Have you noticed how E-bay is fast losing all credibility as a coin trading venue due to their inability, or more accurately unwillingness, to deal with the crooks and scam artists who are infesting it in ever increasing numbers?
I am seriously considering stopping selling there after many years, mainly because of the fraudulent charge back issue. This has always been a problem, buyers pay by credit card then contest the charges once they have received the coins. It's happened to me twice now, although not recently as I am very rigid about who I will trade with. To add insult to injury, PayPal, which is owned by E-bay, charge you $30 each time.
The cost of shipping is another factor and while E-bay are not responsible for that, they insist on very expensive proof of mailing / delivery in order for you to qualify for their seller protection. It's not at all unusual for the shipping costs to exceed the value of the coins.
So the outlook for sellers is not good but what about buyers?
There are so many scams going on it's hard to imagine that E-bay can continue with it's hands off approach for much longer. Honest sellers are being squeezed out by the crooks.
There are hundreds of rolls of "unsearched" wheat pennies on offer every single day. It's strange how they always, I mean ALWAYS, have an Indian Head cent showing at each end of the roll. It's an absolute certainty that the other 48 coins will be worthless 1940's and 1950's cents. The odds on this happening with a single "unsearched" roll are very long indeed. The likelihood of it happening hundreds of times a day is non existent. It's a scam. Unscrupuluos traders are getting rid of face value coins by stuffing them in between two desireable ones. Of course, they claim the rolls are "unsearched" and that they have no idea what's in them, which means the hapless buyer has no grounds for complaint.
How about the guy who finds hidden treasure several times every week? This guy is a real classic. Coin collectors dream of finding a hoard of valuable coins, in the attic, hidden inside a wall.....just once in a lifetime would be great. This lucky individual has found coins hidden inside a grandfather clock, in a secret, hidden room of his house (I mean, really, you have a room in your house which you never noticed?), you name it, he's found hidden coins there.
The buyer thinks it's a great opportunity to pick up some old coins and gets a bunch of pocket change. To make the deal seem better some of the coins are shown in slabbed cases. Unfortunately the slabbed coins are still pocket change, graded by a very disreputable company and worthless. The company is owned and operated by none other than our miracle coin finder.
This guy must have an inexhaustable supply of "hidden treasure" because he has been running this little caper for years now and despite hundreds of complaints and massive negative rating he is still there. Of course word has spread around and no experienced collector would dream of trading with him but there is a steady stream of new victims every day. E-bay won't act because they take a very nice cut of the thousands of trades he does every week.
Predictably several aliases are now being used, selling the same trash, using the same stock photos and even trading from the same address.
Perhaps E-bay just haven't noticed yet.
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