Who Are Some Good Ebay Dealers?

ojo, this is a tough question because there are hundreds or thousands of honest and ethical coin sellers on ebay. Some of them are right here on this forum, foremost among them being our forum Mommy and Daddy (Susan and Bobby). While it would be relatively easy to list those sellers with whom I have had satisfactory transactions, my sample size would be too small and not representative of the larger group. I think it would be difficult for all of us to collectively attempt to list all sellers whom we consider "good" and separate them from the "bad".

I do not deal exclusively with any one seller although I have a couple from whom I have purchased repeatedly, but I won't list them since they don't fit your criteria. It would be helpful to us if you could let us know what type coins you'd like to buy; maybe then we can recommend certain sellers based on our personal experiences.

When shopping "blind" on ebay (bidding from a seller with whom one has had no experience), it is absolutely critical to: (1) Ensure s/he has a return policy (we are looking at images which can be doctored or hiding a defect instead of the actual coin; a seller who states "this is not an approval sales" is trying to get rid of bad coins). (2) Thoroughly check his/her feedback, especially negs if any and the reasons for such negs. One or two negs out of hundreds over a couple years may be OK, but five or six in the past month or year out of hundreds of sales should raise a red flag. His/her responses to neg FB also may indicate his character: is s/he offensive or will s/he admit s/he made a mistake? (3) Avoid one- or even three-day auctions; they may be fraudulent and the seller may trying to sell fast and run. Similarly, avoid "private" auctions; the seller is trying to hide something. (4) Avoid sellers with less than ten auctions, has been an ebay member for only a few days, and/or has an Asian (China/Shanghai) location; these have been the source of many counterfeit coins and fruadulent auctions.

These are just a summary of ebay buying tips. For more in-depth tips, see the COINAF buying tips page: http://www.coinaf.org/coin_buying_tips.htm .

If you see something on which you might be interested but aren't sure about the seller, feel free to run it by us in this forum or contact a COINAF member. We are here to help.

ebay can be a lot of fun, rewarding, and even profitable, but as in any dealings with the outside world, there are basic precautions which must be observed.