Trusting, or not, on ebay

I’ve seen several discussions about bay and my experience there has been good. I’ve only been back into coins for a few years so I’m going to try and see if I’ve been taken on the ones I’ve gotten so far. I’m not looking for particular seller recommendations but I’ve been trying to find a couple that I can trust and kinda go there like a local shop as I don’t actually have a LCS.
I’ve sold some things, mainly music oriented, and I’ve always considered the ratings, mine and others, to be a gold standard but I have doubts there now as well.
My question is for any tips on trying our best to avoid getting ripped and I know that education is a must.

 

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If you see a coin on eBay and it's a fixed price (buy it now), and you like the sellers and his profile, message him and make him an offer below his asking price. You might be surprised.

 

To minimize risk, buy certified coins from U.S. sellers that take good pictures, and look the pictures over very well before you bid. Look over all of a seller's offerings before you bid on one, you can get a feel for his pictures, whether he brags up so-so coins, or if he is up front about mentioning cleanings, etc.

Now I dont always do this, I've bought raw coins from less than optimal pictures that sold rather cheaply, and scored some nice coins. But that depends on your risk tolerance, I suppose.

Generally Ebays buyer protection will keep you from getting truly ripped off.

 

Plus, I stay away from sellers with stock photos.

 

I both buy and sell on eBay. I will never buy from somebody that does not offer returns. The Only Exception is for entire sets or rolls where it's understandable since the buyer could just cherry pick it and send it back. I have purchased both roles and sets but make sure that the seller has 100% feedback and has been selling on eBay for a number of years.
There are some great deals to be had if you're careful.

 

Most of my buying experiences on EBay have been good. Couple of times I have had to file claims over stuff I never received or got the wrong item and it was handled swiftly. Webstore on the other hand is a JOKE!

 

My general experience on eBay has been good. As others have said, I make sure I have the option to return, research a potential purchase as much as I can before bidding/buying, sometimes message sellers with offers, read past feedback, and don't buy from sellers without a history of 99%+ positive.

The ONLY reason I don't say 100% positive is a must is because I read the feedback. If the one or two negatives they had was 6 years ago over a simple mistake, or (as in many cases) the neg was over something stupid and unrelated to the purchase ie: The shipping was 2 days late, then I am willing to give the seller a shot as long as I can return.

 

I bought this on bay today just to practice looking coins over and such. The seller didn’t list it as anything special and I got it for a few bucks. I want to learn to grade, spot fakes, etc and I figured I’d take a gamble.

 

I’ve done hundreds of transactions on eBay, the majority buying plus a fair amount of sales, and virtually all of them have been smooth. I’ve never had anyone outright attempt to rip me off. We can complain all we want, but the eBay/PayPal business model has taken a huge amount of risk out of the equation and driven down margins. It has allowed me to buy coins and get most of my money back when selling, and occasionally making money. Not bad for a hobby.

 

A seller offering returns or not is meaningless. It is not a red flag at all. If you get a coin that is not as described or otherwise doesn't match the photos, you can always make a return, regardless. All it does is make it more difficult to make frivolous returns, which protects the seller from dishonest buyers.

 

I don't understand what you mean by a frivolous return. If you purchase something and you don't like it you have every right to return it. I would not consider that frivolous.

 

Many sellers after fees are making very little, and eBay penalizes sellers who do not offer free shipping. Shipping, however, is not actually free for the seller. You buy something and then want to return it, if the seller offers returns, then they have to eat the cost of the shipping, the sale is cancelled, and they are out the coin and the opportunity to sell it, until they get it back in the mail. They are out the cost of packing materials. They are out their time to package it up and ship it out. And then they have to deal with clueless buyers who might finger the coin or try to clean it, etc., as well as dishonest ones who might try to swap the coin out. No, offering returns as a seller really sucks on eBay.

This is especially true for slabbed coins. You can often see the cert photos as well as seller photos. It is what it is. You can ask questions. Do this before buying, not after. You'd be surprised how many people buy a coin and then go, oh, I thought this was xyz (something obviously different). Did you ask before buying? No. Frivolous.

Unfortunately while there are good buyers who do not take advantage of it, there are too many to make offering returns viable for many sellers. If you think you might want to return a coin, just don't bid. Make smart purchases to begin with. If a seller does something dishonest you are always protected, regardless.

 

I have been an eBay seller for years and have never had a coin returned.
When you offer free shipping you build that cost into the price. To say you offer free anyting in the sales world is merely a gimmick. If you offer a good product at a fair price sellers will rarely return something. If somebody does return something and you have to eat the cost to ship it that's just part of the price of doing business.

 

Building the cost of shipping into the purchase price is irrelevant when you have to refund the purchase price. Especially bad when you deal in world coins and most of your buyers are overseas!

I'm glad to hear you have been so lucky as a seller, but do not mistake that for the norm. There are literally tons of great honest sellers on eBay that protect themselves by not offering returns for the reasons I stated. My point is that it is not and should not be a red flag to someone in and of itself. Make intelligent purchases and ask questions up front.

As a buyer, I have returned very few coins on eBay. Probably no more than 4 or 5 coins, and I have used eBay since its inception. Most of the time I take a risk, it is on something cheap that wouldn't be worth returning, or I am paying a price that I would consider fair, even for a details coin. For everything else, I either know what I'm getting or I don't bid.

 

I do not sell very much on eBay but I do browse and buy often so this will be a customers point of view.

Usually if it is the first time I am buying a coin from any seller I will buy an inexpensive one, $15 or less. This is to test the photos and description. If all is good I will shop again...If not I won't. I do this because I do not like the hassle of returning a coin.

Usually when browsing I will look at the auctions first and then the Best Offers accepted. When I find something I like I watch it and check recent sold prices before I make an offer or bid. I always have a max amount including shipping that I am willing to pay.

I do have a question for you sellers reading this thread. Have any of you ever sent a lower offer to someone that was watching one of your items? I had this happen to me this morning on a BIN/BO token I am watching. I was thinking about making an offer but for the first time ever the seller beat me to it. Kinda made me go hmm.

 

This is relatively new on eBay (has been around for a year or so). When a seller has watchers for an item, eBay allows the seller to send an offer to everyone watching (it doesn’t tell the seller who the watchers are-just how many there are).

I’ve used it. Most times there is no response. Occasionally it has worked and I’ve sold a few items this way. It also helps when there is bonus bucks offer. The sales and one of my purchases all came during a bonus bucks period.

 

And even worse now that PayPal fees don't get refunded anymore on returns or cancellations.

 

I just had a good experience on the receiving end of that. A seller made me an offer and I tried to negotiate a lower price as the offer was still above retail. He offered me a bit lower, telling me that he has to charge more on eBay than on other venues because of the fees. Then out of curiosity I googled his user name and sure enough he had his own dealer website, so I emailed him there and we agreed on something that worked.

I’m realizing that this is more common than a lot of us realize. If you see a seller with coins that you like, Google can be your best friend. Just be sure to keep the conversation outside of eBay and stick to established dealerships.

 

eBay will certainly not be a fan of that. And it's technically against the rules, but it does happen all the time. eBay's fees and policies have made it harder to price things fairly on there (unless you got something inexpensively), so this might be even more common nowadays. Do make sure not to mention anything specific about off eBay transactions (including emails/websites/phone numbers) as that can lead to trouble (especially for the seller).