Ebay: WARNING - Fakes ending in 6 hours

Topcat, sorry, but if you're bidding big bucks on an eBay seller's dimly-lit, garage-slabbed coins, you're a fool, lol. I don't mean any offense but really...come on. And anyone who bothered to compare the coins in those lots with legitimate examples that could be found all over the web, ie. CNG, Wildwinds, acsearch etc., would have seen the obvious differences in style and fabric. I'll grant you, sometimes fakes are very deceptive, sometimes it IS rocket science. Not this time though.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Most of those bids are from shills anyway. Who knows if even one is from a real person. When a seller is a crook you can bet they have 20 identities to drive up their prices. Then they hope someone is taken in by the "bidding war" for their junk.

 

We have all said it before, this forum is your biggest safety net for eBay coins. Show us and we will give you at least some piece of kind you aren't buying an obvious fake. Even with coin in hand it's possible for an expert to be caught out, so 99% certainty is possible, but no more, sometimes less!
There is a trusted eBay sellers list for ancients. These sellers have a history of selling 'good' coins. Check out the list or look for the link in the seller's item description. Ebay is a great place to buy, don't ignore it!! Just put some safeguards in place and ask us too......

 

100% => if you're new (or "experienced") it is a no-brainer to post your questionable targets "before" you pull the trigger ...

Gawd, for whatever reason ancients aren't "super-popular" so people probably won't be swooping-in and snagging your coin-target (knock-on-wood)

=> I admit that I usually PM a few favourite coin-homies if I have some concerns (that's the best part of this place!!)

Man, I love you guys!!

 

Is it this one?

 

eBay is a the obvious draw for new ancient collectors but my advice to anyone starting out in this hobby is to absolutely NOT shop on eBay. Yes, there are real sellers there, many who post on this board, but the dangers far outweigh the benefits of trying to figure out who's who and not make a mistake. eBay is FULL of fakes. In time you will make the acquaintance of genuine dealers that sell on it, but you have plenty of known options outside of eBay to start with that are safe because they try to sell genuine coins AND they will give you a full refund for any fakes as long as they are still in business. You will not know enough to tell the difference on your own for a long time, and even then, you will never be able to 100% always tell a fake from a picture posted on eBay. Never.

I have bought exactly 1 ancient coin off of eBay. I'm quite certain it is real. I likely will never buy another. I've gotten barely better than not bad at spotting fakes in my particular area of collecting and I'm fairly certain I probably have at least one fake in my collection that I can't tell yet. Almost everyone does. You'll have more if you start to collect from eBay.

TT John Antony here and get on his auction list. There are others.

 

Already on it.

 

If you're a starter and you're going to be a high end collector then yes you would probably be better off starting elsewhere.

As for other collectors follow some basic safety steps (as YOC stated) and not only will you end up with a good coin but you'll generally get it far cheaper than you will from any dealer. Use the trusted sellers list.

There are fakes (there are fakes in major auctions) but Ebay is full of good coins as well as good sellers, take precautions and learn your stuff and ask others if you are not sure.

I get sick to the back teeth of vested interests continually promoting the 'Ebay is full of fakes' line. I see my ebay sales being resold through dealers (for a large mark up) who continually promote this garbage.

 

I can understand how you would feel that way trying to sell on eBay, however I just did a search on the the front page of eBay for "Roman Republican Denarius". It brought up 43 coins on the first page. In my opinion, as a specialist in this area, at least 12 of them are highly suspect.

Those are bad odds for a new collector.

I am only a collector with no vested interest other than helping new collectors get into to the hobby with a minimum of heartache like others did for me years ago. As an eBay seller, you clearly have a vested interest in your opinion and presumably reputation so if you're sick of being lumped in with forgery selling scum, quit hanging out with them. You're never going to get out from under the eBay reputation because that reputation is well earned due to the bad sellers and lack of buyer support on eBay.

a couple of nice eBay page 1 forgeries:

 

Do you not see how these things are not mutually exclusive? There can be a ton of good coins and sellers and a lot of fakes at the same time.

 

Yes as I stated there are fakes and the advice given is to seek advice which I would offer to a new collector regardless of where they are buying from.
I've all too often seen every major auction house with occasional fakes but even more so, these days, tooled coins. I've even had a recent case of a major auction house shill bidding but do I tar them all with the same brush?
I will never accept stereotyping, it does not wash.
The good sellers reputations on ebay are well earned and hard earned and they are the majority of repeat sellers.
I will promote from within with good practice and costs and I will stick with that and I will be judged by that.
I will not respond with a list of genuine coins sold on ebay on page 1....it would be too long!

 

here here......
I too am fed up with this nonsense.
tbc, you and i know very well how well ebay has treated us as buyers, we have made some wonderful purchases.
anyone who ignores ebay is very foolish IMO
Just use the trusted seller list as we have said already and if still in doubt, post it here. trusted ebay sellers offer no quibble returns...so where is the risk??
it is so easy to spot the fakes.....there really is no rocket science involved and as tbc rightly says, major auction houses are guilty of tooling, smoothing AND selling fakes!!
scaremongering is something I abhor!!

 

Here is a coin I bought off eBay in September..

Previously sold on CNG





then offered on VCOINS


then I got it off eBay...

 

As an investor or as a buyer, I like the progression of price.

 

Well researched! Excellent.

 

This coin worries me. The CNG listing says it is a plate coin for a book. I wonder what it illustrates. I would expect someone to be able to find a better looking coin for an ordinary plate so I'd check if it has a secret I am missing. The VCoin listing is no surprise since many dealers there build in plenty of space for maneuvering but the decision to list the coin on eBay without a higher start might have been an educational experience. I recall a dealer griping to me that I won a coin from him on eBay for less than he paid in postage. Guess why I bid.

As it is, $23 seems OK but we need to find out why CNG though it was worthy of a single listing. I'd suggest finding a copy of the book and seeing if it sheds any light on the matter. Is it worth $35?
https://spinkbooks.com/product.php?xProd=538&xSec=47

 

In what way?

quote from the notes on the book

Not sure, but maybe the goal wasn't to find the best coin..


there were other coins of similar quality auctioned also mentioned as being illustrated in the book, here are a few..
https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=288219
https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=289271





and Yeah, it might be worth getting the book eventually since it would be interesting to see... but with shipping i would have to pay more than double the price i paid for the coin.