A small victory in the battle against coin doctors, but also a sad story.

Russ

I bought a coin from Tonecoin2003 just so I could post a feedback with a heads up that he's selling artificially toned garbage. Yesterday, I got an eMail inquiry about it through the ask a question feature on eBay. So, I responded and explained as much as I knew about the guy, including his other ID's, and how much discussion there's been about his garbage coins.

This morning, I got this eMail:



<< <i>Russ,

Thank you so much. I have requested a refund from tonecoin2003. I have
already contacted PayPal and inquired on how to proceed. I've paid this guy
over $600 since 4/11. It's my own fault. I never had an interest in toned
coins before. Hopefully I'll get all my money back.
I won't go down w/o a fight. When I got the shipment today and all the
coins were the same, it just didn't make any sense. A 1962 Franklin with
the exact same toning as an 1887 Morgan. Buyer beware. I just hope it
doesn't cost me. I know I can give him 14 negative feedbacks. Even if it
just shows as 1 buyer, I can still take up half a page. I wonder if ebay
should be informed about this guy?

Thanks for helping out a coin collector who was getting careless. I'll let
you know the outcome if you want.

Regards

name deleted >>



I'm hoping that this guy can get satisfaction. He's going to keep me updated about what happens.

And, yes, I hit the enter key too soon.

Russ, NCNE

jbsteven

IndianHeadMan

Truely a sad day

MadMarty

Russ

No mercy for the fat fingered around here.

Russ, NCNE

FinallyHere

Russ,

You did a good thing.....very nice of you to help this fellow. I don't do much if anything on Ebay, but I suspect they have an "I don't care attitude" about this kind of thing.....pretty sad!

Mike

jbsteven

russ:

why did you not give him a NEG?

paigowjohnny

And if we could just find a way to make a dent on the big "coin magazine coin sharks". I figure I've pissed away over $1000 on overcleaned/overgraded Morgans and Walkers from them. Slowly recovering and upgrading...but another example of how someone who didn't know enough when he dove in ( my own fault) can get taken by "reputable" sellers.

Russ

<< <i>why did you not give him a NEG? >>



JB,

I knew exactly what I was buying, he shipped quickly and packed carefully. To neg him would have been unethical.

Russ, NCNE

barberlover

People for the most part [not all] but for the most part are out for No. 1.

I would never due that much buisness with any ebay seller unless he was known to me first.

It is ebvious ebay's only interest is making money and if scam artits repeatedly hear that they due nothing to problem sellers it will only attract more!!!

But one major problem is that new collectors are always looking for a "steal" they usually find out that they were the ones taken.

The newest crooks around is a certain tv show selling mostly ngc and some pcgs coins as well as proof sets. Last night they had a pcgs 27 saint for 1895 dollars, not bad for a 66, way to high for a 65, they only showed that coin for a moment but i think the guy said it was a 64!!!

Whether ebay or tv coin shows, as long as there are new collectors, there are going to be stories like you've posted Russ. The best you can do is warn people what happened and for the buyer to post a negative on the sellers account if he won't refund the guys money.

Russ

Update with good news. Just got an eMail from the buyer, and Tonecoin2003 has said that he will be refunding his money.

Russ, NCNE

jbsteven

Russ

I guess I see it a little differently. Why not play the game and act like you did not know it was AT. He plays the game of acting like he does not know.

bidders see negs not descriptions.

Okie

The problem I see is for each refund he pays, there will be 20 buyers who never say a thing and don't realize they were scammed.

The occasional refund is not going to hurt him in the wallet one bit. He probably sees it as an incidental business expense, like paying his ISP every month.

Russ

<< <i>Why not play the game and act like you did not know it was AT. >>



JB,

It's simple. That would be dishonest.



<< <i>The occasional refund is not going to hurt him in the wallet one bit. >>



Okie,

Maybe not, but at least one buyer isn't getting screwed out of $600. That's better than just ignoring it because, well, the refund "won't hurt him".

Russ, NCNE

Okie

Russ, I agree 100%. It's a small victory, and a sad story. It's great that one person was helped...but how do you solve the problem and stop this guy?

Maybe there isn't a solution. I suppose if there were a way to fully educate every potential buyer...yeah, right.

dragon

I'm not sure I get it, but it wouldn't be the first time. So you gave this guy your money knwing you were buying a bad coin, then leave him positive feedback???? So this person now continues to rip unknowing people off and he still has a perfect feedback record.

Russ

Dragon,

I'll explain this again. I knew what I was buying. To neg him when I knew full well that the coin I was buying was AT'd would be unethical and immoral. Maybe that is different than everybody else feels, but that is my ethical standard and I'm the one that has to live with me. Just because the seller is a liar and a slimeball, does not mean that I have to become one.

If I had bought the coin not knowing what it was and later found out that I had been had, than a negative would have been justified. That was not the case. This was an eyes wide open transaction. The only thing my personal integrity would allow was what I did. Post a positive, but make it very clear in that comment that the coins are AT'd.

You may not agree with that but, as I said, I'm not living inside your skin.

Russ, NCNE

Russ

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I don't see anybody else around here trying to do anything about this guy other than bitch and complain.

Russ, NCNE

braddick

Dragon- even if a Negative was posted, all the Seller would have needed to do was post a web link or offered profanity within his response to the Negative and it would be removed by eBay.
That unenthical trick has been demonstrated and shown to work successfully, right here.

dragon

Russ,

I'm not sure what that "I'm not living in your skin" comment was supposed to mean or imply regarding personal integrity, but I don't care for it, ok? I was just asking a question and didn't understand what your purpose was.

Russ

Dragon,

That did sound harsher than it was meant to, and I really wasn't trying imply anything. My apologies.

Russ, NCNE

LucyBop

"hey, quit getting under my skin.."