How to Find Cheap Gold Bars
Buying gold bars is expensive. If you plan on buying an ounce or more of pure gold bullion, expect to spend nearly $2,000 – at the minimum. Investors should be very cautious before spending their hard-earned money on such an expensive asset.
Gold’s volatility is also a source of trouble for some risk averse investors. Because the spot price of gold can change at a moment’s notice, collectors should be aware of the risks before jumping into the world of gold bullion.
For some gold stackers, these risks can be mitigated by learning how to find cheap gold bars. By buying discount gold bars, you can cut down on premium fees and get more pure gold bullion for your money.
In today’s guide, we’re walking you through how to find cheap gold bars to help build your growing gold portfolio.
Are Gold Bars a Good Investment?
Gold bars are a good investment because they usually come with lower premium costs than other gold products. Gold coins are minted by sovereign governments, and their high cost of production is kicked back to the consumer. In other words, you tend to pay a hefty premium over melt value when you opt for gold coins.
By contrast, learning how to find cheap gold bars might help you buy gold for remarkably close to the product’s value in actual gold bullion. When you pay a premium for gold, you’re basically paying for the privilege of making your investment – that money doesn’t go toward actual investment-grade gold.
In short, gold bars are a good investment. They allow collectors to invest in gold at a cheaper price than other gold products, including gold bullion coins.
Understanding How Gold Bars are Priced
Before we can get into the nitty gritty of how to find cheap gold bars, you need to understand a bit more about how gold bars are priced. All gold products – including gold bars – are priced using two main things. First is the value of the metal that the product is made out of. In this case, that metal is gold. Gold’s spot price tells us how much one troy ounce of pure gold is worth.
We also call this a product’s ‘melt value.’ Once we have the melt value of a gold bar, there’s one more figure we need to determine before we know its total value. This is called a premium. Premiums are added to the top of every gold product – even damaged gold bars. Premiums are what allows gold dealers to profit from their business, and they also help to cover the cost of production, transport, and cleaning for your gold product.
When we combine the melt value of a gold product with its premium over spot price, we finally have the total value of a gold bar or coin.
Gold Bar Premiums Vs. Melt Value
It can be a bit confusing to understand the difference between gold bar premiums and melt value. Oftentimes, gold dealers will combine these figures into one value when you go to purchase a gold bar or coin.
To make things simpler before we dive into how to find cheap gold bars, let’s take a brief look at how to spot premium prices on a confusing website layout.
The first thing you should do when buying a gold bar is to check out the current spot price of gold. When you apply this value to a gold bar’s total cost, the remainder will be the amount of premium charged by the dealer you’re doing business with.
This is the best way to learn how to find cheap gold bars – use the spot price of gold to quickly determine how high a premium you’re being charged for a gold product.
How to Find Low Premium Gold
Now that you know how to find cheap gold bars, finding bars at a low premium should be easy. To do this, your path is simple. Jump around from dealer to dealer and compare prices! We don’t recommend compromising on your favorite type of gold bar. Regardless of your investment preferences, finding a reputable dealer like Hero Bullion can help you save quite a bit of money on your next large gold bar.
Cheap Gold Bars and Where to Find Them
You already know the basics of how to find cheap gold bars. Take the spot price of gold, compare this value to the total cost of a gold bar, and there you have the premium cost associated with your next investment.
But how do you find the cheapest gold bars? Some investors might not even know where to look to find reasonable prices on gold bullion bars and coins. For the most part, you have two options: online gold dealers and local coin shops. We’ll explain the pros and cons of both approaches below.
Online Dealers
Online dealers have introduced investors to a whole new way to buy gold. Dealers like Hero Bullion offer extensive inventories, safe and secure shipping, and competitive prices. Our wide range of gold bars certainly has something for almost any investor.
The main downside to online dealers is that they usually don’t offer negotiation, especially when it comes to their prices. Some investors prefer the personal touch of buying from a local shop, and online gold dealers fall short in this respect.
Still, we recommend considering online gold dealers now that you know how to find cheap gold bars. The internet is your best friend – doing the right research can save you hundreds of dollars when buying premium gold bars.
Local Coin and Gold Shops
Local coin shops are another solid choice for investors who want to learn how to find cheap gold bars. Local shops have their disadvantages. Unlike online gold dealers, local shops can’t offer hundreds or thousands of different gold products for sale. It can also be harder to develop trust with local coin dealers; the hundreds of reviews for companies like Hero Bullion help you shop with confidence.
However, local gold dealers may be easier to negotiate with, which is helpful for investors who know how to find cheap gold bars. Like we mentioned above, it’s also important to be able to talk directly and in-person with your gold dealers. For old fashioned investors, finding a hidden gem for a cheap price at a local coin shop is an exciting part of the stacking process.
How to Compare Gold Bar Prices
Comparing gold prices across online dealers is pretty simple. To accurately compare prices between different distributors, make sure you have the total cost of each gold bar. This includes shipping fees. Some gold dealers like Hero Bullion offer free shipping on some orders, as well as reduced shipping prices on all purchases.
Other dealers may charge more money to ship your gold bars than they should. For this reason, it’s important to factor shipping costs into your price comparison for gold bars.
Cheapest Gold Bars to Buy
You finally know the basics of how to find cheap gold bars. Now, it’s time to check out some of the cheapest gold bars to buy. For this section, we’ve chosen gold bars that are a great value – not just the ones that cost the least.
Let’s explain a bit more. The larger a gold bar you buy, the lower a premium you’ll pay over spot price. A gold investor’s goal is to save as much money on premiums as possible. For this reason, larger gold bars tend to be the cheapest gold bars to buy in terms of the actual pure gold you get for your money.
1 oz Gold Bar in Assay Card
Some gold dealers offer “random” gold bars. We offer a 1 oz Gold Bar in Assay Card option for investors who want a cheap gold bar that still arrives in BU condition. These gold bars contain .9999 fine gold bullion and come in their original Assay Cards. This not only helps to protect the gold bars against damage, but it also adds a new layer of security to your investment.
If you’re still wondering how to find cheap gold bars, checking out a 1 oz gold bar from a random mint could be a fantastic idea. We’ll include a picture of this product above to help you get a better look.
Valcambi 1 oz Gold Bar
Valcambi Suisse has won a reputation as one of the best gold bar producers in the world. The private mint is based out of Switzerland, and they don’t disappoint with their Valcambi Suisse 1 oz Gold Bar.
The obverse of this coin features the mint’s logo, as well as the weight, purity, and fineness (.9999) of the gold bar. This particular gold bar also comes with an individualized serial number, which is a great feature for investors concerned about security.
On the reverse, you’ll find a stylized version of the mint’s name. With clear, beautiful lettering and a blank background, this design helps emphasize the .9999 gold purity that the bar is minted with. While learning how to find cheap gold bars is difficult, you don’t have to compromise on beauty – the Valcambi 1 oz Gold Bar is a genuine golden treasure.
1 Kilo Gold Bar – Any Mint, Any Condition
While a 1 kilo gold bar generally doesn’t seem like a cheap option for gold investors, we have a reason for including our 1 Kilo Any Mint, Any Condition (AMAC) gold bars on our list of the cheapest gold bars to buy. If you understand how to find cheap gold bars, you already know that the goal is to find bars with the lowest premium over spot.
When you work out the premium cost over spot per ounce, full kilo gold bars generally provide considerable savings compared to smaller gold bullion bars. You can add to your savings even more by buying an AMAC 1 Kilo Gold Bar. These products can be from any mint in the world, which adds a bit of a surprise to your purchase.
More importantly, they’ll arrive in any condition. This means that dealers like Hero Bullion can keep prices low, allowing you to get more pure gold bullion for your money.
How to Buy Gold Bars for Cheap
The main goal of this guide is to educate readers on how to find cheap gold bars. To find gold bars for cheap, you’ll need to know how to do the right research. Comparing prices across different dealers and storing/displaying your gold bars are two important ways you can learn how to find cheap gold bars without ruining your investments.
Find a Reputable Dealer
A reputable dealer is key to really learning how to find cheap gold bars. We recommend finding a dealer you trust and sticking with them. Over time, developing a working relationship with a dealer such as Hero Bullion can help you build your stack with more confidence – and savings.
Store and Display Your Investments
Many gold stackers don’t think too much about how to properly store and display their investments before buying gold bars or coins. But if you know how to find cheap gold bars, you also need to learn a bit about how to keep them safe from damage.
Especially if you buy gold bars in Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) condition, allowing your investments to become damaged (or stolen) can potentially cost you thousands of dollars. We like to recommend a temperature controlled safe. Additionally, gold bar collections that are super large should be insured. If you have to, consider purchasing additional insurance to cover the full value of your precious metals collection.
Final Thoughts: How to Find Cheap Gold Bars
Learning how to find cheap gold bars is complicated – but it doesn’t have to be! If you do the right research, make some connections, and choose the correct products, you can build a large stack of gold bars without breaking the bank.
And as always, Hero Bullion’s dedicated team of experts is here to help! Please contact us with any additional questions you may have.
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About The Author
Michael Roets
Michael Roets is a writer and journalist for Hero Bullion. His work explores precious metals news, guides, and commentary.