Help: FAQs, overviews and step by step guides

Silver, Platinum and Palladium

You can trade and own physical silver, platinum and palladium at BullionVault as well as gold. There is no need to open a separate BullionVault account. (SIPP pension savers please read here.)

The silver, platinum and palladium you buy is already allocated and stored securely in professional vaults. On purchase it belongs to you outright, and no company's financial failure could deprive you of it. The cost of these metals at BullionVault is very much lower than other routes to physical trading and ownership.

Investment-grade silver

Silver in the professional bullion market means large bars meeting the Good Delivery specifications of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Typically weighing around 1,000 troy oz, Good Delivery silver bars are assayed to be 99.9% pure silver or better. The standard wholesale dealing amount for physical delivery is one tonne. BullionVault enables you to buy, own and sell as little as one gram of this professional-grade silver at a time.

In line with standard bullion-market practice, BullionVault accounting units of silver are expressed in gross weight, not fine. They are denominated in kilograms and grams.

The silver you buy is stored securely in market-approved vaults, just as with any gold, platinum or palladium you buy through BullionVault.

Investment-grade platinum

Platinum in the professional bullion market means large bars meeting the Good Delivery specifications of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Typically weighing between 1 and 6 kg, Good Delivery platinum bars are assayed to be 99.95% pure platinum or better. BullionVault enables you to buy, own and sell as little as one gram of this professional-grade platinum at a time.

In line with standard bullion-market practice, BullionVault accounting units of platinum are expressed in gross weight, not fine. They are denominated in kilograms and grams.

The platinum you buy is stored securely in market-approved vaults, just as with any gold, silver or palladium you buy through BullionVault.

Investment-grade palladium

Palladium in the professional bullion market means large bars meeting the Good Delivery specifications of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Typically weighing between 1 and 6 kg, Good Delivery palladium bars are assayed to be 99.95% pure palladium or better. BullionVault enables you to buy, own and sell as little as one gram of this professional-grade palladium at a time.

In line with standard bullion-market practice, BullionVault accounting units of palladium are expressed in gross weight, not fine. They are denominated in kilograms and grams.

The palladium you buy is stored securely in market-approved vaults, just as with any gold, silver or platinum you buy through BullionVault.

VAT sales tax and silver, platinum and palladium withdrawal

There is no Value Added sales tax (VAT) to pay unless you withdraw your silver, platinum or palladium from the vault. Silver withdrawal is available in whole 1,000-oz bars only. Platinum withdrawal is available in whole kilograms only. VAT is currently charged at 20% by HM Revenue & Customs.

Silver, platinum and palladium dealing and charges

You can buy and sell for US Dollars, Euros and British Pounds, setting and accepting prices in free competition with other users via the live online Order Board.

The market is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no credit or leverage. You can only buy bullion that's already safe inside the vault using money that's already cleared into the segregated client bank account. Settlement is instantaneous.

Dealing commissions for silver, platinum and palladium are charged at the same low rates as gold, cutting the cost of trading dramatically. Monthly custody charges for silver are a little higher than for gold, because silver is much larger than gold for the same weight and value. With insurance included, silver storage fees still undercut exchange-traded silver trusts on holdings above $19,200. They are one-fifth the cost of most comparable allocated silver programs, and half the cost of the next-best service.

Monthly custody charges for platinum and palladium are in line with BullionVault's low fees for silver. With insurance included, that means you can store physical platinum or palladium at a fraction of most other comparable offers, matching the management fees of an ETF trust fund but with the legal security of outright metal ownership.

You can review BullionVault's full tariff here.

The Daily Audit

Each and every working day BullionVault publishes on the internet the complete register of all its bullion owners, with each owner listed under a public nickname known only to themselves.

This register reconciles exactly to the official bar lists published with it. The bar lists are produced by the vault operators, independently of BullionVault. No other custody business in the world subjects its records to this continual, daily, public scrutiny.

Main market deals

Larger customers wanting to deal one tonne or more of silver, or 18.66kg or more of platinum or palladium have the right to deal directly on the professional bullion market. BullionVault will act as your agent, and you will pay BullionVault's normal commission rates for spot market trades, and shipment and bar handling costs according to our published tariff.

Please telephone during London hours for details.

Reserved silver, platinum or palladium bars

A list of bars available for you to reserve will appear once you hold enough silver, platinum or palladium in a single vault to make up one or more whole standard bullion bars. You can then select bars up to your balance, and choose to have them registered against your name. The bullion then becomes "reserved" against your name, and is your exclusive property.

Please see our tariff for reserved bar fees.

SIPP pension accounts

silver, platinum and palladium are not permitted investments for UK self-invested pensions (SIPPs). BullionVault users holding investment gold through a SIPP must use a separate account to buy and own silver, platinum and palladium bullion.