Whats The Worst You've Ever Been Taken For On Ebay?

Well I bought a silver washington from some guy and he didnt send it and didnt respond to anything I sent, then ebay settled it for me. Then a few months later he emails back saying hes sorry and he got divorced all of a sudden and he didnt know what to do...oh well.

CC,
I really wouldn't leave a neutral for that, just initially a little disappointed. Looking at it as $8 for a P&D mint set with 3 halves is a good outlook. Thanks

I bought "MS70" steel cents from ABSCOM (SGS) years ago. Needless to say they are nowhere near MS70 and I learned my lesson.

I have been pretty careful not to get taken, but there have been close calls.

I had one person I bought from awhile ago have their account (allegedly) hacked by some scammer who was listing fakes ( ebay said the account was compromised), and they not only sent a fake, but the WRONG FAKE! This was for $400 and thank goodness I sent the fake junk back with signature confirmation, because it was my only way to get a paypal refund.

Awhile ago, there was this seller who was cracking out problem coins from heritage TPG slabs and listing them on ebay without mentioning the problems and pulling the whole "I've collected coins for 50 years and am a member of ANA" nonsense story. I think he still does it. While I didn't catch onto this the first few times, I was reasonably conservative when I started on ebay in an effort to not get taken, which worked because the coins I won from him were for the same or LESS than he paid on heritage since they were auctions. I found out though, and instead of just admitting it he became really angry in an anti-social way...screaming in all caps etc...there was even a thread on here a long time ago I believe. That thread was not very civilized.

I've had a couple close calls as a buyer and have had ebay involved a few times but have not been taken. I've had a couple,"I should have known better" experiences that were more my fault than the seller and had to man up to my lack of caution or inattention.

If you can count as being taken having one loony buyer give a negative and spoiling a perfect record of over a thousand positives... yes I have been taken. This past spring I listed a lot of four Mexican Pesos of the KM-459 type. They were struck 1957 - 1967 of just 10% silver, 0.05 oz. each. In the title I added that they were "Silver Billon" since with 10% silver, that is what they are. Some ignoramus bought them thinking billon was bullion misspelled and when he learned that he didn't have 90% or better silver he simply slapped a Negative without even first contacting me. His feedback reads, "Promotes as Silver buillion but mis spelled and not true". Notice that in his feedback he misspelled bullion.... the word he accused me of misspelling to misrepresent the coins! In an email he called me deceitful, a cheat and accused me of "praying" on ebay buyers. He felt cheated because he wanted bullion at a billon price. He got the four coins for $10 bucks which is right about what they go for on ebay. So I think I was cheated out of my 100% Positive record by his ignorance, selfish anger and unreasonableness.

Since this is limited to just coins ... back in 2002 I purchased a custom-made computer. The seller had a 100% feedback score with over 1000 feedbacks (Bob's Computers).

I paid via PayPal (not an ebay asset at the time) using bank acct funds. The total was $1200.

After one week I noticed Bob's first negative feedback ... a scathing one calling him a crook. Another similar one came in that same day. I tried to call them, but the phones were disconnected.

Then I got to watch the whole thing unfold. Bob was operating a kind of ponzi where he would buy parts for computers that were ordered with proceeds from future sales. Then his suppliers cut him off. I ordered my computer two days after he made his last one. ebay buyer protection was limited to $175 and that's all I got back.

He filed for bankruptcy and when it went to trial, one of the many bilked customers (there were over 125) sat in on it. Bob and his attorney never mentioned his ebay activity in the proceedings and his asset list didn't mention $$$ from ebay sales. The guy in the gallery got to tell the judge what "Bob" had been up to and there was at least $275K in unclaimed assets. Seems Bob had filed three times previously and his debt slate was cleared. Not this time thanks to the well-researched testimony from this one guy. Last I heard (2003) was that Bob had left PA and they are looking for him.

That's easy to answer. $400 for a fake Edward VI. I collect British Hammered coins and the coin in the scan was not the coin I received. I took a risk on this coin and lost out. Naturally, ebay was absolutely no help and I still have that fake today. The good news is I got a good deal on an authentic Edward VI and I place them side by side in my collection as a reminder and educational tool. It is a risk you take when you collect the kind of coins I do.

Shows and dealers in my area never have what I am looking for. Better to build strong online connections. I also look for certified coins.