Why Do Some People Love To Bid Up Bullion Way Over Spot??

I watch a few things on Ebay for certain bullion items I am interested in. I place my "max" bid and sometimes I get lucky and score some nice stuff at what I consider a fair price depending on what silver spot is that particular day. What I don't get are people that keep running up the price of an item wayyyyyyyyyy above what the spot price would be, sometimes more than $10, instead of trying to capture it at a more reasonable price. Maybe they have money to burn. Don't they watch what silver is doing every day? I check it all the time, several times a day, to see how far it's going up or down. Drives me nuts to see them bid like crazy. Maybe they are stocking up for the impending doom this year......

The Royal Bank of Scotland, which has warned of a "cataclysmic year" ahead for markets and advised clients to head for the exit. Do not wait. Do not pass go.

"Sell everything except high quality bonds," warned Andrew Roberts in a note this week.
He said the bank's red flags for 2016 -- falling oil, volatility in China, shrinking world trade, rising debt, weak corporate loans and deflation -- had all been seen in just the first week of trading.
"We think investors should be afraid," he said.

 

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easy:

idiots

 

Simply put, supply and demand. Sure there is bullion on the market, and much more in reserves, but there are many vowing for what is available.

 

They don't want a different design, they want that design. Price doesn't matter to them. It does to me. Frank is right!

 

Well, price matters to me too. That's why I set my max and that's my bid. If I win, that's great and I wait to see it in the mail. If not, I just keep trying and wait until I get lucky.

 

We say idiots casually, like when you see someone paying over face value for gift cards. However, once someone buys an item on Ebay, the money used to buy it is laundered. I bet you more money than most think gets laundered through Ebay. Buy silver bullion for $18 an ounce, sell it to a dealer for $13, and now the $13 is "clean". Its about as safe and cheap as laundering money other ways, and more doable for lower level drug dealers.

 

I haven't bought any bullion in well over a year. The last I bought I got when spot was at $15.29. There was quite a few big companies at the time putting out bars and rounds with auctions starting at $.99. I decided a few weeks ago to add to the stack. All of those sellers from a year ago have pulled back and I am seeing where buyers are having to pay more to get what they want, than I did a year ago. So far I've held off for that reason. If bullion starts an upward trend, I suspect the supply to get even tighter for a short term, as most other investors do also.

 

It's also funny when you see items going for way higher than someone could just buy a near identical one from another seller for less as a BIN.

 

Hey people need to use all their discounted ebay gift cards on something. I always suspect that some of the cash back/ ebay bucks deals play a role to make prices a little higher. But I do agree that I see lots of things that are massively overpriced.

 

On the money!

 

First, because of your use of terms like "certain" and "nice stuff", I think it's only reasonable to ask what types/forms of "bullion" you're talking about. Agree or not, some forms do regularly carry premiums many buyers are willing to pay, so clarifying could certainly better your point.

Perhaps the people paying the premiums have tried to "capture it at a more reasonable price", but have to pay more simply because there are others willing to do just that. Perhaps their time is more valuable than the few dollars saved by searching out better prices (like paying $5 gal for milk at a convenience store instead of $2.50 at the grocery). Perhaps they simply trust the seller and are willing to eat a few bucks for the peace of mind or, perhaps, some are just idiots. I could go on, but the point is that it's unfair to make blanket assumptions as to why others pay the prices they do as there can be perfectly valid reasons for their paying premiums. With that said, we all know ebay is infested with people who don't quite know or understand what they're buying, so in many cases it is probably just foolishness.

This is pretty cut and dry, and certainly does ring of simple stupidity.

 

I like the answers idiots...

and money laundering because it's interesting.

 

Never thought about the money laundering angle. But the crooks always seem to be three steps ahead of us in the first place.

 

I've done it when I want something quick. I'll pay a few bucks more for a seller in LA over NY for instance

 

In addition sometimes the cheapest seller has little or no feedback. And some people don't live near a decent coin shop so they have to buy it online and you can find pretty much anything on ebay (wither it is real or fake is another question).

 

The other thought is that some collect different bullion, and want to add specific types to their collection - or they get caught up in the heat of the auction, or sometimes they just don't know where else to turn.

 

And there's plenty of shill bidding on Ebay.

 

Perhaps it is the lack of knowledge. For those that feel they want some silver but do not know its true value....I liken it to the people who buy coins off of QVC at the outrageous prices that they charge.

 

The other day a guy was claiming he was selling a half a pound of junk silver when in reality he was selling only 4.3 ounces total of junk silver which is right at a 60 dollar value with what the spot price is now, the listed ended at 83$ and it still didn't meet the sellers price, be very aware of the false listings on ebay

 

My Favorite are those sellers who sell Junk Silver Kennedys when it is all 40% Kennedys and none 1964.