I buy probably 30-40 coins a month on eBay, at the moment mostly foreign, and I also sell a few doubles, maybe 5-10 per month if I'm lucky. In the last month, I've had an unusual run of bad luck. One day this week I received two packages where the coins were not as described. One had a coin that was sold as a 1989 British 50 pence but was actually a 1982. Another was supposed to be three Mexican 10 centavos, 1978, 77 and 80, of which I needed the 1980, but the package I got was three 1979s (and yes, the auction stated "the coins pictured are what you will receive." Earlier I bought a 1931 British farthing I needed on the Webstore site, and after two months in which the seller told me twice he was going to ship it in the next few days, he just stopped answering my messages, so I filed a Paypal claim and they told me they couldn't do anything, and Webstore has no claims resolution service. Then today I received an envelope that was supposed to contain a Mexican 10 pesos coin and a 1 peso, but instead it was totally empty with a hole in the corner. I purchased a Swiss 5 franc, which should have been silver, and instead received a Swiss 5 rappen, which is not. The 50 pence guy gave me a partial refund, the 10 centavo guy said he is sending the correct coins, the 5 franc person gave me a refund, the farthing guy never did respond or give me a refund, and the empty envelope thing just happened 30 minutes ago. Nothing profound here, just wanted to vent on my unusual run of bad luck.
Oh, I also forgot to mention that someone bought three of my coins using buy it now, but it's a week and a half later and they haven't paid me or answered any of my messages. Even when you end up not losing money it's frustrating to think you had a hole filled and go back to needing that coin again.
That's a pretty bad losing streak but at least you are getting most of the issues resolved. While I still use eBay etc. to buy and sell, it's becoming less and less frequent these days due to the kind of problems you are having. I mainly trade coins directly with other collectors now, it's cheaper, much less of a hassle and I've made some really nice friends. Here's hoping that you have a corresponding winning streak in your future!
It sounds to me like you should start looking for some more reliable sources for your online purchases. I don't know why it is that some sellers get really cheap when it comes to shipping coins. I've actually had a few cheapskates do nothing more than tape a coin in a flip or small baggie to a piece of cardboard from a cereal box and place it in an ordinary envelope with no protection at all for the coin. Invariably, it is the last time I will do business with sellers like this. If I'm shipping a coin or coins, whether they are slabbed or not, I always put the slab, flip or 2x2 in one of those self-adhesive, corrugated mailers. These are made in two sizes which can fit either in a standard or legal size envelope. There is NO CHANCE (!) that the coin(s) can disappear through a hole in the corner, and they offer much better protection against damage by the Post Office machinery. Chris
Thanks for the good wishes. I don't think any of the dealers were people I'd done business with before, but at least they all gave quick refunds without any hassle. It's amazing how many times I buy coins looking for a certain year and it ends up being misidentified. This happens most often on lots. I'll see a listing for five coins, and I need one of them, and it seems that more often than not all of them are exactly as described except the one I needed, which is misidentified.
