Peep

Hello! I'll be in Vietnam and Thailand soon and have heard there are good deals on gold jewelry there. So, what's a good deal? I'm interested in 18 and 22K, maybe a few chains and pendants as souvenirs. I've figured out the price of gold per gram for 24K; should I expect to pay that? What about paying for the design and manufacture? In the past I've always just decided if I was willing to pay what they wanted and never considered if I was getting a good deal, but decided to try and be a more informed consumer this time.

mrwunrfl

<BR>The one thing that your knowledge of the price of gold gives you is a bottom price that you want to pay for something. If the price of the bracelet is lower than the value of the gold in it, then you would probably be getting ripped off. <BR><BR>Melt that bracelet down to a lump and try selling it for the commodity price and you will find that you would end up actually selling it for a lower price since the dealer has costs involved in handling that small amount. <BR><BR>Gold is a commodity and used as a safe haven for value. Prices are high now because people are parking their money in gold to protect it from economic turnmoil that could result from war. What the market is like in Thailand, I don't know, but the real value of jewellery is the art of the piece, not the weight of the gold. Which is more valuable: the queen's crown or the equivalent weight of gold?

Mitmap

I can tell you how gold jewellery is sold in Hong Kong, I imagine it's similar in Thailand and Vietnam. For 24K gold jewellery, they'll quote the price for the gold itself and then for the labour of that particular piece. The store will sometimes weigh the gold piece in front of you. So if your bracelet is 1/3 of an ounce, they'll tell you how much that costs that day (of course that changes daily) and then the cost of the labour for making the piece. It's definitely cheaper to buy gold in Asia. For the price of 14K or 18K gold jewellery in N. America, you're getting the pure stuff. And the designs are so intricate and exquisite, you'll never find them in N. America.

Peep

Thanks!

rhkkmk

we find that our jewerler in bangkok charges us the going rate for the gold and then a small chage for the workmanship....rate for gold changes frequently...just ask..some places have it posted....<BR>please note that gold items with or without stones can be brought to the usa duty free if they are 100% thai in origin under the GSP program of the us government,...check with the customs service or the us embassey in bkk..good to know...