Capt. Obvious

many sellers on eBay will misrepresent the grade, condition, authenticity, and price of their coins. why do some people here act like this is breaking news and feel the need to show each and every of such auctions? i'm starting to think this forum is of little use to a numismatist or serious collector. the mods need to evaluate the situation here and decide what they want this forum to be in the long run, a place where a serious collector can ask serious questions or a place were eBay auctions have a finger pointed at them and everyone giggles. i'm not in the third grade.

-Steve

 

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Correction: sellers on eBay misrepresent the grade, condition, and authenticity of their coins, but not the price. Price is set by the bidders, not the sellers. If you don't like the coin, for whatever reason, don't bid.

 

Nobody's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read such threads. If threads pointing out misrepresentation in eBay auctions bother you so much, don't read them. Many people find them interesting and/or useful... if you're not one of those you're free to just skip that thread and read a different one.

 

please explain the concepts of a reserve or "Buy It Now" - the seller sets the lower limit of the price - it can be more than the coin is "worth" if it has been over-graded. no?

-Steve

 

Agreed.
Guy~

 

No one's holding a gun to your head forcing you to click on that "Buy It Now" button, are they?

 

What makes you think that you cannot ask "serious questions"? I know of nothing that keeps you from asking any numismatic related question. If they are not answered, then there is not enough interest. The mods do not have anything to do with it and hopefully never will.

I have a rather specific interest in numismatics (Lincolns). I don not read a lot of the threads, but these threads do not bother me. Nor do I even remotely think that I have the desire (right?) to expect the rest of the members to cater to me. The fact that they are there adds variety to the threads I am interested in. Limiting the participation will not make this a better forum but worse.

 

For every registered user that posts on this forum there are dozens of people lurking. many of thos are newbies that don't know as much as you. If these threads cause one or two newbies not to make the mistakes that many of us have made then it is worth it. Education takes many forms. there are threads that educate about coins and there are threads that teach about buying them. If you know every con out there then just don't read these threads but don't complain that others are still interested in learning more.

Richard

 

I thought that this was a place where everyone could sign in and be educated or get second, third or even fourth opinions about a coin before making the plunge. I like being able to rub elbows with persons with a vastly greater knowlege than I and by reading the threads learn more about our great hobby. And I certainly don't read every thread. If I'm not interested I'll skip it.

 

Edited to stop a war erupting

i'll go slowly on this...

my initial comment was that scumbags misrepresent prices and some took exception to that idea because it was an auction. they fail to realize that an auction must have a starting bid and typically have a reserve. if an auction has a reserve, the seller is setting the lower limit price. if it has no reserve, the starting bid becomes the lower limit price - it can not sell for less than the lower price limit.

i can explain it again with an example.

if i am selling a coin with a starting bid of $0.99 but set a reserve on the auction of $100.00, the coin can no sell for less than $100.00. if that coin has a market value of $50.00, than i am misrepresenting the real world price of the coin.

if i am selling a coin with a starting bid of $100.00 but the market value is only $70.00, than i am misrepresenting the real world price.

in both instances this is typical because i am misrepresenting the grade of the coin.

-Steve

 

i hate to break it to you, but what are the qualifications of those you are rubbing shoulders with - why are you assigning their comments value when you have no idea what they really know or don't know. if the persons i sought council from didn't know very much, how valuable is that council? anyone can claim to have knowledge, how do you verify what they are saying is in fact reliable?

i would not trust the council of persons who point fingers and snicker to show the world their depth of knowledge on a given subject, rather, i'd trust the person who has been proven to be knowledgeable.

-Steve

 

Steve You started this thread by saying "many sellers on eBay will misrepresent the grade, condition, authenticity, and price of their coins" and why do people feel the need to highlight these auctions.
OK they highlight them because thery dont like to see people getting ripped off.

Then you go on to ask why we mods dont interfere ! Why should we they are not doing anything against the rules.

If you wish to ask a seriouse question please feel free to do so, you wont be stopped by anyone here.

As for saying how do you know who you can trust, well try reading some of the posts by our members and see what you think of there expertise, If it is at seriouse odds with known facts then disregaurd it. That is quite simple realy.
A number of the members here are well respected in there own fields but as to qualifications I dont know of anyone who has shall we say a degree in coin collecting.
Also it would be appreciated if you keep your sarcasm under check as it was a uncalled for comment.

As for the price of any coin at auction the vendor might well set the opening price, but it's final sale price is set by the bidders. and unless the vendor engages in shill bidding he has little controll over the outcome.

 

there is a glaring difference between threads that use an eBay auction to teach about that coin type and those that are finger pointing and snickering at the auction or what they feel is an overgrading of the coin, or heaven forbid, it is just an SGS labeled plastic holdered coin.


threads that use an eBay auction to educate typically don't have the title "OMGZ, LOOK AT THIS EBAY RIPOFF!!!11!!!!" or words to that effect. the content of the thread is not filled with subjective drivel like "this seller is ripping everyone who buys this crap." Typically the thread exists to show what a specific grade looks like, how to detect a counterfeit, some common problems found with that coin etc.

the problem is, most of those types of thread degrade into a discussion of the specific auction and lose sight of the point the OP was making regarding the coin.

that's my beef with the eBay auction threads and simply jumping up and down waving your arms at every auction is fruitless at best. thus the reason to point out the obvious.

-Steve

 

That is your opinion others hold a different one and as such are allowed to express it as long as they do so within the forum rules.

 

if asking the advice on the internet before you spend thousands of dollars seems wise, ask yourself what you would have done before there was an internet. the internet is not a shortcut to thinking and sadly, the internet generation is going to learn some difficult lesson, if they in fact learn.

what comment was uncalled for?

-Steve

 

The ones I edited, and we have the internet now so why not use it, what one did prior to that is rather irrelavent. what did people do prior to the advent of the telephone etc. You use the tools that are available to you. also not all the auctions that are highlighted are for thousands of dollers, quite a few are for much lower amounts.

 

my point was regarding gathering knowledge on a subject - it was typical to seek multiple sources for information before the internet came to be. the internet is not the same as a telephone - that is an invalid comparison. the internet is more like a library and clubhouse. of course you use all the available technology at one's disposal. before the internet existed, did you blindly mail out thousands of dollars to a PO Box? if so, can i give you my PO Box address?

-Steve

 

And you read them because..........

 

i was looking to see if someone had anything real to say about the coin and not the auction. i typically do not bother to read them now.


the OP of the 1789 coin is a prime example of pointing a finger - only when asked why does the OP provide some info. i guess i would expect a knowledgeable person to detail the reasons why they thought it was counterfeit.


try again.

-Steve

 

And that would be because..........?

My is whatever I desire to make of it. Do not even try to tell me that is all I can do with it.

Back in the fifties (and yes I was there), NN and CW did not limit the ad items to less than $???. There were $1000 coins advertised and they were advertised because they sold.