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:
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No credit card fees
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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
How do we feel about jmbullion?
I’ve never bought any myself (even though I got a silver dollar every Christmas) and went with JMBullion. They are legit, got both orders I placed in about a week, well packed and sealed discreet boxes. Nothing anyone would think to steal off your porch. I will be buying from them in the future if I decide to get more. They do have a $299 minimum right now. They added that after the big rush on silver happened a couple weeks ago.
I bought a bunch from them about three weeks ago and got it all in the same fashion as you. I just saw people here concerned about fakes and figured I would ask. I'm not equipped to validate the material myself.
Ah, same boat here. Can’t validate it, just have to trust them based on this: https://www.jmbullion.com/about/products/ but they seem big and old enough and have received enough business awards to tell me they’re products are probably good.