Misleading pics and descriptions on 1 ounce silver bars from China.

[fahrenheit]

At present there are dozens of Chinese sellers that list 1 ounce silver bars for below and above spot. The Title claims well know mints with .999 silver at 1 troy ounce. They are selling like hotcakes. I believe they have 1 gram of plated silver over a base metal. I'm concerned buyers new to the market will buy these thinking they are 1 ounce of fine silver. Once these arrive in the US, it appears they could easily be mistaken for the real bar from well known mints. correct me If I'm wrong.

[pburn]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't invest in those . . .

[di2360]

To many Buyer's purchase Silver that is fake. Then sell here in the US. And on Ebay. But for some reason Ebay cant tell them to stop. This is my thoughts on it.  But the Buyers are so gullibull or naive.   OR dont care!   Cheating us.

[mudshark61369]

@fahrenheit,

   "At present there are dozens of Chinese sellers that list 1 ounce silver bars for below and above spot. The Title claims well know mints with .999 silver at 1 troy ounce".

Every spring the scammers crawl out of the woodwork listing popular items at well below market prices.  It's not just the seller's greed, but some of the buyers well know what the are buying hoping to pass them off as well.  eBay does a pretty good job normally of shutting down the listings, but right now they are focused on getting rid of the price gouging listings. 

  " I'm concerned buyers new to the market will buy these thinking they are 1 ounce of fine silver".

There will be plenty of experienced buyers who will fall for the scam as well. Unfortunately, many people let all common sense go right out the window in quest of a steal.

[oldwestgold]

Some people just don't read or can't read. I have sold auction catalogs for $30-$50 with photos of gold bars on the front covers. When the people get the books they are surprised they didn't get a 50-ounce gold bar for $30. My descriptions and titles are very clear and repeat that you are buying a reference book and not a gold bar. It still doesn't matter to some obviously. These bars are very deceptive though and I hope they are not listed in the bullion category.  They should be in the fantasy or token category in my opinion.  Thanks for posting. 

[fahrenheit]

What is even stranger, is that every time I try to report one of these vendors,  eBay cancels my submission with an error "item number incorrect". I tried it with half-a-dozen sellers. None of them went through. My biggest concern is that the market will be flooded with these fake coins by the time eBay gets around to doing something. A silver virus in the making. 

[long-gone]

One that I looked at has this in the description:

• Material: Silver Plated+Metal
• Size:Round:40*3mm
• Packing: Each item will into one clear plastic case and one hard envelope
• Usage:Collection gifts,Decoration gifts,Business gifts,Friendly gifts 
•  Packing includes:  1 *  Silver Plated Metal Bar Northwest

The title says Bar but the description say Round. Description also says Silver Plated+Metal.

Another one that I looked at has this in the Item specifics:

Item specifics: Theme: Northwest Territorial Packing: Hard Bar Capsule Country: USA Circulated/Uncirculated: Bar Material: Silver Plated Size: 50mm*28mm Usage: Collection And Home Decor Regional Feature: US Year: 2000-Present Style: American Style Country/Region of Manufacture: China

I highlighted the silver plated in red but it says right there that they are silver plated. If buyers don't read before they buy then sorry to say they deserve what they get.

JMO of course.

[fahrenheit]

The big issue is, once they are received they will work there way into the system as real silver, since they are not marked accordingly and they are copying the art work from well known mints. Plus, not all the sellers are making it clear that they are not 1 ounce of .999 of silver. Most still state that they are 1 ounce of precious metal. The listings are misleading and fraudulent at best. 

[drumzz]

And it's not only Silver bars from China. It's the way they advertise anything that has 000001 % of gold in it. And the phony REAL FAKE color stones they sell. Imagine advertising gold filled 18k chains, rings or bracelets that have no gold in it, or 0001% of gold? It's ILLEGAL to sell such fraudulent items, and advertise them like they're the real thing. Another B.S ad is when they're using terms like Platinum over silver with real diamonds. The diamonds are lab created, the platinum is not platinum in any sense, and the silver could not pass for aluminum. Ebay allows these sellers to continue because they figure it gives them such action money wise, that they cannot stop them. HOWEVER in the U.S.A and Europe, there are laws that make it entirely illegal to sell or represent ANYTHING that has false content being sold as legit items. Apparently those are laws the Chinese cannot and will not abide by. If Ebay wants to stop this they are so many ways to stop this and make it impossible for this to continue. I mean, that a legit market place that Ebay says it is, can and would stop this from occurring a billion times a day from China. 

[fahrenheit]

How do we alert eBay as to the severity of the present practice of selling items that will, in the long run, cause severe repercussions in the US precious metals market? This is an urgent matter and eBay is a conduit for this process. Any thoughts?