1. Purity​

The most crucial factor while buying gold coins and gold bars online or at the store is to verify the purity and quality. The most common way to measure that is in Karats or Fineness. 24 Karat (KT) is an unadulterated form of gold that contains pure gold without being alloyed with other metals. Every karat gold is equivalent to 4.2% pure gold.

2. NABL Certification & Hallmarking by BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) 

Being a Constituent Board of Quality Council of India, a certification from NABL - National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories essentially ensures thorough assessment and verification of the technical competence of testing through various accreditations with third party expert bodies.

BIS is also a government regulatory body that has been set up to ensure and verify the purity level of the gold coin/ornament/or bar with a process called Hallmarking. This process involves stamping or Laser retching on the gold products with details like the BIS logo, Purity in Karat and Fineness, Logo of Assaying and Hallmarking centre, the Jewellers' identification mark & the year of Hallmarking. These details provide verification and guarantee of the product, making it easier to trade as a commodity or currency in future.

3. Packaging​

Tamper-proof packaging is crucial to ensure that the Gold Coin, Gold Bar or item of purchase remains unadulterated to warrant the necessary credibility for the purchaser.

4. Man-made or Machine-made ornaments

It is advisable to identify the making process of the Gold coins, as the machine-made coins and ornaments are lesser in value as compared to the traditional handmade products due to the skilled craftsmanship and man-hours required to create them.

​5. Making Charges

The manufacturing process, man-hours required and the craftsmanship involved are some of the factors that determine the making charges of a gold ornament or form. Therefore, the making charges of Gold in the form of coins or bars is about 3-4% depending on customization, and that of ornaments and other jewellery is 8-10%. This makes Gold Coins and bars a better addition to your investment portfolio in general as it can be exchanged for jewellery at any future time.

6. Denominations​

Gold coins are available to customers in a range of denominations varying from 0.5 grams to 50 grams depending on budget, purpose, trend and customizations.

7. Selling Ease

Gold coins bought from a bank are not bought back by the same bank, in accordance to a derivative by RBI. Similarly, when a gold coin is purchased from a certain jeweller, and the same coin is further sold to another jeweller, the making charges, administrative fee & the profit margin of the original seller will not be kept in mind while evaluating the coin.

8. The Right Seller And Documents

A quintessential step when buying gold coins or gold bars online or offline is to choose the seller wisely. Whether it is a jeweller, manufacturer, or even a certified vendor outlet (financial or non-financial institutions) attested by the Stockholding Corporation of India; Verifying the brand value & credibility is imperative to avoid any frauds in terms of purity and adulteration. The right documents like bills and certification should be attained at the time of purchase as proof of the value of purchase and evidence of legal ownership.