Pictures of slabbed coins on Ebay....

I had a auction canceled because of a listing policy error on Ebay recently. In the email Ebay sent me it states, "Listings for certified coins must include images showing the "full" front and back sides of the authentication slab." In fact I did show both sides of the coin I was selling, but cut off the bottom edge of one side of the slab picture! So I thought this is why you, Ebay canceled my listing. But then......

This started me thinking and I found myself checking other auctions, and what I found surprised me! Many other sellers on Ebay only show some of the slab that holds the coin in the pictures they post! Many sellers do not even show one full side of the authentication slab in a picture? Why? This can not be what Ebay is asking for? Are they in violation of policy?

So then I thought maybe Ebay does not REALLY understand the need to show the full authentication slab in a picture? Maybe someone who is not a coin collector doesn't understand how important it is?

That must be it! Ebay does not understand the full reason of seeing the entire picture of the front and back sides of a coin authentication slab? The hologram, printing and other visual security features that are built into a slab can't be seen if you only see a little bit of the slab!

How can we the buying public have a chance to tell if what we are going to bid on is real or fake, if we do not see the whole picture?

Both PCGS and NGC, the 2 leaders in grading slabbed coins have indicated that by looking at the slabs you can spot a fake authentication slab in some cases! So why does Ebay not enforce the full pictures of both sides to be shown? The Ebay policy clearly states you need to show both sides. But when you look at many of the auctions showing certified coins, you only see a very small part of maybe one side of the slab?

So why does Ebay allow this?

The only thing that comes to mind is, they are to big! They depend on us the buyers to click on "report item" if we see a problem in an auction. It even states this in the pages posted on the Ebay site. So now with this letter to Ebay, sellers should be expected to start showing both the full front and full back sides of an authentication slab in the very near future!

This will help us buyers to check and verify if a seller is posting a fake slab and or coin!

I am sure Ebay will follow through with this policy and put its foot down and make all the sellers follow policy!

Lets hope so?