One Philadelphia resident recently learned that, while buying gold at Costco is as simple as putting it into a shopping cart, the process of selling it is much more complicated and takes more time and money than stocks and bonds, writes Katherine Hamilton for The Wall Street Journal.

Adam Xi had to call five different dealers to finally get a price he could agree on for the gold bar he purchased at Costco in October.

At the time, he paid $2,000 for the bar, and one dealer offered him $200 under that price. Accepting such a loss would interfere with the 33-year-old’s plan to rack up credit-card points by buying the gold and then quickly reselling it.

For a few weeks, he kept searching for a dealer who would give him the right offer, and he finally found one near his Philadelphia home who would pay him $1,960, or $20 under market price.

This taught Xi a lesson that many Costco shoppers who buy gold to protect their wealth against inflation and other disasters learn that when trying to cash out their investment: gold is not necessarily a profitable asset.

Read more about the challenges individuals looking to resell Costco gold may face at The Wall Street Journal.

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