I have often debated with myself...if I see an ad on eBay that is clearly wrong/misleading, should I contact the seller and point it out. Perhaps they simply don't realize their error. There are certain coins that I keep an eye out for...coins that I have always wanted to add to my collection. One example of that is a German 1950-G 50 Pfennig KM-104 variety. The KM-104 was the "reform currency" issued in West Germany shortly after the occupation of Germany ended. These coins said "BANK DEUTSCHER LÄNDER" (Bank of German States" on the obverse. This was replaced on coins in 1950 with "BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND" (Federal Republic of Germany). The KM designation for these 50 pfennig issues is KM-109.1. A 1950 dated KM-104 50 pfennig was never intended to be released. 30,000 examples were struck using authentic dies as an unauthorized 1950-G issue. These coins carry high collector value. The normally issue 1950-G KM-109.1 had a mintage of over 66 million. Sometimes, I find an ad...like this one and blatantly states the rare mintage with the common coin. The question is, should I try and point it out to the seller...or do I just report it? https://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-G-GER...257020?hash=item3fe0c9bc7c:g:-6EAAOSw7t9ePguZ
You can point it out first, and if the seller doesn't react, then report it. It might just be a simple error, as I've seen deliberate listings with misleading info (in the title or description), and they look A LOT different. By the way, I've also begun collecting West German coinage. No rarer varieties yet, though.
@Legomaster1 just beat me to what I was going to say. I have contacted eBay sellers in the past about alleged mistakes in their listing. Sometimes the listing was removed and most times I never received a reply.
I clicked on the link you provided. It looks like the seller doesn't have many coins listed but has other items. I would contact the seller as it seems they don't know that much about coins, IMHO.
I say shoot him a message. The worst case scenario is he takes the listing down, while the best case scenario is he leaves the listing up, curses you out, and then you screenshot it and post it here.
Yes, in this instance I would contact the seller as it appears to be an honest mistake. Reporting to Ebay achieves absolutely nothing - on another forum we have been reporting fraudulent and incorrect listings for GB coins in droves without ever seeing any action from Ebay to amend or withdraw the listings. It is frustrating when you see sellers with supposedly perfect feedback and lists of 100s of fake coins that you can do nothing about! If the seller is genuine they will respond positively to a polite correction.
Sometimes even the VERY big auction houses make obvious mistakes. I've written to them on a couple of occasions and they've amended their listing with a word of thanks. This chap deals mainly with sports memorabilia. Most of his stuff is fairly affordable and he does try to describe his items at great length. If you spot many 'unintentional' errors in his regular listings as well, then by all means, report him. If not, I would write to him and let him correct his mistake.
As when Heritage first started listing on Ebay. They listed a bunch of expensive items and instead of listing them as auction starting at $1, they listed them as Buy it Now at $1.
Heritage? I remember Superior having this problem...I "bought" several coins just to get them off the list before someone who would have actually thought that they deserved to be able to take advantage of the mistake bought them.
I have brought several errors to the attention of sellers. Many are appreciative, a few insist they are right and then a few know what they're doing and tell me to mind my own business. There is one now listed as a S-107 which is actually a S-106. I pointed it out about three months ago and the seller withdrew the listing. Now it's back. Possibly a second category situation like another who actually had confirmation of a rare variety from an acknowledged expert, but which was actually an example of PMD mimicking a diagnostic. I am sometimes wrong myself so I respect those in the second category, but not those in the third.
