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Where to buy goldAll that glisters is not gold. You have to know where to shop or
your '23 karat' gold necklace may turn black after a couple of years....
There are gold shops on just about every street corner in Thailand. Thais use gold, in part, as an investment in place of cash. With so many shops and so much buying and selling of gold you might expect that the Thais would be gold experts. This is not the case. It is estimated that up to 90% of gold jewelry sold in Thailand contains only 90%-92% gold. Gold shops will sometimes put their own mark on gold they buy from the factory. However this does not mean that they have actually made it themselves or guarantee the purity. This story illustrates the dangers of buying gold from a shop that you don't know. YaowaratOriginally, there were four main gold shops on the 'Golden Road': Seng Heng Li, Hua Seng Heng, Tung Jin Aeng and Tang To Kang . Now there are more than 130 gold shops with new ones starting up continually on both sides of the road. Most shops are members of the Gold Merchants Association. Gold products here are of high standard and quality; many are hand-made and of beautiful intricacy. 2 shops where you will never be cheated are:
The best way to get to Yaowarat to take the subway to Hualampong and then get
a taxi to Yaowarat (pronounced Yaowaraat). A motorcyle is faster
but more dangerous. Exporting Thai goldIt is illegal to export gold. This includes 23k gold jewelry, but not 18k gold. Buying Jewelry on the InternetFinding 23 karat Thai gold on the internet is not easy.There are some companies selling it from Thailand. However as exporting 23 karat gold is illegal, they are breaking the law. Perhaps they don't realize this, or perhaps they don't care. The postal services, such as EMS, DHL and TNT are aware of the law and refuse to handle 23k gold. As they will carry 18k gold, which it is legal to export, and as they are unlikely to assay the pieces, in practise it is possible to use their services.You would have to accept, however, that any pieces sent would be uninsured. There are some people selling Thai gold on ebay. The problem with ebay is that their fees are so high. You have to pay an initial Insertion Fee and a Final Value Fee of 5.25%. For some products this is not significant, but for gold jewelry, where the cost of the metal makes up most of the price, it becomes an important factor. If you pay by Paypal there is an additional 2.9% you need to pay in order to fund your Paypal account. The total costs of buying a piece on ebay and using paypal to pay for it, all of which must be born by the buyer in some way, can be calculated using this calculator. One way to reduce charges on Ebay is to sell the item for a very low value but include a large shipping cost. Much of the jewelry sold on ebay is fake. A study of certain pieces of "Tiffany" jewelry sold on eBay earlier this year showed that 73% of the jewelry was counterfeit.An alternative would be to fill in the form below, which is free of charge. Click here to browse our database. Please contact us if you have any problems.
Buying gold in Laos Gold jewelry in Laos is 99% pure, and may offer an ever better bargain
than that sold Thailand. The best place to buy it is probably the second
floor of the Morning Market (Talat Sao) situated on orner of Th Lan Xang
and Th Khu Vieng. Despite the name it's actually open until 4 PM or so.
Buying gold in DubaiThe best place to buy gold is probably the Gold Souk ("Souk" is the Arabic word for market), on the Deira side of town near the mouth of the Creek. It is an impressive sight. Rows upon rows of windows are filled with elaborate 24-carat gold necklaces, and throngs of Arab and Indian women clamour for a better view. You will find row upon row of shops with dazzling displays of gold jewellery in every conceivable design and purity: Much of the stuff is geared for Indian tastes (24-carat gold is very yellow), but contemporary European styles can also be found (mainly in the more shiny 22-carat gold), and at fairly reasonable prices. If you wish you can also purchase kilo bars, ten tola bars, small minted bars and gold bullion bars. You buy by weight, and the price of any given bracelet changes twice a day. The quoted price does not include the design fee which varies according to according to shop and style of jewellery.Gold is certainly cheaper here because you escape the duty and sales tax that is levied in many countries. Though the price difference is minimal in fashion jewellery, you can still save up to 20 per cent, with the quality assured.
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