Why is it that so many people are buying silver on Ebay at prices that would make an informed buyer cry? With Ebay and payment gateway fee's being high as they are, private sellers have no choice but to jack up pricing on silver or on shipping to be able to make any kind of a profit. I tried it myself once to see what the experience would be like. I sold a 2015 silver maple leaf for $30 and 4.99 shipping and after all the fees, postage and materials I was out of pocket by 20c. No market at all for small private sellers, but....Large distributors are selling silver on Ebay at slightly elevated rates with reasonable shipping costs which I could not match, even if I was buying at spot. All my calculations told me that they a) must be making a loss, b) have a special ultra low rate with ebay to be able to sell at the price they do and make a profit or c) they are somehow redirecting customers to their own site and payment gateway, therefore bypassing ebay fee's. The latter doesn't make sense to be at all, if ebay catches them, then they have lost a sales channel which will have a significant impact on their business. Anyway, back to my point, why is it that people (and lots of people) are willing to buy silver on ebay at such incredible prices? Is there anything we can do to help inform them and redirect to reputable companies that can offer them more silver for their $$? Has anyone else spotted this and what are peoples thoughts on this matter Mike
Mike Can you clarify your example Was postage included in the sale? What was your buy price on the Maple? Can you break down your exact fees? Cheers REDBACK
I it depends on what your after I think. I have been buying a few things ofF eBay lately because there price beats that of my regular online dealers.
I know exactly what you mean and I have pondered this mystery myself. Even at the outrageous prices silver products sell for on ebay, the seller must be netting less than cost after the fees are extracted. As for directing these foolish masses to more reputable companies. These same reputable companies do trade on ebay at inflated prices but make no secret of the fact they trade the same products on their own web sites at much lower prices than they ask on ebay. Perth Bullion for example. They trade on ebay under their company name and only fall short of providing a link to their own trading platform to inform ebay idiots that these products can be purchased at far lower prices by dealing directly with them. I can only put it down to laziness and stupidity and if that is the case I would not waste a second of my time trying to inform such people there is a better alternative. I would rather sell to them myself, assuming it was profitable to both myself and ebay but that is certainly not the case. Ebay seems to take all the profit and a good chunk of the acquisition costs as well.
Yeah, I completely agree with you Silver Bullitt. I took action against this as silver is a passion of mine so I set up an online store to not only sell silver to the average person but to be able to inform them of what choices are available and the do's and don'ts. It wont make me reach as my profit is minimum but I dont like to see people being stupid and getting ripped off. @ shippveet. What kind of products you been buying on ebay? Every single silver bullion product on that site I know could get cheaper elsewhere. Im lucky though, i have one of the biggest distributors in North America 2 km away from where I live, so as long as I buy in a decent quantity I can sell it on while passing on the savings to my clients.
@Rodmadman. Not a bad price, I can get a 10oz at time of writing for 166.90 how much did you pay for shipping?
Actually im on ebay right now and there is not a 10 oz less than $173.98 + $8.77 shipping =182.75 or $18.28 per oz
I know of some people who buy silver on eBay cos they can get cashback and even use gift cards to get them at close to spot as possible.
I have consistently found better bargains on eBay for many of the coins/medals I am interested in than all other dealers combined except for a few instances. Before purchasing on eBay, I shop around to all the major coin dealers for whatever it is I am looking to buy. That, coupled with one of the best buyer protection policies around and buying during a 2X, 3X, 4X, or 5X eBay bucks reward means I am basically getting free money to buy more silver. From my buyer's vantage, there's nothing better than eBay for most of what I am interested in. .
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-5-2015...nds-SKU33326-/141455163356?nav=DEALS&_bdg=902 http://m.ebay.com/itm/141000011124 Two deals both below 17 usd... Neither are that great but less than 18 used for sure...
When i first startwd stacking i bought around 20 ounces on ebay. That was before i found out that there are bullion dealers in Australia and not just America. Now i buy most of my precious metals from this site unless the spot price is so low that no one wants to sell. In that case i buy from my local dealer
I buy most of my precious metals on eBay. Why? Because it's hard to beat USA eBay sale price from major eBay dealers and I can use credit card and get reward points and get my metals delivered in couple of days. If you randomly buy on eBay, sure you'll pay more than elsewhere. But if you wait for Apmex, Liberty, MCM, Bay Precious Metals, and etc weekend sales you can score great deals that's cheaper than online retailers own websites. And you get the convenience of paying by credit card with no fees and up to 3% cash back after CC and Ebates. And you can often buy eBay gift cards at 5-15% discount making the deals sweeter. Then sometimes you can get 4-5X eBay Bucks stacked on top making the deals unbeatable. Lately, I've been buying lot of silver, platinum, and gold from Bay Precious Metals during their weekly sales. They're pretty new eBay seller who's quickly becoming the company to buy from on eBay. Bay Precious Metals is the eBay account of Coins 'N Things. CNT Inc is the largest wholesale gold dealer in the US and sells billions of dollars in gold and silver to the US Mint. So the question is not why are so many people buying silver on eBay. The question is why are you NOT buying silver and other precious metals on eBay if you live in the US? Do you not like saving money?
sk, That's actually a great point about payment method. For eBay purchases, I always use my credit card (through PayPal) and I rack up nice rewards points on my credit card along with eBay Bucks...double freebies. I can't do that anywhere else on the W.W.W. .
There's also a lot of older bars and rounds for sale on eBay. So long as your willing to pay the premium you can get some really nice vintage metal.
What is this 2X, 3X, 4X, or 5X eBay bucks reward ? When it this on and how does it work ? Cheers, HAPPY STACKING
Yes, all the retail markets in the U.S. are obviously different due to demographics among other factors. Here in Australia, where the consumer has less bang for the buck, ebay has lately become unviable from the perspective of private sellers and small retailers and the subsequently higher prices make it a non starter for any but the most foolish buyers who seem to not care about paying far too much. Sure, I pick up bargain priced silver and gold on ebay and have done for many years but usually only from private sellers who are obviously selling at considerable losses or from international sellers I deal with occasionally. These bargains are becoming much more scarce in Aus these days BTW and fraudulent sellers are also very much on the rise as well, I have found. We get none of the deals here that ebay offers over seas. Here ebay just gouge for the biggest chunk they can grab and I can see myself, in the not too distant future, not dealing with ebay at all. I'm afraid you Americans are in for quite a shock as your economy declines and purchasers have less influence on retail markets so do try to appreciate and enjoy what you have now, while it lasts.
eBay will send a notice to (select) eBay members who have signed up for the free eBay Bucks program, on occasion, notifying the member that for the next X number of days, purchases (except in certain categories) made during that time will earn the buyer "eBay Bucks" that ranges from 2X - 5X the normal bucks you would normally earn from the purchase of that item ( http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/ebay-bucks.html ) You spend eBay Bucks like cash on eBay. .
This question pops up here from time to time. I'll answer it a little differently this go-around.. I won this in an eBay auction from Scottsdale (yes, that Scottsdale) earlier this year. Not many dealers carrying it at the time, and especially not at that price.. Another example.. Purchased a hard-to-find fractional gold coin from Apmex. Same price on eBay as their regular site. However, used a 10%-off eBay coupon, one-time use, good on anything, up to $100 off..
Nice kilo Libertad! I can't recall ever getting an eBay coupon but I do get fairly frequent notices about multiple X eBay bucks rewards. .
