eBay makes me sick.

Well, if stolen material goes on eBay, there's a nice permanent record containing a description of the items, and pointing to both the buyer and the seller. I'd think this is a better outcome for law enforcement than the usual street-corner fencing or Craigslist. Remember, listings don't disappear as soon as the auction closes; they're available for up to 90 days, and I have reason to believe that eBay keeps them around quite a bit longer. (I was poking around some of my old posts here, and found that I can still view auctions that I won in May and June!)

As for the Chinese fakes: I don't watch Chinese moderns or ancients, but I have been seeing quite a lot of "genuine" early Bust dollars popping up in the last day or so. Nobody bids on them, and after a while, the listings are removed. There are plenty of buy-it-now vultures who are by no means gullible.

 

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Yeah ebay has history for 90 days and keeps specific auction sales result in archive and can retrieve in case of legal issues. In ebay search click on completed listings and buy it now for coins section you will be surprised how many fakes you will spot. As for myself i have bought couple nice items thru buy it now and i do vulture for them, this year my track record has been 4-2 (2 items seller never sent the item).

 

Heh, I should've stayed out of this thread. It made me dither just long enough to miss out on this one:

Holiday Silver Coin Set 1 Troy Oz. each

Four 1-oz. silver rounds for $78.50 shipped. I was trying to figure out whether the seller meant "$74 each", or whether they weren't actually silver, or whatever. Instead, I should've pulled the trigger, then verified things with the seller before paying.

 

Are your sure they are not clad he doesn't say its pure.

 

I'll never know now.

 

I usually try to stay away from un-searched rolls. There are enough problem sellers already, I would never know if they are been honest. And also recently I have noticed that when you search on ebay you get auctions that doesn't even match the keywords you typed in.

 

Yea ebay search filters are bit lacking...

 

most of what they sell are certified- but I bet they would take a return if there were a reason

 

Yeah, there's good and bad. Newbies take a little time to adjust. I know I did. But if you learn on the cheap stuff, you can keep from getting burned on the big things. I like getting a roll or two of wheats once in a while. Going through them can be an inexpensive diversion. Expensive things, I want to hold it in my hand before paying.

 

I am some kind of "valued opinion dude" or whatever there, and try to flag as many fakes as possible, but I do not flag stupid. If someone wants to list a stupid auction, and someone bites, that is their problem to me. Sorry, but these ads have been around in print long before Ebay, and will be on twitter or whatever in the future. There are always people who buy these things, thinking they can score.

For Ebay as a whole, I agree there are not as many good auctions as in the past, but there still is enough that I buy a few each week. I still get great deals there, including some coins not easily found anywhere else. Its just having knowledge enough to know what you are doing, just like a coin show or other venues.

Btw, I am not trying to talk up Ebay, I do not get any money from them, just saying there still is enough there still for me to buy there.

Chris

 

Has anyone tried any other online auction sites like ebid, webstore, ubid, webidz, etc.? A disclaimer: I have a store set up on webstore. My experience has been that there is not much activity, the prices are about the same, and, for sellers, the fees are a lot less.

Oh, and I only buy slabbed coins and US Mint proof and unc sets from ebay mostly. Less apt to get burned buying these.

 

I have bought a few raw coins that were bargains. And some proof sets that weren't, by the time the ruined coins were removed. So what works one time, may not the next. Gotta let every deal be made on it's own merit. I don't think any hard fast rules can be applied. Even with rolls of Wheat Cents. I have gotten decent ones and really crummy, obviously re-packaged ones. Best to research your seller as much as you can. Check not only what they sell, but what they buy and take it from there. IMHO

 

Other things that just annoy me on eBay are people who describe every coin as "beautiful," "gorgeous," "stunning," etc., even if it looks like it's been run over by a steamroller, just because it's part of the template they use. These words have no meaning when you put them on every listing. Along with that, people who charge $4-$5 for shipping. Who do they think they're fooling with that? And people who list a common coin I need at buy it now for $9.99, when its catalog value is 10 cents.

Those are just annoyances, but I still use eBay because I can find coins there I can't find anywhere else.

 

On the subject of fake "conchos", I posted this earlier:

Well, apparently I just needed to use the "direct report" eBay link that someone posted elsewhere. I used that over the weekend, and today I got this response:

Whoa!

 

Marketing words and gimmicks. It's the same thing that every corporations and retailer does for their products. They're all annoying!

 

Perhaps you should go to a coin shop or show.

 

My pet peeve about eBay is when you search "peace dollar", and you get a bunch of morgan dollars, because the idiot seller didn't bother to put it in the right category.

 

Report this one please!!!
www.ebay.com/itm/Gorgeous-1885-O-Morgan-Silver-Dollar-NTC-MS-67-/260917327910

:thumb:

 

Or they put it in both categories to increase the amount of hits.

 

How much does it usually cost to send things? It would depend on how they send what they are sending wouldn't it? I'm just curious because I lost a couple of dollars on every S&H charge from the last week or so listing under what it would actually cost to ship things. 3 S&H totals from the post office from the last couple of days: $5.85 - $6.90 - $9.80. The last one was a bit bigger, but I only charged 5.99 for shipping, so as far as I can see I'm the one that ate some of that cost.

I'm wondering why people with high ratings bid on things at the last minute, even outbidding someone else, and then don't make the payment. What's up with that? Everything was packed and ready to go, I've been waiting 24 hours for 2 people to do that. I guess you never know, maybe they need to transfer funds or something(?)

Looking around though, I'm wondering if ebay isn't a kind of internet garage sale, everyone wants to get everything dirt cheap.