As far back as Ancient Rome, prospectors would sit aside streams swilling water in pans with the hope of glimpsing the yellow metal. Even today, you can still get your hands on gold in this way, but buying online through a broker is your best bet for a secure, cheap service — with no luck involved!

Before you buy, here are a few points to consider:

• Gold is not like other investments, but is more of an insurance premium against economic unrest and financial collapse.

• Unlike stocks, bonds, and other financial products, gold predates the existing financial system, and doesn’t rely on it for value. That’s why many investors prefer to buy physical gold—which hurts if you drop it on your foot—rather than the ‘paper gold’ of ETFs, and CFDs that entail additional counterparty risk.
  
• As gold is an insurance, rather than an investment, it is more important than ever that you have solid infrastructure for buying and selling. When demand shoots up and physical gold hard to find in times of crisis, you need to be sure that your broker will still deliver an excellent buying experience.

With that said, here are a few qualities to look for in a gold broker:

• Trust and Transparency
• Solid Gold Quality 
• High Security
• Good Liquidity
• Low Fees

Trust and Transparency

The gold market is not exactly known for transparency. Most bullion is bought and sold behind closed doors, and every now and then the market is rocked by mysterious massive trades. But as technologies like blockchain are enabling more transparency, gold custodians are under pressure to verify the existence of holdings and offer direct proof of ownership.

Bar9 uses the pioneering ‘Glass Books‘ transparency protocol to verify your precious metal holdings, while preserving your anonymity.

As if that wasn’t enough, precious metal stock is confirmed every month by our vaulting manager pro aurum Switzerland, and each year the full stock is audited and confirmed by independent auditing company BDO Switzerland. 

Gold Quality

You might have heard of hard-to-detect fake gold bars making their way into the market. These are often simply blocks of cheaper metal plated with gold.

Real investment-quality gold bars are ~99% pure, with only 1% of another metal —  usually silver, copper, or an alloy.

Bar9 only trades bars from manufacturers that are accredited by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). This ensures all gold meets the highest standards of physical appearance,  purity and quality.

Security

As a hedge against financial turmoil, or even the emergence of a post-apocalyptic Mad Max world, secure storage for your gold is of paramount importance.

Bullion bought with Bar9 is stored in high-security facility “Embraport” 8424, Embrach, Switzerland. Or if you prefer to take delivery, you can store the gold in your own vault or safe deposit box.

Some traders like to hedge their bets by keeping most of their gold locked in a Swiss vault, and a few coins or bars in a safe at home. This guards against the possibility of loss from burglary, but also means you have funds available without having to wait until the rest of the gold in your account can be delivered.

But even if your gold is kept in a Swiss vault, Bar9 doesn’t use the assets for lending or speculating. Gold purchased stored with Bar9 remains under your ownership, and is always 100% stored in the Embraport vault. You own the actual allocated gold, not shares or IOU notes. So if Bar9 went bankrupt, your gold would remain yours.

Insurance

In the unlikely event of loss or theft, bullion purchased through Bar9 is protected by Helvetia Insurance, established in 1858 and headquartered in St Gallen, Switzerland. 

Liquidity

Any asset that can quickly be converted into cash can be considered liquid. Gold is normally a very liquid asset, but In times of crisis this liquidity can dry up. If you need to be able to buy or sell quickly, Bar9 lets you access your precious metals around the clock, 365 days a year. Customer service is available by email, chat and telephone during German working hours.

If you need a specific cash amount—say €850.70 in cash for a mortgage payment—you can sell that specific amount of gold and receive the exact amount of cash.

Low Fees

As a virtual dealer, Bar9 has fewer overheads and can offer more competitive fees than brick-and-mortar gold shops. We pass these savings to you in reduced fees. And unlike our competitors, we offer a simple and easily understood fee structure.

Instead of being forced to wade through a complex list of fees and charges for management, custody, transactions, shipping and more, Bar9 only charges a simple storage fee.

• Zero transaction fees each time buy and sell, unlike our competitors

• Minimal storage fees of 0.05% / month 0.6% / year

With 1000€ gold in your vault, you would pay 6€ per year. That covers your storage, insurance and auditing. The storage fee is calculated daily but billed to your account monthly. 

• Low delivery fees from 150€ across Europe, depending on weight and distance

How do I Buy Gold and Silver with Bar9?

Bar9 allows you to buy gold with euros (and more currencies soon!) via SEPA transfer.

Switch euros into gold by navigating to the ‘Fund’ section of the sidebar and selecting how much gold you would like to buy.

Before confirming, you will see the final price.

How to withdraw?

If you wish to take delivery of your gold, you must be based in one of the following countries: 

Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg.

More countries coming soon!