Costco Tightens Limits on Gold Bar Sales After Prices More Than Double in Two Years

Costco’s one-ounce gold bars, introduced to members barely two years ago, now cost more than twice their original price, leading the warehouse chain to curb how many units shoppers can buy in a single day. The retailer’s website lists the PAMP Suisse Lady Fortuna bar at $4,119.99 as of December 2025, a 108% jump from the $1,979.99 price posted at launch in late 2023. A second option, the Rand Refinery bar, debuted at $1,949.99 and has followed a similar upward trajectory.

The rapid appreciation mirrors a broader rally in the precious-metals market. Spot gold has advanced about 65% during 2025, lifted by persistent concerns over trade frictions, widening fiscal deficits and heightened geopolitical tension. Gold touched an intraday record of $4,371.78 per ounce in October, according to futures data tracked by CME Group.

Costco began offering the bars online to paying members in the fourth quarter of 2023. Despite the high upfront cost, each product tended to sell out within hours, underscoring the chain’s reputation for value-driven bulk purchases. Continued demand has led the company to impose a new restriction: only one transaction per membership is permitted, and no more than four bars can be purchased within any 24-hour period. The policy applies across all U.S. warehouses as well as the retailer’s e-commerce platform.

Analysts attribute the sustained interest to gold’s longstanding role as a store of value when traditional assets appear vulnerable. Unlike fiat currencies, the yellow metal cannot be created at the discretion of a central bank, making it attractive to investors seeking insulation from inflation or currency depreciation. “People don’t have, typically, an adequate amount of gold in their portfolio,” Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio told CNBC earlier this year. He described the metal as “a very effective diversifier” during periods of market stress.

Institutional commentary has echoed that view. The World Gold Council reported that global gold-backed exchange-traded funds saw net inflows in seven of the first ten months of 2025, reversing the outflows recorded in 2024. Central banks have also maintained a steady pace of bullion purchases, adding to demand pressures that filter through to retail channels such as Costco.

Costco’s decision to enter the bullion market followed a pattern of expanding into non-traditional product categories, from travel services to automobiles. Executives have not disclosed sales volumes, but comment threads within the retailer’s mobile app routinely note that gold inventory disappears minutes after new allotments are posted. Payment is restricted to selected credit cards and debit cards; cash and checks are not accepted for the bars, reflecting both security considerations and the high dollar value per unit.

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Market strategists remain divided on whether the metal can maintain its momentum into 2026. Supporters point to ongoing uncertainty in equity valuations, sluggish productivity growth and regional conflicts that could trigger additional flight-to-safety flows. Skeptics emphasize the potential for higher real interest rates to weigh on non-yielding assets. For now, retail buyers appear unfazed: anecdotal reports show shoppers timing their online sessions around midnight in hopes of securing a bar before the next sellout.

While Costco’s $1.50 hot dog-and-soda combo has famously resisted inflation since the mid-1980s, the experience with gold bars highlights the other side of the pricing spectrum. Members who bought the PAMP Suisse product at rollout have seen the value of that purchase climb more than 100% in under 24 months—a rate that eclipses most standard consumer goods and many mainstream investments over the same interval. Whether future performance will be as robust remains uncertain, but the retailer’s tightened purchase cap indicates management expects interest to stay elevated for the foreseeable future.

Crédito da imagem: Juan Llauro/Getty Images