(Kitco News) – Costco Wholesale Corporation introduced a new limit to how much gold its members can buy on Friday, May 16.
Customers attempting to buy three or more of the company’s one-ounce gold bars will now receive the message “Limit of 1 transaction per membership, with a maximum of 2 units per 24 hours.”
Earlier this year, Costco members could purchase five gold bars per 24 hours, and when the wholesale retailer began selling bullion bars in 2023, members could make two purchases.
Costco has sold more than $100 million worth of gold bars since sales began two years ago. During that time, the spot gold price has skyrocketed, nearly doubling from around $1,810 per ounce in February of 2023 to a new all-time high just shy of $3,500 last month.
After the runaway success of their gold bars, Costco expanded its precious metals offering by adding bars of solid platinum last fall.
The one-ounce bars are available for purchase by Costco members through the company’s website. The bars are listed as 999.5 pure platinum and are made by Swiss metals producer MKS PAMP.
According to the web listing at the time, members can purchase one bullion bar per transaction and a maximum of five bars per member.
The store’s bullion products continue to drive its online sales, with the company stating in September that its gold sales increased by “double digits” over the last three months.
During the Sept. 26 conference call, Costco CFO Gary Millerchip said that gold was a "meaningful tailwind" to e-commerce sales in the quarter. The store’s online gold bullion products often sell out rapidly.
The success of the precious metal is even attracting the attention of some analysts. Greg Melich, Senior Managing Director at Evercore ISI, asked a tongue-in-cheek question: “You called out the gold bullion again. I'm just curious, are there any plans to maybe bring Kirkland Signature into the gold bullion market?”
“No plans at this time,” responded Ron Vachris, President and CEO of Costco. Kirkland Signature is Costco's large private-label business.
