Ebay Coin Cracker/ Reseller

Common? Yes. It happens a lot. eBayers not only do it, but brick & mortar and vest pocket coin dealers have been known to crack out coins and try to unload them at coin shows to unknowledgeable buyers. There have been many MS 62's popped out and passed off as MS64's and 65's.

Legal? Yes. Last time I looked it wasn't against the law to make a profit.

Unethical? All depends on whether the Seller is promoting the coin as a higher grade than it was originally slabbed. So, in most cases yeah, it's unethical. That's why ebay does not allow unslabbed coins to be promoted with a numerical grade. Most sellers will say the coin is either "circulated" or "uncirculated.

Unknowledgeable buyers should not buy jillion dollar coins on the internet. They are asking for trouble.

I also agree with basebal21's comments and would also ask the Seller "why is it not slabbed?" BEFORE making a purchase. The Seller has way too many DMPL dollars listed and most likely all have been played with. Artificial frost and enhanced mirrors are easily detected by the TPG's. Unfortunately, the unsuspecting Buyer won't find out about the problem until about 6 weeks after he sends the coin in for grading and by that time the buyer protection, and the Seller, will be long gone.

Good catch nofaction!

As others have said, it is very risky to buy expensive coins on ebay sight unseen.

"darn.... So what I've taken from this is don't trust people or businesses...."

No, you don't have to carry it that far but you do need to have common sense, do your due diligence and trust your instincts.

If you're new to the forum you should keyword search "crack out" and "crack out artists" and make a mental note of the sellers whose ebay links are posted...it's good to know

@nofaction its not that you cant trust anyone, but at the same time people do need to earn that trust. Its like everything else in life theres good people bad people and people that fall in the middle. Anytime a coin over 500 dollars is raw especially when it gets into the 4 figures and higher thats an immediate red flag. Its an even bigger red flag when theirs significant added value from a designation like a pl or dmpl. Like western mentioned if you ask yourself why it isn't in a slab the answers are basically going to all come to the same result in that it would get details or wouldnt get the dmpl or pl.

With that said some people do honestly sell coins like that but its not really something youd want to play with without extensive knowledge of the coin in question. Not everyones a snake oil salesman but theres enough that being cautious is a wise move.

I can guess that detail coins from the FUN auctions will show up on ebay as problem free raw coins in a few weeks

[quote]what I've taken from this is don't trust people or businesses..[/quote}
What you should take from it is to not buy expensive coins unless you KNOW the seller well and/or know your coins and have the chance to examine them in hand. If you have to depend on someone else completely, or nearly completely, you probably should be buying less expensive coins. After all it's your money not someone else's at risk.