I'm despairing of ever receiving the rainbow toner mentioned in the dad's present thread. It's been 2 1/2 weeks. At least I received something from Opisthodomos, the infamous firm shut down by vcoins for reportedly absconding without sending most of the promised merchandise out. Although in that case, the coins were quite nice. Vcoins' dealer contact system is notoriously abysmal, so I can't really do that. I had sent at least three emails initially, pleading not to use priority mail and asking if first class could be used. I ended up choosing the hideously expensive certified route. I'm not necessarily implying that there's anything wrong with dealer. I just want to find out what's happening. If it doesn't arrive on Saturday should I go to vcoins' management? It's a shame that my first U.S. coin order has caused angst and not joy. Should I mention anything about the dealer who basically stiffed me on an inexpensive Nero? I received the coin, broken in two, on account of horrible shipping practices. A cheap, floppy padded mailer was used, with no cardboard inner mailer to protect the coin. I received a runaround and I stupidly suggested store credit, which I never received, to try to be nice. The only reason that I didn't go to management then was because said dealer has many beautiful coins, and my favorite coin of 2023 came from him. I didn't want to totally burn bridges. I cut way back on ordering,however, and I usually choose DHL express, which mitigates the floppy mailer. The downside; that's $40. I just know if there's a problem, I'm basically up a creek. Like Aaron Berk says, a buying relationship can be going on with a dealer dreamily, "until it's not." I.e. How well does a dealer perform when there's a problem?
Just a warning! There's a company named TEMU that sells a large selection of diverse items similar to Amazon, but they don't have the components, as with eBay. I found a 3 figure sum item that might be useful. Ordered and paid for same. They stated it was shipped, and then stated it was unavailable. They don't post a phone number, so I e-mailed a refund request, and was contacted by an East Indian male, calling himself STEVEN. He stated the refund needed to be directly deposited into my bank, requesting all of my account info. He removed a 4 figure sum from my account before I could close my account, transfer all funds to another account later that day! The funds were taken from a debit card account where recovery isn't possible! I ordered a 2 figure sum item to determine if the firm would repeat the process, THEY DID! BEWARE!!
The parody is rather amusing. Vcoins would have pulled the guy if he were a crook, and the coin was relatively inexpensive. I'm not too pressed that I won't see a refund in the worst-case scenario. However, it is annoying and inconvenient to have to get in touch with vcoins' management. Yes, their dealer contact page is that wonky, and is a well-known flaw. It's a 50-50 chance that even the upstanding guys will actually receive the email. There's nothing nefarious going on there. It's just crappy IT. Vcoins, for those who don't know, is mostly a purveyor of ancients, a clearinghouse for many different dealers, 99% of whom are really upstanding individuals. There was a thread today on numisforums about a dealer issuing a refund for a purchase made 16 years ago, when the coin was recently discovered to be a well-made fake. Opisthodomos happened to be a new dealer, and some got really soaked on that one. I never buy an expensive coin from unfamiliar dealers. I happened to be one of the few who received coins, and they actually were pretty darn nice. The Nero guy is a well-known dealer, and should be ashamed to give trouble over an $80 coin, a mere pittance to him. However, said dealer also has some very fine coins, and every other order had been problem-free. One was faced with a decision to totally burn bridges or swallow one's pride. I decided to just not order very often from that firm, and never anything which is too expensive. I'm sure you guys know that even some well-known dealers can have a slightly dodgy side. Like Aaron Berk said in a podcast, customer service is all about how a dealer deals with true problems. I've been collecting for 30 years and have yet to be truly stiffed. Two bad experiences and zero known fakes over 30 years isn't a bad track record.
In case I wasn't clear the two aforementioned coins are from different dealers. Vcoins doesn't have that many U.S. coins, and the U.S. coin is from a dealer whom I'm completely unfamiliar with, but isn't a new dealer and has many sold coins. Vcoins is about the safest bet one can make in purchasing ancient coins. Many well-known dealers are there. The only reason I'd deign to order again from the broken Nero guy is that the guy has exquisite taste in coins. Some really lovely ones are there. I just now know that it's caveat emptor if there's a problem. He had given a numisforums member a hard time over receiving a refund for a more expensive coin. The $80 was almost worth it for the value of the talking points.
For domestic, non-auction purchases, I only make payments via Paypal with a linked credit card. That way if there is ever an issue I can always get a refund from one of them plus I get the cash-back discount from the credit card.
The title really should be: How long do I wait before contacting vcoins? More so to touch base with the guy. The guy's probably ok. USPS tracking shows the item coming to town June 1, but then nothing. It seems to be more of a shipping problem than a dealer problem. I just don't seem to be having luck with U.S. coins. I get either the option of it being destroyed/dumped on the doorstep via priority mail or disappear via certified. There's still a decent chance of it showing up. I've only had one coin lost in shipping (circumstantial evidence shows it was destroyed by postal machinery), in 30 years.
