Counterfeit coins

Question

Purchased 3 counterfeit gold coins about 4 months ago. These are legal tender coins in South Africa. I am out almost $4000. Selling counterfeit legal tender is a federal offense. Even possessing these coins is illegal. Purchase from a large Ebay coin seller, not some ameture collector. I plan on contacting the police, the secret service, and the South African consulate in Los Angeles as well. I want my money back, but will settle for making big trouble for this seller...

Any advice is welcome!

eburtonlab · Answer

@dano319

Counterfeit items are not allowed to be listed on eBay at all. No one is authorized to sell counterfeit items. That fact alone does not stop some people from trying to sell them, however.

The problem is that unscrupulous or uninformed sellers can list genuine items and then deliver counterfeit items.

It is not always possible to look at a listing and know in advance exactly what, if anything, the seller intends to deliver. For one thing, a scammer can simply copy a listing from a genuine seller, using a genuine photo of a genuine item.

Except for a few specific categories of items that go through authentication, eBay never sees what the seller ships or the what the buyer receives, so there is nothing for eBay to check unless someone complains about what was received by invoking eBay's money back guarantee.

Sellers are responsible for the descriptions they provide, and buyers should not assume that eBay screens the listings in advance.

As long as counterfeits exist and there are folks trying to sell them, buyers will still have to be on the lookout for them, and avoid deals that are obviously too-good-to-be-true, whether they are being sold by accounts registered overseas or by domestic sellers wittingly or unwittingly buying counterfeits from overseas to sell here.

Buyers that doubt their ability to distinguish a genuine article from a counterfeit one should only consider purchasing from trustworthy sellers that have an established reputation for delivering exactly what was described, or else be prepared to get items authenticated by trusted sources within thirty days to be able to take advantage of eBay's money back guarantee.

jacbarcollectibles · Answer

You are too late for any help from eBay. Their money back guaranty is only good for 30 days from receipt of the item. You will need to ask your payment source about a charge back to get your money back. Ask now as there are deadlines for this that vary depending on your payment source.