Ebay Silver Prices

[FriedrichVonHayek]

I have noticed that 1 Kg Silver bars have been trading at a decent discount compared with buying from a Bullion dealer.

I must admit I find this highly unusual considering the nice uptick in the Silver price, usually Silver is more expensive on ebay than buying from a dealer.

Not sure what to make of this.

[Petra]

Just don’t bother with eBay 

always some on here for sale, the bonus being is that on here always a decent price and genuine 😮🤔

[FriedrichVonHayek]

2 minutes ago, Petra said:

Just don’t bother with eBay 

always some on here for sale, the bonus being is that on here always a decent price and genuine 😮🤔

I only use it for buying Scrap Silver, I just find it unusual that you can buy 1 Kg bars cheaper than a dealer as ebay is usually more expensive.

Maybe more people have wised up and buy on here.

[ZRPMs]

Over the Christmas I've been going through a few bits checking them with the Sigma recently purchased from @Fadeingstar Happy to say all test ok. However. My brother has called today to check a few of his coins and rounds. Sadly he wasn't as lucky.

When testing some of his eBay purchases he found a fake. He did concede that, he had thought there might have been more going from his experience. He said its so hard trying to buy from eBay in confidence. No matter what questions you ask or how much you study feedback, pictures or even follow gut feelings. Something will sting you. He's still happy taking the risk and he will continue to use eBay but he was saying that he'll probably join the forum and perhaps transition to purchasing more from here.

For myself. I haven't bought off eBay for a long time. I just find it too nerve wrecking as there seems to be more and more fakes on there, I stopped when a friend bought a tube of koala's, all were fake. Good ones but fake. If it seems too good to be true. Most often, it is. 

[gji25]

i have sold silver on ebay with no problems but its not as fast as selling on tsf. Also i have just recently bought a sigma pm verifier from a good forum member so that i can give any prospective buyer on ebay  pictures of the actual items tested on the sigma so to give them more confidence in purchasing my silver bullion items.

[Petra]

Much as I trust people on this forum and have bought virtually all my silver on here and all of my gold, I really don’t know why people put pictures on here of stuff being tested and showing a reading.

I could easily do that if selling an item, yet have never owned or used any type of precious metal tester. Simple really.

[James32]

12 minutes ago, Petra said:

Much as I trust people on this forum and have bought virtually all my silver on here and all of my gold, I really don’t know why people put pictures on here of stuff being tested and showing a reading.

I could easily do that if selling an item, yet have never owned or used any type of precious metal tester. Simple really.

How could you do it if you never owned a tester?

Why do i do it? To put people's minds at ease, specifically new members who have yet to find their feet and become accustomed to testing the manual way...

Nobody's journey start's out perfect, and if more seasoned stacker's can alleviate fear in any way for the one's to follow us, then that's a win in my book.

Here's how I test everything ( then and only then does it reach the sigma)

1) Look and feel of item

2) magnet

3) weigh 

4) check diameter and thickness with digital callipers ( pull specs from manufacturers/mint)

5) ping test ( as long as it's not a proof)

6) bigger bars are going for a swim courtesy of a specific gravity test 

If I've gotten this far and passed all tests, then I'm in a good mood 🤣 then I will put it on the sigma as a final box ticking exercise. 

As I can't upload a documentary on me going through every step above, a picture on the sigma will have to suffice.

 

 

[Mrpound]

6 minutes ago, James32 said:

How could you do it if you never owned a tester?

Why do i do it? To put people's minds at ease, specifically new members who have yet to find their feet and become accustomed to testing the manual way...

Nobody's journey start's out perfect, and if more seasoned stacker's can alleviate fear in any way for the one's to follow us, then that's a win in my book.

Here's how I test everything ( then and only then does it reach the sigma)

1) Look and feel of item

2) magnet

3) weigh 

4) check diameter and thickness with digital callipers ( pull specs from manufacturers/mint)

5) ping test ( as long as it's not a proof)

6) bigger bars are going for a swim courtesy of a specific gravity test 

If I've gotten this far and passed all tests, then I'm in a good mood 🤣 then I will put it on the sigma as a final box ticking exercise. 

As I can't upload a documentary on me going through every step above, a picture on the sigma will have to suffice.

 

 

I bought a sigma a few years ago and I found 2 fake Scottsdale mint bars, a fake Morgan and peace all bought from eBay.

Wasn’t that mad tbh just justified the price of the sigma for the future 🤣

agree with everything you just said 👍

[Petra]

1 hour ago, James32 said:

How could you do it if you never owned a tester?

Why do i do it? To put people's minds at ease, specifically new members who have yet to find their feet and become accustomed to testing the manual way...

Nobody's journey start's out perfect, and if more seasoned stacker's can alleviate fear in any way for the one's to follow us, then that's a win in my book.

Here's how I test everything ( then and only then does it reach the sigma)

1) Look and feel of item

2) magnet

3) weigh 

4) check diameter and thickness with digital callipers ( pull specs from manufacturers/mint)

5) ping test ( as long as it's not a proof)

6) bigger bars are going for a swim courtesy of a specific gravity test 

If I've gotten this far and passed all tests, then I'm in a good mood 🤣 then I will put it on the sigma as a final box ticking exercise. 

As I can't upload a documentary on me going through every step above, a picture on the sigma will have to suffice.

 

 

If you want to put a picture up, no problem. If someone was doing that on eBay do you really think that it would make me feel any safer about buying his gold?🤔 Picture of something being tested? Uploaded and sent in short order, plenty knocking around.

[James32]

1 minute ago, Petra said:

If you want to put a picture up, no problem. If someone was doing that on eBay do you really think that it would make me feel any safer about buying his gold?🤔 Picture of something being tested? Uploaded and sent in short order, plenty knocking around.

Yeah I see your point on that, could probably include an ebay username and date in the picture. Similar to on here I suppose. 

I personally very rarely buy on ebay, if I do its because I can judge with a degree of certainty from the picture that the item is genuine. Cross checking the feedback etc, not just the score, but has the seller sold those types of items before. 

 

[Petra]

Just now, James32 said:

Yeah I see your point on that, could probably include an ebay username and date in the picture. Similar to on here I suppose. 

I personally very rarely buy on ebay, if I do its because I can judge with a degree of certainty from the picture that the item is genuine. Cross checking the feedback etc, not just the score, but has the seller sold those types of items before. 

 

😁feedback, items sold, totally agree. Do that if I go and look at the latest bin lord on here😮🤔

[Robda1986]

Just had a skim through fleeBay all I'm seeing is the same genetic things guessing the supply shortage is finally biting the end buyers and guessing it's only going to be slimmer pickings from here on forth 

[SidS]

On 02/01/2023 at 00:39, James32 said:

Yeah I see your point on that, could probably include an ebay username and date in the picture. Similar to on here I suppose. 

I personally very rarely buy on ebay, if I do its because I can judge with a degree of certainty from the picture that the item is genuine. Cross checking the feedback etc, not just the score, but has the seller sold those types of items before. 

 

I always look at the seller's other items for sale as well.

[SidS]

20 hours ago, Robda1986 said:

Just had a skim through fleeBay all I'm seeing is the same genetic things guessing the supply shortage is finally biting the end buyers and guessing it's only going to be slimmer pickings from here on forth 

Snap! I haven't looked through eBay for a while. There's only three pages worth of pre-1920 bulk lots and they're all either threepences, or for the larger coins really low grade and damaged stuff.

[DrPoo]

I don't buy too much off ebay as a more potential for coming across fakes and also prices typically seem inflated. I have a browse from time to time and I have bought a few bits at reasonable prices. 

However the stuff I have bought is small weight/low value and also items that are more obscure/semi numismatic/semi collectable. Basically stuff that I feel is less likely to be faked, because its too niche and also not high enough value to warrant the effort. I am not saying that thought process means anything following that logic will never be fake but the chances are certainly smaller.

You look on wish and it is full of fake maples, eagles, JM bars, Sunshine bars, silver town etc etc. So on ebay any of that popular well known generic stuff I steer well clear of, it's just not worth it. 

[flyingveepixie]

Ebay just isn't worth the risk nowadays unless as I mentioned before you're just buying a piece of cheap two bob tat.  As for silver and gold, I did buy some silver brits from there at the beginning of my stacking journey and although I'm sort of sure they're genuine and both sellers I purchased from had high feedback with no negs and are both still selling on there, there is still that little niggle about them in the back of my mind. 

It's all to do with the reputation of the site now as far as I'm concerned and it's overall not good, whether it be concerning bad buying experience, poor customer service from ebay support, poor selling experience, (yes buyers can be scammers too) or whatever. 

  I used to buy and sell guitars, guitar parts, effects pedals, amps, as well as music memorabilia like old concert ticket stubs, programmes etc and other stuff on ebay. I did it for years and mostly without a problem but I just can't be bothered with it any more because everyone wants the stuff for next to nothing and so much of the stuff you see on there now is fake anyway and it brings the whole experience down to gutter level for everyone.  It's kind of like a race to the bottom on ebay and the Chinese are winning hands down with all of their convincing fakery. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[Petra]

1 hour ago, flyingveepixie said:

Ebay just isn't worth the risk nowadays unless as I mentioned before you're just buying a piece of cheap two bob tat.  As for silver and gold, I did buy some silver brits from there at the beginning of my stacking journey and although I'm sort of sure they're genuine and both sellers I purchased from had high feedback with no negs and are both still selling on there, there is still that little niggle about them in the back of my mind. 

It's all to do with the reputation of the site now as far as I'm concerned and it's overall not good, whether it be concerning bad buying experience, poor customer service from ebay support, poor selling experience, (yes buyers can be scammers too) or whatever. 

  I used to buy and sell guitars, guitar parts, effects pedals, amps, as well as music memorabilia like old concert ticket stubs, programmes etc and other stuff on ebay. I did it for years and mostly without a problem but I just can't be bothered with it any more because everyone wants the stuff for next to nothing and so much of the stuff you see on there now is fake anyway and it brings the whole experience down to gutter level for everyone.  It's kind of like a race to the bottom on ebay and the Chinese are winning hands down with all of their convincing fakery. 

I sell on eBay (not precious metals) and the killer now is the fees. The funny thing is that for parcels you seem to be pushed to using evri, who as we know aren’t the best, especially if you sell stuff that can be broken if thrown over a garden fence! Hence I have even stopped using their signed and tend to use the post office.

[flyingveepixie]

Yep the fees are bad but still not as bad as Amazon became when I stopped selling with them - circa 25% of the sale price if memory serves. I think ebay fees now if you use their own payment system are just a tiny bit less than they used to be when they still insisted on offering Paypal as a payment option but I'm not 100% sure of that.   I never used ebay postal services as you just get charged more for it and have always arranged my own courier or took the stuff to the PO.

I've still got a couple of bits and pieces for sale on ebay but am finding them really difficult to shift - they've been up for months and I've reduced the price several times but can't make the sales anymore for some reason.

Edited January 8, 2023 by flyingveepixie

[Littlemac]

I took a chance at the weekend and bought a few 1 oz coins from Spain. All I can say so far is that they've been shipped. 1 kg bars seem to be good value, but it's more money than most people would be comfortable with spending on something that just might be fake. Perhaps that's why they are cheaper than dealers? I have bought Sterling silver on ebay in the past and never had any problems. It is a good 'shop window' though that could lead to a good source in the future.