Poll: fuzzy pics? Burned, bargain, or breakeven?

RedTiger

In another thread, someone mentioned bidding on Ebay listings with poor pics as a way to find bargains.

How have you done?

A couple of my recent purchases with fuzzy photos didn't turn out so well:
1) I bought a certified PCGS Indian cent with a big name dealer's inventory sticker. Turned out to be a marginal coin for the grade at best, and the seller was quite unpleasant as well.

2) I bought a raw set of five cents (Large cent, Flying Eagle, Indian head, two Lincolns). The Flying Eagle turned out to be a dug coin with porous surfaces, and the Large cent had distractions on the reverse, though it is likely mint damage, not post-mint damage, so the value is still there (unlike the FE cent). The Indian head cent in this set is quite nice, but is only about 10% of the value in the set.

tightbudget

Somewhat OT but...

A few years ago, I bought what was supposed to be 10 1999 Wide AM cents off a seller on eBay. There were no photos, but I bought it anyways. When I received the coins in hand, turns out they were all Close AMs. I tried to get a refund, but to no avail. $100 lesson learned. Never buy anything off eBay without a photo. But at least I got positive feedback...

Type2

I once bought some War Nickels with no pic and did think I was going to get the big one. But this is what I got. some are good some are not it's a gamble. I think it was 87 coins in all for $96.00 this was a good one.

VAMSKY

Fuzzy pictures with solid return policy = WIN! Love those fuzzies.

devious

I bought a lot of 26 cents once on ebay for 346 bucks. All ungraded. Sold 4 of the five proofs for +100 dollar profit, sent the 1936 in and it came back pr65rd and this was just at the beginning of this year. The SINGLE photo of the entire lot was horrid so I couldn't tell anything about the coins, but I took my chances and it paid off after having spent an arm and a leg on lessons on ebay

ctf_error_coins

I LOVE FUZZY PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!

RW

For me, it all comes down to "gut feel" with the seller if the pics aren't super. My best buys have come from those with little seller feedback...20-50 range. Yes, there are scammers galore but there are still plenty of legitimate sellers just trying to clear out there closets, desks, etc... I like coins and I can't take pictures...why should they be able to?

relicsncoins

I've done pretty well on bad photos. It all comes down to and eductated guess at what a poor photo might or might not be showing.

WaterSport

First picture was the Ebay listing for a BIN for $7. The coin was simply listed as an Uncirculated 1936 cent. But the picture was good enough to show the half missing leg in the word Liberty and the slant on the number 6 of a 1936 Double Die # 2. PCGS felt it deserved a MS 64 grade.

WS