On Trust In Coin Transactions

WpgLwr..I didnt know you could pay for ebay items with cash...

KurtS...If the seller has Very good feedback,thats enough reassurance for me,Ill buy from him using paypal and if he doesn't come through,Ill just file a claim....we all know that paypal pretty much sides with the buyer in almost all cases!!

Theres really not that much downside for buyers nowadays!

I go by the photo of the coin first, blurred, poor photos cause me to pass on the coin, also if both sides of the coin are not shown, unless it is a proof. Then I look at the feedback rating and view feedback for negatives to see what type of comments were made (slow shipping...took five days to receive coin is obviosly not as bad as "coin received is not coin in pic"). Then based on how good a deal, how bad I want the coin, I will trust the seller. Have been burned once on coins, received a Peace dollar that was well circulated when the photo depicted an AU/BU coin but decided to keep the coin for the price rather than the hassle of returns, etc; just won't do business with them again.

I think sellers are obligated to:

accurately describe the item
not use stock photos unless they so state in LARGE BOLD print
not provide blurred out-of focus photos (some actually look deliberate where only one feature is blurred!)
ship on a timely fashion
provide money back guarantee
leave accurate feedback before the buyer (may get some arguement here)

As a seller, I just got semi-burned on a book I sold (not coin book, textbook). Sold for $20 with $4 shipping (book rate) on buy-it-now; buyer message "..I need FAST shipping on this, class started today..." so I made the decision to send priority ($12.95) and sent buyer an email asking to split the cost since I made the decision without waiting another day or so to get email confirmation since I was taking wife to hospital and would not be able to check emails, plus didn't know how soon buyer would check email. Asked to split the extra cost of about $8.95 and said "do what you feel is right as I am leaving positive feedback today regardless since it was my decision to help you out"...never heard back from buyer, did not even leave me postive feedback. So I just chalk it up as my mistake and that "Karma" will take care of the situation down the road. Karma, what goes around comes around, what so ever you sow, that also shall you reap...they mean a lot to me and guide the way I do things.

SuperDave, I do a lot of that too. People should really take note of the 'not even the experts saw it coming' scams, though. I mean, when I started buying on ebay, I never got burned that bad because I bid really conservatively, but I thought the only scams were just people with low feedback, poor pictures, inflating grades, lying about coins being cleaned, etc. Boy was I wrong. You remember that heritage scam thing, don't you? When I started, I read all the guides and was a lot more careful than most, but I STILL fell for it. To a slight degree, yes, but I did fall for it nonetheless. Even the most 'trustworthy' sellers who claim to not use 'unethical auction practices' right in the item page can be tricksters.

Then there's retouching, photoshopping out tiny marks on an UNC coin which might not be recognized by a novice collector but would make a notable difference in slabbing, etc.

I do the same thing with risks. I might risk up to $50 if I feel I have a good chance at a $100+ advantage if the risk pans out, but really no more than that. I'm not comfortable with losing $300 even if I might gain $1000, and in those cases, the chances are much lower because its more 'too good to be true'. With lower value risks, its usually just poor pictures or people not noticing the auction enough.

I typically use Toolhaus to look up seller feedback and I really wont judge that harshly if it looks like the buyer was just being a jerk or was too impatient (almost got a neg because someone was whining about parcel post being too slow, froze up my paypal account for a few days for no reason). But often, if someone is outright scammed and finds out, there will be glaring CAPSLOCK comments that hint at it.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Heritage-NC...000007944335

I made a topic about this awhile ago. The seller was roberta3303, but I also saw 'earlyuscoins' doing the same thing with teletrade. I bought from him once, but it was NGC certified. Even so, I'm not buying from either of them again.

Yeah, this is the guy with 200-300 feedbacks that sold the messed up 1838-O Half Dime.

Must be where I'm lucky. I only tried ebay once and not a good experience. My son sells mostly junk on ebay and that scares me. The nice thing about living in an area where absolutely anything and everything is available just can't be beat. No need for ebay, postage, paypal, insurances, frauds, lost in mail, etc.
We have 3 or more coin shows a month, gun shows about every other month, occational knife shows, camera shows, computer shows, hunting and fishing shows, car shows and on and on and on. Then of course there are the flea markets where you really can buy many itmes and if you know the sellers well, then there is no limiit to what you can buy.
I periodically check ebay for prices of coins and then go to a coin show and find the same or better for less.

I purposely buy from low feedback sellers... who live closeby.
I will send cash(folded in a coloured paper so lite won't reveal it) to well researched/agreed with "cash discount" sellers. PayPal is convenient but expensive(conversion rates,etc.)... hi $$$ transactions are better by other means(remember the new shipping requirements).
I prefer regular mail to most likely *bypass customs handling, not to put anything over on anyone.
I am probably a terrible risk taker compared to most... buying on poor pictures, incorrectly listed items, less than perfect feedback, from Eastern Europe, using etranslators for lord knows what language, paying by uninsured means... and it goes on.
Only 1 postal loss, that the USPS would not payout the *insurance on(*I rant on this in another thread)... out of 500+ purchases. A couple of times I've had PayPal recover my funds from unresponsive sellers(one was a half oz. au that for whatever reason I won for about $90 less than spot... so mute the seller became).
I do consider myself lucky. I am mostly after bullion prices so pictures don't concern me... But sometimes I like to get meself something nice. And in this current market I ain't buyin' squat... so I made out quite well, to this point.
Deals are out there... but risks are higher for the better deal... the deal that scares many off. Do your research. Sometimes bad feedback can be from one person, who just thrashes another and all else is okay.

And how about local pick-ups?
I usually arrange to meet at a local/busy/popular/mall/famous/not McDonald's/restaraunt. If the transaction is cash(hey, cash discounts apply!)... very James Bond!

* insurance=meh