Buying Gold in Dubai - travel experience

Planning to head out to Dubai in a weeks time and have heard a number of references about buying gold in Dubai. So here is what I have found out from my research till now. I will keep updating the article as I learn more and finally what I find on the ground during my trip to Dubai. Is gold cheaper in Dubai: Yes it is cheaper by close to about 5-10% from most parts of the world (expect the gold mines). and that is because there is not VAT on gold in Dubai which makes it cheaper. But this is the absolute price of gold i.e. only dependant on weight and carats of gold. So buying gold bars definitely cheaper. However, if you have been to Mustafa in Singapore, not sure you will find it too attractive. Anyhow, that's a separate topic. Quality of gold: Typically, its said the quality of gold is very good in Dubai for the same 22k or 18k which you get elsewhere. (yet to figure out why?) What about buying gold jewellery in Dubai: When buying jewellery, along with the absolute price of gold, there is also the prices of wastage and making charges included. This is where the jeweller makes money. And if you are not going to a big store such as Joyalukkas, usually it is negotiable. Quality of jewellery: Dubai has a developed gold jewellery market and as such the craftsmen ship is one of the finest in the world. The designs are among the best you can find. Where to buy gold in Dubai: Best places for buying gold are the Gold Souk and mall of emirates. Exact shop names I have not been able to find in my research. So probably, I will share the names once I am there. How to buy: Cash is the best way to bargain and buy gold. Cards are accepted everywhere but usually all the shops will charge an extra 2%-5% of transaction value if paying through cards. (details on cost of using credit cards abroad is shared in a different blog post.) Bring it back to the home country: usually any such purchase is liable for custom duty if above a certain value. This is what I have been able to dig out till now. Will share further updates on this post the trip. Update from Dubai: In Dubai, the first sojourn with buying gold happened at the Gold souk area in Dubai. That is in the older part of Dubai. Shops with huge neon signs and windows filled with yellow metal. First, went gold center and checked out branded players such as Joyallukas and Damas. Lots of Indian from Kerala working there. In fact, the biggest shops were owned by them. The prices in the gold center are much higher and hardly any negotiations were taking place. After coming out of gold center, there are lots of shops in the back lane which leading up to a wooden gate with more shops inside there. Inside the wooden gate was the official gold souk. Anyhow, checked a couple of shops there and one with the name Meena bhawan looked promising and over crowded. The jewellery designs were really good and fancy. When it came to price, the price of gold was definitely cheaper. It was about 150 INR cheaper per grams as compared to India. But about 20 INR expensive per gram as compared to the Mustafa store in Singapore. So the deal sounded good. However, what killed the deal was the making charges, which were usually above 25% of the value of the jewellery. This was a known fact that it could be negotiated down but starting at that price itself was too high to start bringing it down. Hence, skipped this shop as well. Decided to come back the next day with more preparation and check it out later.