Why does the Bay allow so many counterfeits be sold with no challenge?

[eac5050]

I have never seen so many counterfeit coins allowed to sell on this platform as I have now. Counterfeit coins in counterfeit PCGS and NGC holders, raw coins, stolen images, etc. It is a huge and growing cesspool for bad coins and there appears to be NO oversight. The reporting function is a joke, as I constantly get told that either some lazy "Customer Service Agent" or AI (the Bay Bots) find no violation to policy. Your policy must have changed to "we support all fakes"... I am a researcher, documenter and article writer on current counterfeit coins with over 80 published articles and I now only use the Bay for research and teaching of what is wrong with this growing threat to the Hobby, with you an apparent willing participant in it. You use to have a coin policy group that could report and remove bad listings but that is apparently gone, so caveat emptor to everyone looking on the Bay for coins...

[kensgiftshop]

I reported one of the fake coins tonight and was surprised when they said they removed it and it was checked by AI.

Didn't report it for being fake, it was the location.

The location was Saint Louis, Missouri, Hong Kong.

The fake stuff being listed here from China is going crazy and it's not just coins, it's everything.

[eac5050]

Thanks for the response; eBay sent me a note to ask if this answered my question- NO!

It only suggests eBay won't remove  a counterfeit listing if reported as counterfeit (or a violation of IP, etc) but removed the one you reported because it showed the wrong seller location!

I was 0 for 20 with reports of counterfeit listings until my latest one; after 2 failed attempts, one from "AI" and the other a "Customer Service Agent" I resorted to reporting it as "fertilizer" for the POS it is and eBay removed it...

[mopata]

There are 3 main rules for buying on ebay:

1.  Don't buy anything from China.

2.  Don't buy anything from China.

3.  Don't buy anything from China.

If ebay had any real scruples, they would cut off sellers from China in most categories completely, especially coins.  But, they would rather have the fees, even on fakes.

[sonomabarn67]

I thought ebay had a money-back guarantee. If so, just get your money back and move on.

[eburtonlab]

Counterfeit items are not allowed to be listed on eBay at all. That fact alone does not stop some people from listing them, however.

The problem is that unscrupulous or uninformed sellers can list genuine items and then deliver counterfeit items. And some sellers can wind up buying stock from overseas or relying on drop-shippers that do so, wittingly or unwittingly.

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 test questionable items quickly to be able to make use of the thirty day money back guarantee that eBay provides.

[waxu_93]

In China, there is an intermediary mechanism. The seller sends the item to the intermediary. The intermediary determines whether it is genuine or not. If it is genuine, it will be sent to the buyer. This method is more applicable to high-priced second-hand watch transactions.

[eburtonlab]

eBay does have an authentication process, but only for certain specific items in particular categories: high end watches, handbags and shoes; not for coins.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling-tools/ebay-authenticity-guarantee?id=4644