What are people thinking bidding on this?

seanq

"Old Estate Coins for Sale"

If you can read through the auction double-speak, this guy is selling tem one-cent coins from 1862-1958 for $.99 each. Check out his feedback for how many complained after the fact, and his universal response. He also leaves retaliatory negatives even to people who post less than glowing positive comments for him.

I hate to say it, and I'm not defending the scammer, but the way the auction is worded and looking at that feedback, anyone who falls for this one deserves to get ripped off.


Sean Reynolds

rhedden

The bidders must expect to receive an XF 1877 Indian for $0.99. That's what they're going for, right?

coinfreak499

My guess is their not thinking anything.

dorkkarl

terrible f/b. i would stay away.

K S

GoYankees

Note how the shiny steel Lincoln somehow wound up on top.

ziggy29

They're NOT thinking. And they're certainly not looking at the feedback history. Actually, in this case, the feedback this seller LEFT is far more telling than the feedback he received.

I can dismiss some of the negs received as being from disappointed people who got what was advertised (99-cent VF 1957-D wheaties, for example, when they were hoping Santa would give them a 1914-D for less than a buck). I can NOT dismiss this seller's retaliatory negs and neutrals left for people who expressed some disappointment in their feedback, even if they left a lukewarm positive.

edsiajb

Unfortunately, he is not doing anything illegal or against the rules of eBay. Every statement is a fact or his opinion. He could be offering them for 9.99 or 99.99 or whatever. He is surely appealing to those who think they will get a deal. I think this is terrible but no worse than lots of other scammers on eBay.

Conder101

I don't see what people are getting worked up about. The auction is straight forward, and explains exactly what you are bidding on. It doen't pomise you anything special. You are bidding 99 cents on a randomly selected wheat cent with not quite a one in ten chance that you will get an indian head cent instead. The only way the seller is really going to make much is if the bidder takes all ten pieces. If he sells to ten individual bidders he runs the risk of paypal fees plus ebay fees plus shipping (37 cent stamp. Notice he does offer free shipping.) for a 99 cent item. That's what 87 cents in fees for a 99 cent item? Now if the buyer gets multiples them the seller can make some money. But in the case of this sale he didn't get any takers.

Read through some of the feedback, basicly he gets negatives from people who were hoping to get something for nothing and instead got exactly what they were promised. Some of the his replies were a little harsh but after being continously called a rip off artist or scammer for sending people exactly what you promised them I could understand becoming a little short with people.

I see nothing wrong with him or his auctions. They are a perfect example of cavet emptor. The buyers ripped themselves off.

UncleJoe

I notice that buyer "fromundercheese" was happy with his/her purchase.

IMO this seller does not deserve the negatives that he is receiving because he is providing exactly what his auction stated.

Joe.

Russ

<< <i>Note how the shiny steel Lincoln somehow wound up on top. >>



They weigh less, so they float to the surface.

Russ, NCNE

CoinHunter2003

I agree with Condor. In auctions such as this you have to know you are going to
get stung. As a coin buyer - the first thing I do is look at the sellers feedback.
Those folks got greedy and this seller just took advantage of that fact.

UncleJoe

As a coin buyer - the first thing I do is look at the sellers feedback.

The FIRST thing to do is to Read and Understand the auction. If one did that first, many times it will not be necessary to even look at the seller's feedback.

I'm sorry, but to blame the seller for his negative feedbacks is wrong as in my opinion the buyers were wrong for leaving negative feedback in the first place.

Joe.

ziggy29

<< <i>I'm sorry, but to blame the seller for his negative feedbacks is wrong as in my opinion the buyers were wrong for leaving negative feedback in the first place. >>

I completely agree with this. I think most of the negatives this seller received were unwarranted; they seem to from people who believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and that Elvis is alive. They seem to think they have a decent chance to "rip" a better date coin for 99 cents, then get a common late-date wheatie (still well within the description of the auction), and complain that they were "ripped off." These buyers have unrealistic expectations and sometimes I'm tempted to block them as bidders when I see them. The seller delivered what was advertised -- mostly overpriced late-date junk Lincolns -- and the buyers had their hopes for a $1.00 1931-S under the Christmas tree dashed by a torrent of 1956-D cents.

My beef with this seller is their clear and repeated use of retaliatory negatives and neutrals. He even gave neutral feedback to folks who left him a POSITIVE just because their comments weren't enthusiastic about what they received! For that reason, and THAT reason alone, this seller is someone I would avoid, even if they offered something of high quality at a fair price.

seanq

This wasn't meant to be a bash-the-seller thread. Whatever you think about the ethics of this type of auction, he is following the letter of the rules. I also agree that much of his negative feedback is buyers blaming him for their own stupidity.

My point was - someone who reads that description, and then reads his feedback, and then reads the feedback he's left for others... and still places a bid, probably shouldn't be using eBay at all.


Sean Reynolds

susanlynn9

I have been watching this seller for a while adn his feedback is dropping steadily. boxofficevideo10 is the same way. As long as people continue to buy from these sellers, they have no reason to change their practices. I wouldn't buy from a seller with feedback that low all pertaining to the same types of lots he's still selling. It is beyond me why buyers think they're going to get better coins than the ones before them did.

Steve355

And I was looking for that XF '22 Plain (DP 2).....'

Darn !!

Steve from MA

Coppernicus

I agree with Condor here. Auction description is accurate but obviously not a good deal to a discriminating buyer. Buyer beware!! As an added thought, "There's a sucker born every minute" and unfortunately, the vast majority of ebay buyers fall into that category.

I pride myself in not being one of them...

Mike

lloydmincy

He's got a great racket going on. Ad is just. Buyers are just dreaming to find a 1922 NO D or something. HELLO!!!!!!!

Russ

Hey Lloyd,

My welfare check is late this month. Can you look in to that for me?

Russ, NCNE

relayer

If you want to buy a wheat cent for $1 this is the place to go