Warning to bullion sellers on ebay

Frankcoins

This sad tale is posted on the unmoderated message board rec.collecting.coins
This same warning could apply to any seller accepting credit cards, but ebay/Paypal is particularly bad about taking the buyer's side,
even while all the fees to Paypal and ebay are paid by the seller.

--------------------

I sell about 30-40 numismatic items a month on ebay. I've been on ebay
since 1999. Ebay was fun when it was new. Now thay have some ridiculous
"Buyer Complaint" where anyone can complain that they item is not as
described and ebay automatically takes their word. I sold a 2006 Buffalo
one ounce 24 carat gold coin to a man in Tuson, Arizona and he claimed it
was NAD. He said he thought it was slabed. I said noting about slabing in
the listing, I order these BULLION coins from Dillon Gage in Eddison, Texas
and they are still sealed in the rippled plastic sheets direct from the US
Mint. Gold had dropped about $40 an ounce since the buyer bought this coin
so I figured that he was using me as insurance against a gold drop, so yeah
the most I could loose was the $40 gold decline and I would relist. Much to
my dismay Paypal had taken the money out of my account but what I received
was a $50 gold buffalo gold plated replica marked COPY. There is nothing I
can do because Paypal has proof that the item was returned by the buyer even
though it is not the same coin. I am giving this warning to people that
this feature is grossly misused. Due to this and some other issues, I feel
that I will end my ebay days. It is truly much too taxing on me emotionally
and physically. They are far from being on the side of the seller. My wife
is seriously ill and I thought that some of the gold that I put back during
good times would help us when we needed it. I would of been better off
taking it to the scammers that sets up at motels and runs ads in the paper
and pay half of what stuff is worth. At least half is better than zero.

I hate ebay!!!!!

konsole

Somewhere along the line hopefully there will be a cheap way of proving what is inside a package while its being handed over to the parcel carrier before it is shipped because like you have experienced there is nothing stopping someone from returning the wrong item. I have returned several ebay purchases, and even though I have sent back the right item, there is nothing stopping me from shipping back a rock or a dead mouse and ebay/paypal has to assume I shipped the right item back. Out of the 400 or so items I have bought between ebay and amazon there is only 1 item I never received and its probably because the seller didnt even ship it, and I have received the wrong item once and luckily the seller took it back for a refund. I guess there will always be a certain level of trust required to buy and sell on ebay. The only 2 things I can think of doing to help prevent things like that happening is only sell lower value items and say that only buyers with alot of good feedback can bid.

Did the buyer have 100% feedback and alot of feedback?

mkman123

It would be nice to hear from the buyer and to see the buyers feedback. There are both bad buyers and sellers. Just have to be very careful. I am glad I stick to the BST. Have had no problems

bestmr

Ebay is a buyers market for sure. I've sold several times on it before and never had any issues. However, nothing was that expensive. I would never sell gold or anything high value for the reason listed above. There only has to be 1 scammer to put the hurt on you.

OnlyGoldIsMoney

Thanks Frank, useful post.

The thieves have figured out how to use ebay/paypal to facilitate theft. I have long wondered about just this possibilty when I sold coins. So far I have not been burned. This type of theft seems most likely on high value items with a ready market. A 1 oz gold Buffalo or AGE fits both criteria.

Can ebay sellers protect themselves by linking paypal to a checking account with little or no balance? When funds arrive from a sale you would transfer all of the funds to another account. When a bogus claim is made paypal would find that the cupboard was bare.

jmski52

When ebay changed their policies on paypal and on feedback in 2008, I stopped using ebay. This is exactly the kind of garbage that I feared would happen. Good job on issuing the warning, Frank.

OPA

You're going to find "rotten apples" in any barrel...eBay, BST, Dealers etc..I've sold high value items ($5K+) on Ebay, and knock on wood, without ever being scammed. We don't know the whole story and anything posted on an internet forum, I take with a grain of salt. (except recent sightings of Elvis)