Counterfeit US currency

[khcprop]

eBay  appears to be allowing counterfeit US silver eagles to be sold on their site. This is a federal felony and should be held liable if they  knowingly allow them to be sold, this is illegal. Everyone who has purchased these coins should contact federal authorities to start an investigation. 

[eburtonlab]

Not being able to prevent someone from doing something is not the same as allowing it.

Counterfeits are not allowed to be sold, but just because some things are not allowed to be sold does not mean that some folks won't try to sell them anyway, knowingly or unknowingly.

In the vast majority of cases eBay is not in a position to evaluate whether a seller actually has or intends to deliver the item described in a listing; except for a handful of designer luxury items like shoes and watches that go through an authentication service, eBay never sees the items bought or sold on eBay and never has a chance to determine if an item is real or fake.

Buyers can avoid many potential issues by choosing to purchase items like coins or precious metals from experienced sellers that have sold such items previously and that have a demonstrated history of delivering what was advertised as shown in the seller's feedback, and by avoiding purchasing such items from new or inexperienced sellers that lack a track record, sellers that have feedback indicating a pattern of problems or that are registered overseas, or any sellers offering deals that are obviously "too good to be true".

[khcprop]

Counterfeiting shoes and handbags are one thing and counterfeiting US currency is something totally different. Counterfeit currency is not only a federal crime but is also undermining our financial system and national security. You can’t tell me that eBay doesn’t know about these bad characters and sites that are listing these for sale but choose not to do anything because they are making money from them.

[eburtonlab]

Counterfeits exist, and as long as that is true, some of them will wind up in private collections and in circulation, and some will wind up on eBay and other marketplaces.

If you can think of a foolproof way to ensure that no one is ever able to list or sell a counterfeit coin on eBay that does not have the side effect of stopping anyone else from listing legitimate coins or of putting eBay out of business, I am certain that eBay would like to hear your suggestion.

I don't know how many of the counterfeit listings that go up on eBay that eBay winds up pulling down, but even if it is 99% (and I doubt it is that high), that means that some counterfeits will wind up being listed on eBay -- pretty much no matter what eBay does. Even if all are eventually caught and taken down, the fact that they are up for any length of time means someone could potentially be defrauded before the listing comes down.

As long as a seller can put up a listing for a real coin or round or bar and then actually deliver something else (or nothing at all), the potential for fraud exists.

No matter how well eBay vets all its sellers, that cannot prevent an account from being hijacked. No matter how well eBay screens listings, that cannot prevent a listing from being edited at some point between screenings.

Even if eBay is doing all it can to prevent fraudulent listings -- and you and likely both agree that eBay could do more or act faster -- buyers should still take care when purchasing things that can be counterfeited, avoid buying from suspicious accounts or shady listings, and also know how to check whether something is indeed real or not (or know who to ask) before the money back guarantee expires.