Hi I have considered buying some gold and silver coins on ebay. However I do have some big concerns about fakes and seller who might not ship at all even after paying. What can one do to protect yourself from issues buying via ebay?
If you pay with PayPal you will get PayPal buyer protection. If you get screwed you can put in a claim and PayPal will retrieve your funds from the seller.
If your in Melbourne , why bother with ebay With the amount of dealers in town that's your best option Ebay is the last place I would buy from
Easiest way is not to buy from eBay at all unless it's someone who has been around a while with perfect trading history. Apparently the odds are usually in the buyers favour if you pay by PayPal but it's a good amount of hassle and can't imagine it'd be worth it to save a few $'s if something does go wrong. Drop in to Spanner and say hi. He loves answering newbie questions
Only if he buys me a coffee I'll be in town tomorrow from around 10am if you want a quick tour of the dealers
I used to have my fair share of fear when I start buying past-year releases from the Bay back in 2013. But eventually I realize it is not that scary as long as you stick with Paypal payment (strictly no payment outside of eBay). So far I have received genuine silver and gold coins but there are a few incidents where the coins I purchased were not in good condition (seller stated excellent condition). These isolated cases were addressed promptly by Paypal and I got refunded fully after I ship the coin back. If you just started, try to limit your purchase to small value items. Once you get the hang of it (deliver time frame, seller's reputation etc) you can then make bigger purchases.
I have just spent the day regaining my money through paypal for a dud /fake 1934/35 florin. Unbelievable. Paypal were good direct phone contact made the claim and found in my favour today. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that it was pay after delivery and that was not due till 18th. I said the money is yours, you have already paid. They moved very quickly. The point being a) dont buy of ebay unless you use paypal and take the pay after delivery option. where they dont take the money for 21 days. I have had two fake coins in one week. The first a 38 crown where it was fixed instantly by the seller and refunded within minutes the florin is another story giving me some grief and abuse because its gone against them . The listing was for a Aunc. lustrous florin with no ware. It turned out to be far from this.scratches, worn wreath to nothing, typical fat to thin on rim, reeding very amateurish and uneven. Over weight. Now saying I am the scammer. Huh!! Better still dont touch ebay unless you are very sure. Email seller and get to know them first. Check the feedback carefully go nowhere near anyone with low number of feedback. If anyone is interested I will upload a photo of the rim and reeding on the florin. One of the strong signs of a fake getting the rim thickness even all round. cheers.
I've been using ebay since 1999 and encountered only two trouble transactions that were rectified. For common stuff I buy from local dealer or jmbullion but for rare and hard to find items, ebay can't be beat.
It depends on what you buy and where you live. If you buy relatively small amounts of any tired old blob (common, non-denom bullion bar) and you have easy enough access to a bullion dealer who doesn't charge taxes on whatever blobs he may happen to have on the shelf that day, then you may be better off buying from the dealer. But many sellers on eBay ship free and charge no tax. I've never had problems on eBay and I have often gotten much better prices than from brick and mortar dealers. If you are looking for semi-numi coins, in most cases eBay is a much better source than a local dealer who may take weeks or months to get what you are looking for. As for fakes, the buyer protection for buyers is about the best there is on the web. But if you buy from reputable sellers, you needn't really worry. I recently bought a few graded silver Canadian maple Leafs on eBay through APMEX....the same coins APMEX was selling on their own official site were listed at more than twice the cost on ebay. APMEX obviously goofed on the eBay listing and I took advantage of that. Another eBay seller just yesterday told me of the same exact thing that happened on eBay with APMEX (different graded coin) but he made a winfall because he was able to buy more than 20 graded ASE's at about $34 and is easily selling them for $60-$64 on eBay (PCGS price guide value is close to $100 for these coins if I remember correctly). The point is, I find that eBay is a great place to shop and I have never knowingly received a fake. I am selective as to who I buy from and if the price is way too good to be true...I find out more about what is being offered for sale before I make the purchase. .
Ebay is really not bad as long as you play it safe. There are tons of legitimate dealers like apmex and mcm on there as well as legit smaller dealers. Just don't buy from anyone with a deal too good to be true and with low feedback and you will be fine. If you get something you didn't expect you are covered so just return it. I've bought half my stack off ebay so far with no issues.
Most of my experience on ebay have been good. There was one case in where I asked the seller what those whitish marks were on the coin ( his picture had bad lighting ). He said they were nothing and that he has never taken the coin out of the capsule. ( it was a 5 oz coin ) When the coin arrived it turned out those marks were fingerprints. I'm particular about finger prints....If I'm paying more then double the price of spot for a silver coin I don't want just another bullion round. I opened a case and lost! Paypals agreed with his reason, the seller did not list the coin as graded...I called in twice to complain with the same outcome. After that experience I just stick with sellers that have something to lose from a bad ratting their more likely to not try to pull anything shady moves.
If you stick with reputable sellers you will be fine. In my case, I have a 14 day no questions asked return policy. In the end of it I am just try to sell coins and have happy customers so anytime a customer is unhappy I don't make a judgement about it at all....they are free to return and receive a full refund. Having said that you would be amazed at the things people complain about. Many buyers seem to have a bias that someone is trying to pull a fast one on them so they jump right to that conclusion without ever reaching out to the seller for resolution. One other thing I would add is that reputable sellers have a lot to lose financially in the form of discounted seller fees. So they are incentivized to be fair and reasonable. The real key word here is reputable. I buy a lot on eBay also and my experience has been positive. They made good on every purchase I ever made and had a problem with. Even when it was several 1 ounce gold coins and I know they had to eat the funds.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience...that really sucks. Maybe you can share the seller's name so the rest here don't get possibly ripped off by that seller's poor customer service. .
The seller does not sell coins so I don't think anyone here has anything to worry about. That was my first mistake buying from someone who knows nothing about coins so I'm sure to him he doesn't know how to handle them. He's only had one coin sale in the last few months. I just can't believe he got away with lying about the item, I was so surprised I lost. I mean I specifically asked what those marks were and he said "I don't see anything the coin has never been out of it's capsule." I can send you a private message of his name if you wish but I'd rather leave it out of the forum. Anyways I didn't let this experience sour me on ebay. I've been able to add harder to find coins that my local dealer otherwise wouldn't have. Like I said up there If you just stick with sellers who will have something to lose from a bad rating they are less likely to pull anything shady.
@ chubbycheeks, no need to share that user's name as I mostly use eBay now days to buy silver medals and coins so I doubt I'd have any business with that seller anyway. I'm glad that experience didn't sour you to eBay because there are so many reputable sellers on eBay who are doing the right thing or always striving to do the right thing for the buyers. .
