So, what would YOU do in this (real-life) situation?

coinguy1

You see a certified coin listed on Ebay with a "Buy It Now" price of roughly $3500.

You know the seller, you do some business with him/her from time to time AND......you KNOW the coin is worth a minimum of $6000 ( on a sight unseen basis) - the "Buy It Now" price is clearly an error.

Do you:

1) immediately hit "Buy It Now"? If so, do you let him/her out of the transaction or try to enforce it?

2) try to contact the seller to let him/her know about his/her obvious pricing/listing mistake?

3) do nothing and move on to the next listing?

4) other?

For those who might already know (or learn) which coin I'm speaking of, I'd ask that you keep it to yourselves, until I post publicly, about what actually transpired - thanks.

jeffnpcb

BIN it! I know you wouldn't let something like that happen!

JrGMan2004

Someone on my friend/good dealer list, I would contact them and inform them of the error... of they were a bad dealer, I'd hit the BIN (Assuming I had that kind of money) and try to enforce the trransaction...

ddbird

Buy it now...then contact the seller and tell them of pricing error! That way if its an error, return the coin or have him not send it, but if its not, you get the coin at a good price!

sTONER

ARE MORAL QUESTIONS ALLOWED HERE MARK?????

Bochiman

I would personally do #2.
Maybe there is a reason he did this, maybe there is a mistake, but if I know him and know it is most likely a mistake, I would tell him.
But, that is just me.

XpipedreamR

If you value the relationship, I would BIN, without the expectation of completing the sale. The listing is likely in error, and this would be a kind gesture which could save him a negative feedback. If it's not an error, and you buy the coin, you still make out on the deal.

kranky

If I am you, contact the seller to point out the error. Professional courtesy/goodwill.
What I would do is wonder why the coin seems so cheap and pass.

The difference is that you are in a position to know for a fact the coin is worth 6 large minimum.

Numismanic

I'd hit the BIN and let him/her out of the transaction if they had made an error.

hughesm1

I'd have to see the coin in question. If it's slabbed, is it solid for the grade or did it just make it and also which company's slab is it in?

If it just made the grade or is clearly overgraded by a point, depending on the spread, I'd BIN.

If it's solid for the grade and in a respected holder and I've done business with this chap before, I'd ask that I'm interested in doing the BIN, but want him to review the listing for errors.

CalGold

I'd go with #1. I'd let him out of the deal but I would never let him forget it.

CG

Barry

That actually happened to me, too, a few years ago. The dealer (who I consider a friend and I've dealt with before) explained the error and said he would abide by the price if I insisted. Of course I didn't, and paid close to his cost for the coin.

razorface1027

B.I.N. it...I've already done it, but let the seller off the hook. You just never know when someone doesn't really know what they're selling. On the otherhand, there are some that will enforce it , and to me, that be just troublesome. It happed one time with a 1893-O Morgan Dollar in PCGS MS-64 or 65. The guy said he'd had too many malts while he was listing.

Russ

<< <i>That actually happened to me, too, a few years ago. >>



It happened to me a few months ago.

Russ, NCNE

coinguy1

The coin was in an NGC holder, the dealer knows his pricing (clearly he would not intentionally price the coin at that "Buy It Now" price and I repeat, there is a sight-unseen bid of at least $6000 for this coin.

Does it or should it matter if I like or dislike the dealer? If I do a little or a lot of business with him? What if the seller were not a dealer? What if I, the buyer were not a dealer? So many questions.......

relayer

Hit the BIN and then offer to sell it to him for $5000

He gets a $6000 coin for $5000 and you make a quick $1500. Everybody wins

Tonelover

What's the auction number? I need to see it in order to make a better informed recommendation.

UncleJoe

I would BIN but let the seller off the hook if he/she wanted out of the deal.

Joe.

DHeath

Does it or should it matter if I like or dislike the dealer? If I do a little or a lot of business with him? What if the seller were not a dealer? What if I, the buyer were not a dealer? So many questions.....

All these points are mute. BIN it, and let them relist, or if he/she genuinely wanted to sell it at that price, complete the transaction. It's a nice gesture that won't be wasted on either friend or foe, and it costs you nothing. JMO

100proof1957

Bin it,let him off the hook and exchange feedback.
make sure he knows "You owe me one "
of course if its somebody you dont like or that got over on you before,thats another story !

291fifth

2. There is no point in getting into a problem transaction where an obvious error has been made. Check with the seller and see what is going on.

CarlWohlforth

I'd try to notify the person first. If you BIN then the seller pays a final value fee and would have to file a form to recover that. However if they didn't respond very quickly I might just to the BIN to get there before someone else notices the error.

This hasn't happened to me yet, not because I don't make mistakes but because I don't use BIN. If it did I sure hope one of you would help me by pointing out my mistake

ClausUrch

BIN in now before someone else does. The dealer should gladly pay the E-Bay fee rather than get a negative for an incomplete sale from some unknown savy collector.

mgoodm3

Is this "friend" worth sacrificing a $2500 profit for?

airplanenut

I'd hit BIN and let it slide--that way the friend doesn't get stung by someone who won't allow the error to be corrected.

...unless it's you Since you make a point of not having things in my price range, one day I'll find a way to take you for everything you're worth, Poindexter

Jeremy

michael

i would hit the buy it now button and then not buy the coin from the dealer who made an honest mistake



michael

Myqqy

So when do we get to hear the actual story, and leave the hypotheticals behind??

merz2

If it were someone I knew and liked,I'd use the BIN and give them the out.

XpipedreamR

<< <i>The coin was in an NGC holder, the dealer knows his pricing (clearly he would not intentionally price the coin at that "Buy It Now" price and I repeat, there is a sight-unseen bid of at least $6000 for this coin.

Does it or should it matter if I like or dislike the dealer? If I do a little or a lot of business with him? What if the seller were not a dealer? What if I, the buyer were not a dealer? So many questions....... >>





Yes, I think it does matter if you dislike or like the dealer. It's a nice gesture to do for a friend, if you're in the position to be able to...but I don't see any reason for you to be the guardian saint of erroneous (possibly) eBay listings, either. If the sale were by a coin "enemy," it could prove to be a hassle for you. And if it were someone relatively unknown to you, there is a chance that the sale could even be a scam. Not worth the effort in these cases, unless you're feeling especially benevolent

pontiacinf

buy it now and let them outta their mistake...

now does this have to do with the buffalo a few weeks back?

jacktheknife

I wouldn't touch it for several reasons.

First, the price of $3500 seems close enough to what you percieve the coin to be worth. Maybe it really is a $3500 coin and your feeling that all coins of this grade are worth $6000 might be way off the mark.

Second, it seems like an intentional price. If it were a keystroke error or something of that nature, would you expect to see something like $550 (meant to be $5500) or $600 (meant to be $6000)?

My impression would be that the coin is a $3500 coin, i.e. dog for the grade, and I am not interested in that kind of coin for my collection even if it is a bargain. Let someone interested in dealing with problem coins take it.

maddogale

By your stipulations Mark, 1) that I know this seller and the coin is certified. 2) that I know the coin is worth 6K, I would definitely hit the BIN. A quick email or call (since I know and do business with the seller) to find out how he wants to take payment.......(hey I gotta let him hang a minute!! ) Then if he finds the error (if it was such) then I just make a more "reasonable offer" ( too much for me, but this IS hypothetical, kind of) and take it off his hands thus letting him off easy on some eBay fees!! If however, he says that was the price, no mistake, then I start asking some questions. I assume there was a pic also of the coin, although you didn't say that there was. And last but not least I would never let him live it down that he screwed up big time!!!!

stujoe

#2 because I could not afford to BIN it if they held me to it if I was wrong for some unknown reason. I can't think of a situation where I would ever bid on Ebay without the intention of honoring my bid no matter what.

nwcs

I would tell them. It's the right thing to do. Honesty may be its own reward, but a good name is more valuable than money.

pursuitofliberty

bin ... then if it was one I really wanted, discuss a reasonable price for it (I have actually done this before, and we "split the difference" so to speak) ... if it was one I didn't really want, let him/her know why I did what I did, and let them back out and relist it

farthing

Assuming that it is an auction and not a straight Buy It Now listing I would bid enough to remove the BIN price but keep the auction active. I would then let the seller know of the listing error and let them decide to either cancel the bids and end the auction or let it continue to run.

nOoBiEeE

# 1 BIN, no questions asked.

cladking

If it were a friend I'd go ahead and enter a BIN and let him know. In any other case I'd simply ignore it.

fishcooker

Tough question. I know the seller, but we're not friends or co-workers or relatives. I guess I'd say life is tough and BIN. It's business and I'd expect the seller to suck it up and be an adult. Dealers on this board always spout "learn to grade" to buyers. Perhaps they should accept a "learn to read" from me after I BIN.

No way would I return it with a "you owe me one."

onlyroosies

Mark, BIN it before someone else does, then you will wish you did. If the seller e-mails back that
it was a mistake don't hold him to it. If he accepts your money and sends the coin its a done deal.

Nick

BigE

Is this Fairtraderz again? --------------------BigE Text

ealandg

I would BIN it and then graciously let him out of the deal. He will remember it later...

Coulport

From what I hear you BIN. That would be a RIP. Or don't big time dealers do that anymore?

Hadleydog

Hit the BIN.
I saw an 1892-CC in PCGS MS64 listed about 2 years ago with a BIN of around $800, which was ms63 money at the time. It was from a larger dealer with whom I had never done business with before, so I hit the BIN. Well, the next morning there was a very lengthy email from the seller explaining his mistake and offering me a discount on my next purchase if I would let him off the hook. Waited a day before I emailed him back saying no problem. Hey, we all make mistakes.
Never did take him up on the discount.

Lakesammman

Hit the BIN and, if they renig, neg 'em....

coinguy1

Thanks for your replies.

This was an easy decision for me - I hit Buy It Now and called the dealer to let him know about his listing error. My feeling was that if I'd tried to contact him first, the odds would have been greater that someone else would have "bought" the coin and perhaps tried to take advantage of the situation. I don't believe in that, whether I like the person or not. And frankly, if I disliked someone enough to want to do that to him, it would probably be someone who wouldn't honor the transaction anyway.

It turns out that the seller had another example of the same type (maybe the same date, too - I'm not certain) of coin, one grade lower, available for sale and that his employee mistakenly listed a "Buy It Now" based upon the lower grade coin. It was an honest mistake, nothing worse than that.

By the way, the coin in question did not appear to be a "dog" or a "mistake" grade. It was just priced so low that I knew the seller had made an error.

RBB617

I would try to contact the seller first. If I had a very good relationship with the seller, I'd hit the BIN if I didn't hear back relatively quickly.

UncleJoe

Coinguy1, You get all those great coins off of eBay?

Joe.