Ethics question - Posting coins from live auctions
Peacemonkey
Posts: 384 ✭
I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement?
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<< <i>I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
I'm usually not worried about the seller so much as I am calling attention to and raising its price when someone else on the forum might have a dog in the fight.
type2,CCHunter.
<< <i>I think its good if there's a problem to address such as a counterfeit, other times it could be looked at from many different angles and sometimes people get mad if they've been watching it as something special they have interest in. >>
I agree on the problem/fake issue but think way to many other auctions are being posted lately.
Not to your liking due to price or you don't like the look, then I think it is crass to mention it before it ends. Disservice to the seller and I would hope that "what goes around comes around"....
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
<< <i>Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
I don't know. What, specifically, is the "truth about an item" that you are concerned with?
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<< <i>Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
I don't know. What, specifically, is the "truth about an item" that you are concerned with? >>
Could be anything...why for example does GreatSouthernCoin have a bad rep. Do you think they are being "Truthful" in their auctions. Or how about, do you think the TPGs get it right every time? Is it possible that "the truth" about a coins assigned plastic grade might be something else? I am trying to remain generic so that the abstract question about posting coins in auction for discussion might be answered.
<< <i>Could be anything...why for example does GreatSouthernCoin have a bad rep. >>
I'd suppose it could be because buyers have a problem with the coins they get from them, but maybe it's something else entirely. I don't know.
<< <i>Do you think they are being "Truthful" in their auctions. >>
Having never looked at their auctions, I have no idea.
<< <i>Or how about, do you think the TPGs get it right every time? >>
No. And I don't think there are many people who do. I'm not seeing where using another seller's auctions to discuss this issue is proper, however.
<< <i>Is it possible that "the truth" about a coins assigned plastic grade might be something else? >>
Sure- why not? I'm not seeing where using another seller's auctions to discuss this issue is proper, however.
<< <i>I am trying to remain generic so that the abstract question about posting coins in auction for discussion might be answered. >>
Hard to provide a specific answer to a generic question.
<< <i>If a coin is a good coin it should get good press if its bad than it will have people bash it. I see no reason why a coin that is up for auction can't be discussed. Only people who are auctioning coins with something to hide need to fear this type of discussion >>
I feel the same way. If it's a public auction, I see no problem discussing it here. If someone here wants to bid on it and any discussions adds additional competition, tough luck.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
And I do not believe another's opinion about a coin I have never viewed, in hand, has any influence on my buying habits.
Unless it is someone I have relied on, and know their experience in the series. An opinion re a problem with a coin will rarely come from such a person in an open forum.
If Joe Blow doesn't like the grade( ie, AU 58 is just too high for this POS), fire away--even if the coin is up for auction. Free speech overcomes tact every time.
OK on the BST.
IMO if its a public auction its a public auction
and we are part of the public
as long as its a US Coin it can be mentioned here if you comply with the well known and very reasonable rules of the forum
<< <i>I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
If you yourself list a coin on Ebay (for example), how would you feel if some stranger on a forum linked the item here, pointed out all of its real or imagined flaws, and proclaimed it overgraded / overpriced?
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<< <i>I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
If you yourself list a coin on Ebay (for example), how would you feel if some stranger on a forum linked the item here, pointed out all of its real or imagined flaws, and proclaimed it overgraded / overpriced? >>
good point
however this forum allows more knowledgeable members to have a give and take with the less knowledgeable
for better or worse
in the hopes that we will improve our numismatic abilities
and if you have been here a while you know who to "count on" for knowledge
and whose posts are not so educated
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<< <i>I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
If you yourself list a coin on Ebay (for example), how would you feel if some stranger on a forum linked the item here, pointed out all of its real or imagined flaws, and proclaimed it overgraded / overpriced? >>
If the coin was unfairly criticized, other forum members would most certainly step up to defend the coin. Also, if I was thinking about bidding on a coin with some real issues and someone started a thread discussing these issues, I would certainly appreciate the additional information.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>
<< <i>I always feel bad discussing a coin while it is live auction. Does anyone see a problem with this? Is the matter of the truth about an item more important than any respect to the sellers ability to get his undisturbed price movement? >>
If you yourself list a coin on Ebay (for example), how would you feel if some stranger on a forum linked the item here, pointed out all of its real or imagined flaws, and proclaimed it overgraded / overpriced? >>
I can see both sides of the coin on this issue. As a seller I would obviously hate to lose bids because of someone trashing the coin. As a buyer I would love help of those more knowledgeable pointing out things I might not notice. In a sense its no different than needing a sticker to be assured of a coins quality dont you think? The sticker instead manifests in the posts of approvals or disaproving posts by the experts on the fourms.
<< <i>Yup. Outside of a counterfeit situation I think it's poor form. PM someone for advise if you must. MJ >>
You may think pictures are very good. I think them too often inadequate. Translation: I suck at grading from them. 30x images of laws or varieties are fine. Grading? I pity the fool. But then I'm partially blind.
But if you must persist in your perverse practices, a few observations. All these apply for coins in not-yet-hammered auctions. The process always starts with a PM. Call a friend.
Counterfeit or MM issues are not ethical issues but moral ones. But even then, if it just "feels" bad", check out your "tell", based on knowledge or instinct, with people you know here. Or elsewhere. Like maybe even the auction house selling it. The majors have cataloguers who delight in technical discussions. You may get really cool jpegs. You can share them here.
Think someone's missing a rim repair? Verify privately first. Anything hinky? Ask a friend.
Don't like a grade? When I used to lurk, I watched an 98-O or 99-O S$1 graded from pictures posted here. Opinions varied from one 58 to a very few 65's I agreed with. The trivially incomplete strike of the ear and breast so typical for the date was continually stressed as a much greater detriment than the virtues of glowing satiny lustre and clean, essentially untoned, the surfaces devoid of lustre breaks and having mark-free fields and devices.
Like it? Got a question because you might buy it? PM. Ask a friend. Are you foolish enough to go public, evoke interest and cost yourself the coin or the money, obviously against your own interest? Call a therapist.
If your interest is curiosity rather than material? Wait. or call a friend. Hate a coin someone else likes? PM them. Use discretion. Disagree but still offer, if not friendship, at least fellowship.
How do you balance your own needs with civility, fairness and service to the community?
Alice Roosevelt Longworth outlasted Theodore, her father, and Nick, her husband, later Speaker of the House, her husband. Later, doyenne of Washington "Society" she was known to say: "If you don't haven't anything good to say, why don't you come sit down here next to me."
Seems most everyone, vegans aside, likes a little raw meat. Be a cynic or a skeptic, but consider those many small dealers, retail collectors and numismatists, widows and orphans who consign. You can help fellow forumites avoid getting "buried". Without impacting the value of a consignor's property.
Everyone has skin in the game. Sometimes it's ego. Simply consider your motives, actions and consequences before you choose to act.
If there are any contradictory PM responses using examples from the Bay of Pigs I may well agree (privately)
It seems like this might be an acceptable compromise to get feedback while not drawing too much attention to the auction.
<< <i>I've seen people with questions just post photos without linking to or mentioning the live auction.
It seems like this might be an acceptable compromise to get feedback while not drawing too much attention to the auction. >>
Yeah I thought of that but there is always that one guy that tracks down the auction.
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<< <i>I've seen people with questions just post photos without linking to or mentioning the live auction.
It seems like this might be an acceptable compromise to get feedback while not drawing too much attention to the auction. >>
Yeah I thought of that but there is always that one guy that tracks down the auction. >>
If it became an ethics issue, would that be an ethics issue for the OP or the guy tracking down the auction?