Costco who are expanding their consumer electronics and appliance ranging in Australia, is set to hold membership prices as they are, after reporting that income for the quarter rose 16% to US$2.16 billion, higher than the 13% growth analysts expected.

One interesting fact that came out of their overnight briefing is that consumers are flocking to buy one-ounce bars of gold from the Companies online site.

Costco said it has been selling out of its one-ounce gold bars online as soon as the gold is listed.

“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling one-ounce gold bars,” Costco’s Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a call with investors following Costco’s fiscal fourth-quarter results overnight.

“But when we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours and we limit two per member,” Galanti added.

On Costco’s website, there are two options for one-ounce bars of 24-karat gold currently for sale under the digital marketplace’s “Sports Memorabilia & Collectibles” section.

One variety of the precious metal is for sale from South Africa’s Rand Refinery at US$1,949.99, while another option from Swiss supplier PAMP Suisse for US$1,979.99 — both are slightly above the price of gold futures.

Costco reported that comparable sales rose 3.8% from a year earlier in its quarter ended Sept. 3 while its full year sales rose 5.2% on that basis.

This year Costco share value has risen 21% so far 13% above the five-year average.

Even though shopping frequency at the big store retailer rose about 5% last quarter, the size of the basket declined 4.5%, the company said.