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 Replies: 19 / Views: 3,021 |
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Valued Member
United States
154 Posts |
Scenario #1: Has this ever happened to you? You click on a picture, get excited about a coin and start to place your bids. However, the description of the coin in the wording is vague, not quite the same as the pictured coin. You win your auction. The coin arrives but it is NOT the coin pictured online. SUCKER! I can't begin to tell you how many times this has happened to me in the last few months and I believe it is a growing trend. Dealers cry, "Mia culpa" and say "I deal in so many coins... I made an honest mistake. Return the coin and I will refund your money." But I believe that most people don't notice and the so-called mistake is on purpose. Scenario #2: You see a coin that is slightly out of focus, but in the description, the seller says "XF" meaning Extra Fine, a grade that should have incredible detail. When the coin arrives, you find out that it is VF at best and the blurry picture has covered up scratches, dents, gouges and dings that would be obvious in a clear picture. This practice is also on the rise. I find these business practices reprehensible and deplorable... and it needs to stop. These bad dealers are giving ebay and the numismatic community a bad reputation for what should be illicit activity. If we cannot police outselves, perhaps we need to pass a law making it a crime. Fraud is fraud, no matter how much icing of an apology you put on it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
745 Posts |
Yes, These bad dealers are giving ebay and the numismatic community a bad reputation.... got soooo many CLEANED coins that photos do not show & NEVER stated CLEANED coin in item. Also, toooo many 'honest mistakes' = BS |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
This happens all the time and they do it on purpose. That's why I stay away from blurry pictures and vague descriptions. The only time I might bid on a not so great picture is if it is a new seller who can't take good pictures. sometimes you can score like that.
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Valued Member
United States
350 Posts |
Pay for the coin you are buying. If the image is blurry, why take a strangers word for the grade?
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New Member
United States
13 Posts |
Ya gotta' love it... I do most of my coin purchases on ebay. You search for that "special" addition for your collection, and find a title and photo for a 19XX's coin you want, find that the description is for a totally different year and type coin, and it has a reserve selling price on it. Or take the chance and purchase a questionable coin, find out when it arrives that the "Brilliant Un-circulated" with the infamous "Proof-like" description is way off base, and "no returns" listed in the auction description. Although sometimes you do find that "Jaw-Dropping" deal when a seller just doesn't know what he is placing up for auction. And I couldn't tell you how many bags/boxes of wheat pennies are spread out on the floor of various loading docks across this country. (Bless those knuckleheads at USPS/UPS/FedEx). Yep.... Ya gotta' Love it.... Edited by driverdriver2
01/21/2012 12:11 pm
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Valued Member
United States
361 Posts |
ebay has been the "go to" site for con men, swindlers and thieves for as long as it has been around. There are many collectors whe never buy anything from ebay. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who bought from ebay who hasn't been "taken" at one point or another (myself included). When I was still an uneducated collector I bought so many wizzed Morgans it wasn't funny. I happened to get very lucky as I dumped a lot of them when silver was $45+ and actually ended up making a few bucks (after sitting on them for over 10 years). There are many good, reputable sellers out there but you have to protect yourself and don't ever be afraid or hesitant to return a coin that you are not happy with. Learn how to grade what you are collecting and how to determine if a coin has been cleaned. This is not directed at anyone specific-just some lessons I learned the hard way. Off to make a few bids!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4420 Posts |
I've been buying coins through ebay for ten years or so and during that time, netted over 400 coin items. (Coin shows are my favorite venue by far) I've not yet experienced a switch, nor have I returned any. One item did get lost in the mail, and the seller gave me a refund. I generally avoid sellers with less than a 98% rating and/or less than 50 items sold. I have far more complaints about ebay policies than I do about sellers in general. |
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Valued Member
 United States
154 Posts |
Well, this seller had a rating of 100% and showed the picture of a "rarer" Morgan but sent a very common Morgan in VF (not the XF Morgan he had pictured, different date and mint mark). He said it was an honest mistake and offered to refund my money if I sent the coin back (magnanimous gesture, all sarcasm intended). The only problem with that is, I feel duped. If he is a seller of Morgan coins, why do that? There can be only one explanation - he was trying to get away with something. Honest mistake my ***!
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Valued Member
United States
284 Posts |
I have had this happen to me buying collectible millitaria items and it is always a chance you have to take. The cheaper the buy the harder it is to recover your money as your shipping charges eat up all of your restitution. Thankfully some millitaria forums build databases of those ebay sellers, but it still goes on, you just have to research. Unfortunately I think coin sales are so huge on ebay that building a database like that for coin "dealers" would be unthinkable. |
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Valued Member
United States
154 Posts |
One of the pillars mentioned Heritage (He's got a perfect MS Morgan on grading forum). Oh, if I could afford legit auction houses like Heritage. Unfortunately, I'm just a working slob. But go to their site and check out their sales... beautiful perfect coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3755 Posts |
Hmmmm, pretty much everything I am reading here boils down to being intelligent about how you buy your items, coins or anything else. I have not been taken once, and only once did I have a complaint with anything and I was refunded the money upon return of the coin. No biggy. We have purchased a LOT on ebay, and sold a lot. There is no doubt there are swindlers there, but as with all swindles, it requires a lax buyer to work. |
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Valued Member
United States
155 Posts |
I would never buy a coin with a blurry picture, vague description, or a description that doesn't match the picture. At the very least, email the seller to see if they put the wrong picture with their description. Sometimes, a seller will use a previous listing as a template for their new listing and an error could be made. Simple mistake. Email and let them fix it. If not, don't buy the coin. Seems simple enough to me.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
When I was still an uneducated collector I bought so many wizzed Morgans it wasn't funny. I happened to get very lucky as I dumped a lot of them when silver was $45+ and actually ended up making a few bucks (after sitting on them for over 10 years). If you "made a few bucks" after sitting on them for ten years you almost certainly lost money when time value of money is figured in. If you spent $1K on them, after ten years you would need to have sold them for between $1300 and $1400 just to break even. Quote:eBay has been the "go to" site for con men, swindlers and thieves for as long as it has been around. There are many collectors whe never buy anything from ebay. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who bought from ebay who hasn't been "taken" at one point or another Yes there are crooks on ebay, so some people say for this reason you shouldn't buy coins on ebay. There are crooks on Craigslist so we shouldn't buy coins there either. There are crooks running websites so we should stay away from those as well. There are crooks at coin shows and B&M shops, so don't buy coins there either. And you know sometimes even another collector will try and stick it to you, so we can't buy from them either. So we can't buy coins from other collectors, dealers, at coin shows, off of websites, Craigslist, or ebay. So just where are we supposed to get our coins? Quote:Thankfully some millitaria forums build databases of those ebay sellers, but it still goes on, you just have to research. Unfortunately I think coin sales are so huge on ebay that building a database like that for coin "dealers" would be unthinkable You also have the problem that no one is willing to host a "bad dealer list" because of liability problems. There are dealers out there that will sue a host for being put on such a list. Sure in the long run the host will most likely prevail, but at the cost of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. No one wants to risk that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3755 Posts |
Conder, we just have to sneak around stealing them from each other I guess. LOL
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Rest in Peace
United States
4849 Posts |
I have been quite successful on ebay too, and am happy about 98% of the time. However, even with good pics and a seller with good feedback, there are times where the pics are deceiving. After at least 500 purchases, I have only returned one coin and it was recently. http://www.ebay.com/itm/15071177596....m1497.l2649The coin looks nice and fairly original from the pic, at least to my eyes. In hand however, it is beyond "harshly cleaned" and actually quited polished looking. I purchased this coin to replace a cleaned example in my collection, and this one was worse then the one I had. The photography did a good job of completely hiding the cleaning. So I returned it. Shipping was free to begin with, so no biggie. There is no fool proof method, but there are lots of ways to mitigate the risk. |
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Valued Member
United States
154 Posts |
I put this to my friend (my guide and an ANA expert) the other night and he said: "Most dealers put their junk coins on ebay. If someone had a perfect coin, why would they sell it on ebay? They'd take it to Stacks." I suppose he's right. I'm just a low-life, underpaid, working-stiff collector of everyone else's junk. Collectors of MS coins is a rich man's hobby. |
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Replies: 19 / Views: 3,021 |
Posted 01/20/2012 11:40 pm
