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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cdcda, post: 7823, member: 941&quot;]I have used eBay on numerous occassions to both buy and sell (as a dealer) and have found eBay to be like any other market place in the sense that there are great deals to be found (if you know what to look for), abundant fakes, honest sellers, and outright thieves.</p><p><br /></p><p>From a dealer perspective, deals can be had by making volume purchases (say rolls of BU morgans, Franklins, etc.), taking chances on private sellers with lower feedback (a gamble sometimes), checking the validity of raw grading and bidding accordingly, and bidding on auctions by sellers who chose to end their auctions at the wrong times - Christmas morning, Easter, 3 a.m, etc. - although this has become more difficult with automated sniping software.</p><p><br /></p><p>For a dealer, eBay can also be a useful as a tool to increase market presence. Let&#039;s say you&#039;re normal market consists of collectors of circulated and uncirculated U.S. coinage and you make a purchase of several rare California Fractional Gold pieces. Without the necessary contacts to sell them, you might realize a lower than possible profit. Although you could seek out the necessary contacts and &quot;find the market&quot;, one could also quickly dispose of the coins to the right market on eBay for a quick and decent profit.</p><p><br /></p><p>From a consumer perspective, eBay is a dangerous proposition as you never truly know who you are dealing with. A couple of examples...</p><p><br /></p><p>1. I have seen numerous fake 1916-D Mercury dimes for sale on eBay from dealers with over 99% positive feedback. The average collector would assume the coins for sale were genuine. And, since the price is often less than &quot;full retail&quot; collectors often assume a bargain.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. I purchased several rolls of &quot;Choice BU&quot; Morgan dollars for a fair price from a relatively new eBayer with 100% positive feedback. After I won the auction I sent my payment. The seller promised to ship the coins on a certain date and did not. Then he made several more promises and subsequently failed to ship the coins, only after I got the authorities involved did I actually receive the coins - which of course were not what I would consider MS63 &quot;Choice&quot; coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, I recommend my customers stay away from eBay for buying and selling until they are &quot;seasoned&quot; enough to recognize fakes, ignore deals too good to be true, competently grade the coins they are buying and/or selling, and patiently and methodically bid on the coins they seek.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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