Anybody bought from this eBay seller?

Here's what ebay writes:

What activity didn't follow the policy
[TSCE_PHARMA_PTB2860][TSCE_NUTRA_PTB2861][TSCE_MED_DEVICE_PTB2862] The item you listed originated from Iran, a country against which the United States is imposing an embargo. Because eBay is a company based within the United States, it and its subsidiaries are bound by the trade restrictions of the United States Government. As a result, we do not allow any products from Iran regardless of if they were made or brought into the country before the embargo. We appreciate that you chose to utilize our site, but we must ask that you please not relist in this case.

What you need to do next


You can't relist items we've ended. Please ensure your current and future listings follow this policy.



What is the policy
- Sellers can’t list embargoed goods or pre-embargoed goods from these countries or regions:
-- Cuba
-- Crimea region of Ukraine (as defined under applicable sanctions)
-- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
-- Iran
-- Syria
- Organizations, businesses, or individuals based in or from the countries listed above, or those on the United States’ Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) list can’t register accounts on eBay

 

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I was interested in this too.

There is nothing illegal on the books about selling ancient coins from Syria.

Apparently the (cultural protection)restrictions are similar to those imposed concerning the importation of certain types of coins from certain locales (ie. Italy and Greece), if they weren't exported from those countries before a certain date.

Here is the text(relating to U.S. import restrictions). It's interesting to see how it lists certain examples. Julia Domna? That's random.

https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...aeological-and-ethnological-material-of-syria

II. Metal

I. Coins—In copper or bronze, silver and gold.

1. Coins in Syria have a long history and exist in great variety, spanning the Achaemenid Persian, Hellenistic Seleucid and Ptolemaic, Roman, Sasanian, and Islamic periods. Coins from neighboring regions circulated in Syria as well. Some major mints for coinage that circulated in Syria in various periods include Emesa, Antioch, Apamea, Damascus, Beroea, and Laodicea.

2. Achaemenid coins include silver drachms stamped on the obverse with the head of the king and on the reverse with an altar.

3. Coin types and materials for coins minted or circulated in Syria during the Hellenistic Seleucid and Ptolemaic periods include gold and silver staters and obols, bronze or silver drachms, hemidrachms, tetradrachms, and smaller bronze and lead coins. These coins have a wide variety of decorative elements. Male and female busts (of kings, such as Seleucus, and queens, such as Cleopatra, or sometimes deities) are usually found on the front. Seated archers, seated gods such as Zeus, winged Victory, Tyche, and Herakles, other Greco-Roman mythological subjects, animals such as lions and elephants, palm trees, and ships are usually on the reverse of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic coins, which are often inscribed in Greek.

4. Roman coins minted and circulated in Syria during the Roman period come in a variety of denominations and weights and were struck primarily in silver and bronze, though examples (sesterces) of brass also appear. The front usually has an image of the emperor; sometimes, other notable personages (e.g., Julia Domna) might appear. Subjects shown on the reverse include seated and standing deities, wreaths, temples and altars, mythological scenes, and eagles. Inscriptions are usually in Latin, but sometimes also in Greek. Late Roman (Byzantine) coins are similar, but the reverse often shows Christian iconography (e.g., crosses), and inscriptions are in Greek.

5. Sasanian period coins are typically silver drachms with an image of the ruler on the obverse and a religious scene with a fire altar on the reverse.

6. Islamic coins are of gold, silver, bronze, and copper and include examples from the Ummayad, Abbasid, Ghaznavid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Seljuq (including Zengid), Timurid, Mamluk, Safavid, and Ottoman periods. Most are stamped on both sides with inscriptions in Arabic, although a few types have an image on one side and an inscription on the other.

 

This is all about them clamping down on smaller buyers based on their interpretation of the official embargo, but not wishing to penalise bigger volume/value sellers which equates to more income for them, the rules can be flexible. Has anyone tried to get the vendor in question's listing removed using the same criteria?

The same applies to selling copies or fakes which can prove really difficult to get ebay to remove. The bigger the seller, the more difficult it is.

As always, know your coins if you want to overcome the deficiencies of ebay and its various nefarious sellers.

 

I wrote to this eBay seller a few months ago and told him what I thought about his sales practices. He told me he sells a lot of coins. That's his justification, I guess.

Steve

 

The coin about which I wrote above, which he sells for $ 318, I bought in better quality for $ 5, then put it up with a small extra charge for ebay. But my margin is several times lower, despite the fact that the coin is better in quality.he didn't like it.this can be said to be a monopoly.It's funny that at the start he sold it this coin, more than $ 1000.Further discounts, then more discounts and here's a super discount of $ 318

 

Here’s something you can do. “High rating Low price” aka Ilya Zlobin advertises coins that are all hugely discounted from prices that they were never offered for. This practice is illegal under US law - you can’t advertise a discount when the items were never available at the “original“ price. Make a complaint with eBay and relevant US authorities. It will be nice to see his business model disrupted.

 

===================
I searched for this merchant (highrating_lowprice) on eBay for you.
They have 19,453 listed coins for sale.
They have buyer's feedback from 22,549 transactions.
They have 100% Positive Feedback

It appears that they are doing something right to keep this business running by offering products that buyers want at the right price and offer great customer service.
You may not agree with their marketing technique, but that's no different than buyers trying to sell "unrehearsed bank rolls".

If you click on there feedback number, you will get a list of what buyers or sellers have left about their transaction.
You can even search on your own words to see what other buyers of a particular item experience may have been.
There is no other eCommerce buying site that offers you all this information to make a wise decision.

 

When a coin that sells in the $11-13 range is priced at $145 and reduced to $39.15, I probably would not be trying to buy from that seller. I might miss some deals, but I don't waste my time fishing in a lake that does not look like it has fish.

 

His appearance on Pawn Stars still cracks me up, acting like David Vagi doesn't know what he's talking about:

 

IMO, BOTH ARE SLEAZEBAGS!
J.T.

 

You said it right. Although this guy uses all the right marketing techniques (information, guarantees, authenticity, etc.) those costs do not ENHANCE the value proposition enough to get you to pay 2 to 5 times the actual average going market price for the coin. Yeah, you are getting "value", but is it truly warranted for what you pay?

He is targeting folks that do not KNOW Ancients, that he sells them a lot of good information up front, but appears that the price is not right for what you get in his total package.

I have offered "right prices" for items, be he always declines my offers. I have even cited several other coins that had what I offered as a fair price. It is hard to waste my time with him, when there are many other very reputable and very fair Sellers out there that fulfills my collecting needs.

 

u

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How is David Vagi a "sleazebag"? Don't make that kind of accusation without backing it up.

 

I’m pretty sure he’s referring to Ilya Zlobin

 

It’s an illegal and unethical marketing technique. Furthermore he’s taking advantage of newcomers to the hobby to enrich himself. He’s actually robbing people & doesn’t deserve to be rewarded.

 

Not to mention all the “helpful” detailed information he provides about his coins is plagiarised from the internet without attribution. That’s another breaking of the law, right there.

 

Methinks he also means Rick Harrison. "Birds from a feather flock together."

 

He said that "both" are supposedly sleazebags. But @Herodotus may be correct that the second one is Rick Harrison.

 

It's not difficult to follow what should be a guide for life in general - 'If in doubt, leave it out'. Nobody is forced to buy from him.

Chill out & move on unless you can do something about the source of your irritation.

 

Rick & Ilya.
The expert is FAIR!
J.T.

 

Selling ancient coins for more than they are worth is the definition of the coin business. The question is whether the coin dealer must act as a fiduciary keeping the best interest of his clients in mind or whether he is allowed to tell them anything he wishes to get them too buy. People here complain when CNG estimates a coin for $100 and it sells for $1000. HR-LP attacks the problem from the opposite end. He offers $100 coins for $1000 an sees if anyone bites. Failing that, he offers it lower. Of the 19,000 current coins, some are shown at their unreduced prices. Can you prove that the reduced ones never were? I have, over the years bought several coins from him at prices below his sale prices.

CNG sold the coin below for $460 plus fees:
https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=164136

A couple years later, I bought it from HR-LP for $175 postpaid. Most of you would not pay that price for that coin and think I am a fool. Both sellers correctly identified the coin. Whatever the source, I recommend paying what you believe is appropriate and just walking away from the rest. That coin was worth that price to me on that day for reasons I understand. I do not believe CNG should have to apologize for taking the $460 nor HR-LP for taking $175 for an off center LRB. They both are in the business of selling coins for more than they are worth.