My review on buying and selling gold with Gold Trader Asia

Just a brief introduction about Gold Price Singapore. The online store selling gold bars and coins minted in Singapore is owned by Gold Trader Asia Pte Ltd. The firm is a registered business with ACRA and has a licence with the Police Licensing Unit as Secondhand Goods Dealers.

Operating for around 3 years, Gold Trader Asia has been buying used gold and selling bullion gold products such as Pamp gold bars. In recent months, the firm decided to extend their business by smelting used gold into bullion gold bars and coins to sell in the retail market through e-commerce. This business model profits from the margin in buying and selling the gold. Sounds simple? I think so too and I love business models that are easy to understand and it’s usually these business that sustain in the long run.

Product design

I had the pleasure of looking at the bullion gold bars and coins up close and personal. Dennis has chosen to use the Singapore Lion symbol as the main feature on the gold bar to tell consumers that they are made in Singapore. In terms of the quality of the product, I would say that it’s comparable to the Singapore Lion bullion coin. As the design is simplistic, it can’t be compared to complicated designs like the Australia Kangaroo nuggets.

As you can see on the right, Gold Trader Asia offers a few different sizes of gold bars and a 1-ounce gold coin. On the top of the photo are their certificate of authenticity. It is noted that there is no legal tender on the gold coin so you cannot use their gold coins as money.

The gold bars and coins are encased between two pieces of plastic, with small magnets on each corner to secure the case. There are seals on the sides of the cases. In my opinion, they do look better than Pamp Suisse gold bars that are sealed in what looked like cheap plastic enclosures.

Authenticity of gold products

The manufacturer will sends a sample from each batch of their gold products to the Singapore Assay Office to undergo Fire Assay (Cupellation). Instead of stamping the hallmark on their gold products, Gold Trader Asia chose to issue a certificate detailing the assaying process and guaranteeing the authenticity of the product.

All the gold bars (except 1gm gold bars) are also stamped with a serial number, e.g. SGDXXXXXX that is also indicated in the certificate. I suggested to Bill that they could consider setting a database of their serial numbers in their website so that in future, buyers can verify the serial number of the gold bar that they are buying online.

Final thoughts on Gold Trader Asia

Gold Trader Asia is probably one of the first firms in Singapore that buy used gold and make bullion gold products to sell although this business is very common overseas. Personally, I like the fact that Gold Trader Asia’s business model is simple to understand. The fact that they make a profit from selling their gold products makes me feel comfortable that they are here to stay. Naturally, only time will tell if their business is sustainable.

If you are worried that end of the day you are unable to sell them off, Gold Trader Asia assures me that they are always willing to purchase your gold back at used gold prices, which are close to gold spot prices.