nunoelias

Hi everyone!  I'm Nuno Elias, from Lisbon in Portugal!   Thanks for having me!   

A couple of months ago I started digging into precious metals (pun intended). And then, out of curiosity, I did my first investment in a 1 kilo silver bar, which I bought on a second-hand market. I have a lack of words to describe how intrigued (yet very excited) I was to be holding onto a such a nice piece of pure silver.   

So I decided I wanted to learn more about silver, how to invest and collect it.  And shortly after a couple of hours researching online,  I found out about the Silver Forum.
I'm still learning the ropes about silver, but hopefully some day I can contribute to this forum and to the community.

Thank you, and wish you all a great weekend!

Cheers,
Nuno

...

Hello Nuno, welcome to The Silver Forum  

Hi one and all. a few things have been bothering me recently so thought I'd air them 🙂 
This is in noway an attack on any specific member, but simply an expression that hopefully unites and improves the workings of the trade section in the forum. Obviously I'm opening myself up to an outcry of backstabbing from those who find offence in my geniune attempt to improve things for both myself and every single member who makes transactions, either incoming or outgoing 😆 
Can I please make a few simple suggestions to sellers firstly.
1) describe items carefully and considerately but most importantly honestly, so buyers can make an informed decision whether to purchase or not. Stop hiding behind the "bullion bollocks" if an item is marked/toned/scratched then say so. It will save our feelings of joy being swapped for anger when we open your parcel. I can assure you and so can other fine members who list this way ( your items will still sell if priced accordingly)
2) whilst it's each individuals perogative to price how they see fit, take a second to look round the forum and gauge a realistic average? Otherwise the only thing you will be selling is "Bumps" 
3) packaging, take a second to think about the item's journey, will your coin/bar or whatever the contents survive a 5 a side at the local sorting office? I can't fathom some of the careless decisions made by sellers I've purchased from on here. Thankfully its a small number but it has cost you a repeat buyer! Can we all agree not to stick item's directly to cardboard with brown ****ing tape?? Wrap in bubble wrap or even a clean sock first, the amount of capsules I've had to replace is uncalled for.
4) feedback!! Ohh the elephant in the room has awoke, see the feedback option? Yeah maybe try using it then 🤔 the amount of people recently complaining about not receiving is quite substantial, yes we can all forget now and again, but it's what keeps us all safe at the end of the day. Also newcomers need it to get any kind of standing on the forum. ( if I owe anyone feedback that has left some for me,then just shoot a message please)
5) messages, you know the words in a box type thing, that I know you read? Respond to them out of decency if nothing else, even if it's to tell me to f#ck off.
6) have you got what your selling? Sounds obvious but apparently not. I'm not overly keen on buying items you think/hope you may be getting in. Makes you look both incompetent and risky.
7) keep buyers in the loop, do not take my/their money and ignore for days, I understand fully that postage isn't an exact science and life can kick us in the proverbial, but at least tell me if its been posted and upload tracking if ive/we've paid for it. I'm not keen on guesswork or trying to read between the lines. Most importantly tell me if my payment has been received, think how nervous a newcomer is sending money to "Jack the ripper" on the Internet?
Now I will try and see it from a sellers perspective 😆 
1) buyers ( of which I am) hopefully I've treated you with decency and respect, kept you updated with tracking/payment received etc and dispatched as fast as my timeline allows on any given day, advised in a "honest" manner whether buying from me or not. Although please realise just because you have money, you don't own me. Treat me with the same decency i afford you.
2) Be clear and concise when messaging a seller, your tying up their time ( again referring to no1) all you see is an item for sale. Well try and remember there's a human being selling it. Be polite ( thankfully 95% of buyers/seller's are) and you will find the seller might just go that extra mile 😉
3) Be a man/woman of your word?? Yes this goes without saying in life in general, but here I am feeling the need to remind people "do/mean what you say"!! Please don't tell me you will do something and then ghost me, at the very least put me out of my misery!!
4) research what you are buying and " ask yourself "can you afford it? Don't get caught up in what other people are buying, do not feel obliged to buy today out of FOMO and then have to sell tomorrow at a loss. Please for the benefit of yourself and your family have a semi coherent plan ( I know this is rich coming from someone, with the attention span of a goldfish) but I've heard/witnessed a fair few newcomers get caught out by this. Do what's right for you and you only. Otherwise you will end up bitter/in trouble financially. 
5) feedback, ohh here he goes again lol. If a seller has taken the time to ( hopefully from now on) carefully package and efficiently deliver your item safely and satisfactory, then "Yes you guessed it" then please leave feedback 😊 for me personally, it's an indication of deal complete and I can now dispose of your postage receipt, that otherwise I have to safely keep for up to a month, in fear you may tell me in a week or two you haven't received yet. 
6) be realistic/sincere with offers, I love £10/£20 off for buying in bulk as much as anyone, but being offered £350 on a item that could be scrapped for £400 minimum is an insult, yep it actually happens. 
7) pay on time or at the very least give a rough time frame for payment. Do not drag out payment for hours and hours ( unless agreed with seller in advance) then expect the seller to run to the post office as soon as the money hits their bank.
( THIS PART IS FOR THE NOISY BANTER BRIGADE ) Which I hold my hands up to being a part of 😆 
Its come to my attention that a few members have stopped/or at least thought twice about continuing to sell on the forum. I as much as anyone likes light hearted fun,  but sometimes this spills over onto sales posts, random comments can cause unfair bumping of posts and can especially lead to prospective buyers walking away. This is especially true during auctions, usually 6 pages of noise and only 2 bids, people could be excused for not knowing the current high bid or find it too exhausting to find. If we can help a sale which many of us has done ( and I will continue to do) then by all means work away, but if there's no intention to buy or cannot add value to the post, we should take our juvenile noise to the aptly named NAUGHTY BOY STEP 😉 
Anyway enough negativity, there's some amazing sellers and buyers on here, people whom I'm proud to transact with on a regular basis, people who I trust unequivocally, and whilst I've yet to experience an issue with those people/members, if I did, I just know deep down I'd be looked after. Let's all strive to be like them?