By Jack D. Young, Early American Coppers (EAC), and the Dark Side Group ……
Is it me, or is eBay getting worse for bad listings and counterfeits lately? And their “reporting” feature seems to just be a façade.
I use eBay as a counterfeit research tool and post in several of the Facebook Groups I participate in. Recently I posted an obvious bad fake in a fake “PCGS” slab and asked folk to report it as such to eBay through their standard process–which, ironically, is noted on a listing with a question mark (?) near the bottom right.
I had a huge response, with NO ONE getting a favorable return. It seems that, no matter what, eBay’s answer was “We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy.” These responses are noted as being from either their “AI” (I’ll call them “BayBots”) or an unknown “customer service agent”. A real shame, as eBay did have a method for a select group to directly report bad listings, and I can confirm MANY listings were removed daily. But that channel has apparently dried up.
Now on to the current state of the ‘Bay. The following is an image of listings active this morning through my standard search for “1881-CC Morgan Dollars”. I chose this in the past due to the proliferation of bad counterfeits with that date and mintmark:
A brief description of what is shown here:
Number one is a bad Chinese counterfeit in a fake PCGS holder; it clearly doesn’t match the genuine example shown on the PCGS site and uses the latest scam, a GreatCollections sticker from an actual auction. I reported this one and eBay said there were no violations.
In this example, the counterfeit’s QR code takes one to the PCGS CN (China) site for the cert, and the GreatCollections QR code takes one to their auction for the genuine example.
Numbers two and three are also examples shown shipping from China. These use stock images of genuine coins to sell their fakes.
I have direct experience with these type of listings, having purchased a large cent with images of a genuine example in the listing only to receive a common current CN counterfeit. The seller offered a return with shipping that cost more than what I paid for the “coin”.
Number four is another bad CN counterfeit Morgan Dollar in a fake PCGS holder. I have written articles and appeared on podcasts discussing these as they proliferate on eBay and other sites.
This particular example and listing was reported several times, only for eBay to repeatedly say that it’s OK. The listing finally ended only to have the seller re-list it unchecked for another round.
The genuine PCGS coin is shown on their cert site with an image that this one isn’t even close to, but it’s still active for sale on eBay.
Numbers five and six are more listings from a CN seller that use genuine stock images of someone else’s coin/listing. I personally would pick #6 to purchase because it is four cents cheaper…
And number seven! This seller has a whole boatload of fakes labeled as “Commemorative Coins”. Give me a break, eBay!
The description he used for his “1885-CC”:
I reported the listing and the seller multiple times but apparently the ‘Bay approves of both.
So we move on to number eight, the real “star” of this group. Another of the “Morgan” fakes in a counterfeit PCGS holder, this one is currently posted on my personal Facebook page and is also being mass reported by my friends.
So far, we’ve all been notified that the listing is A-OK, as this response to my report indicates.
We’ll see how many rejections we can receive as a group on this one.
All of this leads one to wonder if eBay has changed its “Coin Policy” without formally stating it, as all of these types of listings were previously considered violations. Good for the sellers, bad for the buyers? And what effect does it have on the coin collecting hobby at this time? I suppose one can only speculate.
One thing that is not speculation, however, is that listings could once be reported and removed. The following are images from one day’s effort.
So, is this a sign of the times for eBay or did someone just fall asleep at the wheel? We’ll continue to watch and report more “fun with fakes” as we see them!
Best as always from the Dark Side Group and Fun with Fakes,
—Jack
Beyond eBay Counterfeits – Other Articles on Fake Coins by Jack D. Young
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Thanks, Jack, for your awesome work. My brother purchased a 1994 silver eagle. When the coin arrived (eBay), he knew something was wrong. He weighed the coin, weight was off. It is a fake. Now the fake coin is on his key chain (drilled hole) as a reminder! A year or two ago. There was a large
confiscation of imported coins from China. 40,000+ coins were confiscated. All of the coins were fake. Most were Silver Eagles, without the silver. Have a great Easter Jack, your work is appreciated.
Thank you Jerry- comments like that keep these going!
This was very interesting as I am trying to learn how to identify fakes. I try to read NGC and Numismatist articles showing examples and it is amazing and still overwhelming to me. Looking forward to reading another article from you. Thank you.
Thank you. I’ve been an eBay buyer and seller since 1999. Unfortunately, I’ve given up reporting them. It’s so frustrating. I think they have fired or moved agents and replaced most if not all with AI. It’s going to discourage coin collecting and trading, and make it more difficult for us to sell and compete on eBay.
During my 22 years in the Air Force I have collected Coins and Paper money from every country I have been in. I bought two Flying Eagle pennies from Ebay 1957 and 1858. If I sent you photos could you tell me if they are real or fake?