My 110% Guarantee on genuine coins

There has been a member here claiming that two of my ebay auctions consist of a coin that is not genuine.

My ebay ID is edited - sorry, not allowed to do that

If anyone purchases a coin from me, and it is later determined not to be genuine, the buyer will receive a full refund, PLUS an additional 10% refund.

I stand behind each coin I have listed, and I will not tolerate anyone claiming that any of them are counterfeit.

Please read this, and understand it very clearly.

Anyone wishing to discuss this in person or over the phone, please PM me. There is no room for misunderstanding here.

Thank you.

 

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you seem to be very bothered about this and if it isnt fake then I can see why...if it concerns you that people think a coin you are selling is fake...and I dont see how you can control people expressing opinions such as these...then send the coin to be authenticated...then you will be vindicated if it comes back as authentic...I cant think of anything that could be solved regarding this by talking to you on the phone...your position is clear as a bell...

But if you say it authentic and others say it isnt...then I would think there is indeed room for a misunderstanding and chatting with you will solve nothing.

 

As Drusus said, get 'em slabbed, and then I am sure that an apology will be forthcoming.

If not from the posters, then from me.
(I probably thought it, so I may as well admit that I was wrong.)

 

I'm not taking one position or the other as far as whats real or fake. But, when you choose to sell a product in an open environment that historicaly has had little regard for rules (such as our good friends at Ebay), you have to be willing to accept the opinions of others as just that...opinions. If that is too hard to accept, then your only recourse is open up a storefront on the street and not the internet. Threatening with lawsuits is childish, as well as fruitless, as the statutes that govern online business do not reconize defimation of character (related to business) on public auction sites. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/35512.html

Unfortunately, maybe you're just the victom of a sourd bias against such business sites, as we've all seen so many obvious fakes and con-artists take in suckers and the ill-informed over the years. If thats the case, you have every right to be upset. Good luck.
Guy~

 

I guess I'm confused. In the thread I read, I thought that people were claiming the coin was cleaned, not fake. Or maybe I'm thinking of a different thread?

 

Seatedliberty,

First of all welcome to the forum! Nice to have you here.

Here's a key word involved with your "problem" OPINION.

Everyone here has one. I voice mine rather frequently and sometimes people don't agree. I get over it. I don't threaten lawsuits or come up with wagers. Treashunt hit it. Have em slabbed.
Many of us here don't care for slabbed coins either but again it's an opinion.

However, if you want to make better bucks on ebay you SHOULD probably slab them. Just choose the right service so you can sell correctly when the new rules hit.

Ebay does not really like opinions all that much as it hurts the bottom line. Of course it could get out of hand very quickly in the land of IT (just missing two letters - in my opinion). We voice opinions here.
If WE get out of hand there are moderators to control it. On occasion they DO have to jump in and we don't always agree with that either. We deal with it.

Again welcome to the forum and please keep reading about a plethora of topics. Lot of interestinng opinions here.

 

What post (claiming coins were countefeit) are you referring to?

 

He's talking about this thread where a couple folks wondered about a couple of Liberty nickels...
http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=28833

 

Seated Liberty
Welcome to the forum. As far as I know, the post you are referring to actually asked for opinions on the coins, and that was me.
It was just strange to see you popping up so fast on eBay after claiming that you were leaving the coin busines for good, that you did not know enough about it, and you were in over your head. You have had 3 Ebay id's in the last 2 months, and a history of auctions discussed here on the blog way before I came here.
The "S" mintmark shape on a key date is something I would ask for expert advise on before bidding on the item, and the other coin had a very unusual texture. Those are expensive coins, so opinions are asked.
Welcome, again, and nothing personal in any way. I and many members post questions and comments on auctions quite often. Join us !!

 

It's good to stand behind what you sell. I don't remember anyone in the other thread saying outright you were selling a counterfeit. A couple folks did however wonder if they might be. That's a lot different. If I'm looking at buying a coin & I'm not sure about it one of the things I'm going to do is post & ask for opinions from more experienced collectors. As for not tolerating someone saying somethings a fake I'm not sure what you can do about that. Folks express opinions all the time, others are free to agree or disagree with said opinion.

Looking at the pics of the 12S in question it does appear to have a strange texture to it that could make someone believe it's cast I suppose. Maybe better pics would help solve questions?

 

Hey !! Lets ask any SGS dealer if they will 110% the grades ??? That would be a MS-77 !!

 

I think both sides here are coming on a little harsh.

Best path would have been for OP to post in the referenced thread and for everyone to give him constructive feedback on how to take better pictures.

The reason that people have speculated counterfeit and whatnot is that the style of pictures the OP used is often used to hide or mask certain aspects of the coin.

Giving the OP constructive feedback would be much better than continuing to slam him. If the OP actually took the advice and took better pictures, it may actually result in the auctions going for more than they otherwise would.

 

I see no obviously counterfeit coins, but the seller in question surely needs a lesson in grading accurately and indentifying choice original coins...Mike

 

to be honest I see people here who are very free in labeling a coin fake. Certainly if it is just glaringly obvious a coin is fake I will say so but I have even seen a person here in one thread say something like 'I dont know anything about these coins but I think its fake'...or I see people I KNOW dont know enough to label fakes of certain type coins saying its fake...I will look at it and its not an obvious fake...often times they cannot even say WHY they think its fake...often they will say something like...its a valuable or rare coin selling on ebay...must be a fake...its from china...must be fake...etc..etc...

I do know something about ancients and how to spot fakes in coins both ancient and modern but I will, almost always, stop short of pronouncing a coin fake because I am not an expert, I dont have the coin in hand, whatever...the only times I pronounce a coin fake is when it is very very obvious....

People DO need to realize that labeling someone a seller of fakes IS a serious accusation in a business where reputation is so important...one shouldnt go about labeling fakes when you arent an expert and you cant even tell why you think its a fake or that it just 'looks fishy'...say that then...say it look fishy but dont pronounce it a fake unless you can back it up.

As for what might be considered misgrading...I dont know about american coins with the MS-blah blah but what you see is what you get is a better policy, if you rely on someones assessment of the grade of a coin, then you must have bought the coin sight unseen which is a terrible policy anyway...I dont even know why sellers try to place a relative grade on it anyway...take a photo and let people judge themselves...

Oh...and if you hate ebay and think its so awful? why are you scanning the place? I see people running here to bash ebay or a seller there...talking about ebay being the worst place ever...but they are using ebay Its like a person who shops at walmart bashing about walmart...

anyway...I DO feel that often people throw around judgments and labels far to easily here and often over estimate their own judgment when it comes to fakes...

 

I think that if I were about to spend a good bit o' dollars on a single coin I would ask questions too, and find out as much as possible before even hitting the "bid" button. Lets just face it; internet buying/selling is risky, and people get cheated all the time. Its not anything personal against the seller himself. If I were a seller and was selling authentic stuff, I would not mind people questioning my honesty or my products, because I know that every other seller on ebay is getting his/her stuff questioned too. The buyer is simply being careful, and I would expect him/her to be. Also, I know that I am selling authentic stuff, right? And any experienced coin collector is going to know his stuff anyways before he buys, and will know that my stuff is authentic.

I know that reputation is a VERY serious thing to question especially in online selling, that is why I think that it may be a good idea to keep your suspicions to yourself until you are absolutely sure. In other words, obtain information without questioning a sellers integrity and rep.

As far as taking pics of coins, I would do all pics in flourescent lighting or natural lighting, as tungsten lighting can give your subject a very unnatural color. (That is if you dont have a scanner, scanning does a pretty nice job as well; but I am unsure whether scanning has any obverse affects on the coins themselves, so if someone could please elaborate on this I would appreciate it)

(note; I know nothing of this sellers past, I know only from what I have read in these two threads and the auction itself, which seems to be pretty honest. Especially since he is ensuring a 7-day no questions return policy. So if my post seems arbitrary to the matter at hand, please ignore it. Thanks)

 

See post on the 1798 Bust Dollar.....

That is the way I should have done this...lesson learned

 

Okay, I will accept that, how do you copy the picture & post it here?

 

Don't take this personal, but from looking at the auctions, it looked like this seller needed tips on taking photos more so than they were trying to take advantage of anyone. (This does not rule out the possiblity that the seller was taken advantage of at some point in the past and did not know).

 

Drusus,

You have made some good points here. I'll just concentrate on your last few.

Putting up a photo and letting people "judge" for themselves is indeed an old ebay trick. This one will suck in a newbie first. Not everyone can take a good pic of a coin and many put up such lousy pictures intentionally that it's pathetic. U Grades we call them and you couldn't grade them to save your life.

That said it leads me to the next point. If ebay is so awful why are we still members while bashing it? Well, I don't have to participate in auctions now do I?
I think a lot of us remember when ebay WAS NOT scam heaven and we're trying to get back to that point. The only way to do it is to monitor and report.

A lot of quality sellers that provided great pictures and honest grading have left ebay. Why? - because the scammers get a better buck through deceit.
I used to sell on ebay constantly. Good pics, original coins and honest grading. Straignt forward auctions and they did well enough for me to continue selling. Now, on the rare occasion that I sell, it's usually a no brainer like an original proof set.

Put a better properly graded coin or even a trusted slab on ebay these days and people expect to buy for under Greysheet bid. We don't want to play that game but we do want to change it.

The garbage slabbers and sellers have tainted the waters. This is why we keep an eye out.

Ebay will never be what it once was. Buying on the internet is inherently risky but people will continue to do it. If others don't monitor, question and attempt to regulate it will become even worse. As it is, seems ebay may be feeling a little pressure and said pressure will affect a lot of questionable sellers.

Guess that's why a lot of us do it.