Sixteen Dealers, Six Questions

Most people choose a gold dealer on price. The price you pay is only half the trade. The other half is what the dealer pays you back, what it costs to keep the metal, and whether the company behind the logo is the company you think it is. We looked at sixteen dealers across Europe, the Gulf and Asia, including the two best-known in each of the big bullion hubs of Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, using only what their own websites, registers and public reviews show.

The six questions

What it costs to buy and sell

The cleanest test is a round trip: buy a coin and sell it straight back. The difference is the dealer’s spread, the cost you carry before gold has moved at all. We compared the most traded coin, the 1 oz Krugerrand, and a 100 g bar. Spot gold stood at about €3,683 per ounce (€118.40 per gram) that morning.

Snapshots taken at slightly different times on the same morning, so treat differences under half a percent as noise. *Confinvest’s bar quote is from 25 September, against that day’s spot. Tavex’s Krugerrand was out of stock at the time. †Argentor shows its own premium over spot next to each price; we use those, because its buy and sell pages were read a few minutes apart. Silver Bullion’s prices are in Singapore dollars with its own premiums. BullionStar, iGold, Tora and the Hong Kong dealers did not show prices we could capture outside their live shops.

Two patterns stand out. Bars are usually cheaper to trade than coins: a round trip of about 3.3–4.3% against 3.9–5.4% for the Krugerrand. The exception is Degussa, whose own 100 g bar cost 7.1% to buy and sell straight back, the widest spread we found. At the other end, BullionStar sells a 100 g bar of its own that it buys back at the same price as it sells it, for ten bars or more held at least four days: a round trip of zero, apart from the premium over spot. And the cheapest price to buy is not always the best deal: Tavex charges the highest premium on the Krugerrand, but pays back almost exactly spot, while Confinvest is cheaper to buy from but pays 1.8% below spot. Holland Gold is cheapest to buy from, but its buyback price is only shown through an online calculator, so the round trip cannot be checked in advance.

The sixteen, one by one

Europe first, then the Gulf and Asia.

Argentor · Belgium

Argentor Essayeurs NV (company number BE 0431.852.314), in Antwerp’s Lange Herentalsestraat since 1987. “Essayeurs” means assayers: it tests metal as well as trading it, and supplies jewellers alongside investors. It is far bigger than its shop front suggests: its 2025 accounts show revenue of €1.94 billion with a staff of about 14. It sources bars from three LBMA refiners, Metalor, Umicore and Valcambi.

Useful: the clearest pricing of the sixteen. Every product shows its premium over spot, both for buying and for selling back, with buyback prices updated every minute: +2.0% and −1.9% on a Krugerrand, +3.3% and −1.0% on a 100 g Umicore bar. It buys back bars, coins and scrap, offers pick-up in Antwerp and delivery, and runs a separate storage service, Argentor Safe, from €10,000. It reports a score of 9 out of 10 across 1,675 reviews. Watch: popular bars can have long lead times; the 100 g Umicore bar showed about eight weeks for delivery or pick-up.

Goud999 · Belgium, vault in Zürich

goud999 safe BV (company number BE 0656.986.740), founded in 2016 in Lanaken, with the domain in use since 2014. You buy gold, silver, platinum, palladium or rhodium per gram or by bar, and the metal is held by Loomis International in Zürich, VAT-free. The business is small and very profitable: its 2025 accounts show a gross margin of €6.8 million and a profit of €4.5 million with a staff of about four, up from €1.8 million profit in 2024.

Useful: the best answer to question three of all sixteen. Every gram is assigned to specific bars, and in your account under “Mijn Kluis” you can see and check the serial numbers of the bars you own a share of. The metal is legally yours, insured at replacement value, and an independent audit is carried out every year, with the 2026 report published on the site. Storage costs 0.5% a year on gold with a minimum of €5 a quarter, among the lowest minimums here. Of 125 reviews on Trustpilot, 91% give five stars, according to Traders Union. Read the fine print: every trade carries a 1% transaction fee (0.5% for larger amounts) on top of the live price, which we could not read outside the app, so the true round trip is unknown. Physical delivery is possible, but only on a quote. Much of its marketing runs through affiliate landing pages of finance influencers, with a sign-up bonus of free silver and the line “gold rises on average 8% a year”: an average of the past, not a promise, and worth reading that way. The same product pages also appear under partner brands such as Solide Metals.

CelticGold · Germany

CelticGold AG in Darmstadt, founded in 2001 by Stefan Kraemer, shipping more than 30,000 parcels a year across Europe and to the US, Canada and Australia, with over 2,000 coins and bars from Heraeus, Umicore, Perth Mint and Valcambi. It accepts cryptocurrency and publishes technical analysis by Florian Grummes.

Useful: one of the fairest buybacks here. Every product page shows the buyback price next to the sale price, the quote is guaranteed for 72 hours once you have the binding buyback letter, and payment follows the same day after testing. On the Krugerrand that meant +2.3% to buy and −2.2% to sell back, a round trip of 4.4%. Storage is with Prosegur in Frankfurt, segregated in your name, at €0.82 per €1,000 a month, about 1% a year, with no minimum term; its gold account lets you buy from 0.1 g with free storage. It scores 4.8 on Trustpilot. Watch: only 63 reviews, all five-star, and Trustpilot notes the company does not actively invite reviews, so the score is thinner than it looks. At about 1% a year, its bar storage costs twice Holland Gold’s.

Degussa · Germany and Switzerland

Not the historic Degussa of 1873: Degussa Sonne/Mond Goldhandel was bought in 2010 by the Finck banking family’s holding Substantia AG, which licenses the brand name from Evonik. Headquartered in Munich, with eleven German branches and offices in Zurich, Geneva, London and Madrid, and its own cast bars.

Useful: a full public price list with both prices and a timestamp, updated every five minutes, and a large branch network where you can walk in. Read the fine print: the widest spread of the sixteen on its own 100 g bar, €12,306.60 to buy and €11,435.40 to sell back at 10:55 that morning, a round trip of 7.1%. Its Swiss customs-free warehouse only takes silver, platinum and palladium, from CHF 50,000, at 1.5% a year. A well-known name, but you pay for it.

Tavex · Estonia and 12 more countries

Founded in 1991 as Tavid AS in Tallinn, today in 13 countries from the Nordics to the UK and the Balkans, with more than 40 offices and, by its own figures, 1.9 million customers a year, 8 tonnes of gold and 30 tonnes of silver sold annually. It has held a payment-institution licence since 2011 and works with Perth Mint, PAMP, Valcambi, the Royal Mint and Argor-Heraeus.

Useful: with Argentor, the most transparent pricing here. Every product shows “we sell” and “we buy” side by side, in 11 currencies, with charts from 24 hours to 10 years and price alerts. Its Swedish arm scores 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 889 reviews. Missing: no vault service on the site, and little education beyond a newsletter and FAQ.

Holland Gold · Netherlands

Roots in Amsterdam Gold (2010), LBMA affiliate member since 2025, offices in Alkmaar, Rotterdam and Breda. Prices update every minute and it had the lowest premiums in our check. It buys back metal bought elsewhere and pays within one business day after inspection.

Useful: the most complete storage offer. Holland Gold Safe holds fully allocated metal with Brink’s in Amsterdam, Loomis in Zurich and Loomis at Le Freeport in Singapore, for 0.5% a year on gold, insured, invoiced quarterly, with annual audits by independent accountants and a separate foundation (Stichting Derdengelden) that approves withdrawals. Storage outside the Netherlands is VAT-free. A five-part starter guide, podcasts and market analysis, and 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 3,673 reviews. Watch: selling from storage costs a fixed €36 per transaction, and delivery of some coins takes about three weeks.

Confinvest · Italy

Trading gold in Milan since 1983, from Piazza Affari. The most formally documented of the European dealers: registered with the Italian OAM register of professional gold operators (OPO348), licensed by the Milan police (no. 5882), and publishing financial statements in an investor-relations section. It quotes a clear bid and ask for coins and bars every day and explains how the spread is built.

Useful: Confinvault, storage in a dedicated vault in Milan with 100% insurance at daily value and no minimum or maximum; the Gold Plan for monthly accumulation; a Gold Manual; and advice on passing gold on in an inheritance, which few dealers address. Missing: the Confinvault fee rate is not clearly legible online; you are told only that it is based on the value of your gold on 31 December.

Suisse Gold · Zurich vault, BVI company

The widest range of the sixteen, from 10 g bars to rhodium, VAT-free bullion, worldwide delivery and payment in Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies. The brand is Swiss; the company is Suisse Gold (BVI) Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands (no. 2152244). That is not wrong in itself, but it is not what the name suggests, and the vault operator is not named.

Read the fine print: storage is free for the first year, then 0.5% a year on gold, but with a minimum of €25 a month. Below about €60,000 of gold, the minimum is what you pay: on €10,000 of gold that is 3% a year. For metal held in its vault, it pays “a minimum of 90% of the live spot price”. Personal collection costs CHF 500, as does a transfer to a third party. On Trustpilot it scores 2.8 out of 5 across 84 reviews, with 39% one-star, citing late or missing deliveries, payments not acknowledged and storage fees. Small premiums on the buy side do not make up for terms like these.

SABAYIK · Saudi Arabia

An app-first dealer selling sealed PAMP Suisse bars from 1 g to 100 g and silver from 1 oz to 1 kg, paid by bank transfer, Visa, Mada or Apple Pay, delivered across the Kingdom within a week or collected in store. It shows a Saudi business licence and says stored metal is insured and held with “trusted custodians”.

Useful: small bars for small budgets, sealed from the refiner, with fast local delivery. Missing: the custodian, the storage fee and the buyback terms are not spelled out on the site, and there is no educational content. Ask for all three in writing before storing with them.

Pluang · Indonesia

Not a coin shop but an investment app based in Jakarta, where gold is one product next to stocks and ETFs. You buy digital gold from Rp10,000, a few euro cents’ worth, and each gram is backed by physical gold. It is the most formally structured setup of the six: the gold business, PT Pluang Emas Sejahtera, is licensed by Indonesia’s commodity futures regulator Bappebti (permit 001/BAPPEBTI/P-ED/01/2022), every trade is recorded on the Indonesian commodity and derivatives exchange ICDX and guaranteed by the Indonesia Clearing House, and the metal sits allocated and insured with Brink’s in Indonesia, separate from Pluang’s own assets.

Useful: very low entry, a 0.15% buy fee plus VAT and no fee to sell, free storage for active accounts, and the option to turn your balance into certified Antam bars from 1 g. Read the fine print: taking your gold home is expensive. Printing a 1 g bar costs Rp575,000, about a quarter of its value, and a 100 g bar Rp37,005,000, about 15%, plus 3% insurance and delivery. Accounts with no trade for six months lose 0.01 g a month. Pluang is built for holding gold digitally; if you want metal in your hands, buy the bar directly.

The hubs: Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong

For investors outside Europe, three cities matter most. We picked the two best-known names in each for private investors; the choice is ours.

BullionStar · Singapore

BullionStar Pte Ltd (company no. 201217896Z), 45 New Bridge Road, with its own vault in Singapore and investment gold sold free of GST. Every product page shows the price per gram and ounce, the premium over spot, the spread and the price BullionStar pays back, and it buys LBMA bars from any source.

Useful: the best overall answers to the six questions of all sixteen. Storage costs 0.39% a year on gold with a minimum of S$0.19 a day, with direct legal ownership, and you can have your own metal audited in the vault. Its “No-Spread” 100 g bar is bought back at the same price it is sold, for ten bars or more after a four-day holding period. On Trustpilot it scores 4.9 across 1,927 reviews, 95% five-star. Watch: a withdrawal from the vault costs S$129 and a personal audit S$500; small 1 g bars carry premiums of 10% or more, as they do everywhere.

Silver Bullion · Singapore

Silver Bullion Pte Ltd owns its own vault, The Safe House, in a 180,000 sq ft property it bought in 2021. Metal is stored in individually numbered parcels with their own invoice and legal title, photographed, and audited every quarter by Bureau Veritas, with an inventory report per parcel updated at least twice a week. Insurance runs through Marsh and Lloyd’s syndicates with a USD 2 billion limit per loss, including theft by staff and mysterious disappearance.

Useful: the most thoroughly documented vault of the sixteen, at 0.35% a year on gold, with the option to lock the rate for up to five years. Buy and sell prices are shown with their premiums: +2.0% and −1.5% on a 100 g Metalor bar, +1.0% and −1.1% on a kilo bar. 4.8 on Trustpilot across 270 reviews. Watch: reviewers mention slow phone support and queues at busy times.

iGold · Dubai

iGold is the trading name of Kuber Jewellery LLC in the Deira Gold Souk extension (trade licence 531844, member of the Dubai Jewellery Group). It has the strongest online reputation of the Dubai dealers we found: 4.9 on Trustpilot across 680 reviews, 97% five-star, with delivery in two to three working days.

Useful: fast, well-reviewed online buying in the Gulf. Missing: buyback is advertised as “market leading” but the rates are not published, there is no storage service, and the legal entity is a jewellery company rather than a specialist bullion house.

Tora Bullion · Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Tora Bullion Jewellery Co. LLC, founded in 2016, licensed by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (licence 1106002), with shops in the Deira Gold Souq and in Abu Dhabi, and insured delivery across the UAE.

Useful: two cities, a physical counter and a large educational blog. Missing: it headlines a “low cost 2 AED/gram buyback”, which would be well under 1% of the gold value, but we could not find it explained anywhere; prices only load live; no storage.

Lee Cheong Gold Dealers · Hong Kong

A traditional bullion house on Des Voeux Road Central and member no. 098 of the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, Hong Kong’s gold exchange since 1910. It makes its own tael bars (one tael is about 1.2 ounces) and sells kilo bars and coins over the counter; the South China Morning Post used it to picture Hong Kong’s gold rush.

Useful: the real local market, exchange membership and the bars Hong Kong itself trades. Missing: almost everything online: no public price list, no published buyback terms and no storage offer. Forum users put its prices at 3–5% over spot. You deal with it in person.

J. Rotbart & Co. · Hong Kong and Singapore

The trading name of Strategic Transactions Limited, registered with Hong Kong Customs as a Category B precious-metals dealer (B-B-23-11-02937) and in Singapore as Strategic Transactions (Singapore) Pte Ltd (PS20210002149), with offices in Manila and Tel Aviv. It works at family-office scale: advice, sourcing from LBMA refiners, allocated storage with bar serial numbers across 16 vault locations, insurance, delivery to 35 countries and resale.

Useful: two registration numbers you can check, and a written quote that separates the metal price from the premium. Missing: no public prices, storage fees or buyback terms; you get them on request. Much of what ranks online for “buying gold in Hong Kong” is its own guide, so read that as marketing.

Our scores

Each dealer scored from 0 to 10 on the six questions, with the final score as the average. Where a dealer does not publish the information, it gets a neutral 5 rather than a guess in either direction. These are our judgements, based on what was public on 30 September; the table shows how each one was built, so you can weigh the questions differently for yourself.

What moves the scores: the two Singapore dealers top the table because they own their vaults, publish both prices with their premiums, and have hundreds to thousands of reviews behind their scores. Holland Gold is the best European option, level with them on storage and cost. Argentor and CelticGold share fourth place: Argentor for the most transparent pricing, CelticGold for the fairest buyback. Goud999 has the most verifiable storage in Europe, with serial numbers you can check yourself, but its trading costs cannot be seen outside the app. Confinvest and Pluang have the strongest regulatory set-ups but cost more to trade or to take home; Pluang’s gold is physical and held by Brink’s, but what you own is a digital balance, and turning it into a bar costs 15–25%. Degussa has a strong name and a full public price list, but the widest spread we found. The Dubai and Hong Kong dealers mostly lose points for what they do not publish: buyback terms, storage and, for Lee Cheong, prices. SABAYIK is in the same position. Suisse Gold scores low on four of the six questions for concrete reasons, not for lack of information.

The best dealer also depends on where you live. A buyer in Belgium gains from collecting in Antwerp; one in the Nordics or Eastern Europe from Tavex’s local offices. Pluang and SABAYIK serve Indonesia and Saudi Arabia and are local options there. For storing outside the EU, Singapore’s two dealers are the benchmark.

How the sixteen compare

More dealers by region and country are in the dealer directory. The six questions work for any of them.

Sources

• Argentor, “Buy gold”, “Krugerrand 1 troy ounce”, “Gold bar 100 g Umicore”, “Gouden munten verkopen”, “Goudstaven verkopen” and Argentor Safe, 30 September 2026; company data from Companyweb.
• Goud999, “Waarom goud999”, “Veelgestelde vragen”, “Gealloceerde serienummers bekijken”, “Audit rapport” and an affiliate landing page, 30 September 2026; company data from Companyweb; reviews via Traders Union.
• CelticGold, homepage, “Krugerrand 1oz” and “Sell your products to CelticGold”, 30 September 2026; Trustpilot.
• Degussa, “Preisliste”, 30 September 2026, 10:55, and “Zollfreilager”; Wikipedia, “Degussa Sonne/Mond Goldhandel”.
• Tavex / Tavid, “Tavex Group” and product pages “1 oz South African Krugerrand” and gold price list, 30 September 2026.
• Holland Gold, homepage, “Krugerrand 1 troy ounce”, “C. Hafner 100 gram”, “Holland Gold Safe” and “Goud verkopen”, 30 September 2026.
• Confinvest, homepage, “Quotazioni Krugerrand” (30 September), “Quotazioni lingotti” (25 September) and “Confinvault”.
• Suisse Gold, homepage, “Bullion storage in Switzerland” and “Additional services & fees”, 30 September 2026.
• SABAYIK, homepage and “About”.
• Pluang, “Pluang Emas”, “Gold fees”, “Who regulates digital gold on Pluang”, “Where is my gold stored” and “Gold price”, 30 September 2026.
• BullionStar, “Vault fee schedule”, “100 g No-Spread bar” and gold products; Trustpilot.
• Silver Bullion, “S.T.A.R. parcels” and gold bars, 30 September 2026; Trustpilot.
• iGold, homepage and Trustpilot; Tora Bullion, homepage and “Best place to buy gold bars in the UAE”.
• Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, “Lee Cheong Gold Dealers Limited” member page; South China Morning Post, “Gold fever sweeps Hong Kong”; GeoExpat forum, “Gold price of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers”.
• J. Rotbart & Co., “Buy gold in Hong Kong” and “Buying gold in Hong Kong: the complete 2026 guide”.
• Trustpilot: Tavex AB, HollandGold.nl, Suisse Gold, scores as shown on 30 September 2026.

Prices, fees and terms change often; check each dealer’s current terms before you buy. This is a comparison of publicly available information, not a recommendation of any dealer. Educational content to support your own research and decisions. Not financial advice.

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