Are These To Good To Be Real?

Ben, the seller is aware that the coin is a problem coin. This problem may be overt (as in the gouged coin) or a little less obvious, and in the latter case, "less obvious" is even more problematic because the best photographer can still only provide a representation of the coin, not the coin itself, for study. To pretend these coins are problem-free is just . . . it's not even just "wrong," it goes beyond that in some subtle way I can't quite find words for. It's like an "UNSEARCHED ROLL VDB ON END!" but times a thousand, because of the sums involved. It's like I was saying earlier in the Westminster Mint thread--there's a line between "required" and "ethical and courteous" and you should jump over that line into "ethical" every time.

Yes, you should do your homework, certainly. But all it takes is giving the seller the benefit of the doubt--"all of the devices are right, all of the right diagnostics are there, that dullness could be a bad light source"--and boom, you're done.

Buyers need to realize that there is no "gambling" on unslabbed coins of this magnitude. All will have been submitted to NGC or PCGS and all will have come back w/ a details grade and been cracked out.

Anyone who thinks there are bargain "estate" coins to be found on ebay is kidding themselves - you MIGHT find those at a physical auction if you are very lucky but once something shows up online it has usually passed through many hands

Actually, the legality can be questioned. It is not a simple matter of he didn't say anything dishonest.
IF a person has created a business, which through repeated sales of purchase for resale the argument can be made, there is a "guarantee of merchantability" which basically states "what I am selling you is what you are intending to buy".
As an example, an individual can have a yard sale and sell a non working hot water heater as a working one, and you purchase it only to take it home to find it doesn't work. You speak to the previous owner and he claim's it must have happened on your way home. You have no legal recourse (that I am aware of).
If the identical occurrence was made with a business, you have a recourse under the above law, even if the item was sold as is. If it breaks in a week, fine it was sold as is. But if it's DOA, it certainly fails the test.
I would make the argument that a body bag coin of any type is "defective". It can not be graded by a professional. IF I understand the 'detectives' here correctly, this seller is both the one cracking out to remove evidence of defectiveness and the one selling it to make profits.

Although the bidders on raw coins at this level by a photograph from an online source does prove P.T. Barnum to be quite correct, I do think that IF a seller is doing this, it actually goes beyond ethics and morality.

Linx makes a good point; that law is in the same family as "lemon laws" and could indeed be applied to this case.

However, even if the grounds for applying it are shaky (possible--I'm no lawyer), the fact that this is HORRIBLY unethical and the guy should be blacklisted from the community still stands.

I have invited an ebay member that just purchased 3 of this sellers 'cracked-out' coins here. He was not happy upon learning of the crack-outs. Hopefully he will chime in about his experience. This is why this type of scam must be stopped, there are victims.

UPDATE:
This crack-out artist scammer 'dknies1947' has now been NARU'd by ebay:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...=AllFeedback

Good work everybody on helping to get this woman removed

I know this topic has been and the seller in question has been shown to be a repeat offender, but I wanted to remind people that it is possible for a seller to honestly offer such a cracked-out coin, if they bought it already cracked out and were unaware.

In such a case, I would hope that ebay would accept evidence from that seller showing the circumstances of their acquisition and not immediately ban them.