And In The Alternate Universe Of Ebay

[Rollie Free]

Silver dollars are still crossing over 30 for commoners. They are paying more for those than a govt issue premium ouncer. Even the dreaded 21 Morgan is still bringing home the bacon.

[crypse]

But if you search around locally you can find silver dollars much cheaper.
At least here I can, maybe it is different in each geographical location.
I have to consider the fact that on eBay I am competing with buyers who live in states where it's more expensive to live and income is higher.
It's especially strange to me that people on eBay are paying more without even checking on the bullion websites for the obvious better prices.

[Rollie Free]

Oh yeah, I can get silver for several bucks cheaper at the local store and that has never been the case.
The topper is we have 7.5% sales tax. Whenever I get the feel I'll drop by. Last time I paid less than 25 plus tax so it ended up being a little over 26. That was when silver was stuck at about 28.50.

Thing is this is a recent phenomenon. Used to be silver was easily cheaper on eBay. This seemed to coincide with the loss of 3rd party rebates and tightening up of ebucks. I was wrong, thought prices (bids) would decline once that happened. I am not so sure they didn't even go up some. I used to really enjoy the thrill of the chase. Now I go on there like a zombie looking for a past life and finding none.

[bemac]

If you're looking for silver on ebay, I'd spend more time looking at new BIN's rather than auctions.

[gb1980]

I started buying silver rounds on Ebay back in 2002. Rounds were prevalent and the cost of shipping and handling was minimum comparatively. Seeing numerous offers for 20 rounds was the norm. Now it is not, it is the exception. More and more people are chasing fewer and fewer rounds. That means we are competing for fewer rounds. Thus, the price goes up accordingly. It is the free market conumdrum. I still get the best deals at local and big coin shows. The last major show was in January and I found silver rounds for .50 over spot. I certainly didn't expect that but took advantage of it. I also noticed that fewer and fewer dealers were even carrying silver rounds. Harder to find I am told and many don't want to mess with the ups and downs we have seen over the years. Some were holding back because they bought when the market was up and didn't want to sell for a loss when it dropped. Thus, another shortage created making for higher local prices.

Just my 2 cents!!

[bulloncoins]

I asked my friend Linda about her ebay sales of silver...mostly commemoratives...she told me the last few weeks were slow for her.
She has stuff listed now but said everyone seems to be waiting to the last second to bid on week long auctions and the results have been lower
bids all across the board for silver. She sells under bulliontradersllc ..... if you feel like it you can go back through some of her feedback and see for yourself. I have.... I don't buy or know much about commemoratives...or want to...but some people here seem to like them. She tells me her gold sales are good for any coins she puts up ... they sale well for her, no problem.

[~BS]

yeah, the bids are actually getting lower. I dont really stack morgan/peace dollars except for what I have in my collection so I sell what I do find back on ebay.

If in decent condition vg - vf - peace/ 1921 morgan dollar lots went for around $28 each recently. So I'm only probably netting $25 or so. Think apmex's buy price on those at spot 27.5 is around $25.50. But silver was in the high 26s when those auctions ended, so I guess I was around the same.

This next lot, I might just dump on apmex, especially since I have a bunch of decent 1904 and priors. I'd have to sell at over $31 just to break even with apmex's price on those. I'd hate to see them end at $28 per coin. lol But we'll see.


Commemoratives are slow because all the dealers and coin shops want premiums on those (probably to cover their fees). And those sets are essentially bullion with weird fractional weights.

[Silver Art]

If you're looking for silver on ebay, I'd spend more time looking at new BIN's rather than auctions.

That is a good point. For example, I will find a particular silver art bar that has a BIN price that is much lower than what it would usually go for on a regular ebay bidding auction. Low silver art bar BINs do not happen for me very often but when it happens, then I will jump on it if I have the FRNs.

[Silver Art]

I started buying silver rounds on Ebay back in 2002. Rounds were prevalent and the cost of shipping and handling was minimum comparatively. Seeing numerous offers for 20 rounds was the norm. Now it is not, it is the exception. More and more people are chasing fewer and fewer rounds. That means we are competing for fewer rounds. Thus, the price goes up accordingly. It is the free market conumdrum. I still get the best deals at local and big coin shows. The last major show was in January and I found silver rounds for .50 over spot. I certainly didn't expect that but took advantage of it. I also noticed that fewer and fewer dealers were even carrying silver rounds. Harder to find I am told and many don't want to mess with the ups and downs we have seen over the years. Some were holding back because they bought when the market was up and didn't want to sell for a loss when it dropped. Thus, another shortage created making for higher local prices.

Just my 2 cents!!

That has been my experience with past big and small coin shows that I have gone to. I usually get the best deals there since the cheapest LCS currently charges $3 over spot silver for .999 generic silver. I also agree that when spot silver drops very quickly (like it did last week), then some dealers hold back on inventory that they bought when spot was much higher. For example, when I was looking for silver art bars at the last show that I went to, I saw a dealer that I did past business with and asked him what he had and they said that they have silver but did not want to sell it since they bought when spot was in the $29-range. I cannot blame them for not wanting to sell for a loss.