Help: FAQs, overviews and step by step guides

BullionVault Tariff

Standard Charges

You pay three (occasionally four) charges in the normal course of using BullionVault.

We use US Dollars to illustrate many of our charges. You may be charged in US Dollars, Euros, British Pounds or Japanese Yen, depending on the currencies in your account. (We will often use your smallest available currency holding preferentially.) When we settle a fee cross-currency, no commission is charged and we will use the mid-point spot price with no buy-sell spread.

  1. Dealing commission each time you buy or sell through the order board.

    0.5% maximum falling to a minimum of 0.05% depending on the amount of gold, silver, platinum or palladium bought or sold in the year. Discounts start at $75,000.

    Please note: on silver, platinum and palladium purchases and sales this charge is not commission, but is contracted as a 'mark-up' or a 'mark-down' as appropriate.

  2. Storage & insurance for as long as you hold.

    0.12% per year on gold, billed monthly and subject to monthly minimum of $4. 0.48% per year on silver, billed monthly and subject to monthly minimum of $8. 0.48% per year on platinum, billed monthly and subject to monthly minimum of $8. 0.48% per year on palladium, billed monthly and subject to monthly minimum of $8.

    Please note: you can use the cost calculator to estimate your commission and storage fees.

  3. Burglar Alarm

    Although it is not mandatory we strongly recommend you use the Burglar Alarm which alerts you via SMS to account withdrawals or changes to your registered mobile/cell phone number. It is enabled automatically when you first enter your mobile/cell phone number in your Account Settings.

    Within your Account Settings you have control regarding whether or not you will receive additional SMS messages for logging in, or placing orders.

    There is a nominal charge of $0.20 for the additional SMS messages.

  4. Funds remittance fee

    Most UK withdrawals are free.

    Where we pay our bank to remit funds to you (e.g. US and international transfers) there is a fee. Common withdrawal fees are:

    • CHAPS: £20
    • SEPA: €5
    • US-domestic ACH: $10
    • International SWIFT: typically not more than $30

    For SWIFT payments, intermediary/correspondent banks may apply an additional fee which is not within BullionVault's control.

A small currency holding fee may also apply where our bank charges negative interest rates. This does not currently apply.

More detail on standard charges

  1. Standard (Order Board) commission rates
  2. Storage and insurance (custody) charges

Charges for optional services

  1. Daily Price Orders rates
  2. Spot Market rates
  3. Armoured transportation
  4. Reserving specific bars
  5. Physical bullion withdrawal fees
  6. Transferring bullion to an alternate vault
  7. Deceased account administration
  8. Changing your linked bank account
  9. Monthly currency holding fee
  10. Time and materials billing

Penalty Charges

  1. Delayed validation
  2. Password reset
  3. Promotion abuse
  4. Repeat small deposit surcharge
  5. Return of unlinked deposits
  6. Card deposits
  7. Contacting your bankers
  8. Machinery abuse

More detail on standard charges

Standard (Order Board) commission rates

Rates apply in each 12 month period starting from the day you create your account.

  Buying gold Buying silver Buying platinum Buying palladium
Total gold bought in the year so far Commission rate Total silver bought in the year so far Mark-up Total platinum bought in the year so far Mark-up Total palladium bought in the year so far Mark-up
Up to $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50%
The next $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10%
then   0.05%   0.05%   0.05%   0.05%
  Selling gold Selling silver Selling platinum Selling palladium
Total gold sold in the year so far Commission rate Total silver sold in the year so far Mark-down Total platinum sold in the year so far Mark-down Total palladium sold in the year so far Mark-down
Up to $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50% $75,000 0.50%
The next $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10% $750,000 0.10%
then   0.05%   0.05%   0.05%   0.05%

Please note: These rates are applied to each deal matching your orders, and they are charged in whole pennies or cents.

Storage and insurance (custody) charges

Gold custody and insurance charge: 0.12% per annum with a monthly minimum of $4. Silver custody and insurance charge: 0.48% per annum with a monthly minimum of $8. Platinum custody and insurance charge: 0.48% per annum with a monthly minimum of $8. Palladium custody and insurance charge: 0.48% per annum with a monthly minimum of $8.

Example custody charges

Dollar value of your gold Annual gold custody charge Effective annual gold % rate Dollar value of your silver Annual silver custody charge Effective annual silver % rate Dollar value of your platinum Annual platinum custody charge Effective annual platinum % rate Dollar value of your palladium Annual palladium custody charge Effective annual palladium % rate
$5,000 $48 0.96% $5,000 $96 1.92% $5,000 $96 1.92% $5,000 $96 1.92%
$10,000 $48 0.48% $10,000 $96 0.96% $10,000 $96 0.96% $10,000 $96 0.96%
$20,000 $48 0.24% $20,000 $96 0.48% $20,000 $96 0.48% $20,000 $96 0.48%
$40,000 $48 0.12% $40,000 $192 0.48% $40,000 $192 0.48% $40,000 $192 0.48%
$100,000 $120 0.12% $100,000 $480 0.48% $100,000 $480 0.48% $100,000 $480 0.48%
$250,000 $300 0.12% $250,000 $1,200 0.48% $250,000 $1,200 0.48% $250,000 $1,200 0.48%
$500,000 $600 0.12% $500,000 $2,400 0.48% $500,000 $2,400 0.48% $500,000 $2,400 0.48%
$1,000,000 $1,200 0.12% $1,000,000 $4,800 0.48% $1,000,000 $4,800 0.48% $1,000,000 $4,800 0.48%

Charges for optional services

Daily Price Orders rates

Flat rate: 0.5%. There is an additional 0.3% currency-switching fee for Daily Price orders set in British Pounds, in Euros or in Japanese Yen.

Spot Market rates

Rates apply in each 12 month period starting from the day you create your account. Where a spot market counterparty quotes a price per troy ounce this will be converted to a price per kilogram for execution and settlement, rounding up to the nearest whole currency per kilogram unit for purchases, and rounding down to the nearest whole currency per kilogram unit for sales.

  Buying gold Buying silver Buying platinum Buying palladium
Total 400oz gold bars bought in the year so far Commission rate Total 1000oz silver bars bought in the year so far Mark-up Total 150oz platinum bars bought in the year so far Mark-up Total 150oz palladium bars bought in the year so far Mark-up
Initially 1 to 4 0.10% 32 to 80 0.10% 4 to 8 0.20% 4 to 8 0.20%
then 5 to 9 0.05% 81 to 160 0.05% 9 to 17 0.10% 9 to 17 0.10%
then 10+ 0.02% 161+ 0.02% 18+ 0.04% 18+ 0.04%
  Selling gold Selling silver Selling platinum Selling palladium
Total 400oz gold bars sold in the year so far Commission rate Total 1000oz silver bars sold in the year so far Mark-down Total 150oz platinum bars sold in the year so far Mark-down Total 150oz palladium bars sold in the year so far Mark-down
Initially 1 to 4 0.10% 32 to 80 0.10% 4 to 8 0.20% 4 to 8 0.20%
then 5 to 9 0.05% 81 to 160 0.05% 9 to 17 0.10% 9 to 17 0.10%
then 10+ 0.02% 161+ 0.02% 18+ 0.04% 18+ 0.04%

Armoured transportation charges will apply

Armoured transportation

Metal Location Release ($/bar) Transport
Number of bars being transported Fee ($)
Gold Zurich 1200 1 to 4 1000
5 to 9 1500
10+ 2000
London 300 1 to 4 250
5 to 9 500
10+ 750
Singapore Quote on request
Toronto
New York
Silver Zurich 80 32 to 80 1000
81 to 160 1500
161+ 2000
London 60 32 to 80 250
81 to 160 500
161+ 750
Singapore Quote on request
Toronto
Platinum London 300 4 to 8 250
9 to 17 500
18+ 750
Palladium London 300 4 to 8 250
9 to 17 500
18+ 750

Reserving specific bars

  • Reservation fee for large gold bars (~400oz): 0.1%.
  • Reservation fee for small gold bars, Singapore only (~1kg): 0.2%.
  • Reservation fee for large silver bars (~1000oz): 0.1%.
  • Reservation fee for platinum bars: 0.1%.
  • Reservation fee for palladium bars: 0.1%.
  • Release fee for all bars: nil

Storage rate surcharge:

By value, per year Normal unreserved storage Surcharge Total – reserved bar storage
Gold 0.12% 0.06% 0.18%
Silver 0.48% 0.24% 0.72%
Platinum 0.48% 0.24% 0.72%
Palladium 0.48% 0.24% 0.72%

Physical bullion withdrawal fee

Physical gold withdrawal

Whenever payment to your linked bank account is not reasonable: 1% (charged in grams of gold).

Where you elect whole standard 400 oz bars: 2.5% (charged in grams of gold).

Where you elect whole standard 100 gram bars: A flat fee is charged when you place a withdrawal request. This will typically be around 1% of the value of the gold (plus 2-5% for insurance and transport). See the current flat fee price.

Where non-standard sizes apply: 7.5% (charged in grams of gold). The minimum withdrawal is 50 grams.

Physical silver withdrawal (VAT will apply)

Whenever payment to your linked bank account is not reasonable: 1% (charged in grams of silver).

Where you elect a whole standard 32,000 oz pallet: 2.5% (charged in grams of silver).

Where you elect whole standard 1000 oz bars: 10% (charged in grams of silver).

Physical platinum withdrawal (VAT will apply)

Whenever payment to your linked bank account is not reasonable: 1% (charged in grams of platinum).

Where you elect whole-kilogram amounts: 10% (charged in grams of platinum).

Physical palladium withdrawal (VAT will apply)

Whenever payment to your linked bank account is not reasonable: 1% (charged in grams of palladium).

Where you elect whole-kilogram amounts: 10% (charged in grams of palladium).

For gold, silver, platinum and palladium, all applicable taxes plus reasonable transportation and insurance fees for your delivery will be charged as appropriate.

Transferring bullion to an alternate vault

Where international law permits it, you have a right of transfer of bullion within BullionVault from one vault location to another, but only in the form of entire and appropriate bars.

Bullion transfers of this kind are performed through accredited bullion couriers. Vault and courier charges are variable, are payable by you, and can be quoted at the time. You may also need to pay additional charges to cover either the selling of your bullion and its replacement with a locally acceptable form, or its refining and manufacture into a locally acceptable form, if your bullion does not meet the alternate location's standard form.

In addition to the direct bullion-shipping costs borne by you, BullionVault makes a 0.5% arrangement fee for this service subject to a minimum of $500.

Deceased account administration

Not to exceed the higher of $500 or 1% of the value of the account without approval from your administrators/executors.

Changing your linked bank account

BullionVault reserves the right to charge you an administration cost of up to $50 for changing your linked bank account.

Monthly currency holding fee

Where you hold a balance of a certain currency, you may be charged a monthly holding fee. Calculated daily and billed monthly, this is to cover the additional banking fees incurred by BullionVault to maintain bank accounts in those currencies.

At present there is no currency holding fee applied to US Dollars, Euros, British Pounds or Japanese Yen. If that should change, BullionVault will alert all users by email at least 5 working days in advance, giving them time to spend or withdraw their currency balances before the fee comes into effect.

Time and materials billing

$100 per hour or part thereof.

BullionVault reserves the right to charge for exceptional work which falls outside of the normal scope of our business.

Examples: Administering accounts through Divorces, Litigation, Dissolving a Trust, Corporate Account Liquidation.

BullionVault will not bill T&M in excess of $100 without prior written agreement.

Penalty Charges

Delayed validation

Validation is easy. You just need to log in and upload a few identity documents. Most of the time that just means an image of a photographic ID and an image of a bank document (usually the top of your bank statement) showing relevant names, addresses, routing and account number data. Occasionally we will need further forms of identification (e.g. if the linked bank account is jointly owned, owned by a company or trust or if the BullionVault account is being operated by a third party). See more information about how to validate.

BullionVault is both required by law and motivated by security to ensure that all funded accounts are properly validated.

We ask you to validate your account within two weeks of your first deposit, and if you do not we will give you frequent reminders and ample time in which to complete this process. However, if you fail to validate after 8 weeks and repeated reminders, we will begin charging you a late validation penalty fee of $30 per month until your account is validated.

We do not want to charge you this fee - we want you to validate your account. As soon as you validate, we will re-credit your account with your most recent late validation penalty, if any.

Password reset

If you are unable to reset your password online and require assistance over the telephone the following charge will apply.

Flat fee: $20

Promotion abuse

In our standard promotion we will offer new customers free grams of silver to experiment with dealing on BullionVault’s Order Board. These are an educational promotion which nevertheless have real value. Attempting to abuse this gift – for example by opening multiple accounts and selling directly to your main account – will cause us to debit your main account the full cost to us of your abuse and an additional Time and Materials billing appropriate to the time spent in reversing the abuse.

Repeated small deposit surcharge

We welcome small deposits – which customers usually make to perform a bona-fide test of our system, and we welcome regular deposits (for example by standing order) from customers who wish to implement a savings plan.

However we do not welcome repeated small deposits which cost us disproportionately in banking fees. If we receive more than 4 deposits in a calendar year which are each below $100 we reserve the right to redeem the cost to us in banking and internal administration. We will not make this charge before advising you by email that we will do so and giving you the opportunity to stop the repeated small deposits.

We also reserve the right to bounce, at your expense, ongoing repeated small deposits.

Return of deposits from a bank account which has not been validated as yours

In validating you prove that the source of your money is your bank account, and then your bank account is linked to BullionVault. If we later receive money from another account – even if it is yours – we may be obliged to reverse the payment, returning it to its source. We charge a flat fee, but your bank or an intermediary may impose additional charges outside of our control.

Flat fee: $30

Card deposits

Where you use a card that is not permitted by BullionVault (as stated on the deposit page) or use a card that is not associated with your linked BullionVault account, BullionVault will reject the payment and charge an administration fee: $30.

Contacting your bankers

If we have to locate and contact your bank manager to satisfy ourselves regarding matters on your account we will charge $30. You can avoid this fee by arranging for your banker to contact us directly to provide the assurance we seek, should we request you to do so.

Machinery abuse

BullionVault reserves the right to charge for inappropriate use of its servers by automated web trading devices which operate without appropriate regard for the BullionVault resources their devices require. Ordinarily these charges will not be applied without fair warning.