1828 13 Star US Half Cent Grade And Opinions Please

That is great! I am a scammer now! The photos of the coin were taken in natural sun light so that the details of the coin would be clear. The point was to show what was being purchased, and not to deceive any buyers of possible flaws. The photos were not touched up or photo-shopped in anyway. Further, I clearly stated in the auction, "please contact me if you have any questions or would like a better image to analyze the coin's condition." If you were not sure or were suspicious of the coin why did you bid? Why did you not ask any questions before placing your bid? I made no misrepresentation about this coin or its condition, unless its not an 1828 classic 1/2 cent with 13 stars. I said nothing else. I did not grade the coin and instead encouraged all prospective buyers to judge the grade for themselves to avoid any disputes. The coin is circulated, copper, and 182 year old. Naturally the coin is going to be darker in color and have wear. I am refunding the money back to this buyer, but the whole point of the no refund policy was to get unsure buyers to ask questions first and really make sure they want the item before committing to a purchase. It is a waste of my time and money, as well, when a bidder is not happy. It is not all about you. I do not auction or sell items for a living, I am simply making some spare cash. Nevertheless, you or anyone else should not bid on an item haphazardly, and then claim you were misled. I did not pressure you into buying this item, nor did I set the specific amount you paid for it. It was an auction. I know there are scams online, and I too have been taken for a ride a few times. That is simply one of the hazards of making purchases online. So, I can fully understand and empathize with everyone initial reactions, but this was not a scam only a buyer's remorse. I did not come on here complain or start an argument with anyone. I just wanted to tell my side of things. I have no hard feeling toward "Wheezydog", he seem like a really good guy and I only wish him good luck in his future coin collecting and life in general.
Rob

The point is that the picture is not an accurate representation of what the actual coin looks like. If a picture was taken to accentuate the details and it was stated as such and mentioned the fact that the actual coin was much darker etc that would have been fine. There may not have been any bad intentions, but I would also have been disappointed in the coin I received vs the coin in the picture. You can't judge a coin by a picture that doesn't look like it.

I commend nhgreek for coming here and calmly voicing his side of this experience. There is one statement that I have difficulty with:




Although, yes, it is 182 years old, the coin being darker in color is not a natural assumption. That is the purpose of pictured in auctions. To represent and item as accurately as possible. A picture can be taken that illustrates the "in hand" color of a coin. As was stated, it would be a different matter if the auction had included the above quoted statement, thereby eliminating (or, at least, reducing) the probability of a misunderstanding regarding the actual color of the coin. One could also include an "as seen" photograph with an "enhanced to show detail" photo.

But, these are things that are learned in this process. I do not believe you had an intent to deceive. As I wrote earlier in this thread I received a coin that was not as represented by the photographs, with a picture showing a much lighter colored coin than it is "in hand".

I think the real lesson here is for sellers to describe and picture items for sale as accurately as possible. If it is dark, a picture would show that, to the best degree possible.

Nonetheless, I would imagine that this particular transaction should be complete, and the context of this thread complete as well.

What we may learn from it is an ongoing thing.

Steve

Now not to beat a dead horse, but I have re-read this.
Some think I was a bit bothered by a darker coin and contrasting splotches in color.
I was not so disappointed in the color as I was the layers of environmental damage that actually has some lamination type pitting. In the original image it appears to be some sort of toning actually.
Just to clarify, I was not happy with the coin surface at all.
The sunlight seems to have not revealed this in the original image.

My thought was at the very least if it was stated to be different than the picture, you would have had some idea to then ask for additional photos which would hopefully have shown all the problems.

This would be the eqivalent of selling a car with a photo of the good side when the other had scraped up against a guardrail. Hey... I said you could contact me for photos to judge the cars condition

I hate to turn this into a lovefest, but with that you've joined the list of sellers whose offerings I track.

This isn't the first time an ebay conflict has reached these pages with the "other" injured party joining to post here; they've gotten ugly in the past and we've been watching this thread very closely as a result. We don't allow "ugly" here.

Stick around, nhgreek. I urge you to take advantage of the knowledge available here; we've a pretty active subcommunity of photographers and ebay sellers, and it may be that you'll find something to help you get more money for your offerings. This conflicts me; as a seller I want to maximize my results but as a buyer I want it cheap.

I rationalize by knowing that there will always be deals to be found, but every more-capable seller we can create will improve the ebay experience for everyone.

Yeah Dave, the same thing happened to me once and it got pretty bad....