How Should a Newbie go about selling precious metals on The Silver Forum? It's a rhetorical question!!!

[FFposh]

What do you do when you are new to TSF and find yourself wanting to offload about 45oz silver and a couple of cheeky 1/4oz gold coins to tidy your stack so it's just so.........?

You could list your items as anyone else might, but with no seller profile, you might have a few people interested but reticent to even nibble. So you go cheap to draw them in? Even worse maybe? Surely you wouldn't mind selling a fake cheaper anyway right?

You may offer to send the metals prior to payment as a gesture of goodwill (which I actually did with my first 1/4oz gold) but how many people have the means to be sure that it's genuine-especially for £350 upwards?

It's a bit of a quandary. To sell you need the profile, but you can't get that without selling!

I'll tell you what you do.

You contact @BackyardBullion and use his Intermediary Service.  

End of!!

Yes, there is the cost of shipping your coins to him.

Yes, there is a fee (very reasonable in my opinion I might add, especially if gold is involved!).

But that's it. A couple of pieces of silver.

For that, I could instantly show that my pieces were genuine with shots on the Sigma. (Handy for the odd 10oz QB bought on eBay, that was worth the fee alone!!). @BackyardBullionconfirms this as I post the sale, and importantly that they are still in his possession!!

It doesn't matter who you are now, the pieces are genuine and you are in the market!👊

It's now a quiet of price. That's a personal issue, I chose to accept the odd lower price to just get the process done rather than squabble about a quid here or there... that's just me not wanting to have all my stuff sitting on @BackyardBullions dining table too long!!

People make offers. I'm happy, so invite @BackyardBullion to the table. He offers various postal options. This is then added to the cost of the coin/s. (I gave him a float to work with, so that buyers only had one transaction). I get paid and confirm this. That is it for me. Done! How good is that? No wrapping, no trips to the post office around work..... That all gets done for me. I am very happy....

Where would I have been if I hadn't used the service?

Quite possibly still scratching my head trying to hook one of those nibbles in all honesty 🤷

And to top it off, he's really nice to work with too and super efficient. I really cannot find any fault with the service and genuinely wanted to thank him publicly for helping me sell my stack within a few weeks!!!

The irony is that my seller profile is a lot better now that my name is out there, but I have nothing more that I envisage selling going forward! Go figure!

 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by FFposh
Change of title

[BackyardBullion]

Thanks for the kind feedback, glad to have helped you out!

Also made a cheeky video of the maid Marian and Robin Hood!

[FFposh]

Yeah, I clocked it last night and had a little chuckle!!

No worries about the feedback mate, it's the least I could do as a public thankyou, your assistance made something that could have been hard work very easy!

[ArgentSmith]

As a guide how much does this cost, is it a % or fixed fee per item?

[BackyardBullion]

4 minutes ago, ArgentSmith said:

As a guide how much does this cost, is it a % or fixed fee per item?

Generally it is 2% of the value of the trade but with a minimum of £25.

It also depends somewhat on how many individual items there are involved too. 

[ArgentSmith]

Thanks I think I get it. So the 2% /£25 is for the joblot with an addition for each handling/order.

[BackyardBullion]

8 minutes ago, ArgentSmith said:

Thanks I think I get it. So the 2% /£25 is for the joblot with an addition for each handling/order.

Yep, for the joblot.

[Agaumac]

Absolutely agree with your strategy. I’ve followed your trade with interest and am glad it’s concluded successfully. I personally went down the route of post first and sell cheap but that was on generic bullion silver. Can I ask that now you have good trading feedback would you consider it going alone, so to speak, on your next trade whenever that may be?

 

 

[FFposh]

Evening @Agaumac, it's a bit of a weird one really. I just wanted to sell what I wanted to sell to tidy up my stack and move forward, so didn't really want to take too long about it. The money from the 2 x gold 1/4s I sold went straight on new 1/4 Oz's so I didn't lose out with the recent increase in price which was handy.

Apart from not having anything else to get rid of, hypothetically speaking, I do consider myself very new to this game still, even after my sales, and in the grand scheme of things I still am. Having bought and now sold on the forum I have seen the need for mutual trust from both sides. There is also the forum dialogue which may help in case of attempted cheating/fraud.

I think that if I was to put any silver up for sale I would probably do it myself now, hoping that I've earned enough trust, however, looking at my 'ratings' I could see why people who have been on here for years may still be a bit reticent to trust me on a 1oz gold coin perhaps. It's a lot of money to hand over to essentially an anonymous seller with no real receipt or point of contact other than what could be a small string of messages. Hence, as long as the buyer had a higher rating than me I would be happy to send prior to payment, but realistically, if I wanted a quick sale and cash in my hand, I would still be happy to take a small percentage hit to prove the coins' validity. 

If I'm being honest, I'd think twice before buying something of huge value from the anonymous person on this forum so why would I expect anyone to buy from me?? 

I also know that the cost to weight ratio is important to many on the forum so some would be reluctant to go down the verification route. However, you see posts that may be a month old, so is it worth that small fee to just help get the transaction done? I would argue that it is.

So to summarize, I think it all depends on value, and how quick you want the sale.

Another thing I've just thought of is that once the coins were sent away for verification and I had composed the sales post, there was very little left for me to do. Like I alluded to in the post above, I didn't have to package numerous batches of coins/bars nor make an equal number of trips to the post office to post them. 

And finally, I did have a 10oz Queens beast and 2 x 2 oz QBs from eBay (which as it happens, I didn't want to sell), so to get these validated was very reassuring.

l still believe that I got a great deal from @BackyardBullion and am incredibly happy that I employed his services. It just negated any 'trust' issues and made my sales very pain free. I would feasibly use him in the future, especially for expensive items, I think the picture of a coin on the Sigma just puts everyone at ease. There's a lot to be said for that.

All hypothetical anyway, I now have 3 of everything, gold and silver, with 3 kids to give them to.

Unless something extremely untowards happens in the future, there should be no need to ask myself the original question!!

I hope this in some way explains how I feel about it all, I am aware it became a bit 'War and Peace' so sorry for that. It's a bit difficult to explain just in writing.

Take it easy mate👊

[Agaumac]

26 minutes ago, FFposh said:

Evening @Agaumac, it's a bit of a weird one really. I just wanted to sell what I wanted to sell to tidy up my stack and move forward, so didn't really want to take too long about it. The money from the 2 x gold 1/4s I sold went straight on new 1/4 Oz's so I didn't lose out with the recent increase in price which was handy.

Apart from not having anything else to get rid of, hypothetically speaking, I do consider myself very new to this game still, even after my sales, and in the grand scheme of things I still am. Having bought and now sold on the forum I have seen the need for mutual trust from both sides. There is also the forum dialogue which may help in case of attempted cheating/fraud.

I think that if I was to put any silver up for sale I would probably do it myself now, hoping that I've earned enough trust, however, looking at my 'ratings' I could see why people who have been on here for years may still be a bit reticent to trust me on a 1oz gold coin perhaps. It's a lot of money to hand over to essentially an anonymous seller with no real receipt or point of contact other than what could be a small string of messages. Hence, as long as the buyer had a higher rating than me I would be happy to send prior to payment, but realistically, if I wanted a quick sale and cash in my hand, I would still be happy to take a small percentage hit to prove the coins' validity. 

If I'm being honest, I'd think twice before buying something of huge value from the anonymous person on this forum so why would I expect anyone to buy from me?? 

I also know that the cost to weight ratio is important to many on the forum so some would be reluctant to go down the verification route. However, you see posts that may be a month old, so is it worth that small fee to just help get the transaction done? I would argue that it is.

So to summarize, I think it all depends on value, and how quick you want the sale.

Another thing I've just thought of is that once the coins were sent away for verification and I had composed the sales post, there was very little left for me to do. Like I alluded to in the post above, I didn't have to package numerous batches of coins/bars nor make an equal number of trips to the post office to post them. 

And finally, I did have a 10oz Queens beast and 2 x 2 oz QBs from eBay (which as it happens, I didn't want to sell), so to get these validated was very reassuring.

l still believe that I got a great deal from @BackyardBullion and am incredibly happy that I employed his services. It just negated any 'trust' issues and made my sales very pain free. I would feasibly use him in the future, especially for expensive items, I think the picture of a coin on the Sigma just puts everyone at ease. There's a lot to be said for that.

All hypothetical anyway, I now have 3 of everything, gold and silver, with 3 kids to give them to.

Unless something extremely untowards happens in the future, there should be no need to ask myself the original question!!

I hope this in some way explains how I feel about it all, I am aware it became a bit 'War and Peace' so sorry for that. It's a bit difficult to explain just in writing.

Take it easy mate👊

Great answer. I think I’ve arrived at the same conclusion. Big value goes via the intermediary service @BackyardBullion, bullion silver I’ll take my chances. On my first sale @Gruffposted a picture of one of my coins in the ‘ today I received ‘ section on his sigma machine showing 9999 which was a great reassurance potentially for future buyers. I’m still touched by that gesture to this day.

3 of everything…..but how many maples you got? Only one click away and may even swap for first edition ‘ war ‘n’ peace ‘ 

[Gruff]

@Agaumac it was my pleasure, and I hope that by me doing that, as well as being fairly active on this forum, even if it is mostly replying to posts or comments on posts, with the occasional purchase from forum members, that that aids in the trust levels of other members on this forum when I come to sell some items at some point. 

And perhaps if @BackyardBullion is unavailable to provide intermediary services in the future for people I could assist too. The sigma device does help with that. 

[FFposh]

I don't have any maples! Not Au anyway!!! Yet!

I do think @Gruff makes a good point too. Somebody may not buy/sell too often but by posting regularly, their name stays current so that when they do post a sale people are more likely to assume s/he is trustworthy. Just being on the forum for a while with loads of posts show that you are more likely to be on the level, and not likely to disappear into the sunset, compared to a newbie who turns up offloading a quarter of his silver stack in one sitting 🤔🤣.

Also, when trying to price gold on the forum, apart from trying to help a mate out (who isn't really a mate!) surely no one will buy if the price is only a smidge less than a dealer, I'd pay the extra for peace of mind. I think you have to accept that you may not actually achieve what you originally envisaged from a sale, which can be disappointing but on the flip side, maybe you could pick up a bargain too! If you are prepared to gamble with your money. I think I'd rather know every time, the more I think about it tbh🤷

[FFposh]

Forgot to mention, written feedback is important in that people think that are happy with what they received but it still doesn't prove much unfortunately. @Gruffs photos would have been priceless as far as you were concerned as it essentially did what @BackyardBullion did for me. The purchase wasn't such a gamble for him, as there would be a 'paper trail' to show where he 'probably' purchased it should it have proven fake on his Sigma! Maybe we all need to take one big initial hit and buy a Sigma each. Although only after I've bought shares in the company of course👍

[Gruff]

@FFposh , @BackyardBullion did a great video on the Sigma Metalytics device, I've attached for reference.

I agree wholeheartedly that it is an expensive purchase, but if you're wanting to buy and sell, then it gives both buyer and seller peace of mind. But for the majority of people I can see that they would struggle to justify the cost for the apparent benefit from little use. Hopefully mine will get more use and as I said I'm happy to provide a service to the forum, albeit being mindful of not wanting to step on @BackyardBullion's toes as he already provides that service.

 

 

[BackyardBullion]

@Gruff no stepping on toes buddy 😜 the more options for forum members the better I say. 

[Agaumac]

4 minutes ago, FFposh said:

Forgot to mention, written feedback is important in that people think that are happy with what they received but it still doesn't prove much unfortunately. @Gruffs photos would have been priceless as far as you were concerned as it essentially did what @BackyardBullion did for me. The purchase wasn't such a gamble for him, as there would be a 'paper trail' to show where he 'probably' purchased it should it have proven fake on his Sigma! Maybe we all need to take one big initial hit and buy a Sigma each. Although only after I've bought shares in the company of course👍

Absolutely, that one picture was worth a great amount to me. Totally agree with your thoughts on gold too. With spot price ups and downs just now it’s difficult to place below dealers whilst still offering value to TSF members.

I haven’t seen much gold selling here heavier than a sovereign and appreciate that it’s chunky numbers for buyers. If the timing is right maybe selling gold to dealers might turn out to be just as cost effective.