Costco Now Selling Platinum Bars

After having found considerable success selling gold bars, Costco is now looking to capitalise on the sale of another precious metal – platinum.

The company said this week that it had begun the sale of 1-ounce Swiss-made platinum bars for $1,089.99 (A$1,587.93) on its website, alongside its gold bars and silver coins.

Gold bars began to become available on Costco’s website in August last year.

In April, financial services company Wells Fargo estimated that Costco could be selling as much as A$153 million-A$307 million in gold each month by way of its bullion bars.

“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling 1-ounce gold bars,” said Richard Galanti, then-chief financial officer of Costco, on the company’s earnings call in September 2023. “When we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours, and we limit two per member.”

The value of gold has risen more than 40 per cent in the past year and over 70 per cent in the last five years.

The value of platinum meanwhile has increased more than 15 per cent over the past 12 months, closing at $1,019.60 (A$1485.39) an ounce Wednesday.

On Costco’s website, there is a limit of one transaction per membership with a maximum of 5 units for the platinum bars.

In Australia, Costco has 15 stores across the country and recorded sales of $4.4 billion for 2023 – a 20 per cent increase over the previous year.