Sorry, I Had To Post This 8 Reales Zacatecas

That is a Chinese Counterfeit it appears on ebay regularly. In the past 230 days it has been posted without warning 59 times and has been posted 24 times properly identified.

The problem with the counterstamp on most "replica" coins is that it is photo-shopped onto the picture so that if you win the auction the coin is delivered WITHOUT the stamp in place. It is a common tactic used by Chinese forgers.

This is another example of ebay just wanting to make money without taking any responsibility for anything. The policy is abjectly STUPID and will solve NOTHING AT ALL.

The fraudulent sellers will continue as they have ALWAYS done and simply not say they are selling fakes. ebay will not accept opinions about a coin being fake - they rely on the Seller being honest. They terminate only those sellers who ADMIT the coin is fake. But Honest sellers who properly describe their sales will be terminated quickly.

The systems makes sense only to Corporate Types who are interested in making a profit without spending any money or time on the system. They hide behind fool-proof legal guidelines that PROTECT ebay not the honest sellers or bidders.

Maybe because we unofficially watch a lot
and report the bad guys? By lots of members all at once.
and they ( auctions )get pulled a whole lot. Then ebay has to write a bunch of thank you for your concern emails ?

That phrase is puzzling.

Mathieu, the CCW is not related to this site, which by coincidence is similarly named "CoinCommunity.com"... ebay's CCW stands precisely for "Coins Community Watch" (note Judith whom you spoke to erroneously referred to it as "COIN" rather than "Coins" - a common mistake). It's basically an unpaid group comprised of a select group of apparently well-regarded dealers and industry types who review certain suspect auctions that get reported. If member(s) of the CCW believe with certainty the coin is a fake, they inform their contacts at ebay, which will generally yank the listing without further review. The membership of the group is kept anonymous, understandably... as such a group, if IDed publicly, could clearly be targeted for retaliation by assorted peed off people whose auctions were zapped. The link to report items to this group is quite direct:
www.ebay.com/ccw

This anonymity draws some grumbles (usually from those are getting their auctions knocked off for good reason), as does the occasional instance where they get it wrong and/or seem to act arbitrarily. On the topic of getting it wrong, I noticed recently where a coin was pulled down by ebay after running a few days... Several days later, the coin reappeared. The seller (who was clearly just someone with a random coin and not a serial fake seller or overgrader, which are the usual subjects tackled by the CCW) explained with a splash of annoyance exactly what had happened and that he was now relisting the piece as a replica/fake/whatever at CCW's insistence.

Here's the catch... the piece (without going into detail) was ABSOLUTELY a genuine coin. There was a caveat that whoever reviewed it at CCW (supposedly more than one CCW member is supposed to sign off on yanking an auction) apparently did not even consider, b/c if they had considered it, they would (or at least "should") have realized what this was. As it happens, the piece in question is something which should be familiar and understood in one of two rather popular areas of collecting. This is disturbing in that one (or more?) person/people that are supposed to be highly experienced and knowledgeable enough to essentially be given kill power by ebay revealed SERIOUS shortcomings in their knowledge by killing this one and make me question their qualifications and abilities.

I hope this was an aberration... and it does seem from what I've read that they at least do a reasonable job of effectively killing obvious junk they gets brought to their attention.

Regarding an anonymous group of "DEALERS" forming a committee, I have precisely zero level of trust in any such group. They are exactly the people (coin dealers) who should not be called on to be watchdogs of a coin selling venue. As numismatic dealers they have a "horse in the race". They do not enforce rules equally at all and certain favored people get away with anything.

Any long term observer of auctions involving forgeries will see that taking place daily. Routinely it is the small honest sellers that get auctions terminated.

But to make my central point once again, All COUNTERFEIT COINS ARE NOT THE SAME. Anyone who is an "expert" should be able to tell the difference between fraud and a legitimate offering.

Just because a coin is not a REAL or AUTHORIZED official issue does not mean it is not rare - not valuable and not collectible.

There are many rare and valuable coins that are COUNTERFEIT or unauthorized technically but which have become famous key rarities. For example the 1804 US dollar was made without authorization or monetization in the 1830's. The 1913 5 cent coin was absolutely an illegal issue. In addition there are numerous other rarities that began as simple forgeries. NONE of these rare items would be pulled off ebay - yet under the present rules they all could.

This committee should be composed of experts in specific fields of numismatics who do NOT Make a living as the result of buying and selling coins. TPG graders face that restriction and it is accepted. They are also identifiable. There would be no retaliation possible if the expert was NOT IN THE BUSINESS.

We never put a fox in charge of the hen house for obvious reasons. Why are coin "dealers" exempt from a conflict of interest in a situation like this? Some big dealers continue to sell garbage on ebay. Why are they still here?

I have volunteered repeatedly for this type of a committee as have several of my friends and associates that I consider to be experts in their own fields. I believe my own qualifications in the area of Mexican issues is pretty decent. But none of us are dealers and so we are always rejected.

Also to say the committee is composed of "EXPERTS" without identifying them or their credentials is a sham. In exactly what other area is expertise elevated beyond question while maintaining complete secrecy about methods procedures and qualifications?

The process as it exists provides NO recourse but to accept the view of anonymous experts who have cancelled MANY - MANY - auctions involving completely legal coins because their experts lack actual expertise regarding the coins they pass judgement on.

The process is actually far less than worthless because it lends an air of FAIR responsible selling which ebay of course does not provide. Buyers who rely on getting a real coin because this committee exists will continue to be sorely disappointed.

The committee in my experience stops only the MOST obvious blatant fakes - not the truly hazardous fakes appearing on ebay every day of the week.