【Gold prices have risen to $4,600 per ounce, yet sellers say “it’s not profitable”? This isn’t a joke—it’s the most counterintuitive truth of 2026】
Gold prices have been flooding the news again recently.
International gold prices have broken above $4,600 per ounce. In China, the benchmark gold price is approaching 994 yuan per gram. Quotes for 18k/24k fine gold jewelry from Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang once surged to 1,336 yuan per gram.
It looks like the spring of a golden business is here?
On the contrary. Gold sellers are collectively getting through the winter.
【Private sale: lose 30% the moment you buy in】
First, do the math—you’ll understand how painful it really is.
When you pay 1,336 yuan per gram to buy a branded gold necklace, only about 958 yuan of that is the gold itself—while the remaining 378 yuan is the brand premium plus labor and store costs—which accounts for 28%.
By the time you turn around to sell back, merchants only accept the original gold price—regardless of brand or craftsmanship—and then melt it and weigh it by purity. In those August days, the buyback price was only 944 yuan per gram.
Buy at 1336, sell at 944—losing 392 yuan per gram. For a 30-gram necklace, you lose 12,000 yuan as soon as you get it in hand. This doesn’t even include the labor/processing fee.
Put it in plain words: “investing” in gold jewelry—once you pay, you already lose nearly a third.
【Selling gold: the higher the gold price is, the fewer people actually buy】
Then the gold stores must be making a fortune, right? Worse—
The higher gold prices are, the more consumers hold back. In the first half of the year, gold jewelry consumption volume fell by 33.88% year over year. An employee at a gold store in Hangzhou Bai Ma Jewellery Market complained: “Sometimes there are more salespeople standing in the store than customers.”
In a single quarter, Chow Tai Fook closed a net 145 stores in mainland China; Zhou Sheng Sheng closed a net 22 in the first half of the year. Lao Feng Xiang’s net profit margin is so thin it’s shocking—of every 100 yuan in revenue, only 3.5 yuan is left after tax.
Even scarier is “inventory inversion”: when gold prices rise, they top up at high prices. Once prices dip, the selling price of the new stock falls directly below their purchase price—sell one order and you lose one.
【Buyback traders: they take it in the morning, and lose money by the afternoon】
Shenzhen Shui Bei, the national barometer for the gold market. Now a surreal scene has appeared: more people come to sell and cash out than those who come to buy jewelry—over 60% are here to do buybacks.
But buyback traders can’t be happy about it.
Gold prices fluctuate too drastically within a day. They may buy in at 999 yuan per gram in the morning, but by the afternoon it could drop to 992—losing 7 yuan per gram. That’s why everyone plays “low inventory, fast turnover,” compressing profit to buy safety.
What’s even more troublesome is cash. When buying back one kilogram of gold, they need to have more than 900,000 yuan in cash on hand immediately. When everyone tries to cash out at once, tens of millions in cash can disappear in a day, leaving small and medium merchants’ capital chains stretched to the breaking point.
【The truth: it’s never the one who “sells gold” that makes money】
After you follow the whole chain, you’ll find a cold fact:
The upside from rising gold prices has never belonged to people standing behind the counter.
For individual sellers, the profit gets eaten by brand premiums and labor/processing fees. For gold stores, high gold prices deter customers and market volatility shatters their inventory. For buyback traders, they earn from hard work but carry the real risk.
The people who truly make money from gold price are these two types:
First, the ones who hold on to it at low prices—buying years ago at 500 or 700 yuan per gram, and now selling back at 994 to secure their gains. They’re the real winners of the “cash-out wave.”
Second, the shovel sellers—gold mines, trading platforms, and people doing hedging. Whether prices go up or down, they’re generally fine.
So stop equating “gold prices have risen” with “selling gold makes money.”
With gold, the ones who make money are always those who buy early, those who sell early can survive, and the people who stand behind the counter just endure the wait.
Buying gold is easy; selling gold is hard. Along this chain, the seats where money is made are always crowded—and there are very few.
(Note: This article is only an analysis of market phenomena and does not constitute investment advice. Gold prices are at historical highs, volatility is increasing, and you should be cautious with investing.)
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