Buying gold over 20 million VND requires bank transfer: Customers face difficulties, sales drop sharply
After more than 2 weeks of requiring bank transfer for gold purchases over 20 million VND, many customers have had difficulty paying, while gold businesses have seen their sales drop by 40%.
After the new regulation requiring gold purchases worth over 20 million VND to be transferred by bank transfer was applied for more than 2 weeks, many customers reported encountering major obstacles when making payments.
Some gold jewelry buyers said they could not use credit cards, e-wallets such as Apple Pay, Zalopay or even vouchers if the total bill exceeded VND20 million.
Ms. Bich Hanh (living in Ho Chi Minh City) shared that she was given a voucher worth 5 million VND to buy gold jewelry, but the staff said that this voucher could not be added to the bill of 22 million VND because the new regulation requires full payment by bank transfer.
This makes many gold buyers feel confused and inconvenient, especially when they are used to flexible payment methods before.
According to the provisions of Clause 10, Article 4, Decree 232/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP of the Government on management of gold trading activities, the payment for buying and selling gold worth VND 20 million or more in one day by a customer must be made through the customer's payment account and the payment account of the gold trading enterprise opened at a commercial bank or foreign bank branch.
Since October 10, many companies and gold shops have applied this regulation, requiring customers to only transfer money when buying or selling gold worth VND20 million or more. The goal is to strengthen cash flow management, limit cash transactions and promote cashless payments in the gold and silver industry.
After more than 2 weeks of implementation, many gold businesses said that sales have dropped sharply. Some stores in the chain have seen a 30-40% decrease in revenue because customers cannot pay by card or e-wallet for large transactions.
Foreigners without bank accounts in Vietnam cannot buy and sell gold, leading to many transactions being canceled.
A gold business leader in Ho Chi Minh City said that there is no specific guidance on whether swiping a credit card is considered “payment via account” or not. Therefore, employees have to ask customers to transfer money directly instead of using a card, causing many inconveniences.
Older customers or those unfamiliar with electronic banking also face many problems when they want to buy gold reserves.
Gold companies recommend that the management agency should soon clarify the concept of “payment account”, to see whether it includes credit cards, e-wallets, QR codes or e-vouchers.
Businesses hope to be allowed to apply a variety of cashless payment methods to both facilitate buyers and ensure transparency in management.
Many businesses have also proposed a mechanism to support the elderly or those without bank accounts, allowing relatives or account holders to transfer money when buying gold. This not only helps customers be more flexible but also contributes to promoting the trend of cashless payments in a practical and sustainable way.
