The short answer
A gold benchmark is not an offer to sell you a finished bar. Compare the same product, quantity, currency, timestamp and side of the transaction before interpreting the gap.
Start with the contract, not the number
The LBMA Gold Price is a benchmark for unallocated gold delivered in London. Its auctions begin at 10:30 and 15:00 London time. That is a specific market and price-setting process, not a universal price tag for every gold product. A continuously updating dealer quote and an auction benchmark may both be legitimate while representing different moments and obligations.[1]
Before comparing two screens, write down what each number buys: an interest in unallocated metal, a fabricated bar, a coin, or a piece of jewelry. Then record the unit, purity, currency and whether the quote is a buying or selling price. A comparison missing those fields can be numerically precise and economically meaningless.
Separate the three layers
The benchmark is a reference. The retail quote is the amount a seller asks for a particular product on stated terms. The buyback quote is the amount a buyer offers to pay you. We use these as separate analytical categories; none is automatically a promise that another party will transact at the same number.
A useful comparison worksheet records the product identifier, fine-metal content, product price, delivery, insurance, payment fees and tax treatment separately. Include a second column for a written buyback offer on the identical item. Do not assume a premium paid on purchase will be recovered on resale.
A worked comparison, not a market quote
Hypothetical example: assume a reference metal value of 1,000 currency units, a product price of 1,070 and delivery of 20. The product-only premium is (1,070 − 1,000) ÷ 1,000 = 7%. The all-in difference is (1,090 − 1,000) ÷ 1,000 = 9%. Both are correct, but they answer different questions.
If a hypothetical buyback offer is 980, the immediate cash gap against the 1,090 outlay is 110. That is about 10.1% of the outlay, not a forecast of the gold price move needed to break even: the later buyback terms, fees and product premium may change. No figure in this example is a current quote.
What a high premium cannot prove
A large gap alone cannot tell you whether a seller is expensive, a product is collectible, the benchmark is stale, or delivery terms differ. Compare like-for-like written quotes collected close together. If the items differ, label the exercise as a product comparison rather than a dealer-price ranking.
There is no evidence-backed universal “normal premium” in this guide. We have not conducted mystery shopping or verified dealer inventories. The next useful observation is a contemporaneous pair of executable offers, not another unsourced percentage range.
Before acting on the comparison
Keep the quote expiry, settlement terms and product condition alongside the arithmetic. Check whether a tax or fee has already been included before adding it again. A screenshot without its timestamp is weak evidence.
LBMA describes licensing requirements for obtaining, using or redistributing its benchmark data. Linking to its methodology does not grant permission to reproduce a live feed. This article explains the distinction and does not redistribute benchmark prices.[1]
Sources & scope
Links support definitions and methodology. Worked examples are hypothetical, not quotes; the review date is not the observation date of a market value.