Compare · Storage Where You Bought It
Us vs. Storage at the Dealer
Buy the metal and it never ships — it appears in an account and can be sold in a click. The convenience is real and the liquidity is genuinely better than ours. The question is what happens when your seller, your price-setter and your custodian are the same company.
Come and see the vault before you move anything. No account relationship is required to visit.
Side by side
| Category | Us | Storage Where You Bought It |
|---|---|---|
| Friction at purchase | You arrange delivery or we collect | None. It is already there. They win here |
| Speed of sale | Withdraw or arrange a movement first | Sell back in a click. They win here |
| Cost in year one | Priced per arrangement | Often free or heavily discounted. They win here |
| Shipping and assay on sale | May apply | None — it never left. They win here |
| Who sets the buyback price | Not us. We do not buy it | The same company holding it |
| Who is your counterparty | A vault operator only | Dealer, price-setter and custodian at once |
| Allocated and segregated by default | Both, always | Varies. Pooled is common on entry tiers |
| Can you inspect the specific bars | Yes, by appointment | Usually not |
Every row marked “win here” is a real advantage of the alternative. A table that gives the other side nothing is not a comparison, and anyone reading carefully will notice.
The fair case
What storage where you bought it genuinely does better
These programmes solve a real problem and they solve it well. Metal bought and stored in place never ships, so it is never in a parcel, never handled by strangers, and never needs re-assaying because its chain of custody was never broken. Selling is a click rather than a logistics exercise, which for anyone managing a position rather than holding a store of value is decisively better. The first year is frequently free or close to it. Minimums are low enough that someone building a holding gradually can start immediately. For an active buyer, the combination of zero friction and instant liquidity is not something an independent vault can match.
The limit
Where the gap is
The cost is concentration, and it is easy to miss because nothing about it feels like a risk on the day. The company that sold you the metal also holds it, also quotes the price it will buy it back at, and is the entity whose failure would make you a creditor. Whether you are a creditor or an owner turns entirely on whether the holding is genuinely allocated and segregated — and on entry-level tiers, pooled is common and is often the default rather than a choice you made. Read which one you have. If the agreement does not use the word "allocated" plainly, assume it is not.
Our view
The honest verdict
If you are trading rather than holding — buying and selling on price moves, sizing in and out — dealer storage is better than us at the thing you actually need, and you should use it. The calculus changes when the metal is meant to sit for years. Then the fact that one company sold it to you, holds it, sets the price it will buy it back at, and is the entity you would be a creditor of is a concentration you took on without being asked whether you wanted it.
Common questions
- Is storing metal with the dealer who sold it a bad idea?
- Not for an active buyer — the liquidity is genuinely better than ours. The question is concentration: the same company sold it, holds it, quotes the buyback, and is who you would be a creditor of.
- How do I tell if a dealer storage account is allocated?
- Read the agreement for the words “allocated” and “segregated”. Entry tiers are frequently pooled by default. If neither word appears plainly, assume it is not allocated.
- Do you buy metal as well as store it?
- No. We store it. We do not quote a buyback price, which means the company holding your metal has no position in what it is worth.
Other comparisons
A Large Depository
Delaware Depository, Brink’s Global Services and the state-chartered depositories do this at a scale we do not attempt. For a large part of the market they are the correct answer, and one requirement settles the question outright.
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A Bank Safe Deposit Box
A bank box is cheap, familiar and for a lot of holdings entirely sufficient. We rent boxes too, and we will point you at one rather than sell you something larger. But two things about bank boxes surprise almost everyone.
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A Home Safe
A good safe, properly bolted down, is a reasonable answer for a modest holding and costs nothing after you buy it. Two details decide whether it stays reasonable as the holding grows: what your policy actually covers, and what a house fire does to metal.
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What we store
Gold Bullion
Gold is the easiest metal to store and the one where the storage arrangement matters most, because a large value occupies very little space and is completely fungible once it leaves your sight.
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Bulk Silver
Silver is where storage economics become real. The same value in silver occupies roughly seventy times the volume of gold, and volume is what a vault charges for.
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Sovereign Coins
Coins introduce something bars do not: condition is part of the value, so how they are handled and what they sit in matters as much as where they sit.
Read more →
Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.