The Game You’re Most Likely to Lose.
This page explains how an informal cash and carry offer can expose you to financial loss. Study who controls the gold, the tester, the place and the money; recognise the warning signs before you commit time or funds.
If only it was that simple. Buying cash and carry is a high-stakes game, with the odds stacked against you. Level up and be prepared for what comes next.
Their advantage is if they can change the conditions after you have committed time and money. For each move below, decide your counter.
The seller wants evidence you can pay before showing the gold. You want evidence the gold exists before exposing your funds. Neither side wants to move first.
Agree a safe method of mutual verification before travel. Do not send a test transfer, connect a wallet or sign an unfamiliar request merely to gain access. If lawful ownership and payment authority cannot be established, leave.
The agreed tester does not arrive on time. You have paid for travel and accommodation; a replacement introduced by the seller is offered.
A late or replacement tester changes the proposition. Do not accept a seller-selected substitute under pressure; leave or defer the decision.
The gold is said to be in a larger consignment. A payment is requested to separate your portion before inspection or possession.
Do not send money for a newly invented release. Treat an advance demand before inspection or possession as a reason to stop.
Now storage, guards or transport must be paid before the gold can leave. The warehouse terms differ from those discussed.
Check any claimed storage facility independently. If a new warehouse or security charge appears, stop and reassess rather than funding it.
The final handover is postponed until money is released. Ownership, assay and possession are still uncertain.
Do not pay against a promise of future access. Leave an informal handover that lacks clear ownership, independent testing and lawful documentation.
After waiting and perhaps paying once, another small demand is presented as the last obstacle. Walking away feels expensive.
Set a spending limit and walk-away triggers before departure. Do not make a second payment just to recover the first or justify the trip.
A dated newspaper and your name beside gold-coloured material show that a photograph was staged. They do not establish ownership, purity or the seller’s right to sell it.
A seller’s introduction is no proof of independence. Agree the tester, sampling and method before anyone travels; make sure the material tested is the material you would receive.
A nitric acid check can expose some imitations, but it cannot establish what is inside a bar. XRF examines only a shallow surface and can be misled by plating. Before you travel, agree on an independent assay of a representative sample. A qualified assayer may obtain that sample by drilling or by melting and sampling the bar, as appropriate. If the seller refuses the agreed testing, stop.
Read LBMA’s bar-testing guidanceIf the conditions change, keep control of your money. You do not have to rescue a meeting by accepting a new tester, charge or handover sequence.
The buyer leaves the board. The next decision is whether a documented structure can put that capital to work with agreed controls.
An illustrative 5 kg cash purchase beside a 50 kg documented CIF transaction: capital can be committed to a structured shipment instead of handed over at the table. Explore the terms before treating the quantities as comparable.
Illustration assumes the capital used to buy 5 kg outright is sufficient to support 10% of a 50 kg CIF transaction at the same unit price. Actual instrument, collateral, financing, shipping, fees and payment terms vary. The buyer does not acquire 50 kg for the price of 5 kg. EasyGold does not arrange cash and carry.
EasyGold recommends that any buyer wishing to engage in cash and carry transactions seek official advice from the appropriate ministries.
We publish this page solely based on our personal experience, to help readers recognise the risks and avoid losing money.