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Finding Coins and Precious Metals Deals on Craigslist and eBay

Coins and precious metals are one of the most overlooked deal-hunting categories on Craigslist and eBay. Most casual sellers don’t know what they have. A shoebox of old change from grandma’s attic, a bag of “silver dollars,” a pile of foreign coins — these often get listed cheaply because the seller just wants them gone. That’s your opportunity.

Understand Spot Price First

Before you search for anything, know the current spot price of silver and gold. Spot price is the raw melt value of the metal — what a refiner would pay per troy ounce. You can check it at sites like Kitco or APMEX. Once you know spot, you can instantly calculate whether a listing is priced below melt value, which is the floor of real value for any silver or gold item.

A classic example: pre-1965 U.S. dimes, quarters, and half dollars are 90% silver. Each silver quarter contains about 0.1808 troy ounces of silver. At $30 spot, that’s roughly $5.42 in melt value — more than 20 times face value. Sellers who list “older coins” by face value are leaving serious money on the table.

What to Search For on Craigslist

Craigslist is where you find the uninformed sellers. Try these search terms:

• “silver coins” — Broad but effective. Many sellers don’t know the difference between 90% silver and silver-clad.
• “old coins” or “estate lot” — Estate lots often include junk silver mixed in with worthless coins. Worth digging through.
• “silver dollars” — Morgan and Peace dollars are 90% silver. Even well-worn examples carry melt value above $20.
• “gold coins” or “gold jewelry” — People selling inherited jewelry often just want quick cash and don’t calculate melt value.
• “coin collection” — Inherited collections are often sold as-is by heirs who have no interest in researching individual coins.

Move fast on Craigslist. Good listings get responses within minutes. Show up prepared: bring a small scale (calibrated in troy ounces), know your spot price, and have cash.

eBay: Lots and Misspellings

On eBay, the best value is usually in lot listings: “50 old coins,” “mixed silver lot,” “coin estate lot.” Sellers who bulk-list are often more focused on moving inventory than pricing each coin correctly. Sort by newly listed and watch for lots where the photo shows more than the title implies.

Misspelled listings are another angle worth working. Sellers type “Morgan Dollor,” “Peace Dollor,” “Mercury Dime” as “Mercury Dine,” or “Walking Libery” — and those listings get almost no traffic. Check out how to hunt misspelled eBay listings for a full breakdown of this strategy.

Red Flags: Avoiding Fakes

Counterfeits exist, especially for Morgan dollars, gold Eagles, and high-value coins. A few basic protections:

1. Weight matters. A genuine Morgan dollar weighs 26.73 grams. A genuine silver quarter weighs 6.25 grams. Cheap fakes are often slightly off.
2. Ping test for silver. Real silver rings with a distinct high tone when tapped. Fakes thud.
3. Avoid “copy” or “replica” listings. Legal replicas must be marked — but they’re still worthless as silver.
4. Buy from sellers with strong feedback on eBay. Low-feedback accounts selling “great deals” on key-date coins are a risk.

Set Alerts Before the Good Stuff Disappears

The coin and metals category moves fast — underpriced listings get snapped up by experienced buyers who check constantly. Setting up automatic alerts for your key search terms means you see new listings the moment they go up, without refreshing Craigslist or eBay manually. LurkMor does exactly that — free email alerts whenever a new listing matches your search on Craigslist or eBay, with location filtering if you want local pickup only. It’s the kind of edge that makes a real difference in a fast-moving category like this.