You can buy physical gold bullion in a number of ways. Gold coins and small gold bars are popular for gold investments below $2,000 or so (£1,600 or €1,800 at current exchange rates - May-23). Above this level it makes sense to cut your costs.
Start by avoiding the high fees and dealer mark-ups of the retail gold market. Also make sure you can sell your gold immediately for full value, and quickly receive payment, when you choose.
BullionVault gives you this flexibility at very low cost. It allows you to buy gold at wholesale prices, live online, any time you choose. You don't have to wait for gold coins or small bars to be manufactured and delivered. Your allocated gold is held in the form of large, wholesale-market bars, which are already safely secured inside a professional vault.
There are 7 clear advantages to buying vaulted gold in this manner:
- Opening an account is free, quick and easy. You can transfer funds immediately, ready to purchase today.
- You decide when it best suits you to buy gold for holding or trading. BullionVault is open for business 24/7/365, via the web or using the official iPhone or Android apps.
- You choose how much you want to buy – from 1 gram to tens of millions of dollars' worth at a time.
- Quality is guaranteed, both to you and to your buyer when you sell. Because your gold has never left the care of professional vaults, not since the large wholesale bar containing it was first cast and assayed, so you can be sure you'll get full resale value.
- Buying and selling are instant. There's no shipping delay, no "requoted" prices, and no waiting for a check to get paid.
- With BullionVault you can buy and sell directly with other users via our live online exchange. Or you can deal at the London Price, the world's recognised benchmark for pricing published daily on the London Bullion Market Association's website. You can also build your holdings over time using small, regular deposits if you wish.
- Choose from 5 vault locations: Zurich, London, New York, Toronto or Singapore. Your costs are the same whichever location(s) you select.
BullionVault's buying and selling fees are the lowest available, starting at just 0.5% and dropping to 0.05%.
Once bought, your gold is vaulted and insured at very low cost, because it is stored within professional accredited vaults. Custody and insurance are charged at a monthly minimum of $4 (around £3.25, €3.70 or ¥550 at current exchange rates - May-23) or 0.01%, whichever is larger.
The table below shows the total costs to buy gold on BullionVault, store it for a year, and then sell. Each illustration assumes that the price of gold remains unchanged from $1950.
Alternatively, estimate your commission and storage fees using our cost calculator.
Use our live gold price chart to check the current price in the international wholesale market (sometimes known as "spot"). Then compare BullionVault's costs to those of small coin and bar dealers to determine which route is most efficient for you.
We’ve generally seen coin and bar dealers charge buyers a 3-5% premium over live BullionVault prices. There is a similar or higher cost again when you sell gold coins. Such premiums make BullionVault far more competitive.
