Have you purchased any coins sight unseen?

Well... I get what you're saying, but technically one is seeing the product true to spirit and form when the seller has "good" photos (generally, eBay and people seem to understand what a good photo is by looking at it). If the photo is poor, very blurry, not of the actual coin, etc., then it's practically the same as not being able to see the coin. Sometimes, a buyer may come across a long awaited rare item that popped up and buy it now right on the spot without even looking at the photos let alone the description or even thinking twice about the price.

And it's my understanding that "sight seen" in-person discrepancies would only hold up if it's not as described or as depicted in the photos. Usually if the seller has the most amazing photos, and the buyer claims that, e.g., it's a "toned" coin when the pictures clearly show a toned coin, then the seller wins that claim based primarily on those pictures.

 

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I've bought totally unseen (once) from JJ Teaparty. A 3cs. But I have also seen many pieces from them and trust their grading and descriptions. I was quite happy with my purchase.

 

I buy all my coins sight unseen, with only photographs to judge. Most dealers offer a return policy so that is not an issue, nor is E-Bay. The only real risk is buying sight unseen from Heritage or other major auction houses. Since they only usually sell graded coins, it is pretty easy to get most of your money back if you don't like the coin in hand. Heritage's photos have improved greatly over the years. I used to pride myself on being able to pick great toned coins with substandard photos. Here is an example.

1941-D Jefferson Nickel NGC MS67 5FS

Heritage's Images



My Images

 

No I've never purchased a coin sight unseen. Why would you? Unless you're guaranteed a return no questions asked.....and even then most probably NO!

 

The only one I've ever bought sight unseen was an 1899 Morgan from a Jack Beymer add in Coin World in the late 80s or early 90s.

 

As a few others have clarified, the term "sight unseen" to most people in this hobby means, "not seen in person". The vast majority of my numismatic purchases are "sight unseen" in this sense.

However, to that end, I have not bought anything numismatic without having at least seen decent pictures before purchasing. I will entertain purchasing coins "on approval" when only a text description of the coin is given, but the seller sends the coin to me for review before I purchase. In those cases, I only deal with trusted dealers, and I'm happy to cover the shipping both ways for such reviews (I'm batting around 60-70% on keeping coins I get this way, but have only reviewed about a dozen over the years).

Buying from pictures only is much more successful for me. I have had enough years interpreting photos that I rarely have problems. I have only sent back 2 coins purchased on eBay (of more than 500 purchased), both because they had problems that were not shown in the pictures. I have never even thought about wishing to return a coin purchased from Heritage, Stacks, or other online auction sites.

I am a bit annoyed by some of the "old fashioned" dealers who don't provide pictures, at least for the higher dollar items on their sales lists. There are so many affordable and reasonably easy ways of photographing coins that there really is no excuse for not offering photos or at least being willing to take some if requested. It's 2016 -- it's not as if dealers have to get the pictures "developed" and snail mail them to me.

 

If a dealer won't provide a decent photo he should expect to keep his coin. But judging by the number of dealers ads that don't have photos they must be doing a good sight-unseen business.

 

I've bought countless coins sight unseen in the old days with no pics and a date and grade. And many from not so good pics but I'm usually good enough at knowing details that I can at least tell genuine. And the bulk of my collection has come from the major auction houses so a lot that way. I've also bought many raw coins in hand and had them graded. I usually won't buy a raw coin sight unseen anymore. Years ago there wasn't the high quality Chinese fakes we have now. And as to images I'm one of the many dealers that's a far better numismatist then a photographer

 

Then you aren't buying sight unseen. You have the chance to see the coin and decide whether to keep it or not. Sight unseen means you buy it without seeing it in person and it is yours, period, no returns.

 

I'm well aware of what sight unseen means you nitwit. If you don't like my use of the word "all" then fine, but keep in mind that all returns carry an associated cost (S&H) and if you abuse a dealer or E-Bay seller's return policy you run the risk of being labeled a "tire kicker" and being blocked as a customer.

Buying sight unseen is risky because if you don't like the coin you would be forced to sell the coin and possibly incur a financial loss. If returning a coin results in a financial loss from S&H, what's the difference?

 

Okbustchaser has fully described the term "sight-unseen."

This isn't just his interpretation, or his opinion of the matter. This is the definition of the term, widely accepted by the broader numismatic community.

 

Based off the stricter definition of sight unseen then every coin I've purchased since 2012 has been sight unseen. That's over 300.

 

I'll buy from dealers that I trust just by their description over the phone or out of a magazine, but eBay folks, take the two seconds to take the photo or don't bother listing it.

 

If you don't mind me asking who are you buying who don't offer a return policy? I know of a few such dealers, but they usually state that a sale is sight unseen with a corresponding price reduction on the sale. (Actually, I know a lot of dealers who sell sight unseen to other dealers.)

Once again, if you can look at the coins in hand before you make a final decision whether to keep them or not, that is "sight seen".

 

Worse. I've been burned (never again) on internet auctions where a consignor (selling through auctioneer) has numerically and adjectively done his own grading and also adding things such as FSB, FBL, DMPL, ect... When sent to professional grader (PCGS, NGC, ANACS) they came detailed no numerical value cleaned, polished, ect...I gambled on a 1919-D Mercury top featured coin by Rolling M auctions (coin specialist) that was neatly and freshly carded as 1919-D FSB MS64. Books list values of around $5000. Internet portion of the bidding was active as I pushed it to $1000. Surprisingly (maybe not) no one at the live auction made a bid. This auctioneer won a photography award from Proxiblog. I am still after his consignor, him and Proxibid for misrepresentation. The consignor could have purchased a slabbed detail from EBay then cracked it and recarded (fraud if proved). My stupidity you can say but I have told Proxibid to change their headline web from "marketplace trust" to "buyer beware."

A $1168 coin may be worth $100. Now it is showcased slab uncirculated improper cleaning. How pretty, huh?

 

My mistake. All the dealers I bought from would have happily accepted returns.

 

What if you get it appraised and simply have it sent to you along with dozens of other coins, and you weren't able to look at it in-person until much later? Is it sight unseen prior to you seeing it?

Do auction houses like HA count as reputable appraisers or is there too much of a conflict of interest when purchasing from them?