Why Kenya has no daily gold fixing
Kenya has no daily gold rate like the tola rate of Pakistan or the sarafa board of India. Gold is not traded on a domestic exchange with a published fixing, and dealers and jewellers quote individually. The pages that claim a Kenyan price convert the world quote. A buyer should ask a jeweller to put in writing the karat tested, weight, per-gram rate, making charge, and buy-back terms.
No exchange, no fixing
A gold fixing is a price agreed by a group of dealers or an exchange at a set time each day. Pakistan has the tola rate, and India has the sarafa board. These are published prices that everyone can check. Kenya has nothing like that. Gold is not traded on a domestic exchange with a published fixing.
Dealers and jewellers in Kenya quote their own prices. They may quote a different price in the morning and the afternoon, and two shops on the same street may differ. There is no authority that collects these quotes and publishes a daily rate. The pages that claim a Kenyan price have converted the world quote, just as this site does.
What the pages that claim a Kenyan price do
A page that prints a 'gold price in Kenya today' has taken the world gold price in US dollars, multiplied it by a shilling rate, and presented the result as a local price. That is not a fixing; it is a derived price. No Kenyan body has agreed to buy or sell at that number.
The pages disagree with each other by double digits for the same week because they use different shilling rates and different times of day. None of them is wrong in their arithmetic, but none of them is a local price. This site says so first, and shows the two dollar rates side by side so the reader can see the range.
What a buyer should ask a jeweller to put in writing
Before paying for a piece, a buyer should ask the jeweller to write down five things: the karat tested, the weight, the per-gram rate, the making charge, and the buy-back terms. The karat tested is the purity the jeweller claims; the weight is the mass of the piece; the per-gram rate is the metal value used; the making charge is the labour and profit; and the buy-back terms are what the jeweller will pay if the piece is sold back.
That written quote is the only way to compare the table price with the till price. It also protects the buyer if the piece is later found to be under-karat. Without it, the buyer has no record of what was promised.
The karat stamp is not a guarantee
A karat stamp on a piece says the piece is a certain fraction of pure gold. But the stamp is not checked by any authority before the piece is sold, and it is not a government guarantee. A dishonest jeweller can stamp a piece as 22 karat when it is 18.
A buyer should ask the jeweller to test the piece in front of them, using an acid test or an electronic tester. The test should be done on a freshly filed surface, not on the surface that may have been plated. The result should be written on the receipt, along with the weight and the per-gram rate.
The making charge and the buy-back deduction
The making charge is the jeweller's labour and profit. It is added to the metal value when you buy. The buy-back deduction is the margin the jeweller takes when you sell back. These are the real gap between the derived price and the till.
A making charge can be a flat fee or a percentage of the metal value. A buy-back deduction is usually a percentage of the metal value. Both are set by the shop, and they vary from one street to the next. A buyer should ask for both in writing before paying.
The derived price is a benchmark, not a promise
The price on this page is the world gold price multiplied by a shilling rate. It is a benchmark for the metal value, not a promise that a buyer can buy at that number. A jeweller will always add a making charge, and a seller will always face a buy-back deduction.
A buyer who understands that the derived price is the metal value, and that the jeweller's charges are the cost of the piece, will not be misled by a page that prints a 'Kenyan price' as if it were a fixing. The honest answer is that Kenya has no fixing, and the derived price is the best available benchmark.
In short
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Questions about the gold price
Is there an official gold price in Kenya?
No. Kenya has no daily gold fixing from any exchange, refiner, jeweller or association. The prices on this page are derived from the world gold price multiplied by a shilling rate, and are labelled as such.
Why do different websites show different gold prices for Kenya?
They use different shilling rates and different times of day. None of them is a local fixing, because none exists. They are all derived prices, and they disagree by double digits for the same week.
What should I ask a jeweller before buying gold?
Ask for the karat tested, the weight, the per-gram rate, the making charge, and the buy-back terms, all in writing. That written quote is the only way to compare the metal value with the till price.
Is the karat stamp a guarantee?
No. The stamp is a promise by the jeweller, not a government guarantee. A buyer should ask the jeweller to test the piece in front of them, and to write the karat on the receipt.
What is the real gap between the derived price and the till?
The making charge when you buy, and the buy-back deduction when you sell. These are the jeweller's labour, profit and margin, and they are set by the shop.
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