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 Replies: 24 / Views: 2,327 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
If they can't grade very well, their day job is probably school teacher.  |
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
Your question says it all "...learn to grade?" Who says they even learned proper grading in the first place?  Many probably learned the "trade" of buying/selling coins to make money, not as a numismatic hobby, so they may be unaccustomed to correct grading (albeit even that is subjective). I agree completely that many of these so-called ebay experts grade their coins, on average, about one-to-two grades higher than should be. Not true of all sellers, but true of many sadly. Of course, there are many honest sellers who do honest grading and err on the conservative side, but for every 100 sellers, 90 seem to be overzealous graders.  |
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Moderator
 United States
23516 Posts |
Grade School? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
What I think is really sad is that it seems like grade inflation pays off on ebay. People do seem to get sucked in by a seller's description instead of grading the coin themselves. If I see a coin where the seller claims it's AU when it is really a VF in my opinion, I don't even bother because I know it's going to be bid way over the price I would pay. Ken |
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
I am assigning Parklane64 and rgoodie detentions. Tsk! My favorite ebay coin seller never grades his coins, provides clear photos of each one (and we're talking thousands here), not just "stock" photos, and starts each and every auction at 99 cents. If the coin has an obvious flaw, he lists it. He'll take any coin back, and in one case where the shipment disappeared in the US Mail, he issued me a credit without question. Oh, and did I mention that he has a 100% rating, thousands and thousands of transactions, and answers e-mails quickly, in spite of running several hundred auctions at the same time? He even takes my personal check! Does your deal do all that? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2130 Posts |
I just purchased a 1879 Morgan off of ebay. The coin photos were beautiful, I graded AU - MS. When the coin came it wasn't the coin pictured & graded F -VF. The seller said that he might have sent the wrong coin. I spoke with the seller Tues. & he was supposed to let me know last night. No word yet  .I don't let seller grades influence my grade opinion. I know I'm new at this. But, I try to be consevative on my grades. ebay used to have a rule about the seller listing a grade taht wasn't a TGP grade. If you did, they would remove the listing. They should reinforce it. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Quote:
Ebay used to have a rule about the seller listing a grade taht wasn't a TGP grade. If you did, they would remove the listing. You cannot list a numeric grade in the title unless it is certified by one of five TPGs. You can list a grade in the body or use adjective terms in the title(uncirculated, fine, good, etc) though. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
Quote:I just purchased a 1879 Morgan off of ebay. The coin photos were beautiful, I graded AU - MS. When the coin came it wasn't the coin pictured & graded F -VF. Give the buyer a little time to make it right; if they refuse, file an Item Not as Described dispute with PayPal. Ken |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
I only buy from the sellers who post pictures good enough to blow up and examine for your self. Truly, it's the only way to protect from the overeager over graders!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
I just bought 5 Morgans from a seller that described them all as Mint State (lousy pictures so I contacted him prior to bidding and got his reassurance of the conditions of the coins). I got them today and they are nowhere close to MS(I also didn't pay mint state price for them either!). I have emailed him about this discrepancy and I am awaiting his reply. I'll let you all know the outcome...
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
Best way to avoid problems is to only buy from Sellers you know and trust (or receive a recommendation ).
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Valued Member
United States
411 Posts |
Grading is not my problem , when a seller says RARE, that gets my goat. First thing I do is run a search to see how may are listed then email the seller and question the RARE thing. What they just about always say is , " THERE RARE in MY AREA ". I respond by saying your on ebay not your area. |
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Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
I think you already have an advantage over most people if you can tell the difference between VF and AU. There a lot of people that go by the description and will pay more than they are worth and I feel sorry for them but personally think we should all learn this lesson one way or another.
To me, I think you already know everything that has been said and that this is just a quick way to rant about your experience and educate others as well. Now the thing to do is take that knowledge and use it against others that do not know. I try to buy some coins from people that do not specialise in them because they just want a couple of bucks and have no idea what they have.
Also try to buy groups of coins as well. If there is only one coin in a group of 10, it may still be worth buying just to get it. For example, about a year ago I bought a group of 4 large cents that were all listed in low condition. After looking at the pictures I could tell that one of them had no description and instead of being a G4+ like the others it actually was VF20-30. I ended up getting the set for about $12 shipped and had 3 other coins to use as trade.
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Member
United States
917 Posts |
Having watched coins on ebay for years now I would agree with Ken when he said he feels many bidders get sucked in to the sellers description rather than look closely at the picture and attempt to grade it. Fuzzy out of focus pictures are usually the mark of a bs merchant , look at other items for sale and youll often see a sellers photograpgy skills is fine until it comes to a simple coin , theres a reason for that usually. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2520 Posts |
I think 10% use "Photograde" and the other 90% use "Coin Grading for Dummies"!
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Posted 02/03/2009 9:53 pm
