Summary
⚈ Costco sells gold bars with a 2% premium, typical for small retail bullion.
⚈ Limited supply and purchase caps make large investments through Costco impractical.
Back in September of 2023, Costco (NASDAQ: COST) made a rather unusual move. The big box retailer started selling gold bars. In a matter of months, its main rival, Walmart (NYSE: WMT), mirrored the decision.
With inflation at high levels and economic uncertainty mounting, this turned out to be a fairly successful idea. Wells Fargo estimated that Costco generates $100 million to $200 million in quarterly revenue from gold bar sales alone. In the coming months, the business expanded its commodity offerings to include silver coins and even platinum bars.
One key component of the strategy’s success is size — these weren’t the large gold bars you’d see in a bank’s vault, but small, 1-ounce bars. With that being said, accessibility does not always bring about ideal setups — as Costco charges a roughly 2% premium over gold’s spot price for these bars.
Exactly one year ago, on April 29, 2024, an ounce of gold was changing hands at a price of $2,333. With the 2% premium included, that rounds out to a price of $2,379.
By press time on April 29, 2025, the spot price of an ounce of gold was $3,312.
Accordingly, a 1-ounce gold bar from Costco, held for 1 year, would have netted investors a 39.21% return.
Buying a gold bar from Costco remains a viable approach
So, is buying a gold bar from Costco a wise decision?
While that 2% premium might sound a bit steep, it’s fairly typical for smaller gold bars. Moreover, the lack of fees and shipping costs could easily make this the most straightforward and affordable way to gain exposure to the commodity for most Americans.
Readers should note that the sale of precious metals at Costco is only available to members — but since membership starts at $60 per year, that isn’t really a major factor.
Gold’s role as a store of value and hedge has only become more important in the wake of the ongoing trade war, and several commodity strategists have set price targets as high as $4,000 for the end of 2025.
Unfortunately, there are a few issues that make buying a gold bar from Costco a solution that isn’t optimal for everyone. There is a purchase limit of two units per day — in addition, the retailer tends to run out of supply fairly quickly. Coupled with the small size of the bars, this makes opening large positions when a dip occurs — or opening large positions at all rather unworkable.
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