I'm just disgusted today

I spent 20 years trying to help police ebay. There were a large amount of folks on several forums working together. We shut down many auctions over the years.

It was all a waste of time. We would get one auction shut down and 5 more would pop up. Ebay could not keep up with the load.

New folks to the hobby, without any skills made the problem worse. They were reporting anything they did not understand and honest sellers were being harmed.

Next, the hobby created a double standard. We let people right here in the US make and sell fake coins but raised hell with China for doing the same thing. We as a hobby opened the gate for China to do anything they wish and that gate can not be closed. Ebay was helpful at one time but they have gave up trying to fight a battle that could not be won.

 

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Every one I reported I got the same boilerplate reply.

"We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent."

Their AI bots need to be programmed with a lit bit of common sense.

 

And this is why I don’t buy on the bay.

 

I understand your reasoning but the problem with it is that ebay's explicit policy prohibits all counterfeit and replica coins. So in your analogy they have already required skateboarding safety equipment and are responsible for enforcing it. It's also the law - "It shall be a violation of the Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder for a person to provide substantial assistance or support to any manufacturer, importer, or seller of imitation numismatic items ... if that person knows or should have known that the manufacturer, importer, or seller is engaged in any practice that violates the Act."

I have gotten that robot customer service response when the listing specifically says it's a replica, right in the listing title. They know these coins are fake and don't have COPY stamped on them, violating their own policy and the law. They simply don't care. Until they get socked with severe punishment for violating the Hobby Protection Act, they'll go on looking the other way and making money.

 

I hate eBay because of the sniping. There is a dealer whom I respect very much, but eBay is the core of his company’s sales. I’ve told him I’ll bid in the auctions he runs personally and will buy from him directly, but I will not deal with him on eBay. I spent almost $10,000 with last year. He could sell me more material, but he’s got his business model.

 

I'd wager it's technically illegal to allow counterfeits to be sold via any means at all.

Perhaps contacting your state Attorney General could get results.

 

I used to flag counterfeits I saw, but I almost always got this message you posted. I stopped once I got an email from eBay something to the effect of, "We noticed a pattern in your concerns that are not actually concerns. If you keep doing this, you will not be able to flag anything again." It left a very bad taste for me, and I have not done anything since.

 

No it won't.

 

When the younger generation who is naive about their practices, yes it will. It will sour them enough to just throw their hands up and move on. I'm not a dealer but it will harm them exponentially to the point that no one will buy unslabbed coins.

 

We do not agree on much then. It's fun sitting in a high towered blind with a high powered rifle waiting on the clock to expire. It's part of the thrill of the hunt. You just need to be certain of your willingness of upper tolerance of paying for an auctioned item. Sometimes you can find gold by simply buying outright and not under auction if you've done the research and the photos are clear enough. You win some, you lose some, whether or not your purchase clears or not.

 

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Slabbed or unslabbed, the same problem emerges, that being the uneducated impetus that guides such folks. If one could only buy from trusted sources.......

 

Unfortunately that's sketchy anymore whether it's online or a coin shop that's basically a pawn shop. I only know of one LCS that I'd trust further than I can throw them and it's a long ride and a traffic nightmare.

 

There could be the trusted auction venues. Heritage, Great Collections, etc.

 

Most of what I collect is modern day stuff, and I don't have to worry so much, like you guys collecting the classical stuff. If it's in OGP that's fine with me.....

 

Some of this seller's Morgan Dollars look fake:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/39464/i.html?item=266966239580&_ssn=rborkcameraman1

The 1921 Morgan Dollar single auction seems okay, but the 2 coin Morgan lots look fake. I contacted the seller the other day, but he didn't even respond to me.

 

Education and study is an important factor to make monetary decisions on almost all actions we do. Most have not actually handled and carefully observed old coins as almost any Coin Shop owners have. It takes time and desire. Best wishes, Jim

 

What category did you report under? I always use Copyright and trademark / Counterfeit item or authenticity disclaimer / Counterfeit, fake, or replica items. Then type up as much detail as I can fit in the allotted space.

The only consistency I've seen is when I report one that is a topic in a forum, and someone else on that forum has an inside connection with ebay. If that person reports it, most often it gets removed. Maybe that's the case with yours? Otherwise I have never received a response that the item was removed - always that their bot reviewed it and found nothing wrong. Then sometimes it's removed later as a result of the inside connection person. I think @Jack D. Young is someone on here who gets it done. I've given up on it as a waste of time.

 

I went to your link. They all have the same look to them, circulated and dirty with the same patina. real Morgans in the wild don't all look like clones, unless they are brilliant uncirculated, and those have varying degrees of unique bag marks. Seller is probably buying Chinese junk for 30 bucks and trying to resell them for 75.
Don't remember exactly the date and mint mark, but a 1993 Morgan in EF condition was for sale for $35. BS!! Even a bot should be able to figure that out.