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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sulla80, post: 3244572, member: 99456&quot;]As with ancient coins themselves, there&#039;s room for a lot of different opinions on EBay risk/benefit - here&#039;s my perspective &quot;<b>caveat emptor</b>&quot;: </p><p>- do your homework before buying</p><p>- can be a good place for interesting, lower quality coins </p><p>- risky and overpriced for nicer coins</p><p><br /></p><p>I would tend to agree with [USER=75937]@Roman Collector[/USER] in saying that unless you are fairly expert, or just exceptionally lucky, you are more likely to buy badly on EBay than you are to buy well.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve bought a lot of coins on EBay - I bought one today. Buying coins on Ebay easier to do, in my view, than most of the niche online auctions.&nbsp; I have gotten some bargains on EBay, the more you know what you are buying the more likely you will recognize a bargain.&nbsp; Most of my bargains have come because I was willing to take some significant risk on an seller with few ratings, the lottery of uncleaned late roman coins, a misattributed coin, lack of provenance, a coin listed in the wrong category, or a coin with a badly lit, out of focus photo and no description, and sometimes just lucky timing with a well priced buy-it-now.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>If I factor in the mistakes I&#039;ve made, I would have to admit a significant markup on my &quot;bargain price&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Several reasons why I see EBay as risky:</p><p>1) <b>fakes</b> - although with a little experience you can avoid the worst of these but there are still plenty of challenges - the good news, if you recognize the fake after buying it, Ebay, Paypal or the seller will generally refund your money</p><p>2) <b>unexpected condition issues</b>: photos and descriptions are wildly varied on EBay and poor condition coins, porosity, surface flaws, cracks, low weight flans, debased metal, bent coins can look good in photos (retouched or not).&nbsp; Even when the seller has decent photos or descriptions, it can be easy to miss issues and think a coin is nicer than it is in real life</p><p>3) <b>overpriced/overrated coins </b>- especially if you are looking for higher grade coins, EBay is generally overpriced and you will find much better deals looking at established dealer&#039;s listings </p><p>4) <b>misleading &quot;Bargains&quot;</b>- there is a lot of subjectivity in ancient coins, and the many factors that go into grading and market value that can be overlooked when asserting a &quot;bargain&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare these six coins - and decide for yourself which is the bargain:</p><p><a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/marc_breitsprecher_classical_numismatist/8/product/105_bc__roman_republic_l_thorius_balbus_ar_denarius__juno_sospita__bull/802836/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/marc_breitsprecher_classical_numismatist/8/product/105_bc__roman_republic_l_thorius_balbus_ar_denarius__juno_sospita__bull/802836/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (VCoins dealer $300)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/eukratides/58/product/l_thorius_balbus_105_bc_ar_denarius_19mm_381_g_6h_rome_mint/848468/Default.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/eukratides/58/product/l_thorius_balbus_105_bc_ar_denarius_19mm_381_g_6h_rome_mint/848468/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (VCoins dealer $125)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=371966" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=371966" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (CNG $500 estimate)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=371138" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=371138" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (CNG large lot - $27 estimate in a lot of 11)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/64628-Thoria-Denarius-EF-40-45-Silver-Babelon-1-3-80/141252785791?hash=item20e352767f:g:CRYAAOSww9xZOE13" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/64628-Thoria-Denarius-EF-40-45-Silver-Babelon-1-3-80/141252785791?hash=item20e352767f:g:CRYAAOSww9xZOE13" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (Ebay dealer - $182 or best offer)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.ma-shops.com/dumez/item.php?id=17698&amp;lang=en" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ma-shops.com/dumez/item.php?id=17698&amp;lang=en" rel="nofollow">Thoria 1 (MA Shops dealer $79)</a></p><p><br /></p><p>All of that said, I think EBay&#039;s positive attributes outweigh the negatives: it sets a high bar for web ease of use, it creates a more perfect market and offers instant liquidity, it has opened up access to low end coins, and makes a wider variety of ancient coins more visible and accessible.&nbsp; Unfortunately the good features have also made it easier to sell fakes, illegally obtained, and misleading coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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