ASE on ebay question

What would you do in my situation? I live 40 minute drive from nearest coin shop which ASE were $38 last Saturday when i was there. On Silvertowne website they are $36 plus $8 with shipping. Or eBay i found a seller out of FL that was $39 and free shipping.

In my situation the obvious would be eBay. Unless I'm missing something that someone else might recommend.

Let me know your thoughts

 

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As long as you trust the seller, e-bay would be the way to go.

 

You'll probably, but not definitely, get a worse deal on Ebay than you will checking out some of the other major internet dealers such as APMEX and Provident. And if you do a lot of business on Ebay, expect to get burned occasionally. It's the wild west of coin marketing. Buyer beware.

 

First, try not to put yourself in that situation. It sounds from your post that you are just buying 1 coin. In that case, it really doesn't matter which venue you use. Save a dollar here spend a dollar there. Nothing wrong with buying a single eagle off ebay. Most eagles sold raw in singles have been cherry picked so you obvioulsy arent going to get a MS69/MS70.

In the future, try to never buy a single coin online. Save up your money to buy 2-3 at a time and that will reduce your shiping costs per coin. The benefit of visiting your coin shop in person is that you might find something else you like and can bundle all your coins in one purchase for a lower over-all price.

 

Apmex has an eBay store with $4.95 shipping. Much cheaper shipping rates than their website

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$39 with free shipping sounds like a pretty good deal, provided it's a good seller. I always go with 100% or 99.9, maybe 99.8. Check the feedback, sometimes the seller is dinged because of a bad buyer. Also look for return policy.

 

At $10 over melt at today's price, I believe you're getting shafted by ebay. I know of a dealer who sells ASEs at $3 over melt ($33 total). Granted I gotta travel, I surely feel that you aren't getting good deals on any of your options there.
Try to expand your horizons and see what you can find.

 

Put up a ad in the wanted section here. With silver being a bit down right now, I don't know how much action you'd get but it is free to try.

 

You aren't really ever going to get a good deal if you are buying only one ASE. If you aren't intent on an ASE the best deal online for 1 oz of silver shipped would probably be silvertowne, you can get a 1 oz silvertowne bar for less than $3 over spot shipped. Just checked and currently it would be $32.70 shipped. (this would be a better investment that paying close to $40 for an eagle, if you are doing it for investment purposes, if not please disregard )

If you got a full roll of silver eagles (20 eagles) you could get it for $3-4 over spot shipped buying online.

 

You would have to buy the ASE's in a large quanity to make the trip to the coin shop, worth your time and fuel. But its always better to try to keep the money circulating locally. :smile

 

Calculate in your time and cost of fuel for that 40 minute (40 mile?) trip to the LCS, especially if you're going only for one ASE. Check the other sites as suggested, and then make your decision. Sometimes I find it way easier to just click and spend the extra dollar or so ordering online from a "trusted" source if I don't have any other reason to drive out to the LCS.

Then again, you might want to call the LCS and say "hey, today's price is blah, can I put a hold on x until I can get there". Depending on the relationship you have with the LCS you might get lucky and have an ASE reserved for you at today's pricing, and then pick it up the next time you're around the area for something else, thus not wasting a special trip on fuel and time to go there just for that.

 

Has anyone else noticed that APMEX premiums have crept up in 2012? They're not as 'cheap' as they used to be (and I don't just mean the PM price, obv)
They have a steller rep, however: I can't say that about every LCS I've walked into either.

Agree eBay is dodgy: even top-sellers move junk that you wouldn't necessarily buy IRL. Caveat emptor! The discount must be greater ... and THEN you wonder.

 

A 40 mile trip in my electric car costs me about 80 cents. For those driving a Hummer or giant truck/SUV I would expect closer to $15.

I always buy ASEs one at a time. I have bought off of eBay, my local coin shop, and even craigslist. Since I buy for bullion value only I always bid on several ASEs with very low bids so that by the time I pay for shipping and everything I am right at or below the cost of buying at the store. I don't care what they look like (I'll clean them if they are tarnished) and I'm not in a hurry so if it takes a few days to win one at a decent price, I just stick with it.

 

Yep, Provident, Goldmart, and others are cheaper for almost all bullion items. Apmex does have a greater selection of semi-numis and numis though.

 

Thanks for the confirm, Tinpot!
APMEX does have great selection, and their professionalism is first-rate.
But ... I was wondering if we're now paying a premium for that, bullion-wise.

 

I'm the same way, I purchase 1 to 2 ounces a week on pay day after I factor in all my living expenses. It may be a little more expensive this way than saving up and buying more at one time but I'm too impatient for that. Also, in about 40 years when I'm ready to retire I won't care I spent an extra 1-2 bucks a coin when I was 25

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Someone who is 25 hopefully will be buying silver after contributing to a 401k or IRA and building up 6 months of savings and/or paying off debts. Over a 40 year period, silver is likely to underperform the stock market, probably by a wide margin, although I think silver will do well for at least the next couple of years. Think about it.

 

I also have a 401k and IRA. Collecting silver and gold is more of an investment hobby for me.

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interesting that you have such a strong agenda that you seem to always stick to, trying to steer people away from investing in bullion. Anytime I see a post about someone making an investment in bullion, undoubtedly you will show up shortly to discourage them. Very peculiar....

 

I found it a little odd myself seeing as thia is the bullion investing section but I am brand new to this forum and I really like it here so I didn't want to stir the pot. But there was a lot of truth to it, it is vital to diversify.

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