay a substantially higher premium to Costco for the same 1 oz gold bar than you might from an online bullion dealer.
Costco also has a strict no-returns policy for bullion products, which deviates from its standard return policies.
Cheaper Alternatives to Costco Gold Bars
The PAMP Suisse Azure Dragon 1 oz Gold Bars that Costco offers are an excellent value for collectors. These bars have a limited mintage and quickly sell out from online bullion dealers when available.
RAND Refinery is a prominent South African company that produces a variety of gold bars for investors, often at a much lower premium than other mints.
Many other private mints have longstanding and trusted reputations for delivering pure .9999 fine gold to industry and investors. These refiners have longstanding affiliations with international gold markets like the LBMA, Shanghai Exchange, and COMEX.
Gold Bars Minted in the U.S.A.
Some are based here in the United States, such as Sunshine Minting, located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which has been a full-service private mint since 1979. Sunshine Mint 1 oz Gold Bars incorporate the MintMark SI security feature on the reverse and etched with a unique serial number. This will match the assay card that comes encapsulated with newly minted bars.
Scottsdale Minting, based in Arizona, produces coins on behalf of various governments and issues gold bars and rounds for investors and collectors under its own hallmark.
Scottsdale Mint 1 oz Gold bars often contain innovative designs incorporating advanced security and laser etched features.