Ebay Lunacy Of The Week

I don't know. . . I think the seller does a pretty good job explaining that the rolls shown aren't what they will be receiving and that there may or may not be silver. The picture is an attention getter to get you to look at the listing. (It got you to take a look!) While I agree it's not a good deal for a potential buyer, I don't have any issue with the seller's listing.

I feel this offering creates the delusion (while cautiously saying "Old Silver Coins POSSIBLE" and not guaranteeing any) that you have a chance of finding silver halves in these rolls. I also strongly suspect the frequency of silver halves in these rolls is probably zilch.

This cautiously created delusion is - as I originally said - not misrepresentation or deliberate dishonesty in advertising. However, I also feel that it pushes pretty close to the edge of that envelope.

In all the hundreds of ebay listings for pennies, I have yet to see any that are written up as "Unsearched Penny Rolls - Old Wheat Pennies Possible" or "Old Indian Head Pennies Possible." No purposeful delusion creation among the many penny vendors.

Why then the cautiously created delusion about old silver coins "POSSIBLE" in this offering? That's my issue. This is at best borderline ethics.

Why not push it a step further and advertise these rolls as old gold coins as also being possible? Some inattentive bank clerk might have inadvertently slipped an uncirculated MS70-quality gold Double Eagle into one of the rolls. You never know.

After all - you can't say that anything is by definition impossible just because it hasn't happened yet.

I kind of get what Freddy is pointing out. At first glance, I thought it was unsearched silver rolls. The price was way to good to be true. I know caveat emptor but this is border line misleading with the pictures that they show.

Oh well, call the guy a good marketer...until his feedback plunges because you KNOW people are going to complain when they realize what they have purchased (I know, caveat emptor!).

I'm a half hunter myself - probably soon to be a former half hunter, because I've gone through over 40 boxes (40,000+ coins) without finding any silver halves. Basing my feelings on that experience, I can't call the probability of finding silver halves in unsearched rolls "very possible." My experience is that it's "Mission: Impossible" in the area where I live.

If these were unsearched rolls of silver halves, I'd snap them all up myself for $150 per roll in the blink an eye.

As for the delusion thing - I think the picture speaks adequately on that point. Why show three silver halves on the ends of three rolls out of the five rolls in the picture if the intent wasn't the creation of a delusion? I haven't seen three silver halves in the 2,000+ rolls I've searched.

However, anybody who wants to is free to see this offering however they want to see it. They're also free to buy as many of these rolls as they'd like to spend $18 a copy on. My best wishes to all. Happy hunting!

I do like that term " ebay listing rules," too... In view of listings like this one, I think that term is a good for a couple good hearty laughs.

My Two Cents:

Anyone who has lurked in this group for longer than a few hours learns that such "too good to be true" deals exist.
Perhaps it is the true newbies that need to be warned.
Well, it is not going to happen. For no matter how much such an offer offends us it is not within our control
to affect any change.
Sometimes, for fun, I read these "You won't believe what is on ebay" offerings, but it is usually the same:
The new folks will get burnt and the old folks will stay clear.
I wish that it were not true, but it is.
Offensive - yes.
Fraud - no. No promise is made. But it is the "intent" to tantalize that gets me.
Time to get off of my soap box now.
Thank you.

Maybe nobody is deceived by it, but bottom line is that to me, the listing is deceitful whether or not it is to you, whoever else, or ebay for that matter, legality or ebay guidelines notwithstanding. I say deceit isn't just a matter of telling a lie that can be proven. Obscuring the facts in subtle ways by sending mixed messages (visual versus text for example)is inherently deceitful. An unprovable assertion is also potentially deceitful, like the vague/dubious title the seller used in the listing. Unsearched roll? Meaning what exactly? Unsearched by the seller before rerolling them and posting them on ebay? Unsearched to check to see if there were any Krugerands in the rolls? Etc., etc., etc. I'm done here LOL

Everybody who feels this is a legit, A-OK and defensible offering should definitely act on their convictions and buy the product being offered. After all, like the man said -- "THIS IS A GREAT WAY FOR VETERAN COLLECTORS AND NEW ONES ALIKE TO HAVE FUN AND MAYBE FIND A GREAT PIECE OF HISTORY!" -- and -- "Franklin, Walking Liberty and Kennedy 90% silver coins are possible! 40% silver Kennedy coins are possible as well!"

After the existing inventory of these rolls gets sold out, there's another great offer, too --

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Worthless-P...em4abe8eb664

Scubu - I'm with you. Glad to see I'm not the world's only dubious ethics party-pooper who's still left. Keep on kicking!

No offense was intended. If any was taken, I apologize. I get steamed by shady dealers, borderline ethics and hustlers who feed on the gullible and the underinformed. I've had relatives who got bilked out of their life's savings by fast operators. When I see anything that strikes me as being in kind of that ballpark, I see red.

I'm just beginning to learn how chock full of that kind of stuff ebay really is. I've only made about a dozen ebay buys, and they were all specific years of a specific coin. I'm just starting to see the "big picture" and the full range of marginal and borderline stuff that I guess it's filled with. My former level of respect for ebay as a marketing venue is in free-fall. I now see it as the online equal of some NYC street hustler trying to sell the 3 dozen watches he's wearing on each arm under his greasy raincoat.