Advice for new sellers on the forum

[HerefordBullyun]

I've noticed that there a lot of new sellers on the forum. So I thought I would post some friendly advice.

You may see an initial reluctance from buyers on the forum. This is perfectly normal.

The reason being is that it's worth while buying 1st and building up some positive trader feedback.

I would also utilise an seller intermediary service that @BackyardBullionoffers at reasonable prices, he can help you with to ensure buyer and seller aren't being seen off.

Just thought I'd throw that out to the newer members. 

Again welcome to the forum.

Best HB

[sovereignsteve]

The best thing a new seller can do is offer reasonable prices ie not give the impression they have just joined to sell a few top priced items.

Then sell a few coins to established members and send the goods before receiving payment.
This builds up your reputation and establishes trust.
It has pretty much zero risk considering they will have a good reputation on this forum and you know their address as well.
I realise many sellers are uncomfortable with this but if you think about it, it has substantialy less risk than that being taken on by the buyer who has to send money to a new anonymous person on a forum.

Clearly state the terms of the sale, especially postal costs and who takes on the shipping risk.

[Pete]

As @sovereignsteve advises, new sellers especially those who have just joined the forum, not participated in any threads or contributed, need to be patient.
Seasoned longer standing members with multiple trade feedback can be trusted, as losing their 100% reputation would be a major blow.
I doubt any would dare risk damaging their reputation on the S.F.

Using an escrow intermediary is one solution but if new sellers are reluctant to trade on the forum they can always list on eBay with its seller protection - but that isn't free.
Also in any new trades both buyers and sellers need to be crystal clear as to which side is liable for any lost package or claim for non-delivery.

 

[HerefordBullyun]

Thanks for your contribution @Pete

@soveriegnsteve both sensible responses.

[Bigmarc]

6 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

Then sell a few coins to established members and send the goods before receiving payment.
This builds up your reputation and establishes trust.

Hi all, great post. 

Thought I would have a go at representing the newbies on this one. 

For most of us I can imagine it's nice to come to a place and look what's on offer without a big question mark above it. Looking through the eyes of a newbie there seems to be a lot of high end stuff exchanging for a lot of money, kind on feels like turning up to a masonic lodge meeting on your first day in your underpants. Personally I don't have much interest in selling "but" in order to gain community points would you recommend putting some up for offer? When you are selling would you prefer to sell to someone established or is it a first come first served basis?

Thanks 

 

[kimchi]

Great advice from more seasoned members than me, but I would caution that perhaps there may be reasons not to leave negative feedback for a seller who might have an address, a name, and bank details...

Personally I've only ever had one bad experience myself having bought a lot on here I didn't feel able to leave bad feedback because for once that deal was coming to where I lived at the time, and my loss wasn't huge. So sometimes reading between the lines about a seller is useful.

Don't rush in is my advice - get to know sellers a bit. Having said that, I've had some great purchases from new members too. Try to 'feel' things out, though I appreciate that's not very practically helpful.

17 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

Personally I don't have much interest in selling "but" in order to gain community points would you recommend putting some up for offer? When you are selling would you prefer to sell to someone established or is it a first come first served basis?

Not a bad idea to sell a few bits and pieces and get yourself 'known' Imho (and experience) sales should be first come first served regardless, though ofc I'd feel slightly easier with folks I knew already.

Hope that helps!

 

[Bigmarc]

Thanks.

Nice to get a balance.

[sovereignsteve]

1 hour ago, Bigmarc said:

Hi all, great post. 

Thought I would have a go at representing the newbies on this one. 

For most of us I can imagine it's nice to come to a place and look what's on offer without a big question mark above it. Looking through the eyes of a newbie there seems to be a lot of high end stuff exchanging for a lot of money, kind on feels like turning up to a masonic lodge meeting on your first day in your underpants. Personally I don't have much interest in selling "but" in order to gain community points would you recommend putting some up for offer? When you are selling would you prefer to sell to someone established or is it a first come first served basis?

Thanks 

 

The thing to remember is this forum came from a time when silver stacking was kind of in it's infancy in the UK. Well that's how I have interpreted it but I could be wrong as I never touched silver other than the a few UK circulation coins for their numismatic value really. More experienced stackers will be able to elaborate.
I got the feeling that some of the original TSF members used to hang out on the Australian forum and I assume got to know each other there.
Whether it was a decision made by such a group or simply Chris came up with the idea of a more UK based forum, I have no idea (perhaps @ChrisSilver or one of the original group could pen a piece on the history of the forum?😊)

Anyway I am rambling. The reason for this history lesson is so you can understand how this forum started; it truly was a community and I assume everyone knew each other, online that is.
I think I joined about a year after it was formed and have been here ever since.
Things were discussed, some sales were made, trust was established and one's reputation was paramount.

Since then, the forum has obviously expanded, a lot, especially in the last year or two.
People started getting into gold, especially sovereigns ( ahem😉) and some people started arriving who were obviously traders/dealers and also some big time collectors who also did some trading etc.
A few proper dealers arrived as well.

It does seem that the sales section is very busy these days, with it's fair share of very expensive items, as well as some low end stuff too. Long may this extensive range endure.

Along with this, we do get our share of newbies that seem to have joined simply to sell some stuff and you will find they are perhaps looked upon with a little suspicion and some disapproval from some of the older members.

Anyway, that's not why you asked😁

It's not necessary to sell stuff in order to gain "community points". Reputation points are gained by contributing good content and joining in discussions, which will lead to people "liking" or giving "thanks". When you buy or sell, each party can leave feedback on their experience, a bit like ebay, but it's not essential to do so.
I think if someone had been a member for quite a while, contributing to discussions, others would get a feeling for their character etc. If, then, they wanted to sell some coins, they would be regarded more favourably and trusted.

I'm not sure if any sellers ever give preference to established members, generally it's on a first come first served basis. Well that's the way I do it.
I do know some members will only post sales in the premium members area and do prefer to deal only with paid up members. However, I don't think this is too prevalent.

Well, I hope I haven't rambled too much and have answered your questions, and please put on your trousers!😁
 

[Shep]

2 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

kind of feels like turning up to a masonic lodge meeting on your first day in your underpants.

A perfect description. A “chefs kiss” of descriptions, some might say! Bravo Sir!

 

@ChrisSilver+1 to the reveal of the epic, twisting, steamy whirlwind of a tale recounting the founding of this glorious forum. I for one am intrigued!

(I clearly have very little going on in my life, please humour me).

[ChrisSilver]

Steve has pretty much got the history right. The Silver Forum was set up just as project whilst silver collecting/investing in the UK was very small, it still is a relatively small niche especially when compared to the larger more established USA precious metals market of collectors and investors. I worked on it in my spare time, whilst I was living abroad and had a full time business there. There was handful of members including but not limited to @morezone, @HelpingHands, @motorbikez, @watchesandwhisky, @Danny-boy, @Shamatti who helped out by writing a lot of content for the forum, and through some efforts memberships started to gradually grow.  

I myself was collecting/investing in precious metals at the time, so became interested in the niche of silver investing & collecting. I started buying silver from 2013 onwards and TSF was set up in March 2014, you can see from the attached chart that silver was on a decline at this time and represented a perfect entry point for investment (IMO)



Initially marketed as a UK/Europe forum, and then a worldwide forum. We currently have members from over 63 counties worldwide (countries with a minimum of 10+ user visits per month) and are 'The world's precious metals forum' as we are one of, if not the fastest growing precious metals forums in the world. Despite being called 'The Silver Forum' a large amount of members collect/invest in Gold as well and a lot also exclusively also only collect/invest Gold and no silver. 



The chart above shows the current top 20 countries, and is the amount of visitors on the forum in the last 3 weeks.


The Silver Forum was never supposed to be a business, and wasn't set up for the purpose of making money. For the first 6 years I invested a lot into the forum, including selling all of my silver to put towards the running of the forum. I am committed to the long term survival and growth of the forum. I believe that having set up TSF to provide a well run community rather than to make profit is one of the reason of it's success. Up until recently (just last year) I was actually employed full time elsewhere and it is only recently that the forum has required even more of my attention that it was not possible to hold down a full time job. It has now became a full time business, maintaining and growing the forum. A large portion of membership fees goes directly into new prize draws and other advertising of the forum, and as this is a fixed % based, it means that these draws will only grow over the coming years. Eventually if we get to a position of being able to give 1kg of silver away for FREE in prize draws every month it would be fantastic  

TSF is very fortunate to have some extremely intelligent, kind, and helpful members. And I truly believe we have some of the best members of any online community, as also mentioned in my announcement below. We also have some really good Official Sponsors and we have some big plans happening (likely later this year) that will be announced in due course. I also have many other possibly plans for the future, but they are dependant on how the forum grows over the coming years. 



 

4 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

Hi all, great post. 

Thought I would have a go at representing the newbies on this one. 

For most of us I can imagine it's nice to come to a place and look what's on offer without a big question mark above it. Looking through the eyes of a newbie there seems to be a lot of high end stuff exchanging for a lot of money, kind on feels like turning up to a masonic lodge meeting on your first day in your underpants. Personally I don't have much interest in selling "but" in order to gain community points would you recommend putting some up for offer? When you are selling would you prefer to sell to someone established or is it a first come first served basis?

Thanks 

 

From an announcement that I made earlier today, as you may find this guide helpful @Bigmarc

"Many members of The Silver Forum are very helpful to their fellow members. In one example The Silver Forum noticed a very informative and in-depth reply that @billysilver gave to a new member of the forum. This and their continued support of TSF made us reach out and ask if Billy would be willing to write a helpful and informative guide for new members trading on the forum.

Billysilver very kindly agreed to write a guide. You can see from his topic (linked below) that he has put an incredible amount of time and effort into his topic, to help others, this is reflective of how great the forum members are here. I truly believe that The Silver Forum has some of the best people of any online community and we are very fortunate to have such a large amount of amazing members of TSF.

Thank you to everyone who is part of The Silver Forum community, and we kindly ask you to check out Billy's amazing detailed guide linked below."  
 

 

[Paul]

10 hours ago, sovereignsteve said:

It's not necessary to sell stuff in order to gain "community points". Reputation points are gained by contributing good content and joining in discussions, which will lead to people "liking" or giving "thanks". When you buy or sell, each party can leave feedback on their experience, a bit like ebay, but it's not essential to do so.
I think if someone had been a member for quite a while, contributing to discussions, others would get a feeling for their character etc. If, then, they wanted to sell some coins, they would be regarded more favourably and trusted.

Well said Steve.  I think this is a big major plus point lots of folk miss

I would like to think in everything i post here you will seldom ever hear me in a tit for tat rant or argument about the news, politics or similar. 

In 95% of the posting i do, i like to pre-vet in my head and always ask the question "am i adding value here" ?

if there is no value to add, better I just keep the trap shut. 

this forum avatar of a sheep with yellow bucket on his head you have never met but you just know he's a "good egg" and anything you buy will be a safe deal  

 

[stefffana]

On 22/02/2021 at 22:30, sovereignsteve said:

The thing to remember is this forum came from a time when silver stacking was kind of in it's infancy in the UK. Well that's how I have interpreted it but I could be wrong as I never touched silver other than the a few UK circulation coins for their numismatic value really. More experienced stackers will be able to elaborate.
I got the feeling that some of the original TSF members used to hang out on the Australian forum and I assume got to know each other there.
Whether it was a decision made by such a group or simply Chris came up with the idea of a more UK based forum, I have no idea (perhaps @ChrisSilver or one of the original group could pen a piece on the history of the forum?😊)

Anyway I am rambling. The reason for this history lesson is so you can understand how this forum started; it truly was a community and I assume everyone knew each other, online that is.
I think I joined about a year after it was formed and have been here ever since.
Things were discussed, some sales were made, trust was established and one's reputation was paramount.

Since then, the forum has obviously expanded, a lot, especially in the last year or two.
People started getting into gold, especially sovereigns ( ahem😉) and some people started arriving who were obviously traders/dealers and also some big time collectors who also did some trading etc.
A few proper dealers arrived as well.

It does seem that the sales section is very busy these days, with it's fair share of very expensive items, as well as some low end stuff too. Long may this extensive range endure.

Along with this, we do get our share of newbies that seem to have joined simply to sell some stuff and you will find they are perhaps looked upon with a little suspicion and some disapproval from some of the older members.

Anyway, that's not why you asked😁

It's not necessary to sell stuff in order to gain "community points". Reputation points are gained by contributing good content and joining in discussions, which will lead to people "liking" or giving "thanks". When you buy or sell, each party can leave feedback on their experience, a bit like ebay, but it's not essential to do so.
I think if someone had been a member for quite a while, contributing to discussions, others would get a feeling for their character etc. If, then, they wanted to sell some coins, they would be regarded more favourably and trusted.

I'm not sure if any sellers ever give preference to established members, generally it's on a first come first served basis. Well that's the way I do it.
I do know some members will only post sales in the premium members area and do prefer to deal only with paid up members. However, I don't think this is too prevalent.

Well, I hope I haven't rambled too much and have answered your questions, and please put on your trousers!😁
 

I totally agree with you. Even I've joined very late on this forum, I feel already part of this beautiful community. Before, I was more like a lonely wolf. Now, I'm one from a "pack" of wolves.🤗