Three of my most recent purchases on eBay have proven to be counterfeit coins . . . fortunately, I think I'll get my money back in all cases. I had not seen any of these counterfeits before, and needed to see the coins in hand before knowing they were not real. eBay 151162739961 1888 Half Dollar - Cast Counterfeit . . . The price was too low, but I did not notice anything questionable in the images, and did not doubt this coin's authenticity before seeing it in person. eBay 151162745668 1851 Half Dollar - Cast Counterfeit . . . Price raised suspicions, as did the shape of the 5 in the date . . . seeing the coin in person, it took only 2 seconds to know it was a fake. Both this coin and the previous were patterned from the same positive before the dates were applied to the "tooling". eBay 111205765549 1911 Quarter Eagle - struck with poorly made transfer dies. Raised line completely around rim on both sides, uncharacteristic of all business strike Indian Gold. This seller kept $20 of mine after taking the coin back, and then relisted the coin afterward, despite my protests. Fake coins are becoming more prevalent on eBay with every passing day . . . do not let your guard down. On the flip side of the coin, there is good news . . . I see some very reputable dealers opening stores on eBay lately. - Mike
Why I have nothing to do with ebay glad you got your money back if I can't see the coin in hand ill only buy from a reputable dealer or auction house and as most here on ct ill guarantee anything I sell those fakes are getting good and if they doctor up the images too they look even better why I prefer to see coins in hand
Looks like he's pulled that relisting. I don't understand how the seller got to keep any of your money. If you opened a SNAD, especially if you used the magic word "counterfeit", eBay should've stepped in to make sure you got a full refund including shipping. (In some cases, they don't even ask you to return the counterfeit.)
I can tell just from the pictures that they are your recently made Chinese "replica" counterfeits. The coins you bought can be purchased from $1-$3 online as replicas. The seller saying they came from someone's estate is laughable and most-likely, not true. I am not too familiar with gold coins, fake or otherwise, so I can't say either way from looking at the pictures of the gold coin but the other two coins look quite obvious as being fakes.
My policy is that I won't spend that much money on a coin if it hasn't been authenticated. And in my case that means by NGC or PCGS.
The seller hasn't left feedback for me, so I am reluctant to force the issue. Otherwise, I'd have filed the dispute.
You'll notice the time that those two listings ended . . . They were both very new Buy It Now listings, and I hurriedly bought them before leaving home for work. If I'd had more time, I might have studied the images more closely and saved myself the inconvenience, but lacking time, I simply bought them.
Keep in mind that sellers cannot leave negative or neutral feedback, and if they leave positive feedback with a negative or critical message, you can have it removed. If the seller were trying to keep some of my money, I would absolutely open a case. Without hesitation.
An another reason and the final straw why I will never do business on ebay again got a rubber check and then negative feedback from the buyer and I could do nothing when it was him that wrote me a bad check I said screw this there's no sellers protection was my final transaction on ebay 2008 and I had a 99% positive rating I'm done with ebay now and forever
I give the OP a lot of credit for starting this thread and openly admitting that he made mistakes. Hopefully, some of the newer collectors and/or less knowledgeable members jumping head-first into ebay will see a lesson here: if someone who knows what he is doing can be bit, it surely can happen to them too.
I don't consider myself a slave to eBay . . . I am a slave to coins. I buy through all channels, eBay included . . . I willingly swim with the sharks, taking calculated risks along the way, and sometimes have to accept associated losses. In this case, the risk was that I'd have to spend extra time corresponding with sellers, and pay to return the coins, which I accept as a cost of doing business. If buyers aren't willing to put up with those additional investments of time, and the occasional loss in shipping cost, then eBay is probably not a good platform on which to be buying, but it still works for me . . . although less and less, from one year to the next. - Mike
Which, in most cases, is much, much more than the coin is worth. As far as the counterfeit problem, eBay has no one to blame but themselves.
I have seen 2 trends on ebay (not coins per se). 1) ebay opens up the market so that any average joe seller can have a far greater buying audience which initially pumps prices (think some guy out int he boonies can sell the item in his local paper to the 300 registered voters in his 6 mile by six mile township - or to the millions strong throng on ebay). and 2) eventually after all the voracious are satisfied ebay gets saturated with sellers looking to cash in on the boom and prices plummet. Everybody and their cousin has one of these in the attic and wants to dump it at whatever price. The market is fluid. Ebb and tide.
