Customer Comments for BullionVault.com

Before you read these comments I want to re-affirm that every one of them is genuine. Where quotes come from a website I have identified the writer, but where they are from customers they were sent to me personally, and I have used initials in order to preserve client anonymity. I have retained the email history - in case I should ever have to answer for them! Paul Tustain (Director)

"... one has emerged to clearly stand out as the best overall online product: BullionVault ... fees are wafer thin - the maximum sales charge is only .8% - eight-tenths of one percent - with significant discounts beginning at only $30,000 invested. To highlight the contrast: the lowest fees of BV's closest competitor are greater than the highest rate charged by Bullion Vault . Haven't heard much about it yet? You will ... look beyond [deleted by editor] and its pricey .40% annual expense ratio. Bullion Vault's annual fee for storage and insurance, by comparison, is only .12%, less than one-third ... traders, investors and competitors alike will find BullionVault.com a very tough act to follow."

Chip Hanlon - 321gold article - Buying bullion keeps getting easier

"It [BullionVault.com] allows investors to buy gold at the lowest-possible markup and store it at the lowest-possible price."

Bill Bonner - The Daily Reckoning

"If you're going to own gold, the nature of the risk you are hedging is such that owning stocks in mining companies and ETFs don't cut it, you need to own the physical stuff. And not only that, but you don't want it in vaults here, you want it in a politically stable country that's friendly, but not too friendly, if you know what I mean. Zurich is good, and that's what these guys do."

Eric Janszen - President - www.itulip.com

"I've been following the progress of bullionvault.com for some time and have tested it myself and believe its an excellent system and a method of buying gold and company for which I would have no hesitation in recommending to the over 40,000 gold investors a month which visit our gold price websites."

Joel Bruce - CEO goldprice.org

"I have yet to find a more convenient way to own Investment Grade Gold Bullion ... Excellent customer service, total security and peace of mind."

Garry Knott - www.sovereignlife.com

"I work for Virtual Metals Research and Consulting in London. We are doing some work on the various costs and benefits of different types of gold investment ... your product appears to be one of the most cost competitive. Your website is super clear on the costs of investing, the examples are particularly transparent and I think it is a model that other investment companies should follow!"

Matthew Turner - Commodity Analyst www.virtualmetals.co.uk

"Ideas like this don't come along very often. This is a high-quality website. "

Doug Richard - The Financial Times, 25 August 2007

"I was also amazed that I could buy gold more cheaply through your service than I could here in the States. That's a great service in and of itself. Thanks for everything. "

"I just wanted to tell you how much I like your site ... As someone who is not particularly financially-minded, I found Paul Tustain's presentation on the homepage very easy to understand with the various comparisons to the pile of notes. It's breathtaking!"

"I'm very impressed with the service so far. Everything very professional and secure. Love the fact you can vault your gold where you choose. Everyone I've spoken to at BullionVault has been very professional, helpful and friendly."

AR Jnr

"I just funded and verified my account and I must congratulate you with the speed, usability and service. Such high standards of customer service are very rare these days"

"I'm very impressed both by the online system / process itself, and by the customer service on your online chat help facility. I'm sure this will be very successful"

"Absolutely great, and very much appreciate the time you took to clarify a few matters on the phone a few weeks ago."

"I'm very impressed with your site and with the service you provide. Congratulations on a great idea and a job well done!"

"I have done a lot of research regarding the purchase and safe storage of gold bullion. Without question, in my opinion, your service is by far the best... I only wish I had learned what I now know and understand earlier. Thank you for your excellent service."

"I have been impressed by BullionVault's commitment to customer relations. A foolish error on my part triggered a call from the company. I was very appreciative of the manner in which they took the time and trouble to devise a way of resolving the problem, even at some cost to BullionVault. A pleasant surprise and a vindication of the good reports I had heard of them."

RJA

"a convenient and cost effective solution for gold ownership. Your operators on the telephone are very helpful and seem to have all the time in the world to set my mind at rest and give me the information that I need before undertaking a new investment such as this. Thanks for your help so far"

" Thank you for your free Gold. Experimental sell was done with 1 gram gift. I find it exciting as BullionVault incredibly allows even small savers/investors to safely buy, own, store and sell bullion gold in any small quantity in international gold markets (beyond frontiers)."

KBS

"I think you have a wonderful service with an excellent web design which is clear and easily navigable. I was attracted by the vaulting in Switzerland which maybe a more emotional choice but as the UK gains more and more regulation and restriction, I felt this was a real bonus... Great business and glad to be aboard."

"Service excellent. Reasonable fees, and tight spreads. Overall very good."

"It was really easy ... Your web site is really good in all aspects, very hard to fault"

"I can certainly recognise the excellent website quality and brilliant concept when I see it. It is a case of, if you hadn't designed and built it already then it was just waiting to be invented."

"I very much appreciate the service that BullionVault provides."

"Trading on the BullionVault site was a piece of cake.

I admire your concept. It's really GREAT not having to pay the spread.

I've got the impression you're service is very sincere, honest, transparent and giving every one the opportunity to get the best price."

AVH

"BullionVault is a fantastic site, very easy to use and exactly fulfils my requirements. I particularly like the e-mail notifications when I log on... I have found it extremely easy to use and am delighted with the great customer service. I cannot recommend BullionVault highly enough to everyone I meet!

Keep up the good work!"

"I'd like to say that your web site is without a doubt, one of the most functional, well-organized, and well-designed that I've ever worked with."

"Love the service and the site. Actually, your whole business model is a good one and like many excellent ideas is simple and just leaves me wondering why it hasn't been done before."

"you are providing an excellent service. I especially like being able to choose a storage facility in Switzerland. The order board is simple and easy to use especially with the "suggest" feature [accessed via the Wizard - Ed]. I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship. "

"I think that you have developed a state of the art Web based bullion trading platform! Your trading commissions are the lowest that I have seen on the Web."

BKP

"I think you have the best online service bar none. It seems to me the customer is guaranteed to obtain the closest to the spot price of gold via your service"

"Everything has been of excellent quality: service, information, explanatory steps (Help file) etc... Thanks a lot to you and your team."

EFR

"Just a quick message to say I absolutely love BullionVault.com. Your website provides one smart, efficient service... I can't see how it could be improved on!"

"the most exciting development in the gold market I've ever witnessed. BullionVault enables you to trade the purest gold at the tiniest spreads - with no delivery charges, minimal insurance fees, and storage costs to make your local bank blush."

Adrian Ash - City Editor - www.DailyReckoning.co.uk [Editor's note: A year after writing this Adrian Ash joined the staff of BullionVault as Head of Research. I guess he meant it!]

"If Bill Bonner et al. recommend you, then that's good enough for me... I am currently looking into funding my account and will be trading shortly."

"I am new to gold ownership and had been looking to add some to my investment portfolio for some time ... I came across your web-site and it was exactly what I was looking for - an easy method of buying, selling or just holding gold without any hassle, and at very reasonable commissions. The order board is very simple to use, even for a novice like myself."

"We have been customers of Bullion Vault for nearly eighteen months. We thought that we would write and tell you how happy we are that we chose Bullion Vault for our gold investment. We are happy because having ownership of physical gold in the London Vault, is better than having AAA rated bonds. We could have saved a miserly 0.12% per year by buying unallocated gold (we now call that 'sub prime' gold!!) with a bullion dealer, but they may have lent our gold to a hedge fund, who sold it to buy BBB mortgage backed securities and may now in 2007 not have enough money to buy [it] back. [Then] we would be up the creek without a paddle. Thank you Bullion Vault."

"Your company is just what I was looking for, great site with excellent information and a very intuitive navigation system. "

JDC

"An investment website for people to buy and sell gold bullion, which they own outright and is securely stored in professional vaults by Brinks [now Via Mat - Ed]. The website scores highly for being easy to read and well-designed. It is clearly laid out for even an inexperienced user and the home page has links to detailed but simple instructions and FAQs. Click through to read explanations of meanings of terms, about gold bullion bars, security, insurance, storage, risks etc."

www.thegoodwebguide.com

"I've been looking for an easy, inexpensive way to own bullion. This seems to fill the niche perfectly. I think it's great. I set my price and wait for the market to get there. This is really a great service you're providing."

"I was looking through your site (BullionVault) and am very impressed. If only all e-commerce sites were as clearly explained."

"The service you offer seems excellent and furthermore, highly principled and ethical, not always seen in todays business climate"

"I must congratulate you on your web presentation and the simple and honest way you explain the principles and details of the market. "

TBC

"a great new business which I suspect will be of interest to many Fullermoney subscribers"

David Fuller - fullermoney.com

"A convenient, economical and safe way to buy and store gold bullion : Those who are interested in taking outright ownership of physical gold whilst avoiding the problems of having to store the gold themselves could consider using http://www.bullionvault.com/. When customers use the bullionvault.com service to purchase gold the gold never leaves the security of a Brinks [now Via Mat - Ed] vault in the UK, Switzerland or the US; only the ownership of the gold changes. The charges for using the service are low, as are the buy-sell spreads. "

speculative-investor.com

"At the moment I have just experimented with a small amount of money to see how the system works. I have found it very easy to use . I think the site is the best and cheapest way to buy gold, so good I have become a referrer for your site. "

"I wanted to say thank you for such an incredible service. I have been looking closely at how to invest in gold safely, securely and flexibly. Having the ability to tap into the bullion market without fiddling with coins and with easy access to the best prices without travelling to dealers is fantastic. Keep up the good work."

"Your service is clearly the best option, both technically and financially, for owning gold bullion for the retail customer, bar none. I also appreciated the online service chat ... Congratulations on your well deserved success and wish you much more."

"We chose to buy our allocated gold from the BullionVault for two reasons, one is they only deal in allocated gold and secondly we got one percent more gold because of lower commission charges. What impressed me about BullionVault was the fact that now anyone can afford to buy allocated gold whereas previously you had to buy either a 100 or 400oz bars which go for circa 25k and 100k respectively. Now you can buy from one gram upwards circa £8.70. I think that this will have the same effect on gold ownership that Henry Ford had on car ownership. The trading platform is the [edited - meaning "very good"] and will put ordinary folks on a level playing field in terms of speed and information with the professionals. "

D & M S

"As investors re-discover gold, we're frequently asked about the best way to buy physical gold bullion. To us, the answer is clear: BullionVault. Why do we think so highly of BullionVault? It offers extremely low transaction charges, unheard of storage fees for allocated metal, and unsurpassed security (the principals at Delta Global have personally visited its New York storage facility)"

CH - www.deltaga.com

"I'd like to say how impressed I am with this approach to buying, selling, and storing gold, and with the quality of the web site. I've been looking for a convenient way to buy, sell, and store gold, and this is by far the best approach I've found after quite a bit of research."

"I've just registered, and I'm very impressed. It's also intriguing that your market could be considered to offer a sort of proxy for the currency markets."

"I think BullionVault is a gorgeouse project because it provides, at a fair price, the right service in the right moment: these are dangerous days. Perhaps Italians live even more risky ones, as The Economist had written more than once: this why I think your services'd be even more useful for us."

Andrea Barbarossa - www.itgold.it

"I am a novice in the world of gold bullion but have learnt enormously from Galmarley and BullionVault.com. I trade shares online and I found the use of your website to be very straightforward and efficient and I am very satisfied with your product and service in my limited time with you. I have bought bullion in Zurich during the last week."

"I like the idea of holding assets in multiple locations. I like that the middleman is cut out. I like that I can control the buys and sells and not wait on a dealer to liquidate. "

"Many thanks for your speedy service and excellent support. I'm very glad that I've found your service and you provide allocated gold easily and efficiently without all the headaches of physical storage for privately held gold. I've got peace of mind knowing of a quiet little nest egg safe from the financial storms about to brew. Again many thanks for you help and support. "

"I think you're providing one of the most professional services I have ever known. I recommended it to my brother and he already bought some gold. It is very useful to choose a Brinks [now Via Mat - Ed] vault location. Switzerland is probably the safest but because I live in England I chose the London vault. I like the order board as well. I have no complaints whatsoever. Keep up the good work."

FUM

"The 'order board', although somewhat intimidating at first, is quite easy to use once one gets a feel for it. The option of multiple storage locations is also a plus. I find that your spreads/fees are certainly competitive with other gold dealers. I would not hesitate to recommend your service to others."

"Just wanted to say that I very much appreciate the service and facilities you provide, and for giving people like myself the opportunity to buy, own and securely store gold through online transactions. I have set up an account only recently, and my activities have been limited to buying gold - for longer term (years) investment. So far I have not noticed any aspect where I could point out room for improvement. Thanks again"

"As a customer of bullionvault.com I am very impressed with the service and the opportunity to the small investor who wishes to purchase gold without paying premium prices for coins"

"Just wanted to say I am really excited about my new Bullionvault account. I have been buying retail gold for some time now and always knew I was losing out (although I do like the collectability of smaller pieces). I nearly got into buying [deleted by editor] and unallocated gold which attract various risk and higher broker charges. Thank God I found your site. It's so easy to use, but brilliant. Account setup is so quick, and the online live support is excellent. Thanks for bringing this to us. I am telling all my friends and colleagues."

"BV seems an excellent service to me. Very easy to use. I like the idea of being able to store my gold in a variety of places - I now have physical ownership, gold in Zurich."

"Frankly: your service is awesome! . I am amazed - and in AWE - that no one else has ever come up with something this simple to use. But why stop at Gold?!"

[Editor's note. We don't do silver mainly because in the UK there is 17.5% VAT on silver sales, but also because it fills up the vaults. It uses 100 times the vault space per unit value, and this is evident in the vaulting charges]

"I think you offer a really good service, which has the potential to open up gold investment to a completely new market. "

"Your site is very well done - very easy and well presented (I am a computer professional). Your business model also seems to be well thought out. Definitely hits all the items in my check list."

"I would only change one thing: Have a setting so that all prices on the order board can be displayed in troy ounces. This is very frustrating to me. But I like everything else including being able to buy in Switzerland. I don't want anything confiscated if things get really bad in the US. "

[Editor's note : This is far and away our customers' most frequent criticism. Firstly - 'Yes!' We now realize how popular Troy Ounces are. Our main reasons for accounting in kg are (i) Switzerland is much more kg oriented than USA (ii) that no-one we asked had a clue how much a troy ounce was, and (iii) there was the small issue of the European weights and measures directive (Kg or be fined!). All our record keeping is in Kilograms. What we can do is change what you see, and probably by the time you read this we will have issued a modification which gives you troy ounce figures when you leave your mouse over a price on the order board.]

"I would like to say that I am very impressed with both the service and the way it is implemented on the web site. The web site is clearly presented, robust and easy to use. It has obviously been thought out very carefully. "

"This is truly a wonderful platform for the modest punter to hold Gold ... The ease of dealing is what makes this for me ... Thanks again for a great experience."

"It's an absolutely incredibly good service/website, from everything to presentation, ease of use and security its very clear and a pleasure to use. "

"I am very happy that I finally found my way to your site. It's exactly what I was hoping a long time to find. Your service looks to me almost perfect. I am very pleased with every aspect of it."

"I think this is a great service that offers lots of convenience and flexibility at relatively low cost. Best features (in order): choice of vaults, lower costs, immediate execution, and trading in gram increments."

"While you seem to have a fairly good grip on global finance, far more impressive is your ability to use apostrophes appropriately. That alone is sufficient reason to entrust my savings to BullionVault."

[Editor's note. Sadly this has the same effect as my English teacher used to, and leaves me just as terrified of making mistakes in future.]

"I would like to let you know I am very pleased with the service. I am a real novice at this and have found the system very user friendly. Thank you very much"

"The service has been excellent so far. I appreciate the quality help documentation and FAQs. If I can think of suggestions for improvement, I'll notify you."

SCC

"if you're looking for a serious place to purchase and store real gold - either in New York, London or Zurich - then look no further than BullionVault.

Their online trading platform is without equal and you can buy or sell gold in real time. There's lots of online tools and tutorials, and you even get a free gram of gold for opening a new account.

If you want to secure some of your liquid wealth in the world's oldest money (gold), then I personally recommend BullionVault."

David MacGregor www.sovereignlife.com