How To Buy Gold at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

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Buying gold in Turkey, particularly gold jewellery, is gaining huge reputation proper now with the wonderful conversion charge towards the declining Turkish Lira and the capability for shoppers to buy straight from sellers with out a intermediary.

Personally, I’m getting bored with losing my cash on low-cost costume jewellery that may begin to tarnish and break simply after 1 or 2 wears. This quick trend craze has individuals consuming equipment at an alarming charge. What at first looks as if a superb deal, solely $89 for a pair of gold-plated earrings, turns into such a legal responsibility with how briskly they exit of fashion and begin to discolor.

After years of frustration with losing my cash on low-cost jewellery, I made a decision to go on a mission to seek out nice offers on gold in certainly one of the most well-known markets in the world, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. My purpose was to seek out good high quality items for honest costs that may final for many years as an alternative of some seasons.  

Below you’ll discover tips about the best way to discover wonderful offers on gold, methods to check the purity and authenticity of gold jewellery, and every little thing else I discovered throughout my pursuit of high quality gold at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey.

My Hunt For Quality Gold Inside The Grand Bazaar

For this mission, I wanted an insider and gold professional to assist me. My pal Alyne and I met up with the fourth-generation grasp jeweler, Nurhan Gümüş. This man is aware of his gold, it’s in his blood. His great-grandfather was a gold jeweler in the Grand Bazaar in the 1800s, a career his whole household has upheld ever since.

We met Nurhan at the southern Carsikapi Gate that leads into Kalpakcilar Caddesi, the gold jeweler’s highway of the Grand Bazaar. Before we received into the nitty gritty of gold buying, he merely took me for a stroll up and down the lined streets so I might get a good suggestion of the immense selection accessible inside the market. Basically, any form of silver or gold jewellery you’re searching for, you’ll discover it right here. If you’ll be able to’t discover it on show, you’ll meet distributors who will custom-make it for you or discover you one thing related inside a couple of hours.

We spent the whole day inside the market shopping, testing, attempting on, and ultimately shopping for many gold items, together with a classic Rolex, gold earrings, and a gold necklace. I’m going to share each insider secret and tip I discovered throughout our time with Nurhan, so you’ll be able to comply with in my footsteps with your individual Turkish gold buying spree.

Top 6 Tips For Buying Gold Jewelry in the Grand Bazaar

Ok gold lovers – Here’s what you must know to be an knowledgeable gold purchaser to finest apply all the ideas we have now for you all through this information.

1. Is it Hallmarked? (stamped) 

Make positive the merchandise has the applicable karat marking stamp, also referred to as an indicator.

Examples are:

22k, or 916
18k, or 750
14k, or 585
10k, or 416

This signifies purity and can also be a method of confirming the jewelers’ mentioned particulars.

Best observe: Ask the vendor to point out you the hallmarks on the piece straight.

2️. Know The Purity (what these hallmarks really imply)

The purity of gold is set by karat. 

24 Karat gold is 99.9% pure and it descends as you go.

Percent of gold in:

24k = (99.9% gold content material)
22k = (91.6% gold content material)
18k = (75% gold content material)
14k = (58.3% gold content material)
10k = (41.6% gold content material, which suggests lower than half is gold) 

Investing in gold jewellery with out checking purity is a BIG NO. The worth between one thing that’s 22 karats and 10 karats will range immensely.

3️. Figure out the Best Price (the difficult half)

The worth of the gold jewellery is indicated by its purity in addition to how a lot labor work has been spent whereas making the piece. 

When shopping for a strong gold merchandise, the finest option to evaluate is apples to apples! Well in this case: karats to karats! 

Similar-looking gold gadgets with related weights is perhaps 1000s of {dollars} much less or extra.. HOW?? 🤔

Think of a 100-gram gold chain in 10 karats.. this accommodates 41.6 grams of gold. But on the different hand, a 100-gram chain of 18-karat gold accommodates 75 grams of gold!

This alone is a HUGE 34 grams of gold distinction!

Best observe: Only evaluate the similar karat gadgets! If you’re looking at a 14k chain, evaluate it to different 14k chains of the similar weight.  

4️. Determining Weight (How heavy is it?)

It is important to test the weight of the precise gold merchandise that you’re shopping for. Since different gems, supplies, or enamel colours could make the weight heavier, you may find yourself paying the next worth for much less gold!

Best observe:  Ask the jeweler to weigh it on a scale & take a word of that gram weight 

5️. Color Shouldn’t Matter (Yellow, Rose, or White)

Gold can have coloration variations. Combining pure gold with particular alloy metals will create one other coloration or tone. 

Yellow gold has been the hottest tone all through historical past. Rose gold & white gold are much less standard relying on present tendencies & worldwide areas.

Best Practice:  The coloration of gold shouldn’t make the worth cheaper or dearer.

6. Do the math to get your per-gram value 

How to get your gram value:

Take the whole worth of the merchandise & divide it by the weight = YOUR PER GRAM COST 

Use that to match costs of things with completely different weights & similar karat purity.

While the per gram value doesn’t take different issues into consideration, like gems or different particulars the jewellery might need, or the store proprietor’s value of his storefront, it gives you a superb baseline when buying round.

BOTTOM LINE:

Lots is to be considered when making a jewellery buy, however in case you have the actual karats and weight, you can also make an ideal base for comparability.

How to get an precise estimate of how a lot it’s best to pay for gold jewellery

Below is an equation to make use of as a tough estimate, utilizing the present charge of gold, to find out if the worth they’re asking at the Grand Bazaar is honest.

Step 1: Google right this moment’s market charge for gold.

Step 2: Let’s say the market charge for the day is $50 per gram (pure gold). We will take that $50 and multiply it by the purity of the merchandise we’re wanting at. For this instance, we’ll use a chunk of knickknack that’s 18k gold. 18k has 75% pure gold content material.

$50 X 0.75 (purity p.c of 18k) = $37.50

$37.50 is the value per gram of the gold materials itself in an 18k piece with right this moment’s charge of $50 per gram.

Step 3: Now, fake the vendor has proven you an 18k bracelet and also you’ve put it on the scale to weigh it, and based mostly on the weight and worth, you’ll be able to see he’s charging $40 per gram. We can minus the uncooked value of the gold from the above equation ($37.50), which suggests he’s charging $2.5 per gram for labor and enterprise prices.

Now, there isn’t any ‘standard’ for the way a lot revenue a vendor needs to be making, or how a lot {dollars} per gram he’s charging for labor and enterprise prices. This varies enormously relying on the precise jewellery itself, how a lot element and design it could have, and different components like his hire and different enterprise prices. What the above equation means that you can do is be higher knowledgeable about uncooked prices, evaluate apples to apples when buying round, and to really feel extra snug about investing in gold.

Q&A – Buying Gold in Türkiye

Why ought to individuals take into account shopping for gold in Turkey? Why not journey to Dubai to purchase gold?

Dubai (UAE) and Turkey each have very vibrant gold jewellery industries and each nations export and import billions of {dollars} a yr.

Dubai does have some slight value benefits in comparison with Turkey relating to machine-made/engineered items like chains. That’s on account of the truth their small and medium-sized companies have bigger budgets accessible to them for machines to provide extremely environment friendly, machine-made gold gadgets.

Turkey, on the different hand, has two nice benefits. One is in the handmade / artisan jewellery division on account of the over 5000 yr historical past of knickknack making in Anatolia (present day Turkey). Turkey has an unmatched historical past of handmade jewellery that different nations can’t compete with.

The different benefit Turkey has over the UAE is a decrease value of the general journey. You can keep in Istanbul for a month or longer for what your price range could be for only a few days in Dubai.

Sometimes, it’s not at all times about the lowest value, however as an alternative the general expertise.  

How can we inform if the gold is actual?

One of the best and quickest methods to inform if a chunk of knickknack, let’s say a necklace in this case, is actual strong gold or one thing else like brass with an inexpensive gold plating, is to rub a magnet on it.

Keep a small magnet in your pocket at the Grand Bazaar and use it your self to check any items you’re looking at. Real gold is just not magnetic and it’ll not stick. Many different cheaper metals are magnetic and can stick instantly.

If the gold is actual, how do we all know what the karat worth is? (Example: 10k, 14k, 18k, and so forth?)

Sellers at the Grand Bazaar can do an acid take a look at proper there in the store. This entails the piece of knickknack being rubbed on a touchstone often fabricated from slate, then a particular karat formulation of acid is used. So, a 14k gold bracelet could have its personal 14-karat acid gold take a look at. Once the acid is dropped on the stone, if the acid eats away at the markings on the stone, it means it isn’t the karat it states. If the markings do stick with the 14-karat acid, or whichever karat-specific acid take a look at was used, then it’s legit.

There are quite a lot of gold outlets in the Grand Bazaar. How can we discover a good one? Anything particular to search for or to keep away from?

The finest method is to be an knowledgeable purchaser and find out about the fundamentals of gold, i.e. the gram weight, the karat purity, after which checking that the mentioned karat is hallmarked on the piece itself.

Knowing the primary pillars of data means that you can extra correctly evaluate while you go in and ask some questions. If you see the salesman can’t level out the markings, doesn’t find out about an acid take a look at, or can’t present the primary info you’re searching for – you’ll be able to safely assume they don’t seem to be in a position to present skilled assist.  You needs to be cautious of locations like that.  Most outlets are skilled and useful, however after all, it’s a bazaar and an everchanging market so the costs will range.

X Avoid locations that may’t pay a lot consideration to you or can’t present particulars shortly.

✓ Do enterprise with shops that may shortly present details about the items, can supply the acid take a look at, and are keen to be affected person.  

Can I negotiate on worth at shops inside the bazaar?

Yes. Always negotiate with sellers. That’s what has been completed all through historical past at the Grand Bazaar and it’ll by no means change.

However, it needs to be famous that sellers could have completely different prices of doing enterprise and it could have an effect on how a lot they’ll negotiate with you. A store that has the most prime location and the highest hire in all of the bazaar could not have as a lot room as a second-level store. There isn’t any formulation for the way a lot to barter, however once more realizing the primary market worth of gold will assist immensely in this example.

Do jewelers in the Grand Bazaar take bank cards or solely money?

Both money and bank cards are accepted by nearly all of the outlets inside the Grand Bazaar. There are a couple of smaller shops that will not take bank cards, however they may often have a sign-up to tell you. Safe and safe ATMs can be found each inside and outdoors the bazaar.

If you’re utilizing a bank card, many distributors will need to cost a processing payment. The payment is often 2.5% to three%, however ought to by no means be greater than 5%.

Can I SELL my private gold inside the Grand Bazaar?

Yes, there are locations known as “sarrafiye” in Turkish (gold patrons) positioned straight inside the bazaar. 

Due to the Anatolian / Turkish tradition of giving, gifting, & saving gold it’s quite common for individuals to commerce their cash, bracelets, & jewellery at these locations. You can enterprise inside the Grand Bazaar and ‘shop’ your gold round to see who’s paying the finest costs of the day.

What we purchased

Alyne

Gold Hoop Earrings 6g 14k gold = $190
Gold Necklace 6.7g 14k gold = $230
Gold Huggie Earrings 3.5g 18k gold =$160

Kashlee

Gold Huggie Earrings 3.5g 18k gold =$160
Vintage Rolex $6000 (Ladies DateJust, early 90’s)

Now, some individuals studying this may suppose I received ripped off with the Rolex as a result of it ‘wasn’t bought at a certified Rolex supplier” however I have to remind you that is Turkey. Since then, I’ve had it verified and I’m over the moon with the buy, since it could have been significantly extra if I had bought it in the Western market.

One of the coolest experiences was attending to comply with the vendor by way of some tight alleyways, behind the scenes from the essential bazaar, and received to look at how they cleaned our gold earlier than giving it to us.

I couldn’t have made this text with out the numerous hours and steerage from Nurhan, so I’d prefer to make a particular thanks to him.

Nurhan Gümüş is an Armenian fourth-generation grasp jeweler in the Grand Bazaar. He’s the founding father of GrandBazaarJewelers.com which focuses on wholesale B2B jewellery and TurkishJewelry.com which is the premier jewellery information & tendencies weblog for Turkey.  He was born in Istanbul and his household immigrated to the United States in 1980. In the U.S. he began apprenticing at the age of 12 in his household’s jewellery manufacturing enterprise. He relocated again to Istanbul 13 years in the past on account of its worldwide aggressive benefit (and his benefit of being a local English speaker Master Armenian jeweler).

He at present helps entrepreneurs create their very own jewellery line and provides one-on-one skilled jewellery help. You can discover him on IG @grandbazaarjewelers 

We did the analysis for this text whereas being company in Istanbul with Go Türkiye. While the tourism board graciously hosted our keep, our itinerary and elective actions, comparable to gold buying, had been on our personal price range. Our concepts, opinions, and suggestions stay our personal.

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