There are tons of Chinese coins on ebay, some of which are BC, are they authentic?

Just wanted your opinions, a lot of sellers have them but what are the chances they are real? Are there tons of phony ones produced and out there or are there just so many older real ones that the price is as low as they are?

To get more specific, I noticed a lot of the cheapest and oldest coins I'm finding on ebay and otherwise are the "Wu Zhu Coins"

 

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Probably would need to show pictures of individual examples to get an educated guess. Older Chinese coins are not that rare, so it's not impossible that they might be authentic. But... the replicas/fakes are produced in such massive quantities that it's safest to assume that a random Chinese coin seller on eBay is selling fakes. Unless they have an established reputation of selling legitimate coins, it's safer to stay well away. You can look for a natural patina and wear pattern to give a chance that they are real, but coins can be artificially aged to fool non-experts.

Here are two coins which I think are probably authentic to show what a typical-condition copper cash looks like after ~1000 years. Depending on the alloy composition and where it lay over the years, the condition can vary greatly.

Yuan You (Northern Song) cash 1086-1093

 

Thank you for the reply, I'm not sure if I can post links but I'll try.

Here's one of the sellers that I found and here is one of the auctions I was debating on buying.

In your opinion, what do you think? I'm assuming if you spot a fake in one of the listings by that seller, others are likely fake, but because these were produced in mass quantities in the past I'm still not sure.

 

You may find the link below useful. Mr. Semans is a leading dealer and authority on Chinese coins. I will simply repeat his first sentence for emphasis: "It is hard to overstate the problem".

https://coincoin.com/I054.htm

That said, inexpensive and ultra-common coins are far less likely to be convincingly faked than more valuable pieces.

I have heard from collectors in China that they prefer to buy only from overseas because (their words) "everything for sale inside China is fake".

One last point, Chinese law prohibits the export of coins of the Tang and earlier dynasties. At the same time, the import of Tang and earlier coins into the US is restricted through a memorandum of understanding between the Chinese government and the US Department of State.

Caveat emptor.

 

I'm no expert, but they don't look so good to me. I would avoid these auctions.
A lot of fakes have a "crude but not worn" look that stands out.
The patina can be faked, so is not a guarantee of age.
I bought my own coins before I knew anything about them (~25 years ago), so I don't even have confidence in the authenticity of all of my own collection.
But a lot of them have holes or cracks in the disc, or variations in the patina, or wear in the characters that suggests actual use in the way that fakes don't.

 

Thank you all