I won this auction a few days ago. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290596311984&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT As you can see, the person listing the coin did just about everything wrong. Blurry photo, confusing description, and they didn't know what they had. The reason I bought it is that if it is what they said it is, a Swiss 5 franc from 1891, it has $28 worth of silver in it, and I paid $4.50 shipped. It's a bit of a risk but there's not really a lot of money at stake so I figured it was worth a shot. I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival to find out.
Well, I got the coin today, and I lost my gamble. It is a 5 rappen, not a 5 franc as they claimed, so it is not silver. I emailed the seller and we'll see what they do.
"You pays your money and you takes your chances." Sorry for your loss but your post is a valuable piece of education for us all. Thank you. Best of luck in getting your money back.
If you're going to buy older world coins, I would suggest getting a Krause catalog, or at least R.S.Yeoman's book of Modern World Coins (1850-1964) for quick reference.
I emailed them and they said to send it back for a refund. I knew I was taking a risk on this but I thought it was acceptable given the potential payoff. I do have a Krause book, but they only showed one side of the coin in the auction photo, and it was not the side with any useful info on it. I didn't want to ask any questions for fear of tipping them off to the fact that they were vastly undervaluing their item. I'll end up getting the money back and all it will cost me is a stamp, and I can live with that. As for the person who asked where to sell for melt value, I'd take it to my local coin shop. They'd probably pay a a little less than melt, which is reasonable in my opinion.
Actually, even that one side should have been enough to show you that it was a not a 5-franc coin, since the head of Libertas faces left on the 5-franc coin, but it faces right on the 5-rappen coin.
I just looked up the price and not at the picture. It doesn't help to have references when you don't use them right. I'll know for the future. I should have known if no one else was bidding there was probably a reason.
It's a worthwhile gamble. I bought a nice Victorian crown for the initial bid of $9.99 because it was miscategorized and had no picture. Some you win, some you lose. I just wonder how long it will take the scam artists to start using this angle, deliberately trying to present a junk coin as something valuable.
I have done a similar thing to what you did, I won an auction for $2.99 with free shipping for two "Silver Eisenhower Dollars". They were clad. I did not do anything though, because I had won another auction from the same person that had $500 of coins for $100, then I wanted a partial refund b/c most of the NGC slabs were damaged in some way during shipping. Next thing you know, eBay refunded all my money, I was only looking to cover the fees for resubmitting for new holders.
A lot of people won't bid on auctions with bad photos or when the seller has little feedback. Since I buy low value stuff I don't let that stop me and I get some great deals because of it. I think sellers like that usually are not coin experts so they are prone to undervaluing or not adequately describing their stuff. EBay has pretty good protections for a buyer so if the item is not as described the sellers almost always refund the money right away.
Sorry to hear that, -I was kind of wondering when I looked at the picture because it looked like a minor to me when I first saw it just based on the size and location of the hole in it. Never the less, it is true that bad photos can lead to a real bononza at times if you are reasonably sure of what you are bidding on. I've purchased world coins on eBay before that had horrible photos and then relisted them with nice pictures and made a quick 40% profit. Kind of have to know what a great looking coin appears like in a lousy photo. If it has a real nice blurred cameo effect, you can be almost certain its going to be a nice coin. Though as you learned, have to be sure its the denomination you think it is or all bets are off.
