Opinions On Buying Fom Great Southern Coins

Back in January I bought a 1926-S Mercury dime from GSC.

Here are the images they posted on the ebay listing:



Now these are my own photos after receiving the coin. I kept the coin, and I don't believe it (necessarily) indicates a cleaning, but you can see how their photo techniques completely obscured the scratch just to the left of Liberty's nose.

I no longer buy raw coins because of my experience with GSC. As a newbie I bought a lot, maybe 30 or so Morgan and Peace dollars that were described as BU. I liked the adrenaline rush of the auctions. And the pictures were really pretty. I Later learned from a dealer that many were sliders grading as low as AU-53. I had this confirmed by a TPG.
The fine print says they don't guarantee grades, but the headlines still scream things like Gem BU.
I read several ebay complaints about cleaned coins. Nothing I bought was cleaned, but I have been forever dissuaded from buying raw coins on the internet out of fear of buying a "details" coin.
I personally size GSC up as a place that sells a lot of problem coins that others don't want. I still get their emails and look them over occasionally. It even seems their slabbed coins are low for the grade.
I did buy coins from them that had no problems, and they are excellent on returns. They even let me return one expensive coin months after the 30 day return period.
If you are willing to look at GSC as an on approval dealer and understand you may not like the coin they send you, you can be like Cassidy and find some diamonds in the rough. I'm not.

Gotta love the Great Southern Coin Company :) now let me add coming in slightly behind with an honorable mention are those mbarrcoins of ebay they got subtlety of mass sub par coin pumping down to an art. This is just my opionion...I can't prove any of it. For all I know their coins are works of true art? Or maybe not...ahhh nevermind.