I'm a beginner in coin collecting and if someone disagrees with my advice, these are just my opinions. Also, if you have any more tips, please share. Enjoy! 1. - Unsearched coins I've bought a lot of coins off of ebay and you can get some really great deals if you're patient and use common sense. If you buy "unsearched" wheat pennies, just buy them for the fun of looking through the coins and expect not to get any key dates. Here's 1 example of a scammer: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224595480&category=11944 This person claims that she got coins from her father's safe box and she doesn't know much about coins, but if you look at her feedback, she frequently buys huge quantites of coins, probably picks out the key dates if there are any, then resells them as unsearched. This goes for all "unsearched" coins. 2. - Error dollar bills Another type of scam is "Rare bill errors" Here's an example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224602760&category=3415 These type of people buy sheets of uncut bills, and cut it themselves making it look like a natural error. Not to mention this person is also selling sheets of uncut bills.....talk about caught red handed. 3. - Replica coins ALWAYS read every single word in the description. Some people try to trick you thinking you're getting a real 1909 S VDB or an 1877 Indian Cent. Watch for "Not real, Replica, repro, reproduction" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224798238&category=39465 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2223110097&category=41085 If this was ending in 1 minute, would you hurry through and bid? This is slightly tricky but there are some others who write a ton and slip "repro" in there. 4. - Reselling crap A lot of people say that they don't know if the coin they're selling is real or not. If the book value of the coin is say...$150, the unknown real or not coin will go for $60 or so to some gambler in Heehaw, Alabama. ALWAYS check the seller's items that he or she has bought before. Some people buy realistic replicas and resell them as actual coins or "I don't know" coins. 5 - Common Sense Check out the seller's feedback. See what he's been selling and buying lately. Compare it with others. Don't buy from "Grandpa's treasure", "Dead Father's Estate", "Unsearched Granny's treasure chest" or anything of the sort. 100 unknown coins in a mystery box doesn't sound promising either. Common sense is the most important thing. I see a lot of people selling coins and they say "I don't know much about coins" and their name is "Ilovecoins" and they have 34,503 feedback. I'll say it again...check out what they've been buying and selling! 6 - Last tips Always remember F.I.S.H.E.D Check the: Feedback Insurance price Shipping price History of the person (What they've bought and sold) End date Description! ALWAYS read every word. I just made up that fished thing...pretty clever eh? People jack up the Shipping price to get more money...always be careful 7 - Last words.... Now...after all of this....if you REALLY want to get that great deal on ebay...This is my only advice.....Watch ebay a LOT. Browse in coins and go to going going gone. But read everything. Get on at 3am if you want less competition. Wait until the last minute to bid! And if you REALLY REALLY want a great deal, get on at 11:45 pm on New Year's Eve. NO competition! No one will outbid you! You know where I spend my NYE's now! Good luck and if it seems too good to be true....well....you know the rest....
rolltide - All sounds reasonable to me One thing though, this type of post belongs in the Main Coin Forum. The Auction Forum is reserved for - auctions. The actual buying and selling of coins - not posting about auctions. There are specific rules & requirements for posting in any of the Forums. I would like to remind everyone to please read these rules and adhere to them
Your advice is sound. It should be applied to all coins sold, not just on ebay. As far as unsearched wheats go. This scenario was played out many years ago. Your odds of finding the 1909S VDB, or 1922 Plain are about the same as the powerball. The standard for unsearched in this hobby today equals to not searched for RPM's, OMM's, DDO's, DDR's and that sort of thing. As these would take too much effort for the profit. As first hand experience, we buy so many bags of wheats each year, as does every major dealer around the country. They get turned over frequently. Yes it is great to search through the wheats for the occasional Indian or semi key. It can be used for improving grading skills, and quality time for family and friends. Do not be mislead in this hobby. Take the time to learn everything you can. Read, read, and read some more. I do not wish to burst anyones bubble. Just pass along a little wisdom. As far as knowing whether a coin is real or not. Any real dealer will know. We see fakes on a regular basis. Too much info is out there about size, weight, composition, die states, and so forth to not know. Just because someone sells coins, it does not make them a dealer or numismatist. I can install a toilet. It does not make me a plumber.
This is one of the very few times that I would disagree with one of your comments. I have known or met over the course of my collecting career quite a few dealers ( yes I would classify them as real dealers ) who could not identify counterfeits in many cases. Sad - but true.
Well I am aware that it is easier today to counterfeit coins than any other time in history. There are even other governments that have been accused of trying this. (mostly currency). Now it may not be easy to determine a fake by casual examination, but the resources are available to all that take the time to learn them. Services such as Coin World make announcements on a pretty regular basis about this subject. It is also pretty common knowledge about the US coinage in particular that is often the targets of these fakes. Every key date not certified should be carefully examined before a purchase is made. It is too easy for date and mint marks to be altered. Too often when we (dealers) purchase fakes or altered coins it isn't because of lack of knowledge or expertise, it can usually be blamed on lack of time. Our firm was one of the not named buyers of the Platinum fakes that entered the market late last year. The buyer for the firm just did not take the time to notice the design flaws nor weigh the coins. Now I would not apply this application to ancient coins. This requires an expertise that is very specialized. My hat is off to these men and women.
rolltide: Kind of funny that every lot that you listed has been removed by Ebay. Perhaps they are waking up.
Actually because of the routine periodic purging of auction details after a few months, there is no way to tell in January, 2007 whether listings mentioned in February, 2004, were removed or completed.
