Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: the fee that decides your outcome is not the one on the fee schedule. It is the spread — the gap between what you pay for the metal and what the dealer will pay to take it back. 🔴 The CFTC and FINRA put the range in writing: some fraudulent dealers have charged spreads of more than 300 percent, while other dealers may charge less than 20 percent.
The four costs, and only one of them is disclosed well
| Cost | Typically disclosed? | What it actually does |
|---|---|---|
| The spread / markup | 🔴 Often not, as a percentage | The single largest cost. You pay above the metal price and can sell back only below it. It is charged once, immediately, and it is the reason an account can be under water on day one |
| Custodian / account fees | Usually yes | Setup plus an annual administration fee. Real, disclosed, and usually the smallest number in this table |
| Storage and insurance | Usually yes | Annual, sometimes a percentage of value, so it grows as the metal does. Segregated storage costs more than commingled |
| The exit cost | 🔴 Rarely framed as a cost | The buyback price is set by the dealer. Getting out is a second transaction at a second spread |
Why the spread is the whole game
A percentage fee of 1% a year is visible and compounds slowly. A one-off markup is invisible and lands entirely on day one. If you buy at a 30% markup, the metal price must rise about 43% before you are level — and that is before storage, before the annual fee, and before whatever the buyback spread takes on the way out.
Worked, at a stated assumption rather than a promise: $100,000 into an account at a 30% markup buys roughly $76,900 of metal at the spot price. If the dealer then buys back 3% below spot, the metal has to appreciate about 34% just to return your $100,000. At a 5% markup the same round trip needs about 8%. Illustrative arithmetic on stated assumptions, not a quote and not a forecast — ask for your own numbers in writing.
Get a second opinion on the account, not just the metal
The fees, the custodian and how the account fits the rest of your retirement savings matter more to the outcome than the spot price, and an adviser can look at all of it against your wider plan.
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What regulators have actually documented
These are official figures with their procedural posture stated exactly. They describe the conduct in specific matters and the pattern regulators say they see — they are not a claim about any dealer you may be talking to.
| Figure | Source and status |
|---|---|
| “Some fraudulent dealers have charged spreads of more than 300 percent while others dealers may charge less than 20 percent.” | CFTC and FINRA joint Investor Bulletin, 20 March 2024. Advisory |
| “In some cases, gold or silver IRA fraud victims had one-third to one-half of their savings drained by fraudsters’ markups, fees, and commissions.” | Same bulletin. Advisory |
| “In one case, a customer rolled over a $300,000 IRA, and the dealer allegedly took $150,000 in fees and commissions.” | Same bulletin. 🔴 The CFTC itself writes “allegedly” — so do we |
| Customers “paid an average markup of 71% when the customer agreement stated the defendants would charge a maximum markup of 23% on silver coins.” | CFTC and state regulators, consent order entered in the Central District of California, 25 October 2023. A consent order in which the court found the defendants liable, not a bare allegation |
⚠️ Read the last row carefully, because it is the most useful sentence on this page. The markup was not merely high. It was three times what the customer’s own agreement said the maximum would be. A disclosed cap is not the same as a charged price, and the only way to know which you got is to compare what you paid against the metal price on the day you paid it.
The three questions that price the account
- 🔴 Ask for the buy price and the sell-back price for this exact item today, as percentages of spot. Two numbers, in writing. A refusal to give both is the answer. The CFTC and FINRA published a bulletin of questions to ask for exactly this reason.
- Ask for the annual custodian and storage fees in dollars at your balance. A percentage-of-value storage fee behaves differently from a flat one.
- Ask what you would net today if you sold everything back. That single number reveals the round-trip cost better than any schedule.
If you already hold one, the same arithmetic is a diagnosis rather than a decision: whether to keep a gold IRA. The routes out, and their tax consequences, are at how to get out of a gold IRA. The sales patterns regulators describe are decoded at the sales tactics page.
Sources
Spread ranges, the drained-savings figure and the $300,000 example: CFTC and FINRA joint Investor Bulletin, 10 Things to Ask Before Buying Physical Gold, Silver, or Other Metals, 20 March 2024, read directly at cftc.gov. The 71%-versus-23% figure and its posture: CFTC Press Release 8812-23, 25 October 2023, read directly at cftc.gov. All read 7 August 2026.
Where we stand: Clear Money Guide sells no metals and takes no compensation from any metals dealer, depository or custodian. This page describes practices documented by regulators and courts, not any particular company beyond what an official document names. General information, not legal or tax advice.