Beware New Collectors 2 2

[Hoghead515]

I was browsing Ebay and ran across a seller thats selling common pocket change only worth face value at ridiculously high premiums. I thought this would be a good example to share and warn newer collectors to beware of sellers such as these. The seller has several coins that are crazy high priced and trying to pass alot of them off as mint errors. The sad thing is that this is only one seller. There are to many others out there on Ebay, etsy, and other places. Do your homework before you purchase a coin. Dont let crooks like this take advantage of you. Heres just one example from the seller. This is not a mint error. This coin is only worth face value.  

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Hoghead515

[RWB]

One hopes this will save someone time and money.

Thanks for posting it!

[JT2]

these are the types of people  you want to nail upside down by their scrotum ..............just say'n .......  of course if you catch'em you can always toss them in the Hog pin and no one will ever find them again.

[Henri Charriere]

You raise a good point! One of the more insidious means by which sellers attract buyers is to advertise a grossly inflated price, then offer on OBO (or best offer) option. Psychologically, that sounds good. eBay gives you three shots. The seller, if unable to unload an item quickly, will most certainly consider your offer along with those made by others. With the clock ticking and little time to do due diligence, I half-heartedly took 37%, my lucky number) off the list price. Only what seemed minutes later, I received a reply... Your offer was accepted, etc., PAY UP!  It was at that moment I knew I had been taken. But was I? Nowhere in the "ad" did the seller misrepresent the facts. The truth is I wanted the item. And got it.

Incidentally, if I were a Jefferson nickel collector -- excessive wear, notwithstanding -- I would prefer mine minus the tracheostomy tube.  🤣

[Reno Raines]

I would never ever buy a coin from any seller that doesn't have at least 4,000 feedback with near 100 percent positive feedback. The seller ID'd in this thread is clearly a scam artist looking for victims.

[JKK]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:46 AM, JT2 said:

these are the types of people  you want to nail upside down by their scrotum ..............just say'n .......  of course if you catch'em you can always toss them in the Hog pin and no one will ever find them again.

I was thinking of heating up all their coins, then forcing them to swallow them.

[Reno Raines]

On 8/14/2023 at 6:11 PM, JKK said:

I was thinking of heating up all their coins, then forcing them to swallow them.

That sounds too much like work.

[SILVER 1776]

At the same time. Then best way to learn what not to do. Is by doing just that. The outcomes (good or bad) of our decisions is what makes us smarter each time we encounter  Without it decisions in life. We don't learn. We just develope habits that keep us safer. It is good to notify that this stuff happens. Within any group of collectors there is always those who look to prey on the weak and uniformed. Thanks for the info Vet. If there was only a way to sell to this guy like he is trying to do. Karma is real . Everything has a cost, Although not right now. Lessons will be learn. 

[Hoghead515]

On 8/14/2023 at 8:40 PM, SILVER 1776 said:

At the same time. Then best way to learn what not to do. Is by doing just that. The outcomes (good or bad) of our decisions is what makes us smarter each time we encounter  Without it decisions in life. We don't learn. We just develope habits that keep us safer. It is good to notify that this stuff happens. Within any group of collectors there is always those who look to prey on the weak and uniformed. Thanks for the info Vet. If there was only a way to sell to this guy like he is trying to do. Karma is real . Everything has a cost, Although not right now. Lessons will be learn. 

Very true. When I first started I ended up with some cleaned coins and coins thats been tooled on. I used those as learning experiences. A couple of them was a little costly. 

[Reno Raines]

These days collectors should just buy pre certified coins due to the number of counterfeits and the rising cost of grading.

[powermad5000]

I also saw a seller on eBay by the name joshi_9943 with over 100 non error coins that he was claiming to be everything from clad layer missing (environmental damage), broadstrikes (coins were slightly off center strikes within mint tolerance), insane DDO and DDR (die erosion doubling), letters next to the rim on Wheats (normal), modern Lincoln with a line (post mint damage), and a bunch of die chips as top errors (no value). When I looked through all this nonsense, I sent him a message that he had no errors and explained why.

The SA response I got back was "Then don't look at my coins".

Thanks for pointing another one out @Hoghead515!

[Reno Raines]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:45 PM, powermad5000 said:

I also saw a seller on eBay by the name joshi_9943 with over 100 non error coins that he was claiming to be everything from clad layer missing (environmental damage), broadstrikes (coins were slightly off center strikes within mint tolerance), insane DDO and DDR (die erosion doubling), letters next to the rim on Wheats (normal), modern Lincoln with a line (post mint damage), and a bunch of die chips as top errors (no value). When I looked through all this nonsense, I sent him a message that he had no errors and explained why.

The SA response I got back was "Then don't look at my coins".

Thanks for pointing another one out @Hoghead515

At the rate sellers on eBay and ect are trying to sell non error coins and claiming they are maybe one of us ought to to a thread about it similar to the one that Just Bob did about known sellers of counterfeit coins.

[EagleRJO]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:22 AM, Hoghead515 said:

I was browsing Ebay and ran across a seller thats selling common pocket change only worth face value at ridiculously high premiums.

When I see stuff like that I often just do a quick complaint by clicking on the "Report this Item" link, which is in blue down a little way on the right side of listing page.  The rest is up to ebay, occasionally resulting in the listing being pulled but more often than not nothing happens or it just gets re-listed at a slightly different price.  However, I think that if more people did this it might help cut down on these rip off listings which I think are ruining ebay.

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:45 PM, powermad5000 said:

I also saw a seller on eBay by the name joshi_9943....

His name rings a bell... I commented on his stock and told him point-blank he was lying.  He asked me if I was "buyin' or just cryin'?"  I wrote back "Neither:  I am reporting you to Federal authorities for engaging in interstate commerce with intent to defraud consumers." There are different Federal agencies that respond to complaints depending on the specific method used. Unfortunately, individuals that were scammed get top billing.  Those that raise the hue and cry are critical when their collective complaints suggest a pattern worthy of further investigation. Thank you, Hog, for taking the time and trouble to control the rat infestation

[Hoghead515]

I was doing killing some time riding to work this morning while my boss drives. I figured Id look up error coins just to see how many true errors were on there and how many bogus errors. 90% are bogus. They have parking lot coins selling as strike errors. One particular parking lot nickel for $500. And a cent supposedly struck on wrong planchet which looked normal to me. All sorts of other damaged coins listed as errors. I sit and cringed the whole time. I think Ebay should at least put some kind of warning on the screen letting new collectors know that not all sellers are honest. Its sad to see all the crooks on there. 

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Hoghead515

[VKurtB]

On 8/15/2023 at 4:05 AM, Henri Charriere said:

His name rings a bell... I commented on his stock and told him point-blank he was lying.  He asked me if I was "buyin' or just cryin'?"  I wrote back "Neither:  I am reporting you to Federal authorities for engaging in interstate commerce with intent to defraud consumers." There are different Federal agencies that respond to complaints depending on the specific method used. Unfortunately, individuals that were scammed get top billing.  Those that raise the hue and cry are critical when their collective complaints suggest a pattern worthy of further investigation. Thank you, Hog, for taking the time and trouble to control the rat infestation

Sounds like Mike M on here.

[VKurtB]

On 8/15/2023 at 5:32 AM, Hoghead515 said:

I was doing killing some time riding to work this morning while my boss drives. I figured Id look up error coins just to see how many true errors were on there and how many bogus errors. 90% are bogus. They have parking lot coins selling as strike errors. One particular parking lot nickel for $500. And a cent supposedly struck on wrong planchet which looked normal to me. All sorts of other damaged coins listed as errors. I sit and cringed the whole time. I think Ebay should at least put some kind of warning on the screen letting new collectors know that not all sellers are honest. Its sad to see all the crooks on there. 

 

Ebay has become, and is accelerating as, a place you DON'T WANT TO BE, if you want to keep a good reputation. It has become a cesspool of con artists.

[EagleRJO]

On 8/15/2023 at 6:32 AM, Hoghead515 said:

I figured Id look up error coins just to see how many true errors were on there and how many bogus errors. 90% are bogus. They have parking lot coins selling as strike errors. One particular parking lot nickel for $500. And a cent supposedly struck on wrong planchet which looked normal to me. 

Were you surprised by this? 

Edited August 19, 2023 by EagleRJO

[Hoghead515]

On 8/15/2023 at 7:45 PM, EagleRJO said:

Were you surprised by this?

Not at all. Its sad. Hopefully newer collectors will read these threads like this and we can try and educate them to stay away from crooks like those. Seems like it just keeps getting worse in the short time Ive been collecting.  

[powermad5000]

Unfortunately, eBay does not want to "'interfere" with sales so they can keep collecting their fees. If eBay were serious about at least the sales of coins, bullion, and paper money, the sellers would have to let their listings wait in a queue until someone from a panel of experts has verified the listing to be accurate. Other problem is, those people would have to be volunteers and what experts have the time to volunteer to look at tens of thousands of listings everyday? All the online seller platforms have become a modern gigantic machine that is too large to be regulated properly.

[Reno Raines]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:03 PM, powermad5000 said:

Unfortunately, eBay does not want to "'interfere" with sales so they can keep collecting their fees. If eBay were serious about at least the sales of coins, bullion, and paper money, the sellers would have to let their listings wait in a queue until someone from a panel of experts has verified the listing to be accurate. Other problem is, those people would have to be volunteers and what experts have the time to volunteer to look at tens of thousands of listings everyday? All the online seller platforms have become a modern gigantic machine that is too large to be regulated properly.

Yup and those regulations would be next to impossible to enforce.

[VKurtB]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:03 PM, powermad5000 said:

Unfortunately, eBay does not want to "'interfere" with sales so they can keep collecting their fees. If eBay were serious about at least the sales of coins, bullion, and paper money, the sellers would have to let their listings wait in a queue until someone from a panel of experts has verified the listing to be accurate. Other problem is, those people would have to be volunteers and what experts have the time to volunteer to look at tens of thousands of listings everyday? All the online seller platforms have become a modern gigantic machine that is too large to be regulated properly.

Their quantitative “success” guarantees their qualitative demise. There is too much crookery and incompetence out there to have ANY hope for remediation. So I’ve decided what works for me. The Internet is for “talking”, but NEVER buying. I’d PREFER to go back to USPS mail to send orders to the Mints, but I’ve been literally FORCED to use an ordering system in which the U.S. Mint is incapable of operating correctly. The only thing that grows in a straight line is incompetence. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by VKurtB

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:18 PM, VKurtB said:

Their quantitative “success” guarantees their qualitative demise. There is too much crookery and incompetence out there to have ANY hope for remediation. 

Then again, the advent of the internet and a burgeoning "Information-at-you-fingertips" age having arriving, at no time has the illiteracy and gullibility reached its limits.

[VKurtB]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:30 PM, Henri Charriere said:

Then again, the advent of the internet and a burgeoning "Information-at-you-fingertips" age having arriving, at no time has the illiteracy and gullibility reached its limits.

I maintain the Internet has enabled, nay … CAUSED huge increases in illiteracy and gullibility.

[Moxie15]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:46 PM, JT2 said:

these are the types of people  you want to nail upside down by their scrotum ..............just say'n .......  of course if you catch'em you can always toss them in the Hog pin and no one will ever find them again.

Well, pigs seldom eat the skull, don't know why, maybe cause they don't like the brains of lesser creatures. I would like to see them upside down though. I imagine they would urinate in their own face. Justice of a sort.

[EagleRJO]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:33 PM, VKurtB said:

I maintain the Internet has enabled, nay … CAUSED huge increases in illiteracy and gullibility.

And caused people to forget how to spell.  

[GoldFinger1969]

Please tell me nobody is buying these coins....nobody is bidding ?? 

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:47 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

Please tell me nobody is buying these coins....nobody is bidding ?? 

I think it safe to assume there are two ways to address this problem...

Confront supply or educate demand. The USG did this with drugs. And to no one's surprise, Ecuador, has emerged as the epicenter of all drug transit hubs. 

What's needed with coins is moving beyond mere control with reviews and education and eradicating suppliers with prosecutions.  Without authenticated supply lines, demand will diminish as customers demand more information and enforcement.  A change in priorities is needed.