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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 4994205, member: 19463&quot;]Cheap coins are faked, too.&nbsp; It is just a matter of losing money in smaller pieces at a time. eBay sells nothing.&nbsp; It is a venue on which buyers meet with individual sellers and some of each category are crooks.&nbsp; There are large sellers that produce glossy catalogs that sell fakes, too. I would much prefer buying from a dealer I know who sells on eBay than a seller of another class that is unknown to me or that has a track record of selling altered or outright fake items.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Several of the people who post regularly here sell coins.&nbsp; Some use eBay.&nbsp; Help in finding a dealer has been offered here by more than one of us over the years but we regularly see new people who prefer to ignore us.&nbsp; In fact, most of the people I know who spend the most on coins do not do it on their own.&nbsp; They have a relationship with a dealer who advises them and represents them at auctions for a fee.&nbsp; The last time I used such a representative, I paid 5% but I do not know what the current rate is now since I rarely bid in auctions anymore with the exception a a few that I trust individually and I rarely buy popular and expensive coins.&nbsp; I am sure that has caused me to buy a few bad (in some sense of the word) coins that I might have avoided.&nbsp; I understand the appeal of doing it yourself and bargain hunting.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Above posts have summed it up well.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The bottom line here is you must either know the coin or know the seller.&nbsp; Both of these areas have degrees of danger.&nbsp; Some coins are obviously fake but some fakes require more expertise to discover.&nbsp; Some sellers are very honest and would not cheat you intentionally but they do not know enough about the subject to be guiding others.&nbsp; That includes may of us here on Coin Talk.&nbsp; To be relatively safe, we require a seller to be both knowledgeable and honest.&nbsp; Honesty includes asking a reasonable compensation for services.&nbsp; There are many coins of very low value being sold for very high prices by sellers who have no problem with selling a coin for ten times a reasonable number to buyers who know no better.&nbsp; We also require the buyer to know when to ask help (even if it is paid help) and realize what they are doing in terms of risk management especially avoiding thinking they can but a coin anywhere for a tenth of the normal price.&nbsp; All this is part of the hobby.&nbsp; Perhaps not all of us are well suited to this hobby.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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