FAKE ANCIENT COINS

[ancient_addict]

I am an avid Ancient Coin seller / hobbyist and when I look at eBay's Ancient Coins listings I see hundreds of fake coins listed right now. When someone buys a fake coin, it goes down the pipe - problems with customer service, customer trust, PayPal, losing members etc. In the ancient coin world, ebay has become a joke.  But, if you want to solve this problem, hire me. 

[corvettestainless]

Ya, that'll happen

[simba6]

Fake coins have been around as long as coins.  Coin collectors need to know about what they are buying. Even so, there are people who can make fakes that can fool experts.  The dealers you buy from have to be chosen with great care.  Ebay can't look at every listing.    We all know how wheat pennies "jump" to the ends of rolls.

[coolections]

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@ancient_addict wrote:

I am an avid Ancient Coin seller / hobbyist and when I look at eBay's Ancient Coins listings I see hundreds of fake coins listed right now.

Good news for you that you can identify those fake coins. It should not hurt you at all assuming you are selling non fake coins. I would assume if you can identity those fakes collectors most likely can too. If they do manage to buy a fake there is a money back guarantee.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@ancient_addictinteresting and might I ask if you would do a favor for another Ebayer? She posted a topic on the jewelry category under " what culture is this from"  it is some old she bought from a treasure finder in England, maybe you could assist her? Thank you

[donsdetour]

eBay does not know if they are fake or real.  They will not take your word on it.

Buyer beware is the motto.

[ed8108]

You are suggesting that they are obvious fakes, not good enough to pass as authentic even to non experts.

[maxine*j]

The majority of antiques, antiquities, and collectibles listed on eBay are misrepresented or misidentified, some innocently and some intentionally.  With 25 million sellers and over a billion listings, eBay couldn't police them, even if it wanted to.   Nor could you, even if eBay hired you.  Rght now there are about 114,000 listings for "ancient coins" on eBay. 

It's up to buyers to educate themselves and, armed with knowledge, buy carefully.   If they still receive items that are not right, they can use the tools eBay provides to be refunded their money.

None of this is anything new.  Anything and everything of value has been faked.  Some of the fakes are so old and interesting that they, themselves, are now valuable.

[garcialives]

As a collector via Ebay for over 20 years, I can confirm that there is currently an unprecedented landslide of fakes

 Although they are mostly from, of , course , Bulgaria,  plenty of victims are clearly bidding on these, and thus they will continue to erode the value of genuine coins over time.

I do not agree that the worst offenders cannot be flagged, as many have not one genuine piece for sale.

[wrong66]

I just don't know how seriously eBay reacts to those flagged items anymore. They may just assume they're from the competition and would rather not get involved, as they have no authenticators on the payroll and it would be cost prohibitive to deal it even if they did.

[carolynnq]

In the early days of ebay, the category managers had backgrounds in the categories they managed (at least the book CM and pottery and glass CM did).  That doesn't seem to be a prerequisite any more.

About 10 years ago, a friend of one of our kids was interviewing at eBay for the Coins  Category Manager job and came out and stayed with us when they interviewed. This person had an MBA from a top school back East. They had never sold anything on ebay before. They had no knowledge of coin collecting. I gave them a crash course in how ebay works  and we put them in touch with someone we know who's an expert in coins. This person got down to the final 4 in the interview process. Apparently ebay was just looking for a CM who could crunch numbers. I felt bad because I was hoping this person didn't get the job without any knowledge of the category - they didn't - but I don't know if the other three were any better.

Without people who know the categories, there's very little chance that ebay will take down an item that is reported as fraudulent. Even when it should be obvious to anyone, it's hard. There used to be a seller who sold books with fake author signatures. He'd mess up sometimes and sign a book that was an edition issue after the author's death. Even in that situation, the book was rarely taken down.

[tools*]

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@maxine*j wrote:

The majority of antiques, antiquities, and collectibles listed on eBay are misrepresented or misidentified, some innocently and some intentionally.  With 25 million sellers and over a billion listings, eBay couldn't police them, even if it wanted to.   Nor could you, even if eBay hired you.  Right now there are about 114,000 listings for "ancient coins" on eBay. 

It's up to buyers to educate themselves and, armed with knowledge, buy carefully.   If they still receive items that are not right, they can use the tools eBay provides to be refunded their money.

None of this is anything new.  Anything and everything of value has been faked.  Some of the fakes are so old and interesting that they, themselves, are now valuable.

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Yet when I search for items in specialized categories I find 4, 6, or maybe 10 for sale. You would think 25 million actual sellers could find more than a handful of these things.

[patpr_5054]

Hello, and very interesting indeed. I fear I'm new and just bought a couple probable fakes. LOL.  Fortunately small time money. On another issue though I have bought a lot of old USA coins. I think are the real deal. The ones I've had graded anyway. Although I did get a few "cleaned" so not cool but still real. anyway. So what's your deal anyway? TIA patrick

[kh-laura]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.