silver prices on ebay...

[johloh]

Looking at bars today on ebay...why are bars selling for $17+ an ounce?

thats 33% over spot? and, those are the cheapest, many are selling for way more...

 

[Silver_Fox]

Most likey they were put up before the drop.

 

[jim4silver]

Looking at bars today on ebay...why are bars selling for $17+ an ounce?

thats 33% over spot? and, those are the cheapest, many are selling for way more...

The story is that the spot price is determined by futures markets which are basically paper contracts that for silver and gold rarely result in actual delivery of goods. The physical price you are going to pay on Ebay or at a coin store is that price for which someone is willing to sell you real, tangible silver.

I went to a couple coin stores these last few days and even ones with silver on hand are not selling for their usual premiums. They know that at least for a while they will not be able to replace what they sell you for such low prices. If the prices stay low for a while that will change and product will enter the market place as people chicken out and sell their stash, or people who need money liquidate.

Go to some of the big online dealers and look at their prices. Some are selling ASEs for 20 bucks each, some even more.

I tried to get some silver at low prices today buy the premium was over two bucks for Engelhard bars. I thought that was too steep so I wound up buying a cool 50 peso Mexican gold coin for a few bucks over melt. Nice to add to the stash.

Jim

 

[BBcardsRI]

Yea... it's NOT because they were put up when silver was high.

It is because there is a CLEAR silver shortage. Shortage in this sense is defined by a lack of physical silver in the market available to buy.

Here is an experiment for you:

1.) Ring up 100 coin/PM/jewler shops.
2.) See how many even HAVE bullion.
3.) See how many of THOSE are willing to sell it TODAY and not when prices change.
4.) See how many of THOSE will sell for ANYTHING near "spot".

Are you down to zero shops in that 4th group yet?

Immy tried buying silver 10oz bars today and got there too late. The dealer was selling for $134 a bar... which is OVER spot, yet still considered a VERY good price. Sad how a VERY good price could be so far OVER spot isn't it? Even more sad that SO MANY people think that that they sold out before he could even get to the shop.

Out of my 3 dealers, one is selling 10oz bars for $165, one for $150, and another has NONE to sell.

And "spot" is supposed to be $12.70? LMAO... uh.... NO!

Spot is a joke... a manipulated joke. As the saying goes... something is worth only what someone will pay for it. Spot does NOT follow that saying. EBAY does.

So you tell ME... what is silver worth? This magical "spot" number? Or what hundreds of people on ebay and thousands and thousands at coin dealers around the country are paying?

~Dave

 

[alpha105]

Over spot is usually by the ounce.....say 40c over spot.....buy a 10 oz bar....$4

 

[theeteetotaler]

one day auction on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Roll-Silver-W...ryZ11972QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[jim4silver]

one day auction on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Roll-Silver-W...ryZ11972QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Whoever bought them paid too much, $6.88 a piece. Melt on these coins is $4.62. Ebay is great for sellers of silver. I wish I knew how do the Ebay thing, I would sell my BU Silver Eagles and Maples one at a time, plus tack on some steep shipping charges.

Jim

 

[fistfulladirt]

one day auction on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Roll-Silver-W...ryZ11972QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Whoever bought them paid too much, $6.88 a piece. Melt on these coins is $4.62. Ebay is great for sellers of silver. I wish I knew how do the Ebay thing, I would sell my BU Silver Eagles and Maples one at a time, plus tack on some steep shipping charges.

Jim

Jim, not sure how it is where you live, but here they offer free classes on how to sell/buy on Ebay, usually a quarterly thing, I just watch my local newspaper, many times it's offered at the local library. I have bought things, but have never been a seller. Some day.... AMC

 

[jim4silver]

Jim, not sure how it is where you live, but here they offer free classes on how to sell/buy on Ebay, usually a quarterly thing, I just watch my local newspaper, many times it's offered at the local library. I have bought things, but have never been a seller. Some day.... AMC
[/quote]


AMC,

I could probably learn how to do it as you suggested. I think my fear is more about not getting paid/getting ripped off. I have read some horror stories about Paypal not letting people take money out of their accounts, etc. I have heard there are consignment type companies that sell your stuff on ebay for you, but this would probably eat into any profits too much.

Jim

 

[BBcardsRI]

Consignement DOES edge into profits, and with the way FEE-bay is to start with... it is NOT worth it in my opinion AT ALL.

I've bought and sold things on ebay in the past but I try my best to sell on other sites that specialize more. Selling books for instance is better on a number of NON fee-bay sites. Paypal is almost a MUST for a seller, so right there, not only do you have ebay fees, but also paypal fees. You have to pay just to list your auction... which depending on what features you use... pictures, etc. can run you a few dollars PER auction. Then you have to give ebay a percentage of what your auction sells for (their commision). Then when you try to retrieve the payment from paypal, THEY take a fee as well.

So your idea of selling eagles by the single piece... that would NOT work unless people paid INSANE premiums or you TOTALLY screwed them on shipping. The list fees alone would hurt you, let alone the TWO commisions you would need to pay PER eagle sold.

I was definately more a fan of fee-bay BEFORE I started selling and saw their evil side.

If you do want to learn though there is always that bald guy with the mustache pawning his discs on late night TV. He has a deal going now where he sends you the ebay disc for free and you just pay shipping. :P

~Dave

 

[Silver_Fox]

Folks, don't let people's posts like BBcardsRI scare you off from selling on Ebay. All the sellers I know that call it feebay want something for nothing. I have been selling since 1999. Sure they have fee's. They are a business. Business's charge to use there service. The fee's are nothing compared to renting a store and trying to run it. On one of my good years I made about 4K selling on Ebay and had about $600 in fee's. I couldn't rent a place for a month for $600. Also, you have millions of people looking at stuff 24/7. For every one "horror" story there are millions of good story's. And usually a horror story is because someone didn't know what they were doing.
HH, S_F

 

[scotto]

I know of one dealer who is telling people that he's out of scrap silver, instead of people coming in all day long and arguing about the price. We all know it will go back up, and dealers don't want losses like that just to do business right now.
The local dealer here is selling silver junk coins for $15/oz., which is darn good compared to what you could buy it for a couple months ago. Some people would be more than happy to pay that if they could find any for sale.

 

[cyberdan]

I have heard there are consignment type companies that sell your stuff on ebay for you, but this would probably eat into any profits too much.

I have seen two franchise type consignment stores come and go out here. They are probably in business for 6-8 months and then dissapear. I don't know what fees they charged, but I guess it didn't pay the rent.

 

[BBcardsRI]

Wouldn't call my story a "horror story" by any means.

I STILL sell on ebay on occasion. I just HATE the fees. I prefer one FLAT fee and not a bunch of convoluded ones. For example, I LOVE selling on places like Half.com which runs things differently (though they are ironically an ebay run company).

If you don't consider the fees BEFORE even listing your item, you could get hurt. I simply wanted people to know this, so I listed all the fees and my dislike of them. I think that is fair and hardly a horror story.

The only real horror story as far as ebay goes that I can even think of is when someone pulls payment with paypal after you already recieved it, thus you have sent the item out and now have neither the item you sold or the money and are completely screwed. This happens A LOT to the unsuspecting, but thankfully never to me... at least thus far.

~Dave

 

[DrDetector]

I sell a lot on Ebay, usually I pay Ebay $300 to $400 a month just in fees. Plus you do pay Paypal fees as well. BBCardsRI...that did happen to me once. I lost $400 plus countless hours and miles driving...long story. Protect yourself by using delivery confirmation and signature confirmation if the item totals over $250. I recommend using the 'Print Shipping Label' feature...you print it automatically to the correct address and del. confirmation is free. Plus no trip to the P.O. Then if the buyer opens a dispute and says they never received it, you have proof that you sent it to the correct address. I learned this the HARD way, like I stated before. Also Ebay and Paypal are both clear about how much they charge and for what, so before you list you should know roughly how much fees you'll be charged if you can estimate how much your item will sell for.

 

[Silver_Fox]

Protect yourself by using delivery confirmation and signature confirmation if the item totals over $250.

Smart kid.