How does e-gold work?

How does e-gold work? Do they send you money in dollars?

E-gold is basically a currency conversion which is backed by gold. You give them cash (by check or wire), they convert your cash to a corresponding weight of gold based on the current value in your currency, then when you pay for something from a foreign national, the corresponding weight in gold is added to their account. When they (or you) cash out, they send you cash in your local currency (or assumedly the desired currency), most likely by wire transfer to your bank (but also as a check if you request it). It is all backed by gold, but you don't ever have to (or get to) touch the gold. Using e-gold (or e-silver or others that they offer) is one way to bet on the price of the underlying metal increasing in value. Two cautions: 1) check their fee schedule to be sure that the fees do not cut into any value increase - you may be better off buying a mutual fund or index fund which invests in gold or tracks the price of gold (some gold based mutual funds also invest in gold miners, gold retailers, etc.), and 2) the price of gold has been increasing significantly for an extended period and there is no guarantee that it will continue - no one is predicting it will drop significantly any time soon, but it does fluctuate. But then again, so do currencies (most of which are no longer gold based, by the way) and we trade them all the time, both on a personal level when you buy something from a foreign country, and on a macroeconomic level, such as when you buy cheap goods at Wal-Mart that were made in China. Currency inequalities are what drives the price differences, even after you add the high cost of transportation. But I digress....

There is a good explanation at www.e-gold.com on how it works.

Their instructions are quite comprehensive. Why don't you ask directly?