I was thinking more along the lines of. How does everyone store their fakes so it dosent mix with their stack? Whats the best reputable fake bullion dealer? I lost my fake, what the fastest way to test my whole stack?
The charlatans are way ahead of you. They simply say "This is a fake" "Don't think you are getting the real thing." Truth in advertising. Not all of them, but easy to do and still make money. They don't get the price of the real deal, but they do get three times the price of the source. The person buying them, for resale, different story. Caveat emptor ~ ~ Not just silver, reproductions of all sorts of valuable things are produced, and sold as "reproduction". Bought, then sold as "authentic". Dishes, lamps, chairs, comic books. If someone collects it, someone is making a reproduction, selling it as such, and putting it into the marketplace.
Something I have also seen when I was selling and purchasing designer jeans like True Religions on ebay is people will post photos of everything that would indicate they are fake to a person who knows how to spot them but would never mention in the listing. That would weed out the the educated ones and the only people still bidding are clearly the ones that do not know the difference and are unlikely to be displeased with the pants because they see exactly what they are bidding on. Fakes often went for more then real authentic pairs. So many shady ways things are done on there.
My only complaint is that somehow eBay is seen as unique. Someone said 'Can't you get cheated there?' 'You can get cheated at Sears.' was my reply. 'Your credit card information can get swiped at a 5 star restaurant.' was my reply. Way back when.....someone was selling tags, for Beanie Babies (remember them?). Just the tags, with the little string, perfect reproduction tags, by the dozen. Someone on the discussion forum asked the seller directly, "Why are you selling those things?" "Because people buy them." was the reply.
You are correct, there is a risk associated with almost anything involving goods and money. Ebay is just another outlet. Best to be informed and try not to make any obvious mistakes. Still Interesting how Ebay stays around when being worried about purchasing a fake or getting ripped off is everyones first thought when making a purchase on there. Its everywhere though, I would put craigslist on par or above ebay. Yes i remember i had like 30 haha. If there is a demand there will always be someone to fill it.
here is 1 for Craig. May not be interested in Aussie ebay as it doesn't have 20% VAT http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2014-Lun...36063?pt=AU_Coins2&hash=item27e5037ebf&_uhb=1 There is quite a bit of this shit up at the moment
Why buy from Ebay? Go straight to the sources -- http://www.aliexpress.com --and-- http://www.alibaba.com They both have far more extensive offerings of all kinds of fakes than Ebay has. Edit: Search "silver coins" or "silver bars" or any other PM term or name in either of those two websites. They have plated knockoffs of almost anything you can think of. The dimensions are off, the weights are off and you'll find flaws in the artwork, lettering, etc, but... To an inexperienced eye, most of them look pretty good.
Good luck with that! I`v been trying for ages, and ended up with nothing but a stack of pure silver :/ you just can`t trust anyone nowadays *sigh*
Should everyone just create 1 useless thread We'll flood the SS with gazillions of threads and waste all our time answering each other's stupid questions as we obviously won't be reading existing threads. "Ain't nobody got time for dat!" Then we'll be all set.
Should we put our monsterbox coins in capsules? Should we drive home after a silver purchase or go to movies first? Should we already clean coins when yellow or should we wait for black? Should we wear a scarf when going to dealer?
