Augusta Precious Metals Review: What It Publishes and What to Ask For

Augusta Precious Metals publishes a $50,000 account minimum, a named custodian, a named depository, and a buyback claim. It does not publish its own fee schedule, its premium over spot, or a shipping policy. This review separates what the company states from what it leaves out, dates every figure, and ends with the documents to request in writing before you fund an account.

Company identity

Augusta Precious Metals is a Beverly Hills, California, gold and silver dealer focused on gold IRAs, with a second office in Casper, Wyoming. The company states it was founded in 2012; the Better Business Bureau lists a business start date of January 1, 2012. The product in view here is the gold IRA: the company sells metal funded by a transfer from an existing IRA, 401(k), or other qualifying account, subject to the minimum below.

What the company publishes

These items appear on the company’s own pages, checked on September 21, 2026.

• Account minimum. $50,000, funded from an existing IRA, 401(k), or other qualifying account.
• Custodian. Equity Trust Company, named as the primary recommended custodian.
• Depository. Delaware Depository.
• Cost descriptions. Setup “varies by custodian.” Custodian fees are described as typically $75 to $150 a year, storage as typically $100 to $150 a year. These are descriptions of typical costs, not a fee schedule with Augusta’s own amounts.
• Buyback and cancellation. The company states it has “never denied a buyback since 2012” and describes a 24-hour window to cancel if you find a better offer.
• Promotion. As of September 21, 2026, the homepage offered a free 2026 gold and silver IRA information kit. No end date was shown.

What the site does not publish

Four cost and policy items are absent from the pages checked on September 21, 2026.

• Augusta’s own fee amounts. The site describes typical custodian and storage costs but publishes no fee schedule carrying Augusta’s own dollar amounts.
• Premium over spot. No spread figure or price list appears. The site tells buyers to ask for the spread in writing — an instruction worth following, because the spread is the cost layer a buyer cannot see on any public schedule.
• Shipping policy. Shipping costs and terms were not found on the pages checked.
• Choice of custodian or depository. One custodian and one depository are named. Whether alternatives are available is a question to put to the company.

The fee stack, layer by layer

A gold IRA has four cost layers: setup, administration, storage, and the spread. Public documents price three of the four; the spread is the exception.

Setup, maintenance, and storage

Equity Trust Company publishes a precious-metals fee schedule, form FS-0004-05 (revision printed 081726). For an account holding precious metals only, it lists:

Fee	Equity Trust schedule
Account setup	$50
Annual maintenance	$125
Storage, non-segregated	$110 a year
Storage, segregated	$160 a year
Wire transfer	$30 each
Precious metals liquidation	$30 per transaction
In-kind distribution or transfer out	$125 per transaction
Full termination	$250

The $125 maintenance fee falls inside the $75 to $150 range Augusta describes as typical for custodian fees. Both storage lines fall inside or near its $100 to $150 storage range; the segregated line is $10 above it. The schedule notes that storage fees may also be assessed by each depository. This is the custodian’s schedule, not Augusta’s. Ask whether it is the schedule that applies to an account opened through Augusta.

The published math

Using only the Equity Trust schedule: $50 setup, $125 maintenance, and $110 non-segregated storage come to $285 in the first year and $235 in each later year. Segregated storage makes it $335 and $285. None of these figures includes the spread, which is not published.

The spread

The spread is the gap between the price a dealer charges for a coin and the spot price of the metal at that moment. Augusta does not publish a spread figure or a price list. Its own material tells buyers to ask for the spread in writing, which makes the spread the one cost layer the company itself flags as undisclosed. The spread is paid at purchase, and it varies coin by coin and day by day. On a $50,000 purchase, each percentage point of spread is $500, which is more than the scheduled fees for a full year. The gold IRA calculator shows how the spread and the annual fees add up over a holding period.

Shipping

Shipping costs and terms were not found on the pages checked on September 21, 2026. For a gold IRA, the practical questions are who pays shipping and insurance on the way in, whether the metals move at all after purchase, and who pays on the way out if you sell. Ask for those terms in writing.

Cancellation and buyback

The company describes a 24-hour window to cancel if you find a better offer, and states it has never denied a buyback since 2012. Both statements are the company’s own. A cancellation window matters because it is the period in which an order can be unwound. A buyback claim matters because the terms behind it — how the buyback price is set, how fast settlement happens, whether conditions apply — are not published. Ask for both in writing: the cancellation window as it will apply to your order, and the buyback price method before you sell.

Complaint and enforcement record

The sources and limits behind this section are set out in how we review gold IRA dealers.

The record checked on September 21, 2026 shows no complaint pattern and no enforcement action, with two caveats about what the sources can show.

• The Better Business Bureau profile gives Augusta an A+ rating, shows accreditation since February 17, 2015, and lists 1 total complaint in the last 3 years, closed in the last 12 months, as viewed on September 21, 2026.
• The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database lists 0 complaints under “Augusta Precious Metals” as of the same date. The database covers consumer financial products and services; precious-metals dealers are largely outside its scope, so a zero there is weak evidence.
• No state attorney general, CFTC, SEC, or FINRA action against the company was found as of September 21, 2026.
• On a page dated August 20, 2026, the company states it has no customer lawsuits or regulatory actions. That is the company’s statement about itself.

Each of these is a snapshot on one date, and none of them prices a coin. Re-check the profiles close to any decision.

What to ask for, in writing

Eight requests cover every gap above.

1. Augusta’s own fee schedule. A document listing every fee Augusta charges, in dollars.
2. The spread per coin. The price of each coin or bar you are considering, next to the spot price at that moment, in dollars and in percent.
3. The storage line that applies. Which depository, segregated or non-segregated, the annual rate, and whether the depository bills anything on top of the custodian.
4. Custodian choice. Whether Equity Trust is required, and the custodian’s fee schedule for the account you would open.
5. Shipping and insurance. Who pays on the way in, whether metals move after purchase, and who pays on the way out.
6. Buyback method. How the buyback price is set, and how long settlement takes.
7. Cancellation terms. The 24-hour window as it applies to your order, confirmed in writing.
8. Promotion terms. Any conditions attached to an offer. The information kit is free, with no end date shown.

A written answer to each item replaces the missing public record with a document you can hold against the schedules above.

How this review was prepared

This review draws on the company’s own pages, the BBB profile, the CFPB complaint database, and Equity Trust’s published fee schedule, all checked on September 21, 2026. Every commercial figure above carries its date and its source. Where a figure could not be verified, the text says so rather than estimating.

Sources checked

• Augusta Precious Metals, gold IRA page
• Augusta Precious Metals, about page
• Augusta Precious Metals, company statements page
• Better Business Bureau profile
• Equity Trust fee schedule, PDF
• CFPB Consumer Complaint Database

Related pages

These pages extend the method above.

• Augusta vs. Birch — the same published-terms approach applied to another dealer.
• Gold IRA fees — the full fee stack and where each layer is charged.
• Gold IRA custodians — what a custodian does and how fee schedules differ.
• Gold IRA calculator — the arithmetic behind percentage fees at your account size.
• How this site compares gold IRA dealers — the criteria used across dealer reviews.
• Free gold IRA kit — what an information kit can and cannot tell you.
• Gold IRA scams — verification habits that separate a document from a claim.