Bullion suppliers, dealers and trust......

[Gorseinonboy]

I'm still very new to the buying of precious metals and other coins but have been involved in quite a few transactions in the past year since I started collecting. I have bought from Bullion sites in the Uk and from Europe, EBay suppliers and individuals from specialist groups on Facebook. Almost without exception these transactions have been fair and transparent and I have grown to trust in the words and actions of many dealers/suppliers. Perhaps I have been lucky in my purchases, perhaps I am a little too naive but mostly I have found that no one wants to rip me off........

........is this the experience of others or do you have some horror stories?

[SILVERFINGER]

Only dealer I have bought from so far and have never regretted it yet is from Martin at Silvertrader, when I first started stacking I did a lot of research first and he was great in talking me through collecting and the do's and dont's and put my mind at ease on my 1st ever purchase, places like this forum and some of the youtube contributors are a massive help too but sometimes us collectors can be biased especially if we have had one bad experience somewhere, if one person has a bad experience, listen to the evidence and look into it, if many have a bad experience, I would avoid, sometimes saving money isnt worth losing your sanity.

[BackyardBullion]

I had a bad experience with this company

 

[kimchi]

It's always worth searching the forum for dealers who are new to you. I've had a miserable time with BNT recently, if only I'd searched here before using them.

[ChrisSilver]

Moved to the General Precious Metals section. 

[dicker]

I concur with others here around reccomendations. It is not flawless but some dealers get great commendations time after time.  That counts for a lot 

[Blockhead]

As I'm new to the forum and working my way round the posts (many hours enjoyed here so far) I am wondering if people here tend to avoid ebay. In the earlier days I bought 1ozt silver bars and coins if they were cheap, as I didn't know much about what might do well in the future and just wanted low premium over spot. That is still pretty much my strategy a year later unless something really catches my eye. The only exception has been gold which I have much less of and have always bought from a reputable website given the cost ratio of silver to gold.

I have been very pleased with my ebay purchases, especially on larger coins and bars recently, but I wonder if anything in my stack isn't what it purports to be and I can't quite get this niggling out of my head.

I have one of those coin sizing cards on its way to me. I already have a neodymium magnet and everything passed that test. I have some acid (silver testing only) but I can't bring myself to damage any of my stuff, at least not till I'm ready to sell and that is hopefully many years away. I've never seen pieces tested this way for sale so far. I took some coins to a jeweller and he saw my reluctance to test this way and said "well they're nothing special".They are only bullion grade but I was strangely a little hurt by this. I didn't want him damaging my coins but he didn't have a twenty grand XRF machine!!

[Bullionaire]

2 minutes ago, Blockhead said:

As I'm new to the forum and working my way round the posts (many hours enjoyed here so far) I am wondering if people here tend to avoid ebay. In the earlier days I bought 1ozt silver bars and coins if they were cheap, as I didn't know much about what might do well in the future and just wanted low premium over spot. That is still pretty much my strategy a year later unless something really catches my eye. The only exception has been gold which I have much less of and have always bought from a reputable website given the cost ratio of silver to gold.

I have been very pleased with my ebay purchases, especially on larger coins and bars recently, but I wonder if anything in my stack isn't what it purports to be and I can't quite get this niggling out of my head.

I have one of those coin sizing cards on its way to me. I already have a neodymium magnet and everything passed that test. I have some acid (silver testing only) but I can't bring myself to damage any of my stuff, at least not till I'm ready to sell and that is hopefully many years away. I've never seen pieces tested this way for sale so far. I took some coins to a jeweller and he saw my reluctance to test this way and said "well they're nothing special". I didn't want him damaging my coins but he didn't have a twenty grand XRF machine!!

I have bought a few bits and bobs off ebay. I usually check the dimensions, weight, magnet test and sometimes a specific gravity test. That's usually good enough to convince me it's real. And if not, ebays money back guarantee means you can send it back if it's fake and you don't lose anything. 

[Groundup]

Another way is the bullion apps on Google. 

Not a definitive way to test but gives a good indication. 

[SILVERFINGER]

Also dont forget that several members on here sell on ebay.

[PansPurse]

I use eBay, but mostly for antique coins. I've had a couple of fakes but am satisfied that I can spot them relatively easily, and eBay leans more toward protecting buyer than seller so I've had no issues getting refunds.