Yes, yes, yes, I have purchased coins and paper money on eBay. I am new to coins and luckily like the cheap ones. I do purchase the more expensive ($50+) paper money at a local dealer. I just wanted to check with you guys about coins on eBay. I have heard, maybe here, that "half of coins on eBay are fakes". Should I be concerned if the coins are fake if they are under $10? Do the "fakers" just focus on the bigger ticket coins? Is there a list of commonly faked coins and what to look for? I have not been buying coins for investment solely, I buy coins that look cool, but I don't want them to be worthless fakes. Thoughts? Ideas?
No, less than 1% of the coins on eBay are fake... but they give the remaining 99% a bad name... Fakers though wil fake anything they like in general, and not only for selling bogus coins to collectors but also to disrupt entire economies, so it could even be a $2 item. The good part with a $2 item is that you dont end up losing your shirt on something like that! Buy items that have a clear picture and an assurance that the item in the picture is what you get... Checking feedback is a pretty good way of filtering out sellers... as I said above most are honest... anyone with a slightly sketchy record... Avoid!! Also, watch out for items from China with a price tag of $0.01 and $25 shipping! Any deal which is too good to be true, probably is!
Well firstly, for very common coins that you are getting under 10 dollars, chances are that they can't be counterfeits unless you are getting very popular world coins. However if you think you can get world crowns for just silver melt value such as Japanese silver yen, early Russian Tsar rubles, etc, BE CAUTIOUS! If in doubt, always feel free to ask in this forum. Now instead what I recommand is that you spend better money on catalogues and a microgram scale as these will prove to be very useful. Others will have plenty to say Welcome to cointalk by the way.
watch out also for dealers that state each item you purchase is subject to a "handling" charge, bacause they can make it for whatever they want.
I wouldn't even begin to hazard a guess as to how many coins on ebay are fakes, but there are plenty to go around. But perhaps a more important educated estimate would be that approximately 80% of all coins offered for sale (and that means anyplace and by anyone, not just on ebay) are problem coins. Problem coins can be defined as coins that are fake, altered, doctored, harshly cleaned, damaged, corroded etc etc.
Ebay is more or less a dealer's dumping ground. While there still are many many good deals on ebay, unless you really know how to spot a problem coin, chances are you will get stuck with many. If you are awesome at spotting problem coins, you still will probably get stuck with some due to deceptive lighting techniques and the like. My advice would be make sure the seller has impeccable feedback, has well lit and detailed photos, and most importantly offers a return policy that does not include a "re-stocking" fee.
I recently got ripped off for $50+ on eBay. I sent a MO, he cashed it and never sent the coin. He had good feedback too, but it appears that he decided to cut his losses and rip a lot of people off, as you'll notice in his feedback score. Item number: 200078716060
From April 25, 2003, to February 25, 2007 (46 months), he had one neg. From 2/26-3/2 (half a week!) he racked up 18 negs and 2 neutrals, and got NARUed. In this case my money is on an ID hijacker having destroyed an honorable seller's reputation.
DJ Sorry to hear about your experience. Good luck, perhaps something can be done, especially if the situation is like Roy said.
