What Problem is eBay trying to Solve?
Summary: floridapanther1 is concerned about a new eBay procedure requiring graded coins to be rerouted through a third party, expressing that it seems unnecessary and may cause damage due to extra handling. grand-and-glorious-purpose criticizes eBay's outdated approaches and one-size-fits-all policies. eoma689485 explains that the procedure aims to address issues like counterfeit slabs, cloned certificates, and bait-and-switch returns by having professional numismatists ensure authenticity.
I'm way behind in my reading and I am only a small volume coin seller. But I know a lot about coins and third party grading. This new procedure makes zero sense on any level. I simply don't understand the problem eBay thinks it is addressing by routing already graded and certified coins and funneling them all through an existing third party that could be thousands of miles away from both the seller and buyer. What problem is being corrected?
Let's say I am buying an 1889-CC Morgan Dollar. Nice coin. In an NGC holder and graded AU-53. Sweet. I can take the information off of the holder and go to the NGC web site and find the coin. 100% confidence it is real. Where else has it been? By spending a little time on a few different web sites I can determine if it has sold at auction in the past and if so, when and for how much. What does all of that mean? It means that a lot of experts have seen the coin and they trust that it is what it claims to be. The coin has been seen and it has pedigree. So what problem is eBay solving for?
When I sell a coin, I pack it quite well. I buy new boxes in a couple of different sizes, I use bubble wrap and paper and I take my time and I pack things well. I pack them the way I want coins that are coming to me to be packed. I have a listing right now to sell a commemorative coin from the year 2000 that is worth $1500-$2000. Now I know this doesn't have to go to PCGS (yet) and I never want it to. I have owned the coin set since it was new. The box and contents are as clean as they were the day it arrived from the US Mint in early 2001. The last thing I would want after selling and packing that coin for shipment is to have some yahoo ripping open my box and removing the package and coin to inspect it. The only person I want touching the package is the buyer. The damn thing is pristine. I don't want it squeezed or crushed or bent or dropped. You can say it won't happen but.... it will. Because it always happens. And adding another series of steps into the food chain- shipping, distribution, opening, touching, packing, shipping- will only lead to some number of errors that aren't occurring today. It is inevitable.
I know eBay couldn't care less. I simply wish they could tell me what problem they see that they think they are solving with this change.
eoma689485
·1 week ago"What problem is being corrected?"
Counterfeit slabs
Cloned Certificates
Protection from Bait and Switch Returns
eBays shifts arbitrating complex conditions and authenticity arguments to those familiar with coins.
The "yahoos" opening the packages are professional numismatists at PCGS who deal with extremely fragile and multi-million dollar rarities daily.
The physical inspection is meant to ensure the holder itself is genuine and hasn't been tampered with or counterfeited.
floridapanther1
OP1 week agoPCGS, with their months long grading backlog (I have 70+ coins in the queue there at present) is not giving the slabs to their professional numismatists. OK, admittedly I can't prove that, but their core business is grading and encapsulation. Checking eBay coins will never stir their drink. The advantages you cite are easily handled by current encapsulation techniques and information, provided one does a small amount of work on either side of the transaction.
You don't appear to sell coins. Why are you commenting here?
grand-and-glorious-purpose
·1 week ago · EditedThis is ebay you are talking about.
One of the most ebay things that ebay ever ebays is their continual one size fits all approach to selling. Imagine being a company that insists on one set of rules for thousands of industries, wholesalers, retailers, secondary market, high end craftsmen, repair service...you name it. Ebay doesn't have a problem they are solving they just do backwards late to the party nonsense like this all the time.
They are constantly about 10 years behind any online selling innovations, and choose to be.