EBAY's blatant disregard of the Law is helping kill numismatics

Yes the police, secret service ,FBI ,will go after this seller because you are stalking this person. A little creepy don't you think

 

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Yes it was specifically as counterfeit as I wasn't allowed to relist the listing they killed. I had to make a brand new one and basically fight with them for quite some time because one of their individuals had flagged it.

To make the situation even dumber, it was a coin that even had a True View

 

Ebay--along with other on-line sellers--has put a lot of local storefront dealers out of business. So, yes, in many cases it has destroyed those venues.

Not to say that e-commerce is bad for the hobby--overall, it's great. Increased access to honest sellers is of course a positive; along with that increased access, however, will always come increased access to dishonest ones as well. Simply two sides of the coin.

 

we have dishonest sellers on and off line

 

"Along with other on-line sellers" makes your point clearer, but also changes it a bit -- it's not eBay itself, but the general move toward on-line commerce, that surely has forced some storefronts to shut down. Others have added an online component, or moved entirely online.

Locally, we lost a decades-old used book store, which was doing well enough online that they could no longer justify the expense of a storefront.

But there are books that I could never find locally, and are now a quick search and click away on eBay or Amazon or some random but Internet-savvy book shop halfway across the country.

Same way with eBay. There's more trash there than any local store could ever hold, but more treasure as well.

 

That's what takes the ridiculousness up a notch. Yes there is a concern with fake slabs, but the convincing looking ones only appeared within the past few years. I just about always find a true view when looking up the certs. Quite easy to confirm if the coin and slab is genuine even if you don't know jack about coins.

 

The great thing about e-commerce is that bad dealers get called out globally rather than just at the local coin club

 

One time I bought an 1804 Spiked Chin half cent from less-than-optimal pictures on eBay, and in-hand inspection immediately revealed the coin to be a counterfeit.

I initiated a return on the basis of it being counterfeit, and the seller denied it and ridiculed my conclusion. Then I gave a complete analysis of all of the tells, and he still tried to deny it on the grounds that his dealer said it was good. I took it to my dealer, and they gave me a handwritten note that the coin was indeed counterfeit, how they could tell, and that the counterfeit was the same coin in the picture. At this point the seller accepted the return but refused to provide a return label. I then let him know he was committing a felony, but he did not care.

Calling eBay forced him to pay for my return shipping, and I got my money back with no problem. I reported the seller to a secret eBay watchdog group, and the seller was removed upon relisting the coin multiple times.

 

One of the more frustrating customer service experiences on the phone I've ever had, hopefully nothing will top that.

Literally a coin I submitted to PCGS with a True View, that I then sent to CAC personally, that was then listed and checked out in every way that you could check on it and that still wasn't good enough because of one person.

Needless to say when they disbanded that group I was actually one of the few who felt it was a good thing. There couldn't have been that much expertise there if they decided to focus on that coin out of everything that's listed on eBay unless of course something more nefarious was occurring.

 

Here is one, genuine or not? If so, then why do you feel that way?

 

Unfortunately they don't have any that care enough to enforce the law.

Probably, but it will cost them hundreds of thousands if not millions to win it. Ebay has the money to drag it out until the little guy goes broke fighting them.

 

TPGs perpetuate those myths. For profit. But...those buyers are getting authentic coins. It’s far more damaging to promote counterfeit coins. Distracting from pursuing criminals to chase after numismatic used car salesmen is exactly what the thieves would like everyone to do.

First things first. Get the thieves out of eBay with their international market. Then we’ll worry about proper labeling of authentic coins.

 

They are properly labeled. They tell you exactly what they mean by those terms. The buyers know what they mean as well overall. They carry the premium because buyers and the market says so, not because they're dumb like some people make it out to be.

People don't have to agree with the premiums but a lot of people try and push their dislike of the terms to insinuate that anyone who doesn't agree is dumb and has been scammed

 

Once someone has read the definition of First Strike they can make their own decision as to whether the premiums are deserved. Unless they don’t. Either way it’s misleading terminology. You’d think the TPGs could make enough profit without using the misleading word, “Strike”. After all, it’s really a First Slabbed. So, I don’t think they are properly labeled for the same reason that Marlboro Lights are no longer marketed as “light”. It’s simply not true.

 

Maybe so, but at least you had the opportunity to check out the coins personally before paying for something you didn't want. Knowledge is key, and better applied in hand than looking at a picture.

Me, I'll stick to coin shows and my LCS.

 

I sure agree with the First Strike crap. I personally don't pay any attention to it unless it added to the price of the coin. If it is a reasonable price, I'll go for it. I am not paying extra for the two words "FIRST STRIKE". But that is just me.

 

Similar experience. I had a 1914D Buffalo nickel (AU53) that I had slabbed myself by ANACS. I tried to do a revision and found out it was flagged as a replica. I triple checked everything to make sure I had listed it correctly. In the end I had to take it down and re-list it. All anyone had to do was check their registry and would have found it to be legit, but someone reported it. I'll never know by whom or why. Possibly the competition or a troll. It's important that people here, also, who think they see something they think is suspect, to bring it here first for everyone that knows a particular series to ask some questions before they go on a reporting rampage.

 

The feds went after silk row for selling drugs why don't they go after ebay for counterfeiting

 

Post-Meg days at Ebay
It may be known to some of us older collectors but in the early 2000's Ebay did address this issue in a broader fashion that made it against policy to advertise any coins' specific details such as authenticity, grades etc..unless they were graded by TPG that supplied a publicly accessible Price Guide
This was meant to curtail activities that could not be qualified such as listing with your own given grade, replicas or fakes. At the time the top 2 TPG where in compliance , with the ATS one with green labels still working on their's. I believe the above mentioned ATS company did complete one and publicized it. I posed the question to a vice-pres, and the owner of ATS and was told that their current owner was not aware of any such guide and that they had no intention of creating one now, "Our belief is that would be a conflict of interest" was the answer they gave me. Of course Ebay now allows anything "minted" in as well as any coins slabbed in in number of companies holders online thus rolling the TPG game, such as slabbers, back in business. Maybe somebody else remembers this and can elaborate....