Black Friday Gold Deals: Is Gold Actually Cheaper?
Every November, bullion sellers put up Black Friday pages, and people reasonably ask whether any of it makes gold cheaper.
Short answer: the gold isn't. The price of a gold coin is really two prices added together, and a sale can only touch one of them.
Spot Plus Premium
Spot is what the gold itself is worth on the global market right now. Every seller starts from that number. The premium is whatever a seller charges on top of it. A Black Friday promotion can lower the premium. It has no way to lower spot.
Why a Gold Price Has Two Parts
Take a one ounce gold coin. The figure on the listing covers two things.
The metal. Gold trades nearly around the clock on weekdays, so spot is set continuously, and the LBMA publishes a benchmark for it twice each business day in London. The World Gold Council publishes historical gold price averages going back to 1978. No coin seller sets that number, so no coin seller can mark it down.
The premium. Everything else. Minting, distribution, packaging and the seller's margin all live here. Two coins holding identical gold can carry different prices because of it. It's also why a bar tends to cost less over spot than a coin of equal weight.
Add the two and you get the price on the tag. When someone says one seller is expensive and another is cheap, they're comparing premiums. Spot is identical everywhere.
What a Black Friday Sale Can Actually Discount
Just the premium. On common bullion that's a modest slice of the total, and on the most heavily traded coins and bars it's thin. Halve it and you still pay for all the gold. So bullion Black Friday pages tend to look underwhelming next to a TV sale. There's less in the price to give away.
Silver works the same way, with one wrinkle. On a silver coin the premium is a bigger share of a small price, so a percentage off shows up more on silver than on gold.
How to Compare Offers Without Guessing
The number worth comparing is premium per ounce of metal. Working it out takes about a minute.
Find the current spot price. Our gold and silver charts show it live.
Subtract spot from the asking price. Take the seller's price and subtract what that weight of metal is worth at spot. What's left is the markup. What a troy ounce is covers the weight conversion if you need it.
Convert it to per ounce. A gram is about a thirty-first of a troy ounce, so a gram bar's markup has to be multiplied out before you can hold it next to a one ounce coin's. Small pieces usually lose on that math, because the cost of making a piece doesn't shrink much along with it.
Add shipping and fees. Insurance and card surcharges count too. A lower premium can lose to a higher one once shipping goes on top.
Two or three sellers is plenty. By then you'll see who's charging less per ounce, sale banner or no sale banner.
Why the Calendar Does Not Reach the Metal
Sales belong to retail. Spot comes from a worldwide market that doesn't follow the American shopping calendar, and it moves in late November just as it moves in March.
A seller can choose to charge less over spot on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Nobody gets to choose what spot does that day. A "Black Friday gold price" is one shop's price on one day.
Gold Jewelry Is a Different Product
Search "Black Friday gold" and the results mix two very different purchases.
A necklace is priced on design, brand, labor and the store's markup, with the gold content as one part among several. There's a lot more room in that price to discount, so jewelry discounts can run deeper, in percentage terms, than bullion discounts.
A jewelry discount and a bullion discount measure different things. Line their percentages up side by side and you'll come away with the wrong idea.
What Happens on an Order Book Instead
Pure is a marketplace, so there's no Pure sale to announce. Sellers list at the price they want and buyers bid what they'd pay. Any Black Friday deal on the order book would be a seller's own decision.
Sellers are free to ask below spot, and the gold under spot page collects the listings that do.
We test every item ourselves before it ships to you, and items that pass ship Pure Qualified. Gold and silver gift ideas has sizes and packaging, for anyone shopping for someone else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is gold cheaper on Black Friday?
The gold itself isn't. Its price comes from a global market. A seller can lower its own premium over spot, and that's the part a Black Friday offer discounts.
Is there a cheaper time of year to buy gold?
Nobody honestly knows, and anyone who sounds sure is guessing. Spot goes where it goes. The premium is a different story. For most products at sellers who post prices online, you can work it out today from the listed price and live spot. No forecasting required.
Is jewelry cheaper on Black Friday?
It can be, and by more than bullion. Design and labor sit on top of the gold in a jewelry price, so stores have more margin to cut. Bullion is priced close to the metal and has less to give.
Do bullion dealers run Black Friday sales?
Many do. Usually it's the premium or the shipping that gets cut, sometimes only on a limited set of products. A lower premium or free shipping does lower what you pay. Look at which one they cut. Free shipping on top of a fat premium can still cost more than a plain listing elsewhere.
How do I know whether a premium is reasonable?
Compare it. Work the premium out per ounce, then check one product at a few sellers on a single day, because spot moves and an old quote tells you little. Include shipping and any payment surcharge. There's no correct premium in the abstract, only what the item costs elsewhere today.