Observations on 916 & 999.9 Gold Selling Transaction & Purchase Process.

Doing a survey of the shops during this gold price down turn, I've learnt and made a few observations.

1) Most of the smaller shops are charging for 916 at about market rate, lower than as compared to the bigger brothers like Poh Kong, Tomei, and Habib.

Say for example, the jewellers in Brickfields are selling 916 at Rm139/gram, the bigger brothers would be selling for Rm155/gram as for today's rate.

One salesman I spoke to said, what difference would it be if I went to your shop and to the bigger ones if everyone was charging the same price?

However it seems the only variable would be that 999 is sold at the same price as set out by FGJAM.

To make up for the downturn in price of the precious metals, what some shops have resorted to doing is charging more for workmanship to close the difference in the profit gap.

There is one indian jeweller in Brickfields charging Rm380 for a korean style necklace piece. When I enquired of another jeweller at another shop whether that cost is reasonable, he said it depends whether the design of the piece was intricate, or easy.

He said for that amount, you could get another 2 grams of 916 gold at today's pricing. However, after comparing at Poh Kong with an item of a similar design, the said item is actually cheaper, and has more grammage, being more value for price.

A chat with some friends revealed that a lot of people, in majority, the Chinese that still prefer buying at Poh Kong despite them maintaining higher gold price due to their design which appeals a lot to the Chinese market. I don't know about the other shops as I don't like their designs.

2) All I can say is, make sure that you do your own survey before making that purchase.

Check your own intentions where:
- get the best rate, and ask for trade in jewellery, and cash conversion rate.
Normally it is about 20 to 25% if you bought from the same shop, and as much as even 35% for some shops if you didn't buy from the same shop.

Some shops require a certificate of purchase, but some don't. Shops that sell their own gold tend to charge less for trade in, but those that don't, will normally charge more.

To me, gold is gold. I don't believe in paying Rm65 for gold workmanship as PAMP charges, as Habib or Wah Chan does. Daylight robbery, I say.

Formulae for trade in & cash conversion:
One of my mates, CT gave me his formulae for trading gold, as he is looking to get a good buy and looking for wedding rings.

It is better to trade in jewellery when price is lower, then top up as the price of metal is lower. Say if Poh Kong charges 15 - 20% deduction on gold prices for jewellery bought from their shop, one still pays less for top up when the price is lower.

However if one is planning to convert for cash and takeaway, then it is better to wait till price is high. Poh Kong has a higher deduction rate for cash conversion of about 20-25 % for their own gold jewellery.

I don't know where CT got his rates as I got quoted a higher deduction rate at the Pearl Point outlet, which is higher. I think it is better to err on the side of higher in the case the shop may do so.

So this is our observations. Please make your own survey and observations in the case you want to make the most informed purchasing during this supposed lower priced gold season.

Comments

Unknown said…
hi there~ i have read your blog and could i ask you some questions? as i'm not very good in English, do you mean is it better buying gold jewellery in other shop beside than Poh Kong?

in your phrase :
"He said for that amount, you could get another 2 grams of 916 gold at today's pricing. However, after comparing at Poh Kong with an item of a similar design, the said item is actually cheaper, and has more grammage, being more value for price"

The price of that item(almost same design item) is more cheaper if compare to Poh Kong? or Poh Kong offer cheaper price with same design and it's gram?

as i have noticed most of the small shops are actually selling gold price at RM155/gram (Same as Poh Kong did). i think the other different was the workmanship & the brand~

MunEe
CheaYee said…
When I compared both the designs, they were both very similar looking. Poh kong is more expensive of course. What I meant was, the Indian jeweller although they charged 380 for workmanship, it turned out to be cheaper than what poh Kong was selling a similar item for.
Unknown said…
Hello everyone, I would like to share some information here.

First regarding the purity of this yellow metal, 24 carat(24K) is 99.9 percent pure gold and it is good for investment purpose to fight against inflation, and the resell value is higher compare to other composition of gold( 22k, 21k...). and 24k gold is more volatile where we can exchange into money anywhere in the world.

Next is about 22k which also known as 916 gold, composition made up of 91.6 percent of gold, 4.2 percent of copper and silver respectively. This gold standard(916) is common in Malaysia, Singapore, India..... 22k gold is used in jewelry industry as we know alloy is tough compare to pure metal. we can readily exchange 22k gold to cash in pawnshop (kedai Pajak Gadai), al rahnu (Bank Islam, Pos Malaysia) and in family jewelry shops.

21k,18k,14k are other types of gold standard gradually with lesser gold metal (they also can be exchange to cash at al rahnu........but you will get lesser cash)

Secondly, why gold are sold in different prices in different shops like Poh Kong, Tomei, Wah Chan, Indian Goldsmith (pater negai kadai).

Here we must be clear, when we buy gold in Poh Kong, Tomei we just need to pay according to weight: for example Gold rate at RM155 per gram and the weight of the jewelry piece is 10g.......so we need to pay RM1550.

secondly, if we buy jewelry in Indian Goldsmith (pater negai kadai), we have to pay according to weight and workmanship+wastage.
For example Gold rate at RM127 per gram and the weight of the jewelry piece is 10g and RM280 for workmanship+wastage ......so we need to pay RM1550.
and if we buy jewelry from Indian Goldsmith we can bargain and demand for special gifts.

I hope my Information is useful,
here is a website where I find gold price is quite accurate http://www.mks.ch/mobile/myr/v1/
Happy purchasing!!!
thank you
Anonymous said…
may i have your opinion about where to buy a 0.8 gram of 916 gold pendant?? do u suggest poh kong or habib or tomei or any other else that is cheaper?

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