Praise For Ebay Dispute Resolution Process :)

CCF is always educational. This is a scam I could have never thought up myself. Now it gets me thinking. Buy a coin, try to retool the date and fail, return for a refund and try again! Your practice sessions are covered. Pretty sick.

Just to answer some of the great questions and suggestions posed by CCF members...

coinaholic & kuh85 - Yes, the coin was the exact same coin as the coin I shipped to the buyer...

And yes, I always keep lots of great pics of all coins I have sold on file for future reference in situations like this..

lambecolin - 1880 N/W twenty five cent silver piece

moxking - agree with you that, "It is darned near impossible to get burned on ebay for a customer"

But disagree that, "taking care of the very few customers who really shouldn't have a claim for a refund is a pittance, I'm sure."

If you talk with any ebay seller you will find that they have been burned by buyers perpetrating scams like this... and unlike my case in this particular situation, most times the sellers get left holding the bag and have to refund the purchaser out of their own pocket!

westernsky - I have done as you suggested, leaving the following "follow-up" comments to both the original feedback I left the buyer(demic196) AND the feedback the buyer left me

XXX Sellers Beware! XXX Returned coin for refund after DIPPING & POLISHING :(

I also took the liberty of contacting many previous sellers that this buyer purchased from to give them a heads up and an opportunity to protect themselves by blocking this buyer...

wildflowerAB - yes, this guy has a track record / history of pulling these kind of scams, as indicated by the many responses I got from other sellers reporting this buyer had scammed them as well!

M_d_in_guy; Strach-Man - Indeed your theories regarding why an unscrupulous purchaser would do this are right on... he thought he could "upgrade" the coin by doctoring it, but ruined it in process, and decided he could scam me & ebay and get away with it, which ultimately he did!!

I would urge all of you who are ebay sellers to spread the word when you encounter a scam artist like this one...

ebay will not remove buyers like this as they contribute to the ebay bottom-line... which is what it's all about for ebay :(

Thx for your feedback, ideas and support :)

Makes me think about removing the return polocy on my high value coins... However, I can see that as taken the wrong way and it maybe a red flag for buyers.

I believe this is the coin in question
181694924873
181814888877
No mention of the cleaning/polishing in the relisting.
He now has ended the listing.

This is why I have a no refund policy and I don't sell coins on my ebay haha. I stick to antiques oddities and toys. Grade matters a lot less there.

This is why many sellers ship in some sealed container or capsule (2x2 or slab, etc) and say that opening the said container voids any possible return.

What I would do is take a 2x2 and write on it and seal the open edges with some kind of tape or stickers and have writing on the front and back. Have a picture of this holder in the listing and require the buyer to send a picture of the coin in its holder if he/she wants to make a return. Should be fairly easy to determine if the holder and/or the coin was tampered with.

To protect myself from the rather clever buyers who would fake my own holders, I might have to write a code that only I can understand and explain to ebay should an issue come up. Or just write stuff on it with my typewriter; I'm sure very few modern buyers have easy access to a typewriter.

This may seem like too much effort in the long run, especially for cheaper coins, and I'm sure someone would find their way around this system to scam the seller.

MoneyPenney, on the day I posted this was the listing, 181814888877 .It's still the same coin he has only recently relisted it with the mention of the cleaning. No catalogue or price guide anywhere lists this coin at $1000.