Why does ebay not limit items that are quite questionable?? Silver Eagles.
Why does ebay allow over 400 pieces of silver that is very questionable being sold. The current value is well over $115 a piece, straight from t.he mint. This can be sold to any pawn shop for over a $100 a piece. It doesn't take much to question this. The seller is also from CHINA which is another red flag
20 comments
meme6253
·8 months agoIf I were in the market for these types of coins, I would only deal with a Very Reputable brick & mortar coin store & not purchase this item online, That way I know what I am getting & who I am getting it from, Too many scams out there!
ccomic
·8 months agoObvious red flag, “too hard†for eBay to police, whatever. It is nothing short of a tragedy what is being done to our less sophisticated buyers. I have no idea what % know they are potentially buying fakes, but I’m pretty sure it’s not 100%. And those who don’t know may not find out for years, so the 30 day guarantee doesn’t apply. I personally feel eBay is complicit in this, at least morally if not legally.
soh.maryl
·8 months agoIf you feel that eBay is complicit in these situations, what would be your suggestion that eBay could do to help those buyers who are less sophisticated in terms of knowing what they are buying?
roccotacodad54
·8 months ago"The seller is also from CHINA which is another red flag"
That, says it all. Unfortunately all too many Americans (and others I assume) just don't seem to get it.
As long as there's "One born every minute" there will be someone out there to take advantage.
If all counterfeit coins were to dissappear tomorrow, some other item would take it's place to fleece these people of their money. The way it has always been and will always be..........................
soh.maryl
·8 months agoSince no expert, and no eBay employee, actually sees any item before it's listed, how do you suggest that eBay could "limit items that are quite questionable"?
silver-manatee
OP8 months agoIf your feedback is below 50 and a new account only allow a listing to have a max of 10 of one item, until you build a reputation. Ebay will be out the the the $20,000 that this listing sold 500 items at $40 a piece. These costs are passed onto everyone.
theteamsetguy
·8 months ago@silver-manatee ,
You must have posted the wrong link. The seller for the item from your link is not from China. Also, the listing doesn't say when the seller sold out. It could have been months ago when the price of silver was a lot lower.
Silver didn't pass $50.00 until sometime in November of last year. Not that long ago. Also, not everyone that sells on ebay live in the city where there are plenty of pawn shops. Chances are if you live in the country there are not very many pawn shops close by if there are any at all.
eburtonlab
·8 months ago@theteamsetguy
The seller for the item from your link is not from China.
Possibly eBay is forwarding you to a different link; the item number the OP provided leads me to a listing that sold out today, and the seller's account is registered in China.
https://www.ebay.com/bin/purchaseHistory?item=206019908423
janet9988
·8 months agohttps://www.ebay.com/itm/206019908423?itmmeta=01KG54G7NKMDS45P9KCK667DCN&hash=item2ff7be5347:g:hFoAAeSwauBpc5Tn
eburtonlab
·8 months ago@janet9988
Looks like eBay finally removed the listing. The link was still working when I last posted.
silver-manatee
OP8 months agoebay has taken down the listing, if you clicked the sellers information, it had clearly indicated china.
simba6
·8 months agoGot to watch those too good to be true prices. The only bullion I would buy mail order is chicken or beef. With prices so high, a lot of scammers will be coming out of the woodwork.
msha3839
·8 months agoAre you sure that is chicken or beef inside a bullion?ðŸ˜
bonanza125
·8 months agoEbay is not an expert in comparison to yourself so they rely on you the buyer as well as Ebay offering a 30 day moneyback guarantee. So if the item is counterfeit just return it.
silver-manatee
OP8 months agoI agree, but silver is a commodity, one knows the market value. It is the same as selling $20 bills for $5, doesn't take much of an algorithm to figure a problem is highly likely to exist.
bonanza125
·8 months agoEbay relies on reports. If a seller reports the listing they look into it. If there is no evidences which suggests it then they will keep the listing up. Which is why it is important to do research before purchasing. You sound like someone who know exactly what to do and know the red flags. Yes items from China do come out counterfeit which is why it is advised to avoid China all together.
eburtonlab
·8 months agoI agree, but silver is a commodity, one knows the market value. It is the same as selling $20 bills for $5, doesn't take much of an algorithm to figure a problem is highly likely to exist.
It is not actually against any eBay rules that I am aware of to sell a $20 bill for $5.
But potential buyers should ask themselves why someone would sell a $20 bill for less than face value, just as potential buyers should ask themselves why someone would sell a silver eagle for less than spot price.
Most of the obvious policy changes that eBay could enact to remove individual scam listings -- by setting a price floor, or not allowing users registered in China to sell US coins, requiring sellers to have a certain number of successful transactions first before selling coins -- might have prevented a few obvious scam listings.
When a scammer has a listing removed or a scammer's eBay account is closed, the scammer does not simply go away, though; quite often the scammer tries again with another listing or another account. By preventing certain obvious scam listings, eBay might actually be training scammers to make their scams much less obvious -- by raising their prices closer to spot price, using US-registered accounts instead of Chinese accounts, and by getting a few feedback ratings before selling any counterfeit coins. The end result may be fewer obvious scams, but a greater number of less-obvious scams, which is hardly an overall improvement.
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months agoIn spite of the current high prices for precious metals, many buyers have no clue what they are or if they are higher than usual.
Some greedy buyers know, and think they are putting something over on the sellers who are selling at low prices. Sometimes those greedy buyers are right. Many items are sold on Ebay for less than they should be. You cannot automate processing to allow for both buyer and seller stupidity.
You can protect buyers from losses based on misrepresented product, but that is most efficiently done after the fact.
I do not wish to pay higher Ebay fees to support inefficiency which does not succeed in ensuring buyer safety.
stainlessenginecovers
·8 months ago2,000,000,000 (that's BILLIONS) of listings. Need I say more?
eburtonlab
·8 months ago@silver-manatee
eBay may have begun requiring sellers of some collectible coins to meet some minimum standards in terms of selling other items first, but it is not entirely clear which collectible coins that may apply to, whether some current sellers are grandfathered in, or whether scammers have figured out how to get around such requirements. Those requirements won't stop a determined scammer or one that hijacks another seller's account.
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, and should avoid deals that are too-good-to-be-true, or deals that are offered by inexperienced sellers that might disappear soon after the transaction is made, 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.