Silver bullion is not worth $150/oz

[terry5732]

Watch out for the expletive deleted selling GRAMS for $4.95

These Chinese bits have no collector value beyond their tiny amount silver (if they're actually silver)

[FBNeNotes]

Yep.... just another case of Buyer beware.

1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams

[terry5732]

Precious metals are usually traded in Troy ounces - 31.103 grams per ounce

[damian_steele]

Not trying to defend rip-off sellers, but items are worth whatever it is someone is willing to pay. If savvy buyers choose not to buy because they don't like the price, that is their choice - others may still choose to. I think folks should be a little bit careful about how they refer to other sellers and their goods.

[TiasTreasures]

There have been advertisements in magazines for years now by private mints, selling gold and silver "coins" for outrageous prices. Only if you read carefully will you find they're privately minted and not real coins. Remember the Franklin Mint issues? They sold for huge amounts. People who "invested" in them are now selling them for the metal content value at a loss, even with gold and silver values way up.

One that I especially remember was for sterling silver "coins" plated with 99% gold. The big print hyped the gold. You had to read the ad to find out about the silver. And of course the statement that they were 100% precious metal was true.

If people are willing to buy them, there's nothing illegal about it.

[terry5732]

A "Canada Maple Leaf" or a "US Buffalo" have a numismatic meaning

The use of these terms is deliberately misleading when in fact they are not made by the US or Canadian mint

[meadowgate123]

These type of coins have always sold at a premium to their raw value. They do seem popular, but I'm afraid if you're buying them as an investment, its money down the drain.

[terry5732]

A new scam bullion product is "100 mills"

That is 100 MILLIONTHS of an inch of plate

Decent silverplate tableware has thicker plating

A one ounce chunk of this garbage has less than a half gram of the 'pure 999' metal

[FBNeNotes]

Scammers thrive on bad buyers buying.
A BAD buyer is from nowheresville.. and really hurts many buyers.
Bad buyers should be suspended just like scammers. But who could ever keep track of them.
Answer: An extremely knowledgeable owner/employee of any firm dealing in online auctions. Extreme? I think not, just the smart thing to have/do.
A merry-go-round is public online auctions.
Real solid answer would be to monitor and stop bad-dumb-scam sellers, that should eliminate most of the bad buyers. It is Easy to do

[princeofwaldo]

Scammers thrive on bad buyers buying.
A BAD buyer is from nowheresville.. and really hurts many buyers.
Bad buyers should be suspended just like scammers. But who could ever keep track of them.
Answer: An extremely knowledgeable owner/employee of any firm dealing in online auctions. Extreme? I think not, just the smart thing to have/do.
A merry-go-round is public online auctions.
Real solid answer would be to monitor and stop bad-dumb-scam sellers, that should eliminate most of the bad buyers. It is Easy to do

I would expect that negatve feedback would single out the most blatant rip-off artists. To be sure, there are some imbeciles out there who will bid on a gram of silver thinking it will be the size of a brick. But I would expect that is the exception, I think even most novices to bullion investing have some idea about what "gold plated" means, or even "gold layered". I've always thought the most deceptive term of all was "gold filled" --when it isn't filled with gold at all but is actually just gold plated. In any case, I am less concerned about the peons who might buy such a thing than I am concerned about the listings of that sort of junk crowding out the legitimate listings. If I am interested in silver bullion by the Troy ounce, I don't want to spend any time (or clicks) navigating around a bunch of tripe. That's not to say I don't have some empathy for neophyte buyers. I do. But more in the realm of counterfeits that are targeted at not just new coin/silver/gold investors, but to more seasoned investors and collectors as well.