Bullion quote and invoice checklist before you pay

What to take away

• Freeze the product, quantity, payment, destination, and timestamp.
• Recalculate fine content and every total independently.
• Keep premiums, fees, tax, delivery, and storage in separate lines.
• Require substitution and cancellation rules before paying.
• Compare the invoice with receipt and preserve discrepancies in writing.

Quote identity

• Seller legal name and address
• Quote number, timestamp, zone, and expiration
• Metal, mint or refiner, product, year, finish, condition
• Quantity, gross weight, fineness, fine content
• Serial or assay package expectation
• New, secondary, random-year, or dealer-choice status

Reference and premium

• Reference provider, metal, currency, unit, and delay
• Location and delivery basis stated
• Fine ounces recalculated
• Metal reference calculated
• Product premium in dollars and percentage
• Quantity tier matches order

LBMA's precious-metals benchmark explanation describes the auction benchmarks, units, schedules, and delivery setting. Use its scope to label a reference, not to imply a retail item can transact at the benchmark.

Added costs

• Wire, ACH, check, cash, or card price
• Tax and jurisdiction
• Shipping, handling, and insurance
• Signature and delivery method
• Membership or minimum order
• Storage or account cost
• Delivered total independently summed

Recalculate outside the seller's cart. Preserve each field even when the seller combines charges. If a required cost appears only after personal or payment details are entered, save the revised screen and restart every competing calculation under the same terms.

Terms

• Inventory status and dispatch deadline
• Permitted substitution
• Market-loss or cancellation formula
• Return period and opened-package condition
• Lost, delayed, or damaged shipment process
• Refund method and timing
• Dispute route

Buyback

• Exact product accepted
• Current bid and timestamp
• Benchmark formula if variable
• Package and condition rules
• Testing, assay, shipping, and payment cost
• Net bid and settlement time

LBMA's frequently asked pricing questions notes that nonstandard date, size, purity, or location can trade at a premium or discount to the standard price. Retail quote differences should therefore be disclosed, not hidden under "spot."

Recalculate the fine content

Do not accept a stated fine weight without reproducing it. Multiply gross weight by fineness to get fine metal weight, convert grams to troy ounces with the published conversion factor, then multiply by the reference to get the metal value of the exact quantity ordered. A face value, a nominal "one ounce" description, and a gross weight are three different quantities, and only one of them is what the market pays for.

Where a quote covers several products, run the calculation line by line rather than on the order total. A single mixed line hides which item carries the premium, and an averaged premium across a mixed order is not a figure any seller will honor on a partial return.

When a line does not reconcile

Stop before paying. Write down which field disagrees, by how much, and against which document. Ask the seller to correct the document rather than to explain the difference in conversation, and keep both versions. A quote that cannot be reproduced from its own stated inputs is not a quote that can be compared with anyone else's.

Invoice reconciliation

• Quote and invoice product match
• Unit price and quantity match
• Added charges match
• Payment recipient matches seller
• Delivery address and service match
• No unapproved collector upgrade
• Total equals payment authorization

Receipt reconciliation

• Package photographed unopened
• Count and product match invoice
• Serial and package match records
• Condition and substitutions documented
• Discrepancy reported before deadline

Common questions

Is a verbal quote enough?

It is weak evidence. Request a written, timestamped quote with complete terms.

Should storage be in the delivered price?

Include required initial storage in acquisition cost and track ongoing storage separately.

What if the invoice uses a different product year?

Pause payment or acceptance and request correction in writing.

Is "at spot" a complete buyback formula?

No. It needs metal, provider, time, unit, condition, quantity, location, and deductions.