FAQ

In simple terms the spot price is the cash price of a commodity like gold or silver, at a given time and place.  It relates to large bars of metal stored in certified warehouses where usually just the receipt of ownership changes hands not the physical metal.

However, realize that when buying smaller bars and ingots, the spot price doesn’t include other costs that may be involved such as: manufacturing and minting costs for bars, ingots or coins; seller mark ups; storage costs; or delivery and insurance costs.

So this is why prices are quote as “spot + 3.5%” for example.

(If you wanted the pedantic answer it would be that spot doesn’t actually exist.  There is only “The Bid” – what someone is prepared to pay.  And “The Ask” – what someone is prepared to sell for, and one has to meet the other.  The spot price is just a theoretical price midway between the 2).

Also bear in mind that the spot price generally reported in the media is usually in US dollars.  So when buying precious metals here in New Zealand the “spot price” is first converted to NZ dollars using the prevailing USD/NZD exchange rate and then the premium of say 3.5% for example is added to that.  Here’s an article we wrote discussing this topic:

Avoid worrying about the NZD/USD exchange rate when buying gold http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/avoid-worrying-about-the-nzdusd-exchange-rate-when-buying-gold/

And you can track the NZ dollar gold and silver price on our prices page. http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/gold-prices/

Plus there’s also historical charts of both on there too.

Here’s a list of articles we’ve written with a focus on buying gold (and silver) in New Zealand.

If you read them in the order written it should given you a pretty good grounding in precious metals.

Some help working out when to buy: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/is-now-a-good-time-to-buy-gold-in-nz-dollars-part-2/

Understanding exchange rates when buying: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/avoid-worrying-about-the-nzdusd-exchange-rate-when-buying-gold/

Choosing between coins and bars: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/nz-gold-coins-and-silver-coins-or-nz-gold-bars-and-silver-coins-which-should-i-buy/

Valuing NZ housing in gold and looking at past trends when doing this to see when gold might be overvalued: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/could-nz-house-values-drop-by-80/

http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/nz-housing-to-gold-ratio-update%E2%80%8E/

And the same for silver: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/nz-housing-to-silver-ratio/

Indicators to track to determine when to sell or exchange gold for another asset: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/when-will-you-know-its-time-to-sell-gold/

Some simple methods to determine lower risk times to buy: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/nzd-gold-and-silver-a-beginners-guide-to-technical-analysis/

Or if you prefer to watch and listen than read, here is the video version of this article: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/gold-and-silver-new-zealand-a-beginners-guide-to-technical-analysis/

Nothing goes up in a straight line so consider gold (and silver) can fall: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/just-how-low-could-gold-fall/

And speaking of video, this 1.5 hour video from Mike Maloney gives a very good overview of much of the precious metals subject: http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/mike-maloney-gold-presentation-20000-gold/

We’ve actually written a whole article on this very topic:

http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/nz-gold-coins-and-silver-coins-or-nz-gold-bars-and-silver-coins-which-should-i-buy/.

See this article as we cover this topic here::

http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/why-is-it-so-expensive-to-buy-silver-in-new-zealand/ .

Local gold and silver bars/ingots are stamped with the suppliers “hallmark” and with either 9999 for gold (four 9’s or 99.99% pure) or 999 for silver (three 9’s or 99.9% pure). Also, in terms of ensuring purity of supplied product the local New Zealand suppliers we use regularly exchange metal with other companies locally and in Australia and so when this happens the metal is assayed again. So if there was ever a problem with purity they would be found out before too long and as reputation is everything, this would put them out of business. They are family owned and run businesses, conservative by nature and have been around for over 30 years, supplying precious metals to private investors but also to Jewelers in NZ.

Some overseas products such as bars from Swiss Refiner PAMP come with assay certificates and individual serial numbers. These cost more then local gold and silver. For example for gold, another $45 per 1 oz bar more and for silver, a further $50 per 1kg bar. These are more readily exchangeable overseas, so depending on where you intend to sell them, may be a better option for you.

First up, we don’t receive any money directly from you. We are brokers or agents only. You deposit the funds directly into the specific suppliers account (depending on what product you want and where the best price is) and they deliver the precious metals to you or supply them for you to pick up. We get a finders fee paid from them later (Note: This is taken out of their margin not added on to the total so it costs you no more to use our services).

You are able to contact them to confirm our relationship with them and that the bank account we supplied you is correct.

So then the chief concern to you would be, will the supplier deliver? The main suppliers we use have been in business for over 30 years supplying precious metals to private investors but also to Jewelers in NZ. So the short answer is that were they not to deliver (i.e. rip someone off) their reputation would be shot and effectively their business would be over. They are family owned and run businesses, conservative by nature and have been around for over 30 years.

From a legal perspective – once you accept, you are issued with a sales order and that is a legal contract. You are required to pay $xx and they are required to supply xx oz’s of gold.

Great question and we’ve got some answers here:

http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/about/why-choose-us/

Yes you can. We do have experience with assisting ex-pats purchase precious metals back home.

One of our suppliers also has some storage options that may suit those buying from overseas but intending to return to New Zealand at some point. Drop us an email http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/ask-us-a-question/get-a-quote-for-gold-or-silver/ or you can call us from overseas on +64 9 281 3898. Also refer to the question below for foreign currency account options, which might suit offshore buyers.

Yes one of our suppliers has US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Euro and Great British Pound foreign currency accounts.

Our experience has shown that if you are transferring funds from offshore to the same currency account here, there are markedly cheaper fees compared to if you were transfering to a NZD denominated account from say a UK or US bank account. So transferring from say a Pound account in Great Britain to our suppliers GB Pound account seems to be cheaper than standard bank FOREX charges. Contact us if you’d like to know more about how this works.

Nice work. It pays to think ahead about this. We cover the options in our free ecourse:

http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/module-7-of-8-how-and-where-to-store-it/

A common preference is to use one of a number of private vaults around the country. Drop us an email or go to our question page http://goldsurvivalguide.co.nz/ask-us-a-question/ and tell us whereabouts you live. We don’t want to know the street address! Just what city you are nearest and we can advise what options you have. Some people like home safes, although none of them are foolproof. Ideally go for one concreted into your floor if possible. Then there is always “midnight gardening”. As crazy as it may sound some people do still bury it.

It’s actually a pretty simple process. An advantage of using our services is that all the suppliers we deal with will buy back the gold and silver they sell. The suppliers we use will buy it back from you. It will however always be for less than the spot price of silver or gold. The rate varies depending on, how badly they need the supply, the type of product, and between suppliers. For example, for gold between say 1.5% and 4% below spot. For silver, between 3.5% and 8.5% below spot.

It helps to keep the receipt/sales invoice from when you bought. Take that and some ID, not for any big brother government tracking reasons (well not yet at least!), but due to 2nd hand dealer regulations, they are required to confirm the identity of whoever they buy back from. You can also have it shipped back to them if you live out of the Auckland area. Ensure that if sending by post:

• You need to have insurance in transit.
• Provide photocopy of ID in form of passport or drivers licence, etc.
• Provide the bank account number you want the proceeds to be paid into.
• Provide contact a phone number.
• Provide Address details, as mentioned above due to 2nd hand dealer regulations.

That is the simplest method – there is also a ready market on the likes of Trademe but that is more hassle of course. But the reward for the extra effort is that you may get more for the sale via Trademe depending on the buyer.

You could also sell it to a pawnshop or one of the new kiosks popping up. But, you’ll likely get way under spot price doing this. Maybe as Maybe as low as only 50% of spot price. Not a great idea we think.