*Updated Oct 24, 2019

~~

What is Karatbars all about? By reading the answers to the below questions you will have a pretty good idea what Karatbars is.

 

1. What is Karatbars International GmbH anyways?

Karatbars International GmbH (Karatbars) is an e-commerce company specializing in production and sales of 999.9 (24 K) LBMA accredited gold in small denominations (currency-grade). The company has an affiliate program and distributes gold products through affiliate marketing efforts (similar to Amazon).

It was launched in 2011 with the main office located in Stuttgart, Germany. Other offices are located in Munich (Germany), Dubai (the United Arab Emirates) and Singapore (Republic of Singapore).

Karatbars is financially secure, debt-free, bank-independent, fully self-funded company.

The official website of Karatbars is www.karatbars.com

Founder and owner
Harald Seiz

Main office address
Karatbars International GmbH
Vaihinger Strasse 149A 70567
Stuttgart, Deutschland

Tel: +49 (711) 128 970 00
Fax: +49 (711) 128 970 29

Support 
US Support: + 1 224 829 00 47
EU Support: +49 (0) 711 128 970 00

support@karatbars.com

 

2. Is Karatbars accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB)?

No, Karatbars is not accredited by the BBB. The BBB evaluates only businesses based in US and Canada.

In Germany, the agency similar to the BBB is the Verbraucherschutzzentrale. It is not-governmental independent voluntary organization which helps consumers in times of need and is not an evaluating authority.

A German company does not need to have any kind of approval from such agencies in order to register and run a successful business. You can familiarize yourself with business registration requirements for GmbH in Germany here.

 

3. What countries is Karatbars open in?

Today Karatbars is roughly open in all over the wolrd – over 140 countries (see the table below). Taking into account that the company opened in 2011, the speed it has expanded in the last 8 years is amazing!

The goal of Harald Seiz (founder and owner) and his hard-working team is eventually to be active in all 196 countries currently existing.

~~

Delivery — Whether gold can be delivered to that country

Storage — Whether residents of that country are eligible for gold storage in Karabars vaults

Notice — Any additional information related to shipping to that country

 

Total active countries: 145

 

*All International transfer fees will be incurred by the buyer.

**Buyers from Switzerland: Please note that any customs regulations implemented by your country such as any import duties or taxes are your responsibility.

~~

If your country is not on the list, don’t worry, Karatbars is working hard to expand worldwide.

In the meantime, register for an affiliate program with a free account. With a free affiliate account, you can refer people in ANY country.

 

 

4. Is Karatbars gold LBMA accredited?

Yes, it is.

What is the LBMA?

“LBMA” is an acronym and stands for the London Bullion Market Association. Located in London and established in 1987, it is an international trade association which represents the London market for gold and silver bullion*. Its clients are located all over the world and include the majority of central banks that hold gold, private sector investors, gold and silver mining companies, producers and refineries**.

Although the LBMA has a wide range of responsibilities, its core responsibility is to maintain the Good Delivery List. Good Delivery List is the list of gold and silver refineries that meet the requirements and adhere to procedures and policies set by the LBMA. The LBMA keeps two such Lists – one for gold and the other one for silver.

If a specific refinery is on the List, it means that it has acquired the LBMA accreditation. Moreover, to continue to maintain a spot on that List, a refinery must meet the regular testing conducted by the LBMA, otherwise it will be moved to the Former List.

Because of the stringent criteria that refineries must meet in order to acquire the LBMA accreditation, the quality of gold and silver bars of refineries that are already on the Lists is unquestionable and considered to be of universal standard.

The official website of the LBMA is www.lbma.org.uk

Some examples of LBMA accredited refineries

• Nadir Metal, headquartered in Turkey
• ATAkulche, headquartered in Turkey
• Degussa, headquartered in Germany

In fact, Nadir Metal is one of LBMA accredited refineries that Karatbars acquires its gold from.

 

---

* bullion – bars and ingots
** refinery – receives impure gold and removes its impurities so that it can be mixed with other metals (alloyed) or used in pure form

 

5. Where does Karatbars store my gold?

To store gold for its customers, Karatbars uses two safe, third-party vaults that are fully-insured. It is important to mention that Karatbars always stores more gold in its vaults than customers’ storage holdings are.

First vault

One of the vaults is located in Karatbars home office, in Stuttgart. This is where the company stores small gold bars, that is 1-gram, 2.5-gram and 5-gram bars. Every year, usually twice per year, the German government conducts audits on gold vaults and not once did Karatbars fail a single audit. Nonetheless, if Karatbars does fail in the future, according to the government policy in Germany, it will be publicized meaning that you will know about the failure from the news.

Second vault

The second vault is where large gold bars are stored. However, due to security reasons, Karatbars does not expose the details of the vault’s location. The company provides this information only to the German government.

“Four eye” principle

Karatbars has a “four eye” principle with its gold shipping and storage. This means that every time anyone, an employee say, physically touches gold, there should be four sets of eyes acknowledging this happening in one way or another. For example, one set of those eyes is video surveillance and the other set is a signature of some other employee or contractor.

Because Karatbars regularly has to pass stringent requirements to continue to store gold for its customers, you can feel safe about letting Karatbars store gold for you. However, remember, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, so have one portion of your gold shipped to you and have another portion stored.

 

6. Could you please tell me more about Karatbars gold card?

Karatbars gold card is a plastic card carrying an embedded gold bar (1.0 gram , 2.5 gram or 5 gram). Each gold bar has a purity of 999.9, comes from LBMA accredited refinery and carries a unique Karatbars DNA. The card itself measures 8.5 cm (3.3 inches) in length and 5.4 cm (2.1 inch) in width and is similar to credit and debit cards issued to you by banks.

The card is loaded with three security features! A hologram, blacklight signature and unique Karatbars DNA (on a bar)

If you want to know more about the gold card (including the details on the security features) read this article.

 

7. What is Karatbars cashgold?

Karatbars cash gold is invention of Harald Seiz, the founder of Karatbars, and his team. It is a piece of paper with embedded in it small gold bar and covered with laminate. Today, there are 0.1 gram, 0.2 gram, 0.4 gram and 0.6 gram bars.

Each cash gold note is 6.6 cm (2.6 inches) in width and 15 cm (5.9 inches) in length.

Want to learn more about cashgold note? Read this article.