Scammers Gotta Love These! ... Forewarned Is Forearmed ...

I just read the March edition of Coin World, and there's a extensive article on counterfeit PM on the surge. Panda America advice on detecting fakes. SMI taking steps to using device measurement to ensure safety of its products. Also 2011 ASE mentioned here in CCF earlier are included in this article.

There's one good thing that they have caught the suspect that sold to several pawn shops and jewelry stores in Richardson, Texas. Coin World shows detail of who the guy is with picture.

Apparently ebay doesn't care. The money they make off of these sales must be enough to prevent them from enforcing their own policies, even when the listings are reported. Here is a seller who is selling fake Silvertowne, Sunshine, Russian, German, and Pan American bars as well as Engelhard Prospector rounds: http://www.ebay.com/sch/sdbaseballc...rksid=p3686. Fake bullion is the only thing he is selling.

It is against ebay policy to sell counterfeited items. These rounds/bars are made to like like the real deal, with no stamping showing that they are plated or copied. The fact that the seller points out that they are plated is irrelevant.

Come on, just because the seller points out that they are plated doesn't change the fact that he or she is presenting fake replicas made to look like the real thing. How they are advertised doesn't change whether or not the item is counterfeit.

Lets change the situation a little bit. What if these bars weren't plated, and were actually real silver? Would it be ok to stamp them as Sunshine Minting Company silver bars then? There would no longer be a need to point out that they are plated, so you could simply sell them as silver bars. Do you see a problem with that?

Stamped One Troy Ounce .999 silver but sold as silver plated, how is this any different than the Chinese counterfeits of coins? Wake up ebay you money grubbers.

@miggs---I'm sure the Chinese ebay seller you reported for selling counterfeit Pandas was definitely and positively "...done and gone..." a couple days later --
under the name that seller had been operating under up until that time. I'm also equally sure that seller was back in action before the close of that business day
using the new name/account#/email address he/she opened up for the occasion. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the "fallback" name/account#/email address had
been set up in advance and were sitting there ready and waiting to be put into use.

In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that seller isn't reading all these righteously indignant (and yet unfortunately impotent) posts and laughing hysterically.

Moral of the story: Do your PM buying with your long-established and respected LCS, known and respected dealers at established shows and the major national
online bullion dealers (APMEX, Provident, Goldmart, etc) and the horrors that abound in ebay won't be part of your life.

@wilhelm---
Is what I said "necessarily true"? No--not 100%, but FAR closer to it than the crapshoot ebay has become these days.

"...respected dealers will get fakes in their inventory..." Maybe. It can happen, but the real pro's aren't stupid, they have their eyes open and they already know well
"...what the real thing is...", so when you deal with them you have an additional layer of insurance that just isn't present elsewhere. They've already been doing
their homework for many years on end and they don't maintain their reputations by getting suckered into buying and selling counterfeits.

You mention doing your homework and learning what the "real thing" is. That's a good idea, but when you buy from ebay, you can't visually inspect the goods
until after the sale is a done deal. If what you got is bad news, you're then dependent upon the ebay Buyer Protection thing. That'll hopefully work out OK, but I've
seen stories where it didn't (or else took eons to do so). I don't like being dependent on the hoped-for intervention of some outside 3rd party when I don't need to be.

When I buy from the major national online dealers, I'm getting new product that came to the dealer in a straight line (maybe or maybe not through an intermediary)
from the mint. As a result of that, there's no opening for the counterfeits to board the delivery train that ends with me.

Virtually nothing is ever absolute, total or permanent, but... Within that context, I think dealing with the types of sources I mentioned above is universes safer and
a far, FAR smarter option than chancing it with ebay these days. ebay has allowed itself to become a haven for counterfeiters and scammers and it's presently
beyond the level of risk that I'm willing to tolerate.

Nonetheless -- we're all big boys and girls and we're all free to shop wherever we want. My opinions are nothing more or better than the opinions of one very cautious,
conservative little player. So---"To each his own" and, as always -- "Caveat emptor."