Buying Gold In Turkey?

[TeeDee]

A bit random , apologies.

Anyone here purchased Gold direct from Turkey? I'm off there next month ( Marmaris ) and considered buying some to bring back and flip as it would seem most travellers have it revalued on their return to the UK and get a pleasent surprise from the difference in values.

Anyway , anyone done it and got any tips.?

[Andy BB]

Caveat emptor.........

[sandbender]

A bit random , apologies.

Anyone here purchased Gold direct from Turkey? I'm off there next month ( Marmaris ) and considered buying some to bring back and flip as it would seem most travellers have it revalued on their return to the UK and get a pleasent surprise from the difference in values.

Anyway , anyone done it and got any tips.?

The sum you (as a punter) buy the gold at and the sum you (as a punter) sell it at are always going to favour the person you are trading with rather than you. I would be inclined to think that you will lose out, however if not, let us know.

[DaveBromley]

My farther in law bought an 18 carat gold bracelet for £240 (equivelant) over in turkey and sold it for £680 over here not sure how long in between but not that long!

Dave

[TimD]

I have never bought gold in turkey for intentional resale but was purchased a very chunky (and in hindsight quite horrid) ring some years ago.
After the person who bought it for me was no longer around I decided it was rubbish as a paperweight as well as a ring and took it to get valued.
It had an extremely poor and illegible hallmark and hence was only worth scrap value.
If you're going to do this sort of flip make sure you know what you're doing 1st.

Rgds,
Tim

[TeeDee]

The sum you (as a punter) buy the gold at and the sum you (as a punter) sell it at are always going to favour the person you are trading with rather than you. I would be inclined to think that you will lose out, however if not, let us know.

See Post #4

[TeeDee]

It had an extremely poor and illegible hallmark and hence was only worth scrap value.
If you're going to do this sort of flip make sure you know what you're doing 1st.

Rgds,
Tim

Indeed. The reason for the question.

[santaman2000]

No knowledge of Turkey specifically but generally the entire Middle East sells gold by weight with no added cost for the craftsmanship. If you pick a certain gold chain, they just unroll the length you want and weigh it regardless of the intricacy of the chain (or bracelet or whatever item) They rarely (if ever) deal in anything less than 18 carat. Hallmaks? Rarely have any as they are made by independent craftsman (in Saudi at least) Usually the price there is only slightly more than the current market value for gold (adjusted down for the dilution to 18 carat.

Bottom line: Almost every GI deployed to Saudi over the past 30 years or so (since I was originally statioened in Engalnd with our aircraft deploying on 45 day rotations to Saudi) bought gold, diamonds and perfume to bring back. The only loser finacially was the diamonds due to the poor quality. And bear in mind that if you choose perfume, it will have to be cut when you get back as they only sell pure, concentrated oils.

I cain't imagine Turkey being much different.

[Expat]

Dave's got it about right - you'll buy something worth quite a bit more here, but as Tim D said,
no hallmark.. You WILL have a government stamp with the carat value, usually 18 or 21...
I sold a 21 carat bracelet from Egypt as scrap, and STILL got more than I paid for it....

[JonathanD]

Be careful, very careful. My brother owns a gold bullion business and most of the Turkish and Asian gold is under-carat. You may buy 14K 18K and 22K stamped gold there, but when you get back and it is laser tested, it may only be 8K or 15k or 20K as there is no legal standard of hallmarking there. While a few people may strike it lucky, the other 90% find they lose out. That, and the fact that gold has dropped quite a bit in the UK since this time last year when it was £14 per gram for 9K. It has now dropped to about £11.65 and isn't as stable as it once was.

[santaman2000]

I don't think it ever was truly stable JD. Apart from the fact gold is generally cheaper there, buying gold isn't an investment; it's gambling.

[JonathanD]

Exactly, but if you consider that just four years ago 9K gold was just £4 a gram and it steadily rose to £14, you can see why people think they are getting a good deal, when in fact they are just buying it at the market price and selling it at the market price, which happens to be higher during the time between buying and selling. It gives the illusion that if you buy abroad and sell when you get back, that gold is cheaper there, or that we pay more for it here. It actually isn't, and we don't. The market price for gold has just risen in the meantime worldwide. At the moment, that isn't that case. Gold isn't rising anymore, it is fluctuating and even falling. Last week it went up to £12.10 PG. Today people are only paying £11.65. Who knows what it will do tomorrow, it could rise or fall. Six to 12 months ago, it was only rising.

In short, if you buy today, it is a 50/50 gamble. Couple that with the simple fact you don't know the exact carat/gold content you are buying in Turkey, the odds of making a profit when selling in the UK are against you at this time. You'd be better off investing in Krugerrands or 99.99999 Fine investment bars bought right here in the UK. But it is still 50/50.

[ged]

Er, nobody seems to have mentioned import duty, taxes...

[JonathanD]

Er, nobody seems to have mentioned import duty, taxes...

Well, yeah. There is that