Every evening I peruse Mercury dimes on ebay, looking to find an affordable upgrade to my set. Last night I saw several MS70 SEGS Mercs. This really irritates me, especially this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300215848319&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020 So.. I looked up the bid history(many bidder ids are now "private",so can't check them out), and this is what I discovered: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidderProfile&mode=1&item=300215848319&aid=2***1&eu=6S6RuuN2%2FYKHpJPRnd3%2FLXxSVxzwvfH9&view=NONE&ssPageName=PageBidderProfileViewBids_None_ViewLink http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidderProfile&mode=1&item=300215848319&aid=4***i&eu=hX%2Ffh4lOH41Nn%2B6hmboG0kQQszpU42Vs&view=NONE&ssPageName=PageBidderProfileViewBids_None_ViewLink http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidderProfile&mode=1&item=300215848319&aid=a***t&eu=B3uGOjI0w9gLH4a6rM2AkydcWQLgrgDg&view=NONE&ssPageName=PageBidderProfileViewBids_None_ViewLink Am I just paranoid, or does look like shill bidding? I looked at most of the SEGS Mercs and found the same bidders. Note the high percentage of "bids with this seller" We all know ebay will not do anything, BUT, isn't this against the law? Could the FBI do something about this mass fraud/deceptive trade practice?Rant over. Let me know what you think!
Well I'd say your first issue is that it's an ABON/SGS graded coin. Do a search on here and you will soon figure out that this whole operation is a scam. Stay far away from any of these coins as they are usually graded far above their actual condition.
That doesn't appear to be sufficient information with which to determine that shill bidding is occurring. Often, for various legitimate reasons, certain bidders bid on many coins belonging to the same seller(s).
NOTE: The one example shown IS NOT graded by SEGS. It is SGS. IMO SEGS is at least a reasonable TPG. IMO SGS is not.
I know this is stating the obvious, but there is a lot of marks for an "MS70". Mabey they should have taken the picture a little further back!!
SEGS and SGS are two entirely different animal. Just look at the rest of Abon auctions and you'll see tons of MS70 coins graded by SGS. If you really feel like doing some reading just type in SGS in the CoinTalk search engine. You'll find it most enlightening.
The Mercury dime also looks AU, but really tough to tell by those pics. One thing it's not is MS-70. Phoenix
I checked with the NGC census. No Merc has ever been graded MS-70 by NGC. And there are only 7-8 graded MS-69. I never created a PCGS account, so I can't look at their census.
Wow! That means that SGS "must" have the inside edge where to find these perfect coins. If only I had the chance to get one of those beauties.......NOT!!! Yeah, these guys seem to have a secret stash that "no one else has been able to acquire". Aren't they special......NOT!!! And the SGS saga continues. It would sure be nice to able to say "remember those guys", "weren't they just awful" for the coin collecting world. Maybe one day. Allen
