BullionVault review 2026: fees, storage and safety

BullionVault is a UK-based online marketplace where you buy, own and sell physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium stored in professional vaults in five cities. Our verdict: it is a strong way to own allocated gold without keeping it at home, with low dealing costs, but the $4 monthly storage minimum makes it expensive for small amounts, and it is not regulated as a financial service.

We checked BullionVault’s tariff, help pages and terms on 23 October 2026. This BullionVault review is written for investors in the EU, especially in the Netherlands and Germany, who want physical gold as part of their savings. Like any gold investment, its value can fall as well as rise.

BullionVault review: the short verdict

BullionVault is a good fit if you want to own real gold bullion in a professional vault, buy from 1 gram and sell online whenever you choose, at dealing costs of 0.5% or less. The largest cost concern is storage: 0.12% a year sounds low, but the $4 monthly minimum means anyone holding less than about $40,000 of gold pays more than the headline rate.

• Main strengths: allocated ownership under English property law, a choice of vault location, a daily audit and trading from 1 gram.
• Main catch: the monthly minimum storage fee, €5 per SEPA withdrawal, and no financial regulator or compensation scheme.
• Look elsewhere if: you want to invest €50 or €100 a month in gold, or you want gold in the same account as your ETFs.

What is BullionVault?

BullionVault is the trading name of Galmarley Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 4943684). Galmarley was founded in October 2003, BullionVault launched in April 2005, and it has been a member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) since 1 September 2008.

BullionVault offers four precious metals: gold, silver, platinum and palladium. It reports over 130,000 active customers from more than 175 countries, holding about $9 billion of bullion between them. Those are company figures.

Who owns BullionVault?

In 2010 the World Gold Council and Augmentum Capital each bought an 11.4% stake in BullionVault; the World Gold Council’s stake later moved to Gold Bullion Investment Trust. We could not confirm the current shareholder structure.

How does BullionVault operate?

BullionVault works like a market: you buy gold from, and sell gold to, other BullionVault users at live prices on the order board, or you use a Daily Price order at a flat rate.

There are three ways to trade:

• Order board: place buy or sell orders at live prices, like on a stock exchange. You can trade as little as 1 gram. In euros this is the cheaper way to trade bullion, because Daily Price orders add a switching fee.
• Daily Price orders: buy or sell at one daily price, for a flat 0.5% commission, plus a 0.3% switching fee if you pay in euros or pounds.
• Auto-Invest: BullionVault buys gold at the daily price each time money arrives, for example from a monthly standing order at your bank. Selling is blocked while Auto-Invest is switched on.

What sits in the vault are large bars of the kind used in the professional market (in Zurich, London Good Delivery bars), rather than small gold bars or gold coins.

How you own the gold: allocated bullion explained

At BullionVault, your gold is allocated: it is your property, held for you by a custodian, not a claim on BullionVault. Legally, the metal is held as a bailment under English property law, outside BullionVault’s balance sheet. BullionVault says a liquidator would return all customer bullion in full if the company failed, and it commits not to lend or pledge customer metal.

That matters because there are two ways to hold gold in a vault:

	Allocated gold	Unallocated gold
What you own	Physical metal, held for you	A claim on the provider
If the provider fails	The metal is yours	You are a creditor

There is one nuance. On BullionVault you own a quantity of metal in a chosen vault, not a specific numbered bar. If you want named bars, you can reserve them for a one-off fee of 0.1%, plus a higher custody rate.

The daily audit

Every day BullionVault publishes a register of all bullion owners, by nickname, and reconciles it with the bar lists of the vault operators. Armstrong Watson checks this daily audit once a year. The register is there so that customers can see the physical gold in the vaults matches what they own.

Vaults and storage locations

BullionVault stores gold in five storage locations: Zurich, London, New York, Toronto and Singapore. You choose the vault location when you buy, and each vault is run by an independent vault operator, not by BullionVault.

In Zurich, gold is held by Malca-Amit and silver by Loomis, as London Good Delivery bars: about 400 oz for gold and 1,000 oz for silver. London Good Delivery is the LBMA’s standard for the large bars traded in the London bullion market. We could not confirm which companies operate the vaults in London, New York, Toronto and Singapore.

For European investors, Zurich and London are the obvious choices: both are close by, though both are outside the EU. Storage charges include insurance, so you don’t need a separate policy or a burglar alarm at home.

BullionVault charges: fees explained with examples

BullionVault charges a commission when you buy or sell, a storage fee including insurance while you hold, and fees for withdrawing money or metal. Here are the BullionVault charges from the official tariff:

Charge	BullionVault, October 2026
Commission on the order board	0.50% up to $75,000 traded in the past 12 months; 0.10% from $75,000 to $825,000; 0.05% above
Daily Price orders	Flat 0.5%, plus 0.3% switching fee in EUR or GBP
Gold storage, including insurance	0.12% a year, minimum $4 a month, billed monthly
Silver, platinum or palladium storage	0.48% a year, minimum $8 a month
Reserving specific bars	One-off 0.1%, plus a higher custody rate
Euro withdrawal by SEPA	€5
Currency conversion	No commission on cross-currency settlement at mid-point; other currencies than USD, EUR, GBP and JPY converted at a margin of up to 0.5%
Physical withdrawal	From 50 g; 2.5% for whole 400 oz bars, 7.5% for other amounts, plus transport and insurance
Account or inactivity fee	None listed in the tariff

For silver, platinum and palladium, the tariff also mentions a mark-up, so check the final price in the order preview.

Worked example: €1,000 of gold for a year

You buy €1,000 of gold on the order board, hold it for a year and sell at the same price.

Cost	Amount
Buy commission (0.5%)	€5
Storage: 0.12% would be €1.20, but the $4 monthly minimum applies	$48
Sell commission (0.5%)	€5
SEPA withdrawal of the proceeds	€5
Total	€15 plus $48

The storage minimum is the biggest cost here, more than twice the other costs combined. In the first year, the total is roughly 5% to 6% of your €1,000, depending on the dollar rate.

Worked example: €10,000 of gold for a year

Cost	Amount
Buy commission (0.5%)	€50
Storage: 0.12% would be €12, still below the $48 minimum	$48
Sell commission (0.5%)	€50
SEPA withdrawal of the proceeds	€5
Total	€105 plus $48

That is roughly 1.4% to 1.5% of €10,000 for the year. The buy and sell commission is a one-off cost; if you keep the gold for five years, only the storage repeats.

When the 0.12% rate starts to count

The $4 monthly minimum adds up to $48 a year, which equals 0.12% of $40,000. So you only pay the headline storage rate once you hold more than about $40,000 of gold. At $100,000, storage costs $120 a year. Below $40,000, you pay $48 a year whatever you hold.

Daily Price orders and Auto-Invest

Daily Price orders cost a flat 0.5%, and in euros the 0.3% switching fee comes on top, so 0.8% in total. Auto-Invest buys at the daily price, so the Daily Price rates apply: on a €100 monthly deposit in euros, 0.5% plus the 0.3% switching fee is about €0.80. Over a year that is €9.60 on €1,200, plus the $48 storage minimum: a high share for a small monthly gold investing plan.

Additional BullionVault charges

• Withdrawing money: SEPA €5, CHAPS £20, US ACH $10, SWIFT international transfers typically up to $30. Most UK withdrawals are free.
• Currency: BullionVault accepts US dollars, euros, pounds and Japanese yen. If you send another currency, BullionVault’s bank converts it at a margin of up to 0.5%.
• Physical delivery: you can take gold out from 50 g in whole bars or accepted coins. The fee is 2.5% for whole 400 oz bars and 7.5% for other amounts, plus transport and insurance. On €10,000 of gold taken out in smaller bars, that is €750 before transport.

Is BullionVault safe? Regulation and protection

BullionVault is not regulated by the FCA, because trading physical bullion falls outside financial services regulation in the UK. Your protection comes from owning the metal outright, not from a regulator or a compensation scheme.

• No financial regulator: BullionVault says it follows UK money laundering regulations and the LBMA’s Precious Metals Code, but its pages don’t name an anti money laundering supervisor.
• No investor compensation scheme: schemes such as the Dutch or German investor compensation schemes don’t apply. BullionVault runs its own compensation fund instead: 10% of each commission, up to 10 cents per order, goes into a fund capped at $4 million.
• Your bullion: your property under English law, outside the company’s balance sheet, checked in the daily audit, insured through the storage fee and, according to BullionVault, never lent or pledged.
• Your cash: held in pooled, segregated trust accounts at Lloyds, Barclays or Wells Fargo. BullionVault says this cash may qualify for FSCS cover (£120,000) or FDIC cover ($250,000), but that is not certain.

None of this protects you against the gold price: investment losses remain possible, and gold pays no interest.

We score BullionVault 6 out of 10 for protection. Without a regulator or a compensation scheme, it cannot score as high as a licensed broker, but allocated ownership, the daily audit and a clean record in our sources put it well above an unlicensed platform; see how we score.

Is BullionVault legit?

Yes, as far as the public record shows: BullionVault is a registered UK company that has operated since 2005, has been an LBMA member since 2008 and publishes a daily audit of customer bullion. We found no regulatory actions or incidents in our sources. Note that LBMA membership is a market membership, not a financial licence.

Opening a BullionVault account

You open a BullionVault account online, verify your identity and link one bank account in your name. BullionVault doesn’t state a minimum deposit, and trades start at 1 gram.

Support and app

Support is available by email, phone (+44 20 8600 0130) and web chat, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 20:30 UK time. The BullionVault website is available in 10 languages, including German, and there is a mobile app for trading on the go.

BullionVault for European investors

BullionVault doesn’t publish a country list that we could find. It says it serves customers in over 175 countries, accepts euros by SEPA and runs a German-language site, so EU residents can open an account, but check during sign-up that your country is accepted. Because BullionVault accepts euros directly, you can fund your account by SEPA without a currency conversion by your bank.

BullionVault vs coins at home vs a gold ETC

BullionVault sits between keeping coins at home and buying a gold ETC through a broker: you own physical gold like the coin buyer, but trade it online like the ETC buyer. Here is how the three routes compare.

	Coins or bars at home	BullionVault	Gold ETC (for example Xetra-Gold)
What you own	The metal, in your hands	Allocated bullion in a professional vault	A debt security tracking the gold price
Main risk besides the price	Theft; home insurance may not cover it fully	No regulator or compensation scheme	Issuer risk, even when physically backed
Storage	Free at home, or a paid safe deposit box with extra insurance	0.12% a year, minimum $4 a month	Depends on the broker; DEGIRO charges 0.025% a month plus VAT to hold Xetra-Gold
Buying and selling	Through a bullion dealer, at the dealer’s prices	0.5% commission or less, online	Broker commission and spread
VAT	None on investment gold	None on gold	Not a metal purchase: you buy a security

Gold coins and bars at home

Keeping gold at home gives you direct control, but home storage carries theft risk and may not be fully insured, while a bank safe deposit box costs fees and often needs extra insurance. Investment gold is VAT-free across the EU: bars of at least 99.5% purity, and coins of at least 90% purity minted after 1800 that are or were legal tender and sell for at most 80% above their gold value. To sell gold coins, you need a dealer, who sets the price.

Gold ETCs

A gold ETC trades on a stock exchange like an ETF, so you can hold it at your normal broker. Legally it is a debt security: you have a claim on the issuer, even when the ETC is physically backed, and the prospectus says whether physical delivery is possible. As an example of holding costs, DEGIRO charges 0.025% a month plus VAT to hold Xetra-Gold, which is €30 a year plus VAT on €10,000. Check the product’s own costs in its key information document.

Gold tokens at Bitpanda

Bitpanda sells gold as 1-gram tokens backed by metal stored by Brink’s in Switzerland, at 0.5% to buy and 1% to sell, with no storage fee. For €1,000 held a year, that is €15 in total, against €15 plus $48 at BullionVault, but you hold tokens rather than allocated bullion under English law.

For more routes into gold, see our gold overview.

Tax and VAT for Dutch, German and Belgian investors

Gold bought on BullionVault carries no VAT on purchase, sale or withdrawal, and BullionVault doesn’t withhold income tax or provide country tax reports. Silver, platinum and palladium attract VAT only when you withdraw them from the vault.

• Netherlands: your gold counts towards your box 3 assets on 1 January. For 2026, box 3 taxes a fixed notional return of 6.00% on investments and other assets at 36%, after a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person. BullionVault provides monthly account statements but no Dutch tax report.
• Germany: gains on physical gold are currently tax-free after a holding period of more than 12 months under the private sale rules. Ask a tax adviser how this applies to vaulted gold. BullionVault doesn’t withhold German tax or provide a German tax report.
• Belgium: BullionVault doesn’t mention a Belgian tax service, so check your own obligations.

Who BullionVault suits, and who should look elsewhere

BullionVault suits investors who want physical gold they own, in a vault they choose, with the option to sell online on the order board. It suits larger amounts best.

BullionVault is a good fit if you:

• want to own allocated gold bullion without storing gold at home;
• hold or plan to hold several thousand euros or more, ideally towards $40,000 and above;
• want to choose a vault such as Zurich or London;
• want low dealing costs on the order board and the option of physical delivery.

Look elsewhere if you:

• want to invest €50 or €100 a month, where the $4 monthly minimum is a large share;
• want a licensed provider with an investor compensation scheme;
• want gold next to your stocks and ETFs, with one tax overview;
• want tax withheld or a ready-made tax report for your country.

Alternatives to BullionVault

Pick the gold route that fits the amount you invest:

• Small amounts and one app for everything: Bitpanda offers 1-gram gold tokens with no storage fee, alongside crypto and ETFs.
• Gold inside your brokerage account: a gold ETC at a broker such as DEGIRO, which charges 0.025% a month plus VAT to hold Xetra-Gold.
• Coins or small gold bars at home: VAT-free investment gold from bullion dealers, if you have a secure place to store gold and accept the dealer’s spread.

The bottom line

BullionVault gives European investors a clear way to own physical gold: allocated bullion under English law, in a vault you choose, with a daily audit and dealing costs of 0.5% or less. The catch is the $4 monthly storage minimum, which makes small holdings expensive, plus the lack of a financial regulator and compensation scheme. Turn here if you hold larger amounts and want gold you truly own; for small monthly amounts, a gold ETC or gold tokens cost less.