Does anyone know of any Member of Congress or United States Senator who is also a fellow hobbyist? If one would admit to such a interest, perhaps they could use their office to investigate Ebay and its role in making criminals out of all purchasers of replica or copy coins on their site. When the sellers are reported for violating Ebay policy requiring copies to be so marked, the seller just closes that account and creates another. Voi La! Clean Slate! First Point: In their country it is not illegal for the seller to do what they do. Second: The Department of Homeland Security has more on their plate than to open every item coming in from China in order to enforce the Hobby Protection Act. Third: Ebay is only bringing buyers and sellers together. They have no other responsibility in this matter. I am afraid the first two points are valid. However, Ebay is the primary conduit for these items coming into our country. Technically every person who possesses one of these Replica coins which are not marked Replica is guilty under the Hobby Protection Act, let alone possession of Counterfeit Currency. Seems to me that Ebay is making money by assisting us to purchase the contraband. Isn't that real close to what the role of the drug dealer is. Well maybe not but I think you understand my point. They need to take some responsibility in this.
First Point: In their country it is not illegal for the seller to do what they do. ~Not illegal in this country so long as the replica is labeled as such. Second: The Department of Homeland Security has more on their plate than to open every item coming in from China in order to enforce the Hobby Protection Act. ~Not Homeland Security but the Federal Trade Commission that enforces the HPA Third: Ebay is only bringing buyers and sellers together. They have no other responsibility in this matter. ~Actually, their policies are quite restrictive. I do believe they prohibit the sale of items that are illegal.
Senator Lucas from Oklahoma is a coin collector, but I do not know him as being able to talk to him. The problem with you scenario is that eBay is doing absolutely nothing wrong. There is nothing for Homeland Security nor the Federal Trade Commission to enforce. The base problem is with either China (good luck changing their rules) or with the American laws. Although the American law may sound easier to change, my guess is China will change first.
Hello 47: Sorry 'bout that. I should have started at the beginning. I thought (unfairly) that everyone on the list would already know that although the Ebay listings state that the replica coins will be properly marked, but in reality they never are. So the ruse to satisfy the Ebay requirements of following the law is taken care of.. Point 2: Yes probably the FTC is involved with that. But nothing in the Government can be that simple. For instance it is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who make the busts on copyright infringement. A designer hand bag sold as real but actually a counterfeit falls under their purview, primarily because most of these counterfeits come from abroad. That is where the Homeland Security connection came in for me. Point 3: Again you are right. In a perfect world Ebay does have strict restrictions against illegal transactions. It has pained me to learn that this is not a perfect world and human greed for lack of a better term enters the picture far too often. I have had to admit that evil does exist. Some evils do appear more serious than violation of the Hobby protection Act, but this is still not a force of good. It is my experience and also that of others on this list that when confronted with the fact that a certain seller is violating their policy by not marking coins as they promise, Ebay does not do very much to enforce their policy. At worst the seller is banned from ebay. A minor inconvenience to the seller who can set up a new account and continue what they were doing in less that 10 minutes. In fact some sellers have 4 accounts active at all times so if one is banned they have 3 other accounts with excellent feedback history.
If Lucas is one of us, we need to put him to work! The senator has staff which keep him updated on problems from his constituents. If you were to write a letter to Senator Lucas acknowledging him as a fellow coin collector and making him aware of the problem these replica coins bring to our hobby and requesting his help he would have to give some kind of an answer. As a collector himself he is interested in the problems of our hobby. He needs to know that the reputation of our hobby (and consequently the value of our coins) is damaged every time some sucker is taken advantage of with these worthless hunks of metal. Just a thought on my part. I keep forgetting that other people are not so lucky as we are here in Vermont. The Governor comes up to my Veterans assistance booth every year at the fair. At some time during the year I run into both Senators and our lone Congressman at other events. In a small state like ours we can get to talk with our politicians very easily. They just can't hide from us in a small state. I think that occasionally we need to remind them up close and personal who it is that keeps them in office. Do you think there is anything in this idea which can be developed into an actual plan with action resulting.
You don't seem to have a clear understanding of eBay. They merely provide the venue bringing sellers and buyers together for sales transactions, however eBay wants to word it; ie auctions, and BINs. There is no probabley about it. Section 2103 of Title 15, Chapter 48, empowers the FTC to enforce the HPA. Are they agressive in enforcing that act? Eh! It's a buyer beware market. I don't buy from eBay, flea markets, or craigslist. I visit coin shops, and local auctions.
I'm glad we don't have that law in the UK. I have a number of fakes and counterfeits (unmarked) that I use for reference and as learning tools for the purposes of research and education. Apparently, that would make me a criminal in America....
