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
Not sure if this is a trick. But the majority of my stack came from estate auctions, mostly paid spot or less. Biggest drawback to that would be that my collection is largely sterling dishes and silverware so its not very space efficient. I also have a decent amount of foreign silver coins i found for good prices. It definitely won't be as easy to sell as silver eagles or bars but I got most of my collection for under spot anyway