Beware the eBay Chinese fakes!

Amazing isn't it how many wheat rolls have VDB coins at the end. How about all those rolls with a 1916 obverse Mercury on one end and a reverse with a D at the other. Gee, I might get a whole roll of 1916 D dimes. It's almost criminal.

 

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I spotted a really bad copy of the 1794 silver dollar on eBay that some guy is selling at a low price. It was not stamped "COPY" and there was no indication that it is a copy in his offering. I pointed it out to eBay and they responded to me that "It fit within their policies."

Do you want to know why I refuse to deal with eBay? There's an example.

 

Twenty years ago eBay attempted to weed out bad sellers. No more.

 

As long as eBay gets their cut, it's really hard to convince them that there's any such thing as a "bad seller".

 

To bluntly put it, they are killing the golden goose that lays their eggs with that attitude. Eventually it will bite them square in the ass.

 

To paraphrase a great economist, the eBay marketplace can remain irrational longer than I can remain patient.

 

Yes, it’s hard to regain your credibility in this business after it’s gone.

 

20 years ago I bought dozens of coins there. I'm lucky if I buy one a year now, with careful vetting of seller, feedback, images, etc. They've made their search function worthless. I just looked for Canada 1948 dollar, and the first 5-6 coins are garbage fakes. It's a cesspool. Hardly any actual auctions anymore, at least the coins I look for. I'm fine paying a little more at GC, Heritage, etc.

 

There are a few really good sellers there. I've started limiting a lot of my browsing to those and only go full uncensored when I'm bored. To make matters worse, there are several sellers that overexpose their fodder and I completely ignore them anymore. And these are highly rated sellers, ones that move coins like cattle. Not me.

 

Another day. Same garbage.

 

Who are you calling square?

 

Those 1845-CC dollars are difficult to come by.

 

? No spongesal, not saying that at all.

 

Just because Ebay won't back up there word so to speak, I will never shop there for coins again.

 

The amount of garbage for sale there is horrible, but I will say they back up their money back guarantee 100%. A lot of sellers hate it, I've seen them complain about it on Coin Talk.

 

Lucky for me, PayPal has been defaulted on.

 

I don't use paypal and never will. I heard horror stories about them back 20 years ago from friends getting ripped off, had nothing to do with coins purchases. I've steered clear of them. I don't really understand your defaulted on comment, the context of it. But I am certain eBay has been ripped off by fraudulent sellers who disappeared into the night, closed their account, and they still honor their money back guarantee if you have a legitimate dispute. Always beware the seller who has no history and has a deal too good to pass up. It's a big red flag.

 

More and more counterfeit coins showing up on the Bay. In viewing recent sales of silver eagles some are selling for less than $20. I am reminded of something my dad used to say: “If it looks too good to be true then it probably is.”

 

Yeah, eBay with it's not enforcement of fake coins has lowered itself to be maybe one tick above Etsy.
Too bad ,it was once a pretty good place for buying and selling coins.
Along with their non enforcement of counterfeits their seller fees have gotten utterly ridiculous. In many cases eBay has made as much off a sale as I have.

 

That doesn't really apply for eBay because of the wide audience of buyers and all the new ones that come along.
A brick and Mortar shop in a town can't get away with the same shady things.