Browsing the market place
I recently found a whole world of coins to collect on the second hand marketplace where I sold a few things as well as bought some stuff. As I kept bumping into the fact that many silver I found online for a nice price came from the US and with high shipping fees OR no international shipping, I decided to try and find another way. I just typed in silver coin and voila, a whole world of coins appeared and there were even a few sellers with a nice collection that I bookmarked because their prices were quite reasonable, especially considering the fact that the shipping fees are low and have buyers protection.
Myths and legends koi and dragon
When I was happy to have found the missing piece from the Pert mint myths and legends collection, namely the dragon and koi, I decided to browse a little further to see which ones I'd mark as favourite to keep track of any price drops etc. It's always nice to do so because whenever the seller lowers a price, you get notified, which is convenient, especially considering the fact that I don't need to buy all these rounds right away but can browse a bit more and decide later which is my next purchase. If any of my favourites drops in price, I may pull the trigger.
What is that?
Suddenly I saw a 1 oz Silver bar for just 6 euros. I didn't really think it was real first but when I checked the seller, he had a bit of junk for sale only and I figured he may just not know what it's worth? Or maybe he just wants to get rid of it quickly? I also considered that he made a typo submitting the add and wanted to ask 16 or 26 euros and figured if I'd buy and pay it, he either sees it in time and cancels the buy, or tells me he made a mistake.. I figured it was worth the risk, especially considering the buyers protection which makes it possible to return an item without costs and refund is guaranteed if there's something not ok with the sale. I had nothing to lose, only to gain.
The title of the ad said it was silver
And so I took screenshots in case it was needed afterwards to prove to the marketplace that the seller sold it as silver while it was not. I just hoped it was a typo mistake but clearly in the back of my mind I figured it can't be real silver. Yet, there was a spark of hope haha. A girl can dream right?
I pulled the trigger and with the shipping and buyers protection the item cost me €10.28 total. Worth the risk and now it was time to wait.
Meanwhile
I chatted with some silver stackers in the discord and they know what's up and were unanimous that it must be some China rip off. I decided not to wait and just ask the seller are you sure it's silver? He immediately said it wasn't and that it could not be for that money. I told him you are deceiving people by not writing that in the title of the ad so you clearly hope someone falls for it.
He then edited the add and wrote that it's pure silver plated, lol. He cancelled the order while I already decided it's fine I will just give it to my daughter for fun, and wasn't going to send it back because I thought it would be nice to have one fake at home too, especially if I could get my hands around a real one of these in the future. Anyway, he did me a favour and cancelled it and told me he'd take my advice for next ads and write it clear in the title.
It could have been worse
There was a bit of excitement for a bit, even know you know better deep down, lol. And when I figured it was a fake, I already thought let's not go through the hassle of returning it and just use it for comparison. Now that he cancelled it, I will probably find myself another fake coin in the future, but then on purpose, lol.
Flea market finds
While having chats in the silver stackers discord, they told me to take a magnet if I go to the flea market so I can check things quickly. I never thought about that because when I go there I don't really aim on finding real silver rounds, I mostly just browse through the circulated coins if I see one that I like and just cost me a euro or so. That way I can never get scammed really as I consider these all part of a journey and to learn more on how to recognize certain things and what to pay close attention for. There's so much to learn that it's a small price to pay. I love to hold things in my hands rather than just browsing on the web, it's more interesting if you can hold it, isn't it?
Screenshot taken from the ad on Wallapop
Header Image created with Canva Pro