Some Convincing Fakes On Ebay...

Any time I see coins in high grade with such low prices it is like the seller is trying very hard to tell you that it is fake without actually saying it.

You guys are awesome!

Nope, click on them, they're gone.

any way you could test them once you did get them to know if they are actually real deal? wow 1 off fakes, how does one make such things?

in the neutral comments, no negatives seem like a scrubbed account
"BE AWARE! GREAT LOOKING REPLICAS, THEY ARE VERY DECIVING! Weight, size accurate!"

Has quite a few customers already. Mostly Russian or German coins.

Those coins are from a source that is well known to ebay. These forgers produced several very troubling coins that always sold in this fashion - underpriced from an old inactive account. Several of their types routinely sold for $2500 or more. The pair of Two Taler pieces were the only coins still on line when I looked at this seller. Those matched the coins I saw first in 2012.

They key here is that the coins are always underpriced. The forgers are taking advantage of GREED. Anyone who would buy such a coin at these ridiculous prices should get skinned. It serves them right because they were willing to defraud the seller.

It is unfortunate but this forger will be back again - just give them time. They are patient with their sales.

The comment about people who are unwilling to leave negative feedback is all too true. That happened all the time. The buyers often didn't want other people to know they got taken.

Haha! Nice 1C5. You should post a translation for all of us uninitiated folk :)

"Greed is the root of all of evil"

Though I ultimately disagree; I'd replace stupidity with greed.

In all fairness though, I don't necessarily think being opportunistic is greedy. Yes these coins started out cheaply, but it's an auction. I assure you if they weren't taken down they'd reach high prices. There are some really reputable sellers that list high end graded coins at plain auction with a starting price of .99. Yes, this strategy probably relies on people's auction frenzy to maximize prices. Another view can just be that in in efficient market (and ebay is VERY efficient), fair market prices are reached and greed has nothing to do with it.

cableguy815 You are certainly giving the benefit of the doubt to people who buy forgeries when you say:

Stupidity is the cause of people buying forgeries.

I would say you can give the buyer a pass for buying one forgery. But if the buyer returns and buys over and over you can presume one of two things is happening.

1. You have discovered a collector of counterfeits.
2. You have discovered a re-seller of forgeries.

This scam was present on ebay when I first entered the site in 1999. Typically BIN auctions where the coin was always far underpriced was the hook. These coins were poorly made and were usually easy to spot in hand. The buyers often immediately re-posted the coins at higher prices as if they were genuine. This group of re-sellers seems to be motivated to commit fraud because of greed.

Over time the BIN prices were raised and then many forgers converted to auctions because they improved the look of their crap. They also realized the truism that you related as:


.

I would agree that when bidding reaches nearly actual value that greed is eliminated.

So a 7 or 10 day auction can benefit forgers as long as their auction is not reported.

With no one at ebay assigned to review each auction for fraud it is hit or miss. The forgers know this and so they gamble a little to make a lot.

As a counter question: