eBay Police. For or Against?

braddick

I recently sold a counterfeit 1797 half on eBay. All over the auction it stated the "coin" was counterfeit. The auction banner used the word "counterfeit" even. The buyer knew it was a counterfeit (it auctually sold for less than I paid).

I received an email from a bidder who forwarded an email he received from an eBay'er "WARNING" this bidder the item he was bidding on was NOT real.
Okay? Personally, I doesn't bother me. Whatever people want to communicate back and forth is their business, whatever- but I'm curious if you agree. Should there be a specific method people could complain to or is eBay still the 'wild, wild, west' and pretty much anything goes as far as communications between non bidders and bidders?

dbldie55

Not much you can do in this case. If you tell Ebay, they will pull the auction, as it is against the rules to sell a counterfeit coin.

shirohniichan

I think the system could be abused by potential bidders who send false warnings to others to keep prices down, but I think it's good practice to warn sellers if you have reason to believe they're selling counterfeits not stated as such. I've contacted two sellers this week, and both pulled their auctions. I was happy to receive a warning from someone who'd been swindled by a seller whose coin I put a small bid on (it's a long story, but it saved me some headaches).

braddick

Shiroh- Sometime, I'd like to hear that story.
Dbdie55- I didn't know it was against eBay's policy to sell a counterfeit just as long as it is stated "Counterfeit"? I pull up a ton of auctions under the SEARCH using that key word.

Clankeye

Braddick--
A couple of weeks ago I made a bid in the closing minutes of an eBay auction on a ring. Something I was very wary about doing because I don't know jack about jewlery. It had a BIN of $295, one bid in for $50. I bid $100... and bam! I got this message saying auction over because someone used the BIN. I thought that was very odd... that someone would hit the BIN with a minute to go, and the bid that low... but, I didn't think about after that.
Next day I get an e-mail from the seller saying "hey, the ring is still available and would you like to make a deal... blah, blah, blah. Within one minute of getting that e-mail I got another one from someone I had never heard of, warning me that the guy was a fraud, saying you probably just got an e-mail from him saying the item is still available, and he wants to do a deal with you. This person stated the guy operates like this in order to deal off eBay where you have no protection or recourse when he sends you a third rate product. If you get anything at all.
I was amazed by all this. And to be honest I was very glad to get the second e-mail.
Now what if the second e-mailer is just on a vendetta? A person scorned with a new mission in life to disrupt? I don't know, but I do know that I don't want to be involved with sellers if there is even a question of something hinky going on.
It was an interesting lesson for me, because I was dealing with an area I knew nothing about. Just like a lot of buyers are with coins. It's a scary world out there. I'll stick to what I know. That's hard enough.

Carl

shirohniichan

Here's the summary:

A seller on eBay said he would only answer yes/no questions regarding his coins for sale, and he had a strict no-return policy because he was an "estate seller" (the red flags are already popping up). You could ask him as many questions as you wanted, but they had to be very specific. If you asked if the coin was damaged, he'd ask you to define exactly what you meant.

A dissatisfied former customer of his saw that I placed an initial bid on one of his auctions and provided me with details of his bad experience. He asked the seller if the coin was cleaned, tooled, ex-jewelry, altered, counterfeit, etc. and got negatives on all. After he bought the coin, he found out it was bent. Since the seller didn't specifically say the coin was not bent, the seller said he had no grounds to complain.

After I didn't up my bid, the seller contacted me and asked if anyone had bad-mouthed him.

braddick

Mark and Pat, those are all excellent reasons for non bidders to contact potential auction winners. So, maybe the good outways any bad?

banknote1

I think unmarked counterfeit coins are a violation of the Hobby Protection Act!? You sold the coin as a counterfeit but will the buyer of the coin tell the next buyer that the coin is counterfeit? But I wouldn't have contacted the buyer in your auction. I have reported sellers to ebay on Safe Harbor for selling copies as genuine coins or currency. Ebay will usually pull the offending auction, if it is reported.

gmarguli

1) "Coins" minted AFTER the Hobby Protection Act passed must say counterfeit. Indicate the item you are selling was made before this date.

2) I'd forward the email that the bidder sent to you to eBay and have them go after the person who sent it. Yes they had good intentions, but if you clearly labeled the auction with the word counterfeit and this person still contacted the bidder, then they aren't too bright and shouldn't be contacting people.

3) eBay should have a way for others to place their comments in a Comments Section of an auction. Perhaps require people with only a feedback level of X to do this and your ID would be visible for all to see.

bigbadchad777

I purchased a $400 "raw" coin on ebay and sent it to PCGS for slabbing. It came back as a "copy". After months of harassment I finally got the seller to refund my $$. He told me to keep the coin. I then listed that coin on eBay and listed it as a fake coin. EBay pulled my auction and said that the coin must be permanently marked with the word "COPY" on it. One bidder contacted me about purchasing it and I privately sold it to them. I didn't know the rules on selling a fake coin advertised as a fake coin??