ebay slabbed coin policy - huh?!?

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Desert Moon
Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭

The coingeek lays out ebays slabbed coin (and currency) listing policies. One word. Confusing, imprecise, arbitrary, inconsistent, incomplete, naive, and weird, come to mind. Okay, 7 words and counting…………………….
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See what you think from the video. It seems like ebay is not completely numismatically informed and you have to wonder whom wrote these policies. Sure they are trying, but. Perhaps the last thing he brings up is a real kicker that he notes - "that’s the wild west".
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These days I mostly buy things like boxer shorts on ebay, I wonder what their policy on those are :#
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So what say you ebay experts, what is up here? Hm……….
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8oukt8wcD8

My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/

Comments

  • oldabeintx
    oldabeintx Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Sounds like one can’t list a damaged details coins, or does the lack of a numeric grade put details graded coins in a raw category? Are Chopmarked numerically graded coins damaged?

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    If you want to go down the rabbit hole, you can spend all kinds of time trying to figure out why eBay's policies are the way they are. If you just want to sell coins, fill out the fields on the listing form. Some are optional and some are required. If you skip a required field, you'll be prompted to fill it in before the item can be listed.

  • Dave99B
    Dave99B Posts: 8,947 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Words matter. Talk about a sloppily written policy. Geez!

    Dave

    Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 30, 2026 3:38PM
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    @oldabeintx said:
    Sounds like one can’t list a damaged details coins, or does the lack of a numeric grade put details graded coins in a raw category? Are Chopmarked numerically graded coins damaged?

    You can list it with no grade

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 30, 2026 3:39PM
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    @MasonG said:
    If you want to go down the rabbit hole, you can spend all kinds of time trying to figure out why eBay's policies are the way they are. If you just want to sell coins, fill out the fields on the listing form. Some are optional and some are required. If you skip a required field, you'll be prompted to fill it in before the item can be listed.

    Yeah, it's really very simple. People just want to make it complicated... and hate eBay, of course.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Or with a grade.

    1877-S Trade Silver Dollar MS62 Chopmarked PCGS
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/298417564704

  • oldabeintx
    oldabeintx Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:

    @oldabeintx said:
    Sounds like one can’t list a damaged details coins, or does the lack of a numeric grade put details graded coins in a raw category? Are Chopmarked numerically graded coins damaged?

    You can list it with no grade

    The Geek mentioned something a couple of times about returning (?) damaged coins. Wasn’t sure if that just applied to slabs or what. I need to read the thing myself.

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    It took me less than 5 minutes to make 300 listings compliant with the new policies. And I didn't even need to read the eBay guidelines. It's just 3 simple drop down menus.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @oldabeintx said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @oldabeintx said:
    Sounds like one can’t list a damaged details coins, or does the lack of a numeric grade put details graded coins in a raw category? Are Chopmarked numerically graded coins damaged?

    You can list it with no grade

    The Geek mentioned something a couple of times about returning (?) damaged coins. Wasn’t sure if that just applied to slabs or what. I need to read the thing myself.

    I didn't listen to him, so I don't know. I assume he either meant damaged in shipping or undisclosed damage. Pele can return anything for any reason, so I generally ignore such things. I get about 1 return per thousand sales.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:

    @MasonG said:
    If you want to go down the rabbit hole, you can spend all kinds of time trying to figure out why eBay's policies are the way they are. If you just want to sell coins, fill out the fields on the listing form. Some are optional and some are required. If you skip a required field, you'll be prompted to fill it in before the item can be listed.

    Yeah, it's really very simple. People just want to make it complicated... and hate eBay, of course.

    Seems like it. Whatnot's listing policies for coins don't seem to be all that different from eBay, FWIW...

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @MasonG said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @MasonG said:
    If you want to go down the rabbit hole, you can spend all kinds of time trying to figure out why eBay's policies are the way they are. If you just want to sell coins, fill out the fields on the listing form. Some are optional and some are required. If you skip a required field, you'll be prompted to fill it in before the item can be listed.

    Yeah, it's really very simple. People just want to make it complicated... and hate eBay, of course.

    Seems like it. Whatnot's listing policies for coins don't seem to be all that different from eBay, FWIW...

    They aren't. I actually find the listing screen in whatnot to be harder to use.

    Whatnot really has fewer rules because so much of the sales are just live random pulls. For example, stores will scan their displays with the camera and ask the audience what they want put up.

    The first few whatnot auctions I ran, I had a curated catalog. Everyone just wanted to jump around and ask for things not in the catalog. Lol. So my later ones I just picked themes "silver dollars" or "20th century type" and did it more random.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:
    I didn't listen to him, so I don't know.

    I watched the video. He seemed to be trying to find problems or inconsistencies in eBay's policy. Anybody watching that's not familiar with selling on eBay would be likely to come away more confused than if they just went to eBay and used their listing form.

  • slimbert
    slimbert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭
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    As Ben says in the video, someone commented about how eBay has 5 approved grading companies, including ICG (that company has been talked about a few times in videos over the last couple weeks, so it's in the commenting zeitgeist).

    Ben realized he didn't really know eBay's policy, so he basically reads it verbatim from eBay's web page, as it is written (but not necessarily as it is enforced). Seems like a dry run, so he may have been slightly confused about some of the wording on the initial reading.

    This written policy appears to have been the same since at least 2021 (based on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine), and I think it's been more or less the same for quite a while beyond that (but my personal dealings with listing on eBay only go back to 2017).

    Ironically, Ben made this video just as eBay has shown signs that this decade-plus policy may be changing. Ben inserts a blurb early on in the video, noting that during the listing process on eBay, the certification dropdown menus show TPGs outside of the current 5 eBay-approved TPGs (as has been discussed in other threads on these forums).

    It used to be that when listing on eBay, if it detected you using a numeric grade without an approved TPG, it would not allow the listing to go live until you fixed the error (either adding an approved TPG, or removing the numeric grade). In my own recent testing, I was able to schedule a listing that said "MS69" in the title ("condition: ungraded"), or a listing with dropdown options "professional grader: other" and "numerical grade: MS69" without any errors popping up.

    Changes are happening in practice, but what will the official policy state when all is said and done?

    So even though this policy has been unchanged for numerous years (but perhaps changing in the near future), many people watching this video are hearing the specific details for the first time. eBay tends to be one of the topics that causes some collectors to grab their pitch forks, whether it's deserved or not.

  • slimbert
    slimbert Posts: 56 ✭✭✭
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    And FYI, here is the current eBay collectible currency policy page:

    https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/collectible-currency-policy?id=4337

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    So what I see from the comments here, feepay has a policy on slabbed coins, but when a feepay seller goes to put in a listing, it does not necessarily conform to the policy feepay has in writing and that is just the way it is. If so, no wonder thecoingeek was confused. So am I.

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • jt88
    jt88 Posts: 3,565 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I don't see anything complicate, as jmlanzaf pointed out, few steps only. Graded or not graded, with grade or without grade. Pretty simple.

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jt88 said:
    I don't see anything complicate, as jmlanzaf pointed out, few steps only. Graded or not graded, with grade or without grade. Pretty simple.

    A few steps that do not appear to necessarily coincide with feepays written policy. Hence the confusion.

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I've listed coins on eBay lately, both slabbed and raw. I didn't find it confusing.

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @MasonG said:
    I've listed coins on eBay lately, both slabbed and raw. I didn't find it confusing.

    Compare the listing template shown by thecoingeek to the language in their slabbed coin policy. It seems rather confusing.

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • jt88
    jt88 Posts: 3,565 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Desert Moon said:

    @jt88 said:
    I don't see anything complicate, as jmlanzaf pointed out, few steps only. Graded or not graded, with grade or without grade. Pretty simple.

    A few steps that do not appear to necessarily coincide with feepays written policy. Hence the confusion.

    I agree with you eBay policy always confused.

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 1, 2026 8:49PM
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    @Desert Moon said:
    Compare the listing template shown by thecoingeek to the language in their slabbed coin policy. It seems rather confusing.

    I didn't look up the policy, I just listed the coins. It was simple enough.

  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @MasonG said:

    @Desert Moon said:
    Compare the listing template shown by thecoingeek to the language in their slabbed coin policy. It seems rather confusing.

    I didn't look up the policy, I just listed the coins. It was simple enough.

    The only real issue is that the printed policy forbids numerical grades for a couple of the TPGs in the drop down. I'm sure it will get sorted, but it literally has not caused any problems for me and hundreds of others. There are live PCI listings.

    I've not been impressed with the last two Coin Geek videos. His 5 worst buys and this one both amount to making something out of nothing.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • safari_dude
    safari_dude Posts: 698 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @oldabeintx said:
    Boxer shorts are for sale on eBay? Uncirculated boxer shorts I assume.

    I’ve seen ‘refurbished’ ones for sale.🤪🤪🤪

  • safari_dude
    safari_dude Posts: 698 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2, 2026 6:47AM
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    Wrong forum….sorry

  • safari_dude
    safari_dude Posts: 698 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2, 2026 6:48AM
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    …

  • Old_Collector
    Old_Collector Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    It really is just the same grading system that they have used for baseball cards (and other sports cards) for many years. It simplifies the grading down to two questions: slabbed or not and condition. It cuts out all the long BS explanations and makes it easier to determine if the buyer got when they paid for.

  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:
    I've not been impressed with the last two Coin Geek videos. His 5 worst buys and this one both amount to making something out of nothing.

    The video sounds to me like someone looking for something to complain about. Do you suppose someone running a coin shop would prefer to have people sell their coins to him instead of to other collectors online through eBay?

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @MasonG said:

    @jmlanzaf said:
    I've not been impressed with the last two Coin Geek videos. His 5 worst buys and this one both amount to making something out of nothing.

    The video sounds to me like someone looking for something to complain about. Do you suppose someone running a coin shop would prefer to have people sell their coins to him instead of to other collectors online through eBay?

    thecoingeek also sells on ebay as well as the coin shop. I suspect he tries to find topics for his daily vids and gets stretched sometimes to find something to say. From the actual ebay sellers here (youze and others), it looks like one can use the listing template and pretty much not worry about the (partly?) independent and (possibly?) inconsistent policies(?)..............

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • DesertCoin
    DesertCoin Posts: 482 ✭✭✭
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    How about OGP? My dad tried to list a GSA and ran into issues.

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  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 5, 2026 3:19AM
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    @DesertCoin said:
    How about OGP? My dad tried to list a GSA and ran into issues.

    Sigh

    You can list the condition as raw uncirculated, if it is. Or just pick the grading service if it isn't. OGP isn't one of the condition options, although you can add it as an item specific if you want.

    Listing a GSA dollar hasn't changed. People are literally looking for ways to make this harder than it is.


    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • airplanenut
    airplanenut Posts: 22,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @oldabeintx said:
    Boxer shorts are for sale on eBay? Uncirculated boxer shorts I assume.

    Hopefully no woodgrain toning

    JK Coin Photography - eBay Consignments | High Quality Photos | LOW Prices | 20% of Consignment Proceeds Go to Pancreatic Cancer Research
  • MasonG
    MasonG Posts: 7,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:
    Listing a GSA dollar hasn't changed.

    Seeing as how there are 2,700+ results when searching "gsa morgan dollar", it can't be too hard to list them.

  • rooksmith
    rooksmith Posts: 1,434 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    ICG was a spinoff of NCG, the grading gets dissed, but the graders were originally the same people that originated the idea of coin grading. I think ICG and ANACS both get lower premiums, not for the accuracy of the grading, but for the idea that there has to be a hierarchy, based on buyers perceptions.

    “When you don't know what you're talking about, it's hard to know when you're finished.” - Tommy Smothers
  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @rooksmith said:
    ICG was a spinoff of NCG, the grading gets dissed, but the graders were originally the same people that originated the idea of coin grading. I think ICG and ANACS both get lower premiums, not for the accuracy of the grading, but for the idea that there has to be a hierarchy, based on buyers perceptions.

    Actually, it's more complex than that. Both of those companies have done very good work at times. However, they also had periods of lax standards which is how they got relegated to the second tier.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:

    @rooksmith said:
    ICG was a spinoff of NCG, the grading gets dissed, but the graders were originally the same people that originated the idea of coin grading. I think ICG and ANACS both get lower premiums, not for the accuracy of the grading, but for the idea that there has to be a hierarchy, based on buyers perceptions.

    Actually, it's more complex than that. Both of those companies have done very good work at times. However, they also had periods of lax standards which is how they got relegated to the second tier.

    Can’t the same be said about er, the first tier TPGs? Loose grading has been discussed multiple times here, with documentation, for all of the TPGs that it happens…………..

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Desert Moon said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @rooksmith said:
    ICG was a spinoff of NCG, the grading gets dissed, but the graders were originally the same people that originated the idea of coin grading. I think ICG and ANACS both get lower premiums, not for the accuracy of the grading, but for the idea that there has to be a hierarchy, based on buyers perceptions.

    Actually, it's more complex than that. Both of those companies have done very good work at times. However, they also had periods of lax standards which is how they got relegated to the second tier.

    Can’t the same be said about er, the first tier TPGs? Loose grading has been discussed multiple times here, with documentation, for all of the TPGs that it happens…………..

    No, the same cannot be said. The standards might have migrated over time, but they have always led the group in adherence to their standards. The 2nd tier each had periods of absolute inconsistency and incredible looseness.

    Who founded ICG is irrelevant 3 ownership groups later. Quite frankly, if the new ANACS or ICG wanted to move up, they should have relaunched under new names. They are held down by prior periods not their current work.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • Desert Moon
    Desert Moon Posts: 6,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @jmlanzaf said:

    Can’t the same be said about er, the first tier TPGs? Loose grading has been discussed multiple times here, with documentation, for all of the TPGs that it happens…………..

    No, the same cannot be said. The standards might have migrated over time, but they have always led the group in adherence to their standards. The 2nd tier each had periods of absolute inconsistency and incredible looseness.

    LOL, over the past 20 years, I have heard more times than I can remember, for example, ‘well, xTPG is grading very loose right now in Liberty Seated Quarters', or 'yTPG just tightened up in Bust Halves’, or…………….

    ALL of the TPGs have had good and bad consistency days, weeks, months, years. So yes, the same thing can be said about ALL of them. Why do you think CAC came along?

    My online coin store - https://desertmoonnm.com/
  • jmlanzaf
    jmlanzaf Posts: 43,060 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Desert Moon said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    Can’t the same be said about er, the first tier TPGs? Loose grading has been discussed multiple times here, with documentation, for all of the TPGs that it happens…………..

    No, the same cannot be said. The standards might have migrated over time, but they have always led the group in adherence to their standards. The 2nd tier each had periods of absolute inconsistency and incredible looseness.

    LOL, over the past 20 years, I have heard more times than I can remember, for example, ‘well, xTPG is grading very loose right now in Liberty Seated Quarters', or 'yTPG just tightened up in Bust Halves’, or…………….

    ALL of the TPGs have had good and bad consistency days, weeks, months, years. So yes, the same thing can be said about ALL of them. Why do you think CAC came along?

    I'm not claiming the first tier is perfect. But, again, their variance is nowhere near what it was at ANACS and ICG during their "bad" periods.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

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