How To Buy Gold and Silver Bullion on Ebay

Home >> Why Buy Gold & Silver Coins, Bars & Investments on Ebay?

Author: Gold Why Webmaster
Date: March, 2008

If it's your first time buying gold or silver bullion, I highly recommend starting out with a well known gold shop. With a full service gold store such as Blanchard & Company, you will get a high level of customer service and the confidence that your gold is authentic. Buying gold bullion coins your first time can be a little intimidating. Why not buy from a very well respected store to make the whole process easier? (As an aside, buying gold is really easy and there is no reason to be intimidated at all.) Now, let's say you have bought gold at least one time before. You're a more seasoned gold investor. Then, it's time to consider buying gold and silver investments on Ebay. Ebay offers a goldmine of opportunity if you are patient and know what you're doing. It's time to make some great investments in gold and silver coins, bars, and bullion.

Ebay Is Perfect For The Small Time Gold Investor

Ebay has something great going for it: You can find a lot of great lower priced coins. What if you want to buy just one 1/10 gold bullion fractional coin. With the price of gold around $1000 per ounce, there is definitely a shortage of gold coins these days. If you go to your local shop, you might not be able to find what you want. I personally cannot find fractional Krugerrands anymore. If I go to a larger full service dealer, they're going to want a larger purchase. So what am I supposed to do if I want to make a small purchase and not have to buy several ounces of $1000 gold at a time? Ebay is a great solution. Ebay always has sellers who carry smaller fractional coins and specialize in smaller transactions. With low overhead, Ebay sellers can afford to specialize in small gold and silver coins that may not make economic sense for larger dealers. If you are a small time gold investor (or maybe a large time gold investor who wants to pick up a few smaller fractional coins), Ebay is the leader.

My Two Favorite Ebay Sellers

I am the number one fan of Jetco Minting and E Cohen Mint. I have written detailed reviews of my experience buying from them and I highly recommend checking them out. Jetco Minting specializes in exotic bullion bars, especially copper bullion. E Cohen Mint specializes in smaller fractional gold bullion coins for smaller investors or large investors interested in diversifying into smaller coins. I love the smaller coins they sell. They are competitively priced and the only of their kind on the market. Should gold ever be used as a currency, it will really pay off to own some E Cohen Mint 1 grain and 5 grain coins. Moreover, as the price of gold continues to rise, it will be harder and harder to find fractional gold coins because they will be the most accessible coins to most people price-wise and therefore carry the highest demand. The lesson: Consider Ebay sellers who have great reviews. My reviews of Jetco and Cohen are another data point to build your confidence in buying from them on Ebay. Other websites have reviews of Ebay sellers too.

More On Reviews

Panning For Gold Nuggets
©iStockphoto.com – clearviewstock

Reviews come in many shapes and sizes. In the previous example, the reviews are on my site. Check out other gold sites. I have a directory of gold sites. There are many sites out there who have reviews of their experiences on Ebay and it's worth your time to do the research up front and check them out. One word of advice: Look for authenticity in style and tone. Is the review well rounded? Is it overly biased? Is the review by the seller? The best reviews are unbiased (or biased as little as possible). How can you detect if the review is authentic? It's not that easy. You will need to use your best judgment. Also, in addition to reviews on websites, always check out the seller's feedback. It's important that previous buyers give positive feedback and reviews of the seller. I would not buy from sellers (especially when dealing with something as expensive as gold) unless they have a very high positive feedback rating. There are too many gold sellers out there to settle. Only buy gold from sellers who have high positive marks.

Sometimes It Is Too Good To Be True

Before you buy gold or silver, always know the spot price of gold. You should expect to pay no less than the spot price of gold for popular gold bullion coins and bars. If the item is selling for a lot less than the spot price of gold, that is a big red flag. Why? Ebay is a relatively efficient market these days, especially as gold becomes more and more popular. If an authentic coin is selling at a steep discount to spot, you can buy it and sell it back to someone else for spot price and get an immediate profit (this is called arbitrage). In an efficient market, arbitrage should not happen. If you see a steep discount and it looks to good to be true, it probably is. Proceed with caution in that case.

High Volume Gold Dealers

I recommend filtering for volume. Check out the sellers who have done several hundred gold sales or more. These are the gold bullion sellers you can trust assuming they also have a high positive feedback score. Volume indicates that they have been in the business for a while and must be doing something right. You will always end up paying a premium when you buy from a high volume seller. It's always worth it. Let's take a simple example. You buy a 1/10 ounce gold bullion American Eagle from a new seller. You get a super deal and only pay $100. Now, let's say you buy the same coin but pay $120 from a power seller. Let's say the first one ends up to be a fake and the second is real. You pay an extra $20 but isn't that better than getting something worth $0 with your hard earned investment dollars? I always go with the high volume sellers.

Pay Pal Offers Insurance

If you buy on Ebay using Pay Pal, your item may be insured meaning you get your money back if it never ships or is a fake. You can learn more about Pay Pal's insurance here. This helps with peace of mind and I would make sure your auction is covered. Another way to get insurance and guarantee peace of mind: Ask the seller to prove the authenticity of their gold. Maybe they can provide you of a receipt from when they bought the gold. In general, it's good to keep receipts and keep track of your purchases so you can prove their authenticity.

Where Should I Start?

Ready to buy some gold and silver bullion coins and bars on Ebay? Not sure where to start? One easy starting point is the Ebay store at the top of this page. Also, following are some of my favorite Ebay search queries:

To close out, I must say I love Ebay. It's a great place to find some really great coins and bargains that you simply cannot find elsewhere. Are you a silver art bar collector? You can find art bars unavailable elsewhere on Ebay. Ebay is great and I recommend it to you. Can things go wrong on Ebay? The answer is yes, if you don't know what you're doing. Follow the tips in this article and you will be off to a super start protecting your hard earned investment dollars and making wise investments in gold and silver on Ebay. Have fun!