Prices are atrocious everywhere compared to spot(paper price).
Scottsdale Mint, Apmex and a few others have their own stores on eBay so you are buying direct from them. You can try the auctions they post but I usually just wait till I find a buy-it-now that's worth it.
I used to buy directly through the Apmex, JM, & Scottsdale websites. But about a year ago, I found their eBay stores and have not gone back.
http://www.ebaystores.com/apmex
https://www.ebay.com/str/scottsdalesilver
Added: http://www.ebaystores.com/JM-Bullion
Benefits of the eBay Stores:
-
No credit card fees
-
Prices are as good or better than their websites
Scottsdale will ship your stacks the next day. I got my last ebay order from them in 4 days. To put it in perspective, I ordered a bar directly through their site on the same day and it still hasn't arrived after 18 days.
To anyone new to silver: Only buy direct from the manufacturers if you can. I have bought fake silver coins, bars, morgans, etc in the past and they are indistinguishable from the real ones. I'm willing to pay a little more to make sure I don't end up with a brick of iron or nickel.
Happy Hunting!
If anyone wants to share their buying tricks/sources, post 'em
I've been snagging up 90% coins. A good bit of Ebay vendors offer discounts for multiple orders but the price is skyrocketing quickly.
I purchased about (50) 90% dimes and with the bulk discount paid about $2.35 a piece for them (valued around $2.08 in silver weight) and the same vendor is selling the same dimes for $3.80 now.
I love collecting coins. Nothing like holding dollars that actually have value. I got scared out of it after seeing the fakes coming from China though.
I took some fakes I intentionally bought to local shops and all of them told me they would buy them from me. They were shocked when I told them they were fake and they didn't believe me. But I was shocked that they were shocked. I mean these guys are professionals.
There is an unreported but very large portion of bullion and coins that are fake. When this comes to the attention of the silver community, the silver market will shit itself.
They have exact replicas of any coin you can imagine and even put in 90% for more expensive coins. They have fake PCGS & NCG as well. They even have veriscan from pamp suisse cracked.
These are the reasons I buy only from the mints on eBay. Not bashing you by any means, as I said I love coins. It is just very scary the lengths they go to with these fakes