"Coin Scams" On Ebay And Other Auction Sites

I personally do not believe any coin lot on ebay is truly unsearched. Somebody, sometime searched it. What is interesting though, is that different people search for different purposes, like some are looking for rare varieties, some looking for only specific dates to fill holes, some looking only for higher condition pieces, etc. It is truly rare that grandma stashed away $1000 worth of wheats in the 1950s and left them untouched for 50+ years. Yet, these stories are all over the place on ebay and unfortunately, the buyers/bidders get hooked and the lot goes for higher than it should.

The other thing that happens very frequently, is that seller says unsearched, you bid and win the lot and go through it and there are some good coins, tougher dates etc. I think this is due to "seeding" of the lots to make them appear unsearched. But in almost every one of these, there are strange statistical anomolies, like 99% 40s and 50s wheats with a few seeded teens, 20s and 30s and one or two semi-keys tossed in. Yet there will be no or only a couple 43S, 55S, 39D and others that should be there in a 500 coin lot.

I once sold a bag of over 800 wheats that I got for about 5$

Over 800 SEARCHED Wheat Cents Penny in Bag

I got $35ish for it

Buying on ebay is like going to a casino, it is always a gamble, and when considering many gambles, the house ALWAYS wins (okay in this case it is the house and ebay itself that wins). However, on each individual gamble, anyone can win. The goal is to be very selective in which gambles you take, never walk in a casino with more money than you are willing to lose. I've been on ebay since May 12, 1999 (just checked my about me page on ebay) and have gained some of the knowledge that helps me select the right gambles. I remember buying a mixed lot which had bad pictures, but I saw a gold coin and I spent $20 for the lot at a time I should have been spending the $20 on diapers for my baby. When I got the gold coin, it said "copy" on it. Lesson learned. It made me better armed for the next gamble. I tend to win far more gambles than I lose.

People have used words like "new and improved" for years to sell a product, they have never fooled me so I won't let words like "unsearched" and "mint sealed" fool me either.

A big gamble is exactly what it is, especially when the cards are stacked against you. There are a lot of great points and I agree with most of them, but I do feel that there are a few auctions that are truely unsearched (just wish I knew how to find them) but they are mainly more modern and lower valued coins. If I picked up a roll of coins from somewhere that was dated from the 60's or older it would be next to impossible not to open it up and go through it. But if I picked up 100 or so rolls, then I could see me going through a small percentage and then selling the rest as 'unsearched'.

I love collecting wheaties and feel that if I can buy a roll at a decent price then why not. I know that I am not going to find a key date coin but I have found some that were worth $10-20 now and then. To me it is a big gamble and a game, I never know what is going to be in there and happy to get more than I paid for each time. I have lucked out and received a fair value for what I have bought but do see too many tricks to buy this because it will have at least one of the following...

The ones that make me laugh are:
1. 'I do not collect coins and have no idea of the value' and then you look at the 500+ postings and they are all coin related. Or 2. they say the same thing and then have everything broken down to include a type coin for the last 50 years and know how to seperate the silver and key dates from others.