Anyone bought a fake coin on auction site?

[elemonator]

I bought a 1903 silver coin on ***y. It was 'toned',vf,anyway looked great,had a nice bluish tone to it,and I happened to drop it on our table, instead of the definite ring of silver,all was heard was clunk. I was in disbelief. I have several friends who also collect and was showing them one said why is this coming off,the toning was coming right off on his finger,contacted the seller and was like 'no problem,send it back,I'll ok the refund,but the coin is authentic'.So sent it back and days later was being called a moron by the seller and how I have no business buying coins and why did I clean it?'.I eventually rec'd the money back,but still bothers me I was totally unaccusing on seller selling bunk coins,just figured someone sold it to him as real. I did a quick search and seen quite a few articles on this since the price of silver went so high.This wasnt a key date or anything particularly special so it never even crossed my mind it might not be authentic.Seller was 100% positive feedback. Has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[K_W]

Ebay is riddled with fakes of all kinds. But there are known fake coins and bullion and bars circulating on ebay.

For items that have value, it is best to buy in person.

 

[Joe G]

Holy cow... complete sentences and punctuation please? Just makes it very hard to read otherwise.

 

[shawnba67]

Holy cow... complete sentences and punctuation please? Just makes it very hard to read otherwise.

Grammar cop fail!

 

[hoosierdoc]

Nope, sold a few though (Better than a spoof thread...)

 

[Joe G]

Grammar cop fail!

LOL

Wasn't trying to be a PITA, though I'm sure I came across that way. My apologies to the OP. It's just hard to read a post that's one long run on sentence.

 

[Hkindiana]

There is a HUGE cottage industry in China producing counterfeit coins and bullion. Chinese counterfeiting laws only prevent them from copying CHINESE coins. I have seen poor quality, all the way up to superb die struck copies. So, buyer beware.

 

[ModernGunner]

Counterfeit coin, let's say a quarter dollar. Sell it on e-Bay for, say $4... x 100,000.

Not much doubt as to the 'motivation' in doing so, is there?

Glad to hear the OP at least received a refund. Beginning to think MOST of the 'collector's' and 'vintage' items now sold on e-Bay are some form of counterfeit. Whaddya gonna do, sue 'em? In China, or Nigeria?

IMO, e-Bay REALLY needs to crack down on these scams, or e-Bay is going to find itself going the way of Radio Shack, and the dodo...

 

[shootersix]

wait, you're saying people on the net lie?

View attachment 35548

 

[david890]

IMO, e-Bay REALLY needs to crack down on these scams, or e-Bay is going to find itself going the way of Radio Shack, and the dodo...

eBay will NEVER take an active role in weeding out the fakes. Doing so puts the legal onus on them, and they don't want to deal with the responsibility of monitoring 800M or so auctions AT ONCE. Come to think of it, I don't even think it's possible.

They do need to do better when informed of problems. For some years, I collected rare currency. Several sellers offered copies of such notes, but the copies violated Federal law (copies must be either 125% or 75% the size of the original; one-sided copy only; have "COPY" printed somewhere conspicuous). When eBay failed to take action, I contacted the SF office of the Secret Service, asking them to have a talk with eBay execs about such Fed laws. Finally took a few months, but the COPY sellers now seem to be toeing the line.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease.