What happened

[numismatic nut]

So I was on ebay lookng for some bullon. So I do a search for silver. Just for fun, I clicked on forien. The results were nice. A few 38 ounce silver bars came up. The best part, they had no bids!

 

The seller was in china, but I was ok with paying air mail. They were at $0.99! that was in my price range (As you can see I'm a really big spender lol). So I put a bid of $75.

 

I looked at the auction before I went to bed. I was winning with 4.5 hours to go (and no other bids). It looked like to win.

 

Then this morning, I looked at my ebay won/lost folders. It wasn't in either of them! What happened to the auction? Did the seller decide that they didn't want to part with $700 worth of silver for 99 cents?

 

What happened?

[Mark Stilson]

Did you check to see if he still was a registered user? (BTW taking a lot of risk buying from China.)

[gxseries]

Er, did you check the shipping for them? I've seen those before - 20+ ounce of silver listed as 0.99 but look at the shipping: 300USD or something ridiculously high. I highly doubt they are silver in the first place anyways so I think you are better off not winning that lot.

[numismatic nut]

well, the shiping was "not specifyed". I'll ask before I bid (if I bid on such items again).

 

What are the risks buying fron china?

[ElleKitty]

Aside from the pricey EMS shipping, which usually ranges in the hundreds?

 

China and Indonesia are the hotspots right now for fake items, including many of our favourite coins. The silver bars you were looking at might have been silver "coloured" or silver "plated" instead of the sterling silver you were looking for.

 

In general, it is better to pass on those too good to be true items, especially if they're coming from China.

[gxseries]

The risk is, you aren't getting what you are supposed to be getting and who knows? You might be getting a brick lot of lead. Oh wait, you might get a bonus load of arsenic and other heavy metals too. I'm not saying all ebay sellers from the mentioned countries are bad but if they have low feedback, why bother making a risk? You aren't going to make lottery out of ebay - chances are those sellers WILL make lotteries out of YOU.

[Vfox]

I can tell you right now that maybe 5% at the most of the dealers in China deal with real coins. If you want to know what I mean, look up the words "replica dollar" on ebay and check how many hits you get.

 

Anyway, buying bullion from China is a really REALLY BAD idea. First off (Check the replica/counterfeit coin forum for this) most of the coins, bullion included, coming from china are cheap counterfeits. They also make really good counterfeits, even bullion bars, ingots, rounds. The silver panda set for the Olympics has also been highly counterfeited, even as a proof. China is a good place to buy fake goods, many even sell them as fakes, but many more try and pass them as legit. Be very careful and remember, a good deal is never a good deal on eBay.

 

Try and deal with people from North America and Europe if you do not know their reputation. I know of many great dealers from different parts of the world, but even then I am careful. Take your time, don't rush into a bid, and ask us!

[thedeadpoint]

If you want cheap bullion, but from North Korea. They need the money more than they need it in China.