The price for the cast 1oz Perth Mint gold bar is $10.00 cheaper than the minted 1oz bar, on the Perth Mint site. That's fairly stable, yet elsewhere the price difference is more than reversed. The price for the 1oz gold kangaroo can be had for $30 cheaper than from the Perth Mint site. (Prices are fliud, YMMV) So do these differences come down to market forces and competition or do bullion dealers buy in bulk and get discounts or is there a distributor's price? Or is the Perth Mint site a store front with retail prices that only loosely represent the value of the products on offer?
PM site is more retail. Look at places like Perthbullion.com and Goldstackers.com.au for cheaper prices as they buy wholesale for the retail market. Sometimes the PM is slightly cheaper but you have to factor in their mandatory insurance (from memory 1% of total value) and postage which can be quite costly when you're buying a few kg. Other sites offer far more competitive prices for postage.
Dealers can get bulk discounts on Perth Mint coins and minted bars, but not on Perth Mint cast bars. In our case, that means that a 1oz gold cast bar is about $9.50 more expensive than a 1oz gold Certicard bar. Our volume breaks on the Certicard bar represent savings that we pass on to the customer. Volume breaks on the cast bar represent us cutting our profit margin instead. You'd have to ask the Perth Mint about the reasoning for the different pricing structures. Cheers, Joey
