How To Buy Gold

How To Buy Gold

Customer who are ready to buy gold you can follow our step-by-step buying process below. 

We try to make buying gold at Chards as safe and as easy as possible whether you are buying online, via the telephone or in person.  At any time should you require assistance you can contact our friendly customer service team on 01253 343081 or by emailing [email protected].

Our Step-by-Step Buying Process: 

Open an account with us today and place your first order by following the 7 steps below. 

2. Add Products to the Basket 

You can browse our extensive online catalogue of products and use the “add to basket” button to add to your order or "buy with storage" if you wish to vault with us. If you are unsure which products to choose or just want more information, please discuss your requirements with our customer service staff. They are all highly trained to offer the best product to suit your investing needs. Online checkout is restricted to £100,000 and for larger orders our team can assist you – please call 01253 343081 or email [email protected]

3. Payment Options 

We accept bank transfers (BACS), debit cards, cheques, bitcoin, ethereum and USD-C for payment. Bank transfer is our preferred payment method as any value can be accepted and settlement is quick.

As a high value dealer, we can accept any amount of cash subject to ‘know your customer’ checks.

We accept debit cards up to a limit of £10,000 and cheques can be accepted for any value, yet these may take a few days to clear before we can process the order.

Crypto payments require we take you through a specific ‘know your customer’ process and once successfully your account will be updated. During online checkout you can then use our custom checkout solution to convert crypto to gold.  

 4. Delivery Options 

We offer fully insured delivery on all purchases and packaging is discrete, unbranded and confidential. The majority of parcels are shipped special delivery by Royal Mail. 

We can arrange high value transport with either Brinks or Loomis for both domestic and international investors.

We remind customers that we offer vaulted storage in the UK and overseas if you do not want to take delivery.   

5. Fix the Price and Checkout  

Prices are fixed for 10 minutes during checkout, giving you time to choose your payment and delivery options. Once you confirm payment by pressing “complete order” (for bank transfer, cheque), or entering your card or crypto details and clicking continue, you have committed to purchase to items at the prices quoted. A member of our team will check the order and an email sent to confirm that ‘your order has been accepted’.

Following this any unpaid orders will receive payment instructions via email.  

6. Payment

As soon as payment has been made your order will be processed and shipped the next working day if we have stock available.

When customers order ‘orderable’ and ‘secondary market’ gold we will keep you up to date at regular intervals on the progress of your order. As soon as stock is booked in, we will contact you to arrange a delivery date. 

7. Delivery to You

As soon as your parcel is packed by our despatch team you will receive a notification of shipment and a tracking code. The tracking number will become available later in the day as parcels move through the transport hubs.

All the while your order remains fully insured up to the point of signing for delivery. Any failed deliveries will be returned to the sorting office and then eventually to us in the event of no collection.

All parcels are despatched in discrete, unbranded and confidential packaging.  

What Is the Premium on Intrinsic Value?

A premium is the amount over and above the value of the intrinsic gold content, expressed as a percentage, so that if gold were £1,000 per ounce, a 3.25% premium on Krugerrands would mean a price of £1,032.50. It would also be possible to state this as a premium of £32.50, because a premium can be an actual amount as opposed to expressing it as a percentage, but in our experience, expressing premium as a percentage is the more useful method.

Compare Percentage, not prices 

When you are looking at buying gold or silver, compare the percentage over the intrinsic price for each item. We call this the percentage premium, or just premium. The actual price fluctuates constantly along with the underlying gold price. So, look at the price as a percentage of, or above, the actual gold content of the coin or the bar.  

Buying Gold With Card

We accept debit cards that have Mastercard SecureCode / Verified by Visa set up. If you do not have this facility, you will be re-directed to your bank on the first payment made. This is an extra security feature for both of us which is necessary due to the nature of the business.

Orders paid for by debit cards will only be dispatched to the registered billing address of the card. The order will only be accepted if the card holder name matches the name on the order form. We may ask for additional confirmation, in the form of photographic identification, in order to prove your identity.

If you wish to pay for your order online and collect from our showroom you MUST bring your payment card and two forms of identification; a passport and a photo driving licence OR a passport or photo driving licence AND a recent utility bill with your current name and address, dated within the last three months. 

Delivery

With fully insured delivery and discrete packaging you can be rest assured on a safe and confidential delivery. We can usually ship next day special delivery all over the UK with our preferred partner Royal Mail.

We can also ship overseas with a range of couriers and when high value shipments are required, we have accounts with Loomis and Brinks.

Vaulted Storage

If you wish for your investment to be stored elsewhere, we can access vaults across the world – it is common for enquiries to come in for London, Singapore, Frankfurt, Dubai and the US.

VAT Free and Segregated Accounts

By storing in bonded overseas vaults customers can spread geographical risk and even buy silver and platinum vat free. There are storage fees to pay which we remain extremely competitive on. 

All customer coins and bars are held on an allocated and segregated basis which means a specific coin or bar is put to one side with your name on it. All items also remain your property throughout and never find their way onto our balance sheet. 

Customer property is covered on our insurance policy giving you peace of mind and taking all the hassle and any anxiety away from self-custody. 

Vault Mock-up

Independent Checks

Azets accounting firm provide independent assessment and verification of both physical stock and that our computer records reflect this physical stock in real time. The independent check is there to provide extra confidence in Chards as your vaulting provider.  

Storage at Brinks and Loomis

Customers who wish to take advantage of overseas storage can do so through our 2 vaulting partners - Loomis and Brinks. They are both very reputable security companies with exceptional vaulting facilities and experience.

We can store and transport your items all over the world using their services. Our most popular location is Zurich as we carry a lot of inventory here, however we can arrange storage in London, Frankfurt, Singapore and even Dubai. If we do not already have stock in your preferred location, we can always put together a custom shipping quote to get your items there.

Pre Funded Accounts 

We operate pre-funded accounts for all of our customers to use regardless of how much you are spending. You can pre-fund your account in GBP only, and then use the balance in your own time to buy products and services. 

All currency balances are held in a client segregated account at our primary banking provider Barclays.

You can also pre-fund your account with cryptocurrency – BTC, ETH and the most popular choice USD-C.  Each user can opt for their own sub wallet with our institutional custodian Bitpanda custody. All balances are fully insured against loss, theft or damage of private keys.

Metal Accounts 

We offer a very low premium digital bullion service for those customers who wish to gain price exposure or pre-fund larger future balances. This option is very flexible and takes any storage, insurance and delivery requirements out of the equation which is reflected in the low premium.

The premium to load either the gold or silver account is only 1% over the intrinsic value. If you choose to buy products and services from us, we will return 1% (in troy ounces) when you use the balance at checkout. If you opt to go back to GBP, USD or EUR we buy back at 100% of the intrinsic value. 

Our silver metal account is also VAT free so customers can benefit from a 20% saving at the point of purchase.