How to Buy & Sell Gold Ingots

When most people think of gold ingots, they have a tendency to think of pirate treasure or sunken Spanish Galleons from centuries past. Gold ingots are still very much in use today. An ingot is basically a small bar of gold. You can buy gold ingots as small as 1 gram, although other popular sizes are 2.5 grams, 5 grams and 10 grams of gold. With the price of gold soaring ever higher, many people have made a business out of buying and selling gold ingots. What makes this business so attractive is that it requires no special skills or training, just a desire to make money.

Set a budget for your investment into gold ingots. Keep in mind that this is an investment and any investment carries a risk of loss. While this risk is minimized with the purchase of precious metals, such as gold, there is still some degree of risk involved. Determine how much money you can comfortably afford to invest in gold ingots and stick to that budget. You can always expand later, after you have earned profits from your initial investments.

Monitor the spot price of gold. Spot price is the current wholesale market rate being paid by institutional investors. Most people will never be able to buy gold as low as the spot price because that rate is for investors who are purchasing at least 5,000 troy ounces of gold at once, but monitoring the price allows you to follow fluctuations in the gold market. This information allows you to know on a day by day basis if you should buy gold ingots or sell them on that particular day. You can monitor the spot price of gold online at Kitco's website.

Follow online auction sites such as eBay. Many people sell gold ingots at online auctions. Many times these ingots will sell for market price or higher. However, sometimes these ingot have a final bid that is well below market value. An astute individual who monitors auctions closely can usually find several gold ingots a day that are being sold for far less than market value, making these excellent ingots to buy as an investment.

Look for gold ingots for sale on the Nucleo Exchange at Bullion Direct. The Nucleo Exchange is a place where private individuals, refiners, banks and gold speculators come together to buy and sell gold. Because it operates as an open market, you can often find deals on gold ingots that cannot be matched anywhere. You can also post a bid stating that you are willing to buy gold at a specific rate and those who are willing to sell for your price will contact you to arrange for the transfer of their ingots to you.

Check the available inventory at the American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX). This company typically sales bullion, coins and ingots according to the retail collector value. However, generic lots can typically be purchased for pennies above melt value. When prices dip and are expected to rise again, this can be a good place to take advantage of the fluctuation to instantly buy high-quality gold every time prices go down.

Keep a detailed inventory of all the gold ingots you have purchased. Each gold ingot will have a unique serial number to identify it. Keep a log of these ingots, by serial number, which lists the weight, the date of purchase, and the price of purchase. This will help prevent you from inadvertently selling one of your gold ingots for less than you paid for it.

List your gold ingots for sale on the Nucleo Exchange, administered by Bullion Direct. The Nucleo Exchange is an open market that matches buyers and sellers of gold coins, bullion and ingots. The exchange is used by individuals, gold dealers, refiners and even jewelers, as an outlet to buy and sell various forms of gold. Listing your ingots on Bullion Direct will lead to a quick sale at whatever rate the market dictates. Since you set your own price and wait for someone who is willing to meet that price, it is difficult to go wrong with this approach.

Auction your gold ingots at an online auction site, such as eBay. The great thing about listing items for sale on these sites is that it makes your offer available to a large group of people. Most gold ingots sold on eBay are purchased for more than that current market value. If you are concerned about your ingots not selling for enough, you can place a “Reserve Price” on your gold ingots, meaning that they must sell for at least that much or you can cancel the auction. This creates a no lose situation for anyone who wants to sell gold ingots online.

Sell your gold ingots as jewelry. If you lock the ingot inside a gold bezel, you have instantly transformed it into a pendent to be worn on a necklace. Not only would any individual take an interest in such a unique piece of jewelry, but your local jewelry store will probably offer to buy a few from you so that they can be marked up and sold as a retail jewelry item. After all, your ingot is .9999 (99.99 percent) pure gold, which is much higher quality than most jewelry in the store, perhaps even more pure than all other items in the store.