Finding Junk Silver on Ebay - Tips and suggestions for New Zealanders

The best place to find junk silver, hands down, is ebay.com! Here is list of Ebay tips that you should for finding junk silver:

• Don't just search in the Coins category, look in the collectibles and antiques. Expand beyond coins, and you can find some deals!
• Don't forget to calculate shipping to New Zealand! USA sellers will have the best prices to New Zealand, followed by UK and Germany. Aussies and Canadians have extortionary shipping even though the currency is valued less than US or UK. I still haven't found any deals with Aussie and Canadian ebay dealers.
• Bid your highest price first. Why? Sometimes people will tend to move off bidding the closest it gets to the silver spot price. For instance I bidding for a roll of coins worth 40 usd, I am leading the bid at $38.00, my highest price. I am not interested in winning the auction, I am interested in getting a deal! Like minded people will realise that there is little room for a deal and move on to the next cheapest auction. I've won several auctions where it seemed like bidders have 'moved on'
• Don't get into bidding wars, unlike trademe.co.nz - there are plenty of coins to go around on Ebay.com - On trademe.co.nz you will notice that many coin sellers greatly inflate values even after shipping and exchange conversions. Ebay is the place.
• If you have items shipped from the USA - it can take 2 weeks to a month and half to receive them. Just be aware of this - the USA postal service, which is the cheapest option, is very inconsisent with delivery times.
• New Zealand Customs - try to keep your total purchase under $199NZD (now $130ish USD), I've need been confronted by customs taxes at this price. I've found American shippers to be very accomondating and often write the face value of the coins instead of the silver value. Remember to ask!
• Advanced searches are your best friend - Use it to find who ships to New Zealand and find coins within your budget!
• Be familar with the Coins. Eg, know that 1971 Eisenhower dollar only has silver if its minted in San Francisco! Do your homework and it will save you from stupid mistakes.