Comments on: Finally, I Bought an American Buffalo Gold Coin http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:42:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bullion Coinhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-38797 Bullion Coin Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:51:03 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/2007/03/02/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-38797 Yeah, eBay is a pretty decent place to get quality coins at a fair price. A lot of people always want to know what their coin is worth....and eBay is a great place to see what actual coins are going for....market price is key! Yeah, eBay is a pretty decent place to get quality coins at a fair price. A lot of people always want to know what their coin is worth….and eBay is a great place to see what actual coins are going for….market price is key!

]]> By: Jasonhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-4234 Jason Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:05:07 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/2007/03/02/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-4234 Sun, I have made over 70 purchases on E-Bay, and have only had one purchase go bad, as in I got scammed out of my money wothout receiving anything in return. I have had to return a few items, and those generally go smoothly. My advice (now backed by experience) is to be very careful when a seller requires that you send them a check or money order.As for bidding on items, if you look through finished sales, you will see that even for identical items, such as 1 oz Gold Eagle or Buffalo, there is wide range of sale prices, so just bid at the extreme low end of the range. Other bidders will beat you on most of the items, but you will pick up a few items this way. Looking right now, I see that most of the buffalos are going for more than your purchase price, although a few are about what you paid.I had not seen Bullion Direct until I read your write-up. Thanks for the info. If I don't feel like dealing with the crowd at E-Bay, they are definitely an option. Sun,
I have made over 70 purchases on E-Bay, and have only had one purchase go bad, as in I got scammed out of my money wothout receiving anything in return. I have had to return a few items, and those generally go smoothly. My advice (now backed by experience) is to be very careful when a seller requires that you send them a check or money order.

As for bidding on items, if you look through finished sales, you will see that even for identical items, such as 1 oz Gold Eagle or Buffalo, there is wide range of sale prices, so just bid at the extreme low end of the range. Other bidders will beat you on most of the items, but you will pick up a few items this way. Looking right now, I see that most of the buffalos are going for more than your purchase price, although a few are about what you paid.

I had not seen Bullion Direct until I read your write-up. Thanks for the info. If I don’t feel like dealing with the crowd at E-Bay, they are definitely an option.

]]> By: The Sunhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3628 The Sun Mon, 05 Mar 2007 05:06:31 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/2007/03/02/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3628 Tab: It's interesting to know that you are investing in gold nuggets. I only thought about either gold bar or coin (24k). Also are you buying from individuals or through a dealer that sells through eBay? To me, I feel the reputation and reliability of the dealer is very important when buying gold. I am very interested in your experience with eBay.Jason: It's true that I don't really use physical gold as an investment and that's why I don't plan to buy any meaningful amount of gold or silver. My investment in precious metal is through the mutual fund I own and it's correlated to gold price though not as direct as gold ETFs (such as GLD). The reason of not using physical gold as investment is that I feel gold price is now large driven by demands (oddly enough, once gold is produced, it will almost never disappear so there are actually more and more gold in market), and it doesn't really generate any income or return other than price appreciation. However, the price may not appreciate for very long time (gold price fluctuated between $300 and $400 for nearly 20 years until it took off in early 2001). If you invested a large amount in gold in early 80s, I could have actually lost money to inflation. During the same time, however, stock markets have generated very nice returns so I could be well ahead if I invested the same amount of money in stocks than in gold. But, as you said, owning some physical has more psychological impact than financial impact if we don't see investing in gold only from the perspective of returns.There are some predications that gold price could go as high as $1000 in a couple of years, if that does happen, it will make investing in gold at today's price look like a bargain. But nobody will know ahead if that will be the case.I never thought about buy gold on eBay (as a matter of fact, I never bought anything on eBay) for obvious reasons. Did you every have any bad experience? It's possible to get a good bargain, but I feel there are just too much to worry. Tab: It’s interesting to know that you are investing in gold nuggets. I only thought about either gold bar or coin (24k). Also are you buying from individuals or through a dealer that sells through eBay? To me, I feel the reputation and reliability of the dealer is very important when buying gold. I am very interested in your experience with eBay.

Jason: It’s true that I don’t really use physical gold as an investment and that’s why I don’t plan to buy any meaningful amount of gold or silver. My investment in precious metal is through the mutual fund I own and it’s correlated to gold price though not as direct as gold ETFs (such as GLD). The reason of not using physical gold as investment is that I feel gold price is now large driven by demands (oddly enough, once gold is produced, it will almost never disappear so there are actually more and more gold in market), and it doesn’t really generate any income or return other than price appreciation. However, the price may not appreciate for very long time (gold price fluctuated between $300 and $400 for nearly 20 years until it took off in early 2001). If you invested a large amount in gold in early 80s, I could have actually lost money to inflation. During the same time, however, stock markets have generated very nice returns so I could be well ahead if I invested the same amount of money in stocks than in gold. But, as you said, owning some physical has more psychological impact than financial impact if we don’t see investing in gold only from the perspective of returns.

There are some predications that gold price could go as high as $1000 in a couple of years, if that does happen, it will make investing in gold at today’s price look like a bargain. But nobody will know ahead if that will be the case.

I never thought about buy gold on eBay (as a matter of fact, I never bought anything on eBay) for obvious reasons. Did you every have any bad experience? It’s possible to get a good bargain, but I feel there are just too much to worry.

]]> By: Jasonhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3610 Jason Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:27:35 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/2007/03/02/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3610 Sun, I think that in your description of owning physical gold, you talked about, but did not explicitly mention, one of the biggest reasons: the psychological factor. You mention that you have shares in a gold fund, which I would guess correlates to the price of gold, so you are in the gold market. However, based on your discussion of why you are buying gold, this does not seem like an "investment" in gold for you. If you wanted to own gold, you could have bought into the pool account at Kitco. Rather, it is the thought of owning gold, of being able to hold it in your hand, along with the psychological thought of gold as having value, which is based on its long historic view as wealth. I have to admit that gold affects me, and probably many other people, the same way. I have been buying gold and silver on E-Bay for the past few months, and can generally get a good value, but the feeling of holding the physical object is completely different than looking at some numbers on a computer screen. Just a thought... Sun,
I think that in your description of owning physical gold, you talked about, but did not explicitly mention, one of the biggest reasons: the psychological factor. You mention that you have shares in a gold fund, which I would guess correlates to the price of gold, so you are in the gold market. However, based on your discussion of why you are buying gold, this does not seem like an “investment” in gold for you. If you wanted to own gold, you could have bought into the pool account at Kitco. Rather, it is the thought of owning gold, of being able to hold it in your hand, along with the psychological thought of gold as having value, which is based on its long historic view as wealth. I have to admit that gold affects me, and probably many other people, the same way. I have been buying gold and silver on E-Bay for the past few months, and can generally get a good value, but the feeling of holding the physical object is completely different than looking at some numbers on a computer screen. Just a thought…

]]> By: Tabhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/investing/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3566 Tab Sat, 03 Mar 2007 15:51:11 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/2007/03/02/finally-i-bought-a-buffalo/#comment-3566 Sun, the buffalo's are really cool looking. I have a couple of the buffalo silvers. I have picked up a couple of $5 gold coins but have been investing in buying gold nuggets from ebay. The nuggets are often picked up for less than spot but are seldom 24k but usually 20-23k. Nuggets often bring better money due to the rareness of the nugget. Often they can bring up to twice the spot price in gold if they are appealing to the eye for collections or jewelry. So far I have accumulated about 4oz of nuggets. I'll keep you informed. :) Sun, the buffalo’s are really cool looking. I have a couple of the buffalo silvers. I have picked up a couple of $5 gold coins but have been investing in buying gold nuggets from ebay. The nuggets are often picked up for less than spot but are seldom 24k but usually 20-23k. Nuggets often bring better money due to the rareness of the nugget. Often they can bring up to twice the spot price in gold if they are appealing to the eye for collections or jewelry. So far I have accumulated about 4oz of nuggets. I’ll keep you informed. :)

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