No more fakes on eBay?

messydesk

They're hiring a counterfeit coin specialist. Perhaps they're seeing that it's actually necessary to Do Something™ about the reputation they have about being the place to unload fake crap with impunity.

https://jobs.ebayinc.com/us/en/job/R0072641/Counterfeit-Specialist-Coins

fastfreddie

Good news but I hope that it's at the higher end of the pay scale!

TPring

I will start with giving the new hire a slam-dunk present.

Curious to know why "Do Something" has the TM after it

AUandAG

They ought to hire Judith back as she is, or was, in Salt Lake.
bob

coinbuf

For some reason I'm not filled with hope.

messydesk

@coinbuf said:
For some reason I'm not filled with hope.

Neither am I. For what they're paying, they're expecting someone to play whack-a-mole "at scale" rather than establish strategies and methods for smoking them out and working with law enforcement.

alaura22

They need a team, not just 1 person
Fingers crossed

jonathanb

@alaura22 said:
They need a team, not just 1 person

I don't know. A lot of this is going to come down to what the plan is.

I think that many people on this board could validate counterfeits at the rate of thousands per hour -- if they have tools to flag the listings that need reviewing. eBay clearly has competent software engineers. Unless I miss the mark, they're not expecting to hire someone for this position who has any software engineering skills. So it may come down to how much support this person has, from the people who are able to build and train them on the tools that let them do the job right.

I'm tempted to say that this would be a good job for AI. But really, AI could be overkill. There obvious 'tells' on many of the listings of counterfeits. If the person did nothing more than review the listings from new sellers and sellers in, ah, certain geographic locations, that would make a huge difference right there.

It's not easy for someone outside of eBay to set up the right queries. eBay should already have tools to do that sort of thing internally.

None of that would help weed out the subtle counterfeits. But it should definitely be possible to make a big improvement over what they have now, even with a single person.

CaptHenway

Years ago I offered to Judith to be a consultant on counterfeit and altered coins. I never heard back from anybody, then she left, and everything went to Hell.

johnny9434

Ill believe it when I see it 🤔

jesbroken

I feel it is a step ahead of where it currently is. AI is a joke, in this instance.
Who knows how it may grow, most likely determined by actual cost to ebay, as in loss of sales. May be frightening.
Jim

alaura22

@CaptHenway said:
Years ago I offered to Judith to be a consultant on counterfeit and altered coins. I never heard back from anybody, then she left, and everything went to Hell.

Why don't you apply for the job?

airplanenut

I hope they immediately throw out the application of Baba, Mr. Ali

PerryHall

It's at least a step in the right direction. In the future when eBay gets a complaint, rather than just sending out a form response that the coin doesn't violate eBay's policy, someone will actually take a look at the listing and delete it if it's a counterfeit.

johnny9434

@PerryHall said:
It's at least a step in the right direction. In the future when eBay gets a complaint, rather than just sending out a form response that the coin doesn't violate eBay's policy, someone will actually take a look at the listing and delete it if it's a counterfeit.

If it works....

mbogoman

@AUandAG said:
They ought to hire Judith back as she is, or was, in Salt Lake.
bob

Was. She passed away a few years back...RIP...

burfle23

There are a couple of folks who seem to have success reporting items currently. The 1909-S listing posted was removed:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/389648659746

He also has a bad 1891-CC Morgan that I have posted in my Face Book Group.

WAYNEAS

Will AI override the new counterfeit expert's findings?
LOL
Wayne

TwoSides2aCoin

They’ve already told me the counterfeits I report and identify are legitimate and meet eBay’s requirements. $61k-$102k salary per annum ! Some of us did it for free for years , to no avail.

MsMorrisine

@AUandAG said:
They ought to hire Judith back as she is, or was, in Salt Lake.
bob

Judith is no longer with us

MsMorrisine

@alaura22 said:

@CaptHenway said:
Years ago I offered to Judith to be a consultant on counterfeit and altered coins. I never heard back from anybody, then she left, and everything went to Hell.

Why don't you apply for the job?

i remember that and she was terminated almost immediately after you offered

Acarroll

Nothing's going to change.

Acarroll

@WAYNEAS said:
Will AI override the new counterfeit expert's findings?
LOL
Wayne

Or a team of the finest call center reps in Mumbai

CaptHenway

@alaura22 said:

@CaptHenway said:
Years ago I offered to Judith to be a consultant on counterfeit and altered coins. I never heard back from anybody, then she left, and everything went to Hell.

Why don't you apply for the job?

I'm too old now. I help out where I can here and there, but could not do it on a full time basis.

golden

Hoping for the best and have my fingers crossed.

Coinscratch

I wonder what will happen when this new hire makes a mistake and approves a fake or takes down a legit coin.
It could get really ugly.

MsMorrisine

@Coinscratch said:
I wonder what will happen when this new hire makes a mistake and approves a fake or takes down a legit coin.
It could get really ugly.

when the effective coin community watch group existed in ebay this was always a possibility. the watch group did much good. legit coins can be appealed. fakes would just be slipping through the cracks. this will also have the same issues as the current reporting process that doesn't work at all

yosclimber

This ebay job could be effective if the person takes a similar approach:
1. maintain a group of experts who are consulted on new potential fakes.
2. maintain a database of known fakes
3. automate the detection of known fakes offered for sale
4. maintain a database of sellers who have tried to sell fakes

I know @Bikergeek is interested in this type of process.

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yosclimber

@silverpop said:
eBay will not care as long as they get their $$$$, and these experts will do little to stop the fakes

If ebay does not care, why are they hiring someone?

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jonathanb

@yosclimber said:

@silverpop said:
eBay will not care as long as they get their $$$$, and these experts will do little to stop the fakes

If ebay does not care, why are they hiring someone?

eBay offers various types of buyer protection where the buyer gets their money back from eBay even if the seller disappears. Their 2025Q4 quarterly filing says:

Transaction losses primarily include claims related to our buyer protection programs, chargebacks for unauthorized credit card use and merchant related resulting from non-delivery of goods or services. Estimating future transaction losses requires significant judgment as actual losses are dependent on uncertain events and outcomes. In developing our estimate, we consider several key factors including: (1) historical loss experience and its relevance in estimating expected future losses; (2) whether recent changes in buyer protection claims and chargeback activity represent temporary fluctuations or sustained trends; (3) impact of changes in transaction volume and mix on expected loss rates; (4) effect of modifications to buyer protection programs; and (5) the expected outcome and timing of dispute resolution and chargeback activity. Changes in judgment with respect to these assumptions could impact the timing or amount of transaction losses.

They report transaction losses of $396 million for that quarter.

I don't know how much of that number is coming specifically from coin sales. I also don't know how much a new hire would be able to move the needle. But that's a BIG number. The max salary for this position is a bit over $100K. If you add in the costs for the rest of the non-salary benefits (insurance, etc.), this hire might cost eBay $200K per year. It wouldn't take much for a new hire to pay for themselves.

MsMorrisine

@yosclimber said:
This ebay job could be effective if the person takes a similar approach:
1. maintain a group of experts who are consulted on new potential fakes.
2. maintain a database of known fakes
3. automate the detection of known fakes offered for sale
4. maintain a database of sellers who have tried to sell fakes

I know @Bikergeek is interested in this type of process.

i have seen sellers of counterfeits with low90s to 80s feed back %age but are top rated sellers -- with the attendant glowing language about the quality of their service

and while we are talking low feedback sellers, apparently there is no flag given for such a situation for seller account review because - if they did - there would not be 80% feedback sellers with many negatives mentioning counterfeits

Bikergeek

@yosclimber said:
This ebay job could be effective if the person takes a similar approach:
1. maintain a group of experts who are consulted on new potential fakes.
2. maintain a database of known fakes
3. automate the detection of known fakes offered for sale
4. maintain a database of sellers who have tried to sell fakes

I know @Bikergeek is interested in this type of process.

Thanks for the tag, @yosclimber! My Coin Seller Cautionlist is not getting much attention - but I'm going to keep it alive and if I'm the only one to feed it fakes, I will!

For anyone not familiar: https://groovycoins.com/cautionlist-view
Hit the "Report a Suspicious Listing" button and provide the info. https://groovycoins.com/cautionlist-submit
The submission will be moderated and, if merited, accepted onto the list.

Then, if you install my plugin (to Firefox, Edge, or Chrome), it will show the FLAGGED box whenever you browse any listing by the flagged seller. What you do with that info is up to you. But I know what I do!

PerryHall

There are just too many coins on eBay for one person to review and evaluate every coin. His job will probably be limited to the evaluation of all the complaints of counterfeit or otherwise misrepresented coins that are reported to eBay which is a big step in the right direction. People will be more likely to report the fake coins that they see on eBay if they know a real human expert will evaluate their complaint rather than some AI computer that's programed to reject legitimate complaints.

jmlanzaf

@yosclimber said:

@silverpop said:
eBay will not care as long as they get their $$$$, and these experts will do little to stop the fakes

If ebay does not care, why are they hiring someone?

Exactly. When eBay wasn't pulling down enough fakes (they've always removed some), they weren't doing enough. When they go one step further and hire an "expert" to help pull down more fakes, they still "don't care" and still aren't doing enough. Ridiculous.

jmlanzaf

@silverpop said:
many reasons, but the two that come to mind are PR, the old look we are dealing with this route, and I gather investors want this dealt with also, so they have two good reasons for doing such a move when in the past they never really bothered

Or maybe they are actually trying and you are just a Negative Nancy.

Acarroll

@yosclimber said:

@silverpop said:
eBay will not care as long as they get their $$$$, and these experts will do little to stop the fakes

If ebay does not care, why are they hiring someone?

Optics

TheyHoldNoQuarter

Try searching for 1916 D mercury dimes on eBay. I see a pretty nice one right now for about $19. It's shipping from China, $10 shipping, so $30 total. It says 138 sold. Not sure how many are left, so hurry and get yours soon

jmlanzaf

@TheyHoldNoQuarter said:
Try searching for 1916 D mercury dimes on eBay. I see a pretty nice one right now for about $19. It's shipping from China, $10 shipping, so $30 total. It says 138 sold. Not sure how many are left, so hurry and get yours soon

It's cheaper if you go direct to Alibaba. And you're not going to stop those.

TheyHoldNoQuarter

Yeah, buy direct and save,
But I've seen artwork costing $1000's on eBay that were fakes. That's where it really hurts

UpGrayedd

I'll believe it when I see it. Ebay just announced today that they are cutting 6% of their workforce.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/ebay-layoffs-800-workforce.html

Tramp

It would be a tough position not guaranteed job security. How hard are you going to work setting up a program only to be let go tomorrow? The job would be interesting and challenging for sure.

CaptHenway

Let me raise the subject of another problem on eBay, Misattribution.

Here is a 1922 Cent that is possibly a legitimate "No D," though I would not say yes or no from these pictures, that is a Die Pair #3 coin with a Well Worn Reverse. However, it is in an unreliable slab misattributed as a Die Pair #2 coin, which should have the Strong Reverse. This coin has been reposted over and over for several years now. My comment to the seller years ago was ignored.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394322808372

If eBay does hire an Authenticator, then he or she should have the duty and the power to kill grossly misattributed coins reported to his or her office.

BStrauss3

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/ebay-layoffs-800-workforce.html

RedRocket

It may be interesting to see how long this auction, listing a counterfeit coin in a fake PCGS slab, takes to be taken down:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/177907088966

jmlanzaf

@CaptHenway said:
Let me raise the subject of another problem on eBay, Misattribution.

Here is a 1922 Cent that is possibly a legitimate "No D," though I would not say yes or no from these pictures, that is a Die Pair #3 coin with a Well Worn Reverse. However, it is in an unreliable slab misattributed as a Die Pair #2 coin, which should have the Strong Reverse. This coin has been reposted over and over for several years now. My comment to the seller years ago was ignored.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394322808372

If eBay does hire an Authenticator, then he or she should have the duty and the power to kill grossly misattributed coins reported to his or her office.

I really disagree with that. You're asking eBay to, for free, essentially become CAC and do it without seeing the coin in hand.

burfle23

@Pareidolia said:
It may be interesting to see how long this auction, listing a counterfeit coin in a fake PCGS slab, takes to be taken down:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/177907088966

Without reporting it? Maybe by magic?

Reported and removed...

CaptHenway

@jmlanzaf said:

@CaptHenway said:
Let me raise the subject of another problem on eBay, Misattribution.

Here is a 1922 Cent that is possibly a legitimate "No D," though I would not say yes or no from these pictures, that is a Die Pair #3 coin with a Well Worn Reverse. However, it is in an unreliable slab misattributed as a Die Pair #2 coin, which should have the Strong Reverse. This coin has been reposted over and over for several years now. My comment to the seller years ago was ignored.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394322808372

If eBay does hire an Authenticator, then he or she should have the duty and the power to kill grossly misattributed coins reported to his or her office.

I really disagree with that. You're asking eBay to, for free, essentially become CAC and do it without seeing the coin in hand.

Obviously there are many varieties that are too subtle for a checker to do from a photo, but the example given is an easy naked eye call. It is NOT the strong reverse, so it can't be a Die Pair #2.

And I would not expect them to check every list for die varieties, but it a mis-attributed piece is reported, and it can be easily determined visually, the listing should be removed. For example, the thousand or so normal 2000-P Dollars listed as a Cheerios dollar.

BStrauss3

Just for scale, there are "1,927,871 results" in the US Coins of the Coins and Paper Money category. There is no way a single individual can review even 10k listings per day. Of necessity, the bulk of the review is going to be done by automated tools.

Glen2022

No more fakes? In your wildest dreams! Buyer beware!