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There are many great deals on silver and gold bullion on eBay. Almost all of the major online bullion dealers have eBay Stores. They frequently run specials on items on eBay to move inventory, and sometimes, you can get great deals when combining promotions and cash-back rewards from credit card programs.
However, there is a lot of fake or counterfeit bullion is advertised and sold on eBay. Sometimes, the listings look legit.
If you fall victim to this and verify that what you bought was fake, eBay or PayPal will refund your money. But that can take weeks and will most likely leave you with a sour taste in your mouth if you buy from eBay again.
Counterfeits Are Listed Below Spot Price
Listings with prices significantly lower than the current melt value or spot price.
Legitimate sellers only sell bullion below market value for an apparent reason (e.g., damaged or secondary market items). Counterfeiters often lure buyers with deals that seem too good to be true.
When looking at listings, compare the price with those offered by reputable dealers or marketplaces to ensure it aligns with the current market value. Don’t buy items priced significantly below the market rate.
Most Counterfeit Bullion Ships From China
If the items are shipping from China, there is an extremely high likelihood (99.99%) that the bullion items are counterfeit.
Sometimes, the fakes are so good that they will pass some verification tests. To protect yourself from fraud, avoid such auctions altogether.
Seller’s Other Listings
When evaluating a seller, check if they have other items listed for sale. If they primarily offer bullion items priced below the spot price, there’s a high likelihood the items are counterfeit.
Sellers with only one or two bullion listings at suspiciously low prices should also raise concerns.
On the other hand, if the seller lists non-bullion items, such as those typically found in a pawn shop or from an estate sale, they might be unaware of the exact value or authenticity of the bullion they’re selling. While this could present an opportunity, it’s still risky.
Suspicious Activity
Has the seller had much recent activity? Is there recent feedback from a buyer or a seller?
If most of their feedback history is as a buyer and they’ve never sold anything before, then there’s a pretty good chance that their account was hacked and that someone has used it for fake bullion listings.
If they have feedback as sellers, is it recent? I’ve seen some auctions where the seller had a fantastic selling history but had never sold bullion items. Their feedback activity as a seller was also more than a year old. Stale accounts like this are prime to be hacked and used to sell fake bullion.
Can eBay Prevent Counterfeit Bullion Listings?
The dynamic nature of online marketplaces and the ingenuity of counterfeiters make it challenging to eliminate all fraudulent listings. eBay uses some automated tools to remove suspicious listings that violate their policies. However, counterfeiters continually adapt, making it difficult for automated systems to keep up.
eBay encourages users to report suspicious listings with links on each item and provides guidelines to help buyers identify potential counterfeit items.
Trust your instincts
Ultimately, though, you need to trust your instincts. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. If you find a listing showing a ‘Buy It Now’ price on something significantly below the spot price, it is likely counterfeit. Experienced sellers make the right decisions on the cost of items.
Counterfeit bullion on eBay is a frequently asked question on Reddit and other social media. There are also websites that catalog fake bullion products that have been discovered in circulation.
Thanku…this info on fake silver is very useful!