Midas

I guess us "little" guys can't fight against the powersellers like Star Grading Service (SGS) and their eBay powerseller Aboncom.

eBay sent me this:

"Recently we became aware that your eBay registered account was involved in the following activity:

* Public Board Abuse*

I post under the handle of "zakgold" (its a long story) on the eBay coin forums and everytime a "newbie" ask questions about Star Grading Service, commonly called SGS, I give them the hard facts which is:

1.) SGS is owned and operated by the eBay powerseller Aboncom out of Ohio

2.) SGS is NOT a grading service, they are just a packaging and marketing service for this seller's coin inventory. You will find their coins in plastic, gold foil tape, and 99% of them will have labels with either MS70 or PR70.

Recently, a seller out on the west coast in California (StevesGiftShoppe) started actively defending SGS and how great these coins are! Upon further review, over 75% of this seller's listing were SGS coins! Of course, many in the forum laid down the facts and all he did was report our posts to eBay!

"Boo hoo", he cried to eBay as every newbie we saved from buying a SGS 70 coin must of hurt his business. Matter of fact, his name got so trashed that he recently changed his eBay I.D. it to "mentone-mercantile" on May 18th to distance himself from the S.G.S. label.

Here's the kicker...one of the owners of this "gift shop" who had the eBay I.D. as "warrengacsi" changed his I.D. on May 20th to "zackg0ld" and then started posting as yours truly...saying how great SGS is!

So, I made the forum aware about these updates and stated they were, "sneaky, sneaky" and what happens to me?? I get charged with "public board abuse" and now am booted for 30 days (second offense).

Look...every numismatic that doesn't buy SGS 70 coins thinking they are truly independent is a victory for this hobby. Say hello to the eBay coin forum and let them know I was booted...again!

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=8

Pass the word...

__________________

“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.” - John Wooden

09S-V.D.B

Certainly a noble cause, but eBay clearly is most concerned with their own profits.

cherrypicker

BRAVO!!! Fantastic job-the word does need to be passed and I think it really hurts the newcomer's view of the hobby. It's o.k for some people who realize what SGS is and takes advantage of the reduced SGS prices to buy otherwise decent coins. But for a YN to come in and think he/she is making a great deal only to be made look like a fool in the coin shop is a different story. And it's people like you who are spreading the word to try and prevent it-Nice job....again
Bill

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The best way to kill time is to work it to death

NICK66

To me SGS goes along the lines of false advertising. I hope somebody sues them one of these days.

deniseyweesy

Midas, I'm just surfing in- well, actually, I had to register to surf in. Anyhow, I went to the coin forum on Ebay because my mom wanted to know about her Morgan- not sure if you'd remember.

I'm not a coin collector, or seller, or anything like that. But, from that day I have enjoyed reading the forum there, and it has sparked my interest a little bit in coins. So, I've continued to read that forum and this a little bit, especially the FAQ here, and it's been very educational. Your posts have certainly part of my education, you have probably saved quite a few people from being scammed. I doubt that a lot of newbies who feel the same way would take the time to post it, especially seeing what Ebay is doing to you. They are afraid most likely.

I can't believe they suspended you again, but the guy who pretended to be you is still allowed to sell. That's Ebay for you. Thank you so much for enlightening newbies like me- even though I doubt I'll ever be a collector, I'm sure I'll run into people from time to time who do. Word of mouth can be a wonderful, or a terrible thing. Just wanted you to know that people are listening, and I'm probably 1 out of 100 who took the time to post. Thanks Midas!

Midas

I appreciate the emails and all your support. It makes it all worth it to know that at least one "newbie" did the right thing and researched and learned about the good and bad of this hobby before departing with their money. Actually, there is more good than bad, but it takes is ONE bad experience to sour your interest.

You have taken a giant step forward by registering here. If you want to know anything about numismatics, this is the place to come...right Peter? (he's the big guy who started this great venue).

__________________

“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.” - John Wooden

cherrypicker

Midas-I just posted on eBay forums. You worked up quite the discussion-they're all wondering where you went!
Bill

__________________
The best way to kill time is to work it to death

deniseyweesy

Put it this way, before I posted about my mom's coin on the Ebay board, I didn't even know it was called a Morgan. I had to do a google search. We always save wheat pennies that we find etc., but I had no idea how many people collected coins and what made certain coins more valuable than others. It's a lot of fun to learn all this stuff. I don't have a lot of money, but I've also found that one doesn't have to have a lot of money to start collecting some coins. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that!

planoperson

You weren't kidding that they obliterated all but I think one of your posts on the eBay forum. Makes the rest not make as much sense to follow along. I'm surprised they let you email out to all of us on that forum. I'm squeeze1960. I didn't realize your were Midas here! Aren't we all cloak & dagger!! I had been bidding a couple of months ago for an item of theirs and my brother called desperately saying to let someone else take the coin. I was two minutes shy of being duped on a GOLD coin, supposedly ms68. He forwarded the SGS/Aboncom forum to me to show me why I should pass. This newbie is grateful! I just feel so badly for the one who got stuck.

gxseries

It's bad policy there. eBay never bothered to determine the true facts behind it and just determines what's more profitable. That's bad business policy there.

If you wish to pursue this case further, you can always create a site like, http://www.stop-sgs-scam.com and write real hard facts about it. And every time a topic like that occurs in any site, just refer to the link.

I personally don't see why SGS deserves continue on selling under falsifying grades and imply the "artificial" values by comparing the stardards set by other TPGs.

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My partial list of coins: Omnicoin

My numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htm Regularly updated at least once a month.

Aidan Work

Here's another website that will be of interest to you; www.coinaf.org .That is the website of the Coalition of Internet Numismatists against fraud.You can also report any scams to them in addition to reporting it to other scam-busting websites.Eventually,the trade will get wind of what is going on.

Aidan.

rugen

Hey zackgold - I wouldn't worry too much about kicked off the ebay forum. From reading it the past few weeks you have a tremendous amount of folks picking up right where you left off. SGS is continuing to get hammered with post after post. I enjoyed reading the casino chip infoormation. Like I said before keep you chin up. Thanks Jim

SuperDave

I'm one of the folks picking it up. The way to combat fraud is to expose it to the harsh light of day, and that light will not cease shining on SGS and the other alphabet TPG's.

foundinrolls

Hi All,
Ok, Here goes..
I did a search for SGS MS 70 coins. I hit a fraud Jackpot and I need to work up alletter of complaint to Ebay that I am going to word in such a way that they have to do something, or I'll send the info off to my local news papers and TV stations.

HI'm sure there's more, but heres what I found so far.

A Dealer, AMERICAN PLUS COINS has SGS slabbed stuff for sale on Ebay. Not even going into the false grading that is evident, This guy has the same coins listed multiple times. The best example is that of a 1979 D Kennedy Half dollar. The SGS slab is numbered ( 5530709 00376) and shown listed 3 times. here are the item numbers, 8421708613, 8423738363 and 8424128917

There are many other listings where the guy is accepting bids on the same coin in two or more different auctions. I would love to know how he is planning on shipping the same coin to two or three different wnners.

What a Scam.

Bill

deniseyweesy

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