How to buy gold in Nepal without being overcharged

Two buyers can walk into two shops on the same morning, buy the same weight of gold at the same published rate, and pay noticeably different amounts. The rate is national and public. Everything else is not, and that is where the money is.

1. Know which carat you are buying

Gold is sold in different purities, and the difference is substantial:

• 24 carat (999.9 fine) — effectively pure gold. This is the investment standard. Its value is simply weight multiplied by the rate, which makes it the easiest to price and to sell back.
• 22 carat (916 fine) — 91.6% gold, alloyed for hardness. This is the usual jewellery grade in South Asia, because pure gold is too soft to hold a setting or survive daily wear.
• Lower carats — 18 carat and below contain proportionally less gold and are priced accordingly.

The rate published daily is for 24-carat gold. A 22-carat piece contains roughly 91.6% of that value in metal, before any charges. If a quoted price does not clearly state the carat, that is the first question to ask.

2. Check the hallmark — and understand its limits

A hallmark is a stamp certifying fineness. Nepal operates a hallmarking regime through its standards authority, and reputable jewellers and bullion dealers stamp their pieces. Look for the fineness mark — 999.9, 999 or 916 — and the maker's mark.

A stamp is a claim, not a proof. It is as reliable as the house that applied it, which is why where you buy matters as much as what the metal says about itself. A dealer who weighs in front of you, invoices properly and buys back what they sell has far more to lose from a false stamp than you do.

3. Making charges — the largest variable

The published rate is the price of metal by weight. Turning metal into a bar, a coin or an ornament costs labour, and that is charged separately as a making charge — jyala in common usage.

For bullion bars the charge is modest and broadly predictable, and it falls per gram as the bar gets larger: a single large bar costs less to make than several small ones of the same total weight. For jewellery it is far higher and far more variable, because the work is skilled and piece-specific. An intricate design can carry a making charge that is a significant fraction of the metal value.

Compare dealers on the total — rate plus making charge — never on the headline rate alone. A shop advertising a keen rate and a heavy making charge can easily be more expensive than one doing the opposite.

4. Wastage, and what it should and should not be

Traditional jewellery pricing often includes a wastage charge — jarti — reflecting metal genuinely lost in cutting, filing and polishing. The concept is legitimate for handmade ornaments. It has also, historically, been applied generously.

Ask for wastage to be stated as a specific percentage and shown on the invoice. For a machine-made bar or coin there is no meaningful wastage to charge, and you should not be paying it.

5. The buy-back spread

Dealers buy below the rate they sell at, and the gap between those two numbers is their margin. It is normal and it is not hidden — both figures are published at the top of this page.

What matters is knowing the spread before you buy, because it is the real cost of changing your mind. Also ask explicitly what happens to the making charge on a sale back. It is almost never recoverable: you are selling metal, not craftsmanship. This is the single biggest reason bullion bars suit savings better than ornaments do — you are not paying for work you cannot sell back.

Diamond Palace Pvt. Ltd. charges no making charge on gold bars, publishes both the sale and purchase rate every day, weighs on calibrated scales in front of the customer, and buys back the metal it has sold against the original invoice.

What your invoice should show

• The exact weight, stated to the gram — not "about 10 g"
• The carat and fineness — 999.9, 999 or 916
• The rate applied, and the date it applies to
• The making charge, shown as its own line
• Wastage, if any, as a stated percentage
• Any applicable taxes, itemised
• The dealer's registration details

Keep it. The invoice is what makes a piece liquid: a documented bar from a known dealer sells back at the published rate without argument, while an undocumented one invites a discount, a delay, or a refusal.

A worked example

Suppose the 10-gram sale rate for 24-carat gold is Rs 254,200. A 10-gram bar therefore contains Rs 254,200 of metal. Where a dealer adds a making charge, that is added on top, plus any applicable tax. At Diamond Palace Pvt. Ltd. there is no making charge on gold bars, so the same bar costs the Rs 254,200 metal value plus any applicable tax and nothing more. If you sold it back the same day, you would receive the purchase rate on the metal.

Run that arithmetic before buying, not afterwards. It takes a minute, and it is the difference between knowing what you paid for and guessing. It also shows why a bar with no making charge is the most efficient way to hold gold: every rupee you pay is metal you can sell back.

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