Is it safe to buy gold or has anybody heard of any scams?

A friend of mine said she bought a gold bracelet and later on it turned a kinda coppery reddish color. She sold it back no problems, but damn gold is extremely resistant to chemical reactions and shouldn’t change a bit.

Is it generally safe to buy gold and silver here in Taiwizizzle (excluding the possibility of taking a beating on exchange rates)?

I’m so careful, I’d hate to buy a considerably heavy necklace or pendant or something and find out I got scammed or screwed somehow.

Is there some reasonable way or particular place to just buy certified coins or little bars or something?

Also, does anybody have any ideas on the gold exchange rates forecast? I know this is a retarded question, depending on difficult to forecast future events, but I really do know very little regarding economics. (I’ve seen very educated people take beatings in the current bear market, so I don’t feel totally bad about being an ignoramus. But I should know more it’s true).

Thanks!

[quote=“Captain Coconut”]A friend of mine said she bought a gold bracelet and later on it turned a kinda coppery reddish color. She sold it back no problems, but damn gold is extremely resistant to chemical reactions and shouldn’t change a bit.

Is it generally safe to buy gold and silver here in Taiwizizzle (excluding the possibility of taking a beating on exchange rates)?

I’m so careful, I’d hate to buy a considerably heavy necklace or pendant or something and find out I got scammed or screwed somehow.

Is there some reasonable way or particular place to just buy certified coins or little bars or something?

[/quote]

generally safe, as every shop knows you can take your new purchase to any other shop and have it assessed easily. “taiwan gold scam” returns 0 results on google, i guess that means something. never hurts to be careful though. if a friend can steer you to a shop they have done business with recently that should be enough.

I haven’t seen any gold shops in Taichung.

People wear an ordinary amount of gold jewelry, but I haven’t seen the sort of shops that carry gold coins and silver bars and so on.

Read recently that September is the worst time to buy gold and silver. Anyone know what the best month is?

I’d be surprised if there’s any pattern.

But I’ve heard that Gold is more expensive during the weekend and mothers day and valentines and stuff like that, and that actually somehow makes sense.

But it seems like if there was a pattern, it’d be exploited to the point that it’d be canceled out by people anticipating and then acting on the pattern.

It would seem to me (I’m the opposite of an expert) that gold would relate more to monetary inflation, if it’s a bear or bull market and so on.

Gold is traditionally high in September. We are heading directly into the greatest inflationary period in our time however, so I wouldn’t hole my breath for too long to buy gold.
If you are getting a necklace, then the cost is not so important however as this is likely a long term investment. I would be looking in perhaps November time.

The gold used in jewelry is not always pure (24K), but alloyed with silver or copper to make it more durable. Americans and Europeans favor different mixes, with European jewelry being a more reddish color. That might explain what you experienced.

Gold … gold plated … who cares about the difference … :eh: :ponder:

I don’t think that right now is the time to buy … :no-no:

There is ‘white’ gold, ‘red’ gold and ‘yellow’ gold where I come from and gold in Belgium is always 18K in any color …

Here’s a wiki link to different gold colors and alloys …

I believe that in Spain gold is even as low as 14K … that’s why it’s cheap(er) …

has anyone bought Gold from Costco??? The idea of buying Gold and chicken breast from the same shop needs getting used to.

Costco also sells Omega and other fine watches too!!

Yes but has anyone bought any?? Especially gold. Are the rates competitive or just outrageous? I understand gold in grams and not in the measure Taiwanese use so I have a problem calculating the gold price. :blush:

I think any jewellery can be considered outrageous as there is a huge markup on the metal when it is fashioned into anything. Its going to be difficult to get an answer from anyone regarding specific models of jewellery as they would have to be comparing specific models from one place to another. If there is a specific model you are interested in, then you should probably mention which one it is specifically that you are interested in. If you just want to compare any gold watch or ring for any other gold watch or ring, then it would be fair to say that prices would vary considerably all over town, and you wouldn’t necessarily find the best prices in any one store.

I might suggest that if one wants something like a necklace or ring made up then one could purchase the raw material at a shop and have it crafted into something. If one could find a technician for the right rate, then one could theoretically save a good shaving off the cost of a finished product.

Of course at present rates of gold and silver (highest in history(not inflation adjusted)) it may be more expensive to do that at this time. It may indeed be cheaper to buy an item ready made, from a material that was paid for when it was cheaper. That again is theoretical however as most jewellery stores will adjust their prices in accordance with present metals prices.

Personally I wouldn’t have a problem with buying gold from jewellery stores as I would be fairly confident that many would sell the real deal. If you aren’t sure however, you can always purchase the metal from Taiwan Bank after opening a gold account. In a gold bar or coin form, you could easily exchange it at a later date, rather than any unrecognisable or unstamped chunk.

…maybe not the right time…but if one wanted to purchase gold simply for diversifying and securing a portion of their savings (as many professionals advise)…would you suggest buying gold locally in these shops or buying absolutely pure and certified canadian or swiss mint gold?..Is the price difference so much better in Taiwan that it would be worth passing up the 100% liquid gold from a bank? I can imagine the pros and cons of both but in the end what would be the better?

One other alternative is to buy an ETF backed by physical gold. The central fund of Canada is one example. Regarding the seasonal trends in gold, here is a link to a chart showing seasonal highs and lows over that last 32 years. The chart would seem to indicate that June-August (seasonal lows) is the best time to buy gold.

seasonalcharts.com/future_metalle_gold.html