Buying on the forum

[Guest]

Good evening, gents/ladies!

New to this forum - started buying silver a month ago (bought an ancient tetradrachm on eBay -- a canadian maple was a recommended coin which got me curious and then gave me the bug!). Spent about a 1k on eBay from sellers there, but realised that I've massively overpaid on some purchases (c'est la vie)

Might be a silly question, but this topic is an interesting one to me - you say stay away from eBay and use this website... Obviously eBay has scammers, but it also has buyer protection. What does this website have? For example, if I transfer money to a guy on here and it turns out to be a fake/scam - what protection do we have? I've tried reading through the Ts&Cs but it seemed to say "your own risk". Potentially spending 1300 on an ounce of gold from a guy and trusting he'll come through for me is quite a leap of faith - is this really the case? Or is there less trust, more solid, legal protection in place here than I wrongfully think? I really would like to buy some items here as prices are decent, but kinda worried about the value of feedback here and whom to trust

(my eBay is mattdamon69 btw)

Many thanks to you all

All the best

Matt

Edited July 30, 2021 by Guest
added more info

[Tn21]

@MattyBoo

The forum is safeguarded by its members and the moderation team. A sniff of a scam or wrong doing will quickly be flagged up and appropriate action will get taken. 

 

You can check a members feedback and badges to get an understanding of their credibility. 

I would say 98% of the forum are genuine and sound individuals, the 2% get found out and never come back 

[ChrisSilver]

1. PayPal & eBay take fees for selling. They both also collect extensive data on the sellers, and can go after them legally to recover any losses which arose were they had to reimburse their customers for. TSF does not have the extensive financial resources as these companies do, nor the legal teams, we also do not want the responsibilities of storing such personal information of customer's that eBay and PayPal take. TSF also does not charge any fees at all for selling on the forum, nor do we ever indeed to do so. It simply would not be financially viable to offer such a service as you are suggesting. 

There are many topics on the forum about the risk of trading, including the paragraph below taken from this topic: https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/39476-⚠️-please-be-careful-when-trading-some-basic-checks-you-should-do/?tab=comments#comment-440052
 

Quote

You may wish to take note of the following when doing your due diligence and trading:

- How long has the member been active on the forum for? There is likely less risk when trading with long standing members.

- How much trading feedback do they have, and is the trading feedback selling feedback? How long have they been selling on the forum for?

- Their community reputation, is it high, have they been engaging in a lot of topics with a lot of posts?

- The optional attached piece of paper with their forum username on, does it look authentic, please zoom in. Note that it is also relatively easy to photoshop.

- Do they have Premium Membership? If a member has Premium Membership it means that the forum should have the name and and address of the member, or at least of the card owner. This gives us vital information to pass onto the police should it be a scam member and we are requested to pass on information.

Some members exclusively only buy from and sell to, long standing Premium Members.

Also, please be polite to new members listing items for sale. Everyone was a new member at one stage, and new members may need some time to build up a trading history on the forum. Note that statistically a new member listing an item for sale is more likely a genuine member than not. But please be careful when trading and report any suspicious activity immediately by using the report feature.

I note that you currently do not have Premium membership, if you are serious about trading on the forum you may wish to purchase this as highlighted above.


TSF will remove members who we deem to be detrimental to the forum or high risk to other forum members. Though of course we can not accept responsibility for any trades should they go wrong, which is why you must also do your due diligence and be willing to take on any risks of trading on the forum. We also advise to ideally trade between long standing members, i.e. ones who have been here for several years and have extensive posting on the forum.

TSF is a community built on trust, and members also work hard to maintain TSF as a trusted place to trade on, and actively comment on or report 'for sales' topics to protect other members. 

The advantages of trading on the forum include but are not limited to, absolutely no fees on sales, better prices for buyers as well as sellers as cutting out any middleman, the chance to trade directly with other members. Some members also believe trading on the forum is of lower risk, as they trade with members that they have had many many trades with. 

At the end of the day it is your choice, you are free to decide where you wish to buy from and TSF has been open and honest about the potential risks  
 

[Mrpound]

I would definitely recommend a paid membership as you can see listing as soon as they are put up, otherwise you  have to wait 3days to see them and obviously the best deals don’t hang about.

Personally I’ve never had an issue with anyone on the forum and I’ve had countless on eBay (feeBay) which is why I’ve basically abandoned it all together.

When it comes to spending large amounts on here for your own peace of mind only trade with high feedback members which have 100s to 1000s (which I don’t….yet). Opt for SD delivery which takes the risk out of the postage.

maybe start with some smaller purchases here and get your footing 😊 it’s a great place with likeminded people 👍

Goodluck whatever you decide mate all the best!

[Guest]

Hi all, thank you for your thoughtful replies. I think I will get the paid membership in the future when I am ready to sell, and will do as Mrpound advises and build up my own feedback with smaller purchases until then

Many thanks for your insights, and thank you again for your warm reception to a new member

Warmest Regards

Matt

[kena]

I would second to start with smaller purchases so you can gain comfort with buying on the forum as well as looking at the feedback of the person who are buying from.

I have not paid for a membership, so I am aware that I probably missed some good deals but then again, my wallet can't afford to buy all of the shiny things I have seen on here.

[Mrpound]

1 minute ago, MattyBoo said:

Hi all, thank you for your thoughtful replies. I think I will get the paid membership in the future when I am ready to sell, and will do as Mrpound advises and build up my own feedback with smaller purchases until then

Many thanks for your insights, and thank you again for your warm reception to a new member

Warmest Regards

Matt

No problem mate, if you put a @ in front of a member name they get notified like this @MattyBoo so mine would be @Mrpound just a helpful tip 😊

[Guest]

@Mrpound thank you for the help!

[Mrpound]

10 minutes ago, MattyBoo said:

@Mrpound thank you for the help!

That’s it mate! Any questions feel free to message me 👍

[DaveStacks]

Having recently made a purchase here I can't say I'd ever go back to ebay now. I had overpaid myself, and now the premiums are way more reasonable. 

[CollectorNo1]

On 30/07/2021 at 01:33, MattyBoo said:

Good evening, gents/ladies!

New to this forum - started buying silver a month ago (bought an ancient tetradrachm on eBay -- a canadian maple was a recommended coin which got me curious and then gave me the bug!). Spent about a 1k on eBay from sellers there, but realised that I've massively overpaid on some purchases (c'est la vie)

Might be a silly question, but this topic is an interesting one to me - you say stay away from eBay and use this website... Obviously eBay has scammers, but it also has buyer protection. What does this website have? For example, if I transfer money to a guy on here and it turns out to be a fake/scam - what protection do we have? I've tried reading through the Ts&Cs but it seemed to say "your own risk". Potentially spending 1300 on an ounce of gold from a guy and trusting he'll come through for me is quite a leap of faith - is this really the case? Or is there less trust, more solid, legal protection in place here than I wrongfully think? I really would like to buy some items here as prices are decent, but kinda worried about the value of feedback here and whom to trust

(my eBay is mattdamon69 btw)

Many thanks to you all

All the best

Matt

I would only buy from Ebay if you know what you are doing,know the seller,look at their feedback but ( That's not always a gauretee of an honest seller)

 

The TSF is a good place to buy moreover check out bullion dealers..although they often only have a limited amount of coins to sell...e.g if you want to purchase say Britannia's pre 2012 and special editions you are going to have to create a stock alert and wait until they have them in stock which could take some time...you will always find what you are looking for on Ebay..but you take the chance that its the real thing and not a fake..even with sellers with very high feedback aren't 100% genuine...I've found that out to my cost but only with 1 fake coin...its getting harder as more sellers are buying C@#P fake coins from China😡😡 and passing them off as the real deal but if you know what your looking for you can spot that they are fakes as they are totally inferior products....Stick with sellers on here..or buy from the RM-Chards-the coin connection-Bullion by post-Baird n Co...just to mention a few.... Ebay has a diversity of different coins..but you have to be very very careful..the market seems to be getting flooded with more fakes..

Good luck...

[Paul]

Just buy from me cos my deals are always ace and my service brilliant !

In all seriousness I have been buying here the service you get is better than using a normal pm dealer.

A lot take great pride in personal service.

A scammer or bad deal is a very rate thing