Making an investment in precious metals is becoming increasingly mainstream, and for good reason. With economies struggling wherever you look and paper money constantly losing value due to inflation, people are more readily looking for the best way to protect their wealth.
Silver, in its various forms, is perhaps the best avenue for making an investment, and in the technological age we live in now, silver has never been easier to obtain.
In the past, those who desired to invest in precious metals were forced to find their local coin or pawn shop and browse their selection. This process was simple and straightforward, but for those living in rural areas, pawn or coin shops were not always easy to get to. Nowadays there are thousands of online resources by which you are able to purchase silver, or any other precious metal for that matter.
One of the most frequented places investors turn to when looking to purchase silver is eBay. eBay has been around for quite some time and seems to have people on it selling anything and everything under the sun, so it only makes sense that eBay would be a good place to look for silver as well.
In the next few sections everything you need to know about purchasing silver on eBay will be laid out and discussed in great detail.
Sellers
What separates buying silver on eBay from buying silver through most other online precious metals dealers is the fact that at eBay you stand the chance to be purchasing silver from any number of dealers whereas at a site like JM Bullion you are buying from only one dealer.
Since there are more people selling at the eBay marketplace this translates into better prices for the consumer, as increased competition typically does.
Though prices for silver have a high possibility of being more inexpensive on eBay than other online dealers, the sellers are who you have to be cautious about. Because anybody can sell on eBay it is harder to know who you can trust and who you can’t. Luckily, every seller on eBay has a “feedback” that is more or less a public record of what those who have dealt with a particular dealer in the past think about that dealer’s products and/or services (speed of shipment, providing a tracking number, insurance, etc.). As a prospective customer you should be sure to check a user’s feedback before making a purchase from said user. Two types of sellers you want to avoid are those with no (or very little) feedback and those with large quantities of negative or neutral feedback.
You can take your seller-check one step further and look deeper into the feedback as many of the people who leave neutral or negative feedback accompany their low rating with a brief comment explaining why they were not satisfied.
So long as you purchase from dealers who have an overwhelming majority of positive feedback you will have no problems and likely receive the same silver you could find on another precious metals site, only often times for a lower price.
Products
When it comes to the types of silver offered for sale on eBay the selection is not as cut and dry as it is on other metals dealers’ sites. The product selection is in constant flux on eBay though at any given time the sellers on eBay have listed silver coins, bars, rounds, and any other type of silver bullion you can think of.
In regards to precious metals on eBay, the specific item you are seeking may not be there one day and will be listed for sale in massive quantities the next. There is really no rhyme or reason behind the amount and type of silver bullion offered on eBay, but at any given time there is usually a plentiful offering.
Payment
When it comes to paying for your silver purchase on eBay, things work a bit differently than they do on most other precious metals retail sites. The most commonly accepted form of payment on eBay is via the e-wallet PayPal.
Making a payment through PayPal is simple, immediate, and most importantly safe. If you encounter a scammer who wishes to take your money without giving you the product you bought, you have PayPal’s services to rely on. If such a situation arises, PayPal will be able to return you your funds and likely punish the offending party. Luckily, scammer situations do not happen very often and most transactions happen cleanly without any issues.
If you would like to purchase silver on eBay but do not have a PayPal account, don’t worry, because setting up and funding an account is very simple. PayPal is the most popular e-wallet on the internet today and once you begin using their services you will understand why.
All in all, purchasing silver on eBay is becoming more and more investors’ first choice. The allure of more sellers and cheaper prices continues to draw customers in at increasing rates.