Guest derick Posted July 5, 2003 Posted July 5, 2003 Hello everyoneI am a collector of coins on ebay and I think sellers should get rid of all the fancy adjectives and state at the head of their sales literature what their coins are graded as. I would like to know what reasons some sellers have for not grading their coins.Can anyone speculate why they do this? Quote
Guest predecimal.com Posted July 5, 2003 Posted July 5, 2003 Derek,Your absolutely right, ebay is a bloody mess when it comes to grading practices! Even when people do put a grade it's more often wrong, due to inexperience or dishonesty.Theoretically with a good enough scan/picture if the coin is less than uncirculated it should be possible in most cases for the buyer to grade the coin. Perhaps this is why some sellers neglect to put a grade. I think also that some people don't put a grade because they don't know it, so it's just 'sold as seen' (or described!). Another area of confussion might be due to the US / UK grading systems not quite matching.Not wishing to blow my own trumpet but I nearly always put the grade in the listing title when auctioning on ebay and if not the first thing in the listing is a quality picture.Many people on ebay are just out to sell their Grannies collection and don't know the first thing about proper grading practices.Chris Perkinswww.predecimal.com Quote
Guest Dan Posted January 2, 2004 Posted January 2, 2004 What makes me laugh is when Ebayers describe coins are rare when they are not, eg "RARE 1967 PENNY- MINT CONDITION!!!!!!" Also I saw an ordinary pound coin up for sale and the seller had described it as "having sentimental value as he got it in his change down the pub" And some people had bidded on it!!! Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 2, 2004 Posted January 2, 2004 I think that the next stage for ebay, as coin buying selling is so popular is that they should employ me to check every new listing and edit out all the crap, and even stop the auctions if the seller offers too much crap.That way proper buyers and sellers wouldn't have to trawl through 100's of rubbish items just put on in a clueless attempt to make money for the seller.But they won't, because the only one to make money out of all the pure S$*t that doesn't sell on ebay...Is ebay.Chris Quote
Geoff T Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 Hi there,Not so long ago I saw the cu-ni 1980 Queen Mother 80th birthday crown, which is 10 a (pre-decimal) penny, described as both "solid silver" and "rare"!Seeing so much confusion over grading, it struck me that maybe we need a new term for "uncirculated". The problem is, uncirculated in numismatic terms relates specifically to the condition of a coin, whereas literally it relates to its history. I get the impression that too many people haven't taken this on board. There must be plenty of coins - post 1902 crowns for instance - which have never seen circulation but which have been handled in such a way that their condition could no longer be described as uncirculated.Any others agree?Geoff Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 I think the numismatic term 'Uncirculated', although it does have a slightly different literal meaning is just fine as it is. The confussion comes from people trying to sell coins that know nothing about the subject or how to grade them. They are either people that haven't taken anything on board at all, or are after a quick few quid (and rarely successfully).It does of course lead to you wasting your time looking at crap on ebay that's been mis described in the title, but ebay make money regardless, so you'll always see crap, wrongly described in the title...Ebay don't care about wasting serious collectors time, as long as they get their commission, nor are they expert enough to alter or take off dodgy/time wasting listings.That is the problem with ebay, they are non experts, as nor are most of their sellers. But I imagine it's like that with every specialist item field sold on ebay.I have been thinking for a while about starting up a purely coin online auction house. The software is easy enough to buy and set up on a server, and I would ensure that no rubbish was ever listed. Unfortunately I don't have a big enough audience to really do that with any success.Anyway, in an ideal world, 'Uncirculated' stays, and the ridiculous sellers offering tosh, go! Quote
Guest Dan Posted January 20, 2004 Posted January 20, 2004 An 1861 D over B shilling has just gone under the Virtual Hammer on Ebay. Graded at About Uncirculated (in the sellers opinion) and plain old VF in my opinion. Sold for at least £200. It is really that rare? I bidded, but let it go after thinking that perhaps it may have been cleaned. But I might be wrong... Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 20, 2004 Posted January 20, 2004 I rekon that's more than VF, you often get weak bits on Victoria's head. See what you mean about a potential clean though, but that could just be beautiful toning.I know the buyer, lives in the Lake District. Quote
Guest Dan Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 Missed out on a gorgeous 1825 shilling on Ebay because I had the wretched "open file error"!! I was outbid at the last minute cos AOL "stopped responding"!! It was a superb piece about Unc with prooflike fields and beautiful toning. Still...London Coin Auction on Feb 29th, girlfriend permitting!! Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 Sorry to hear that Dan. Form what I hear, I'm pleased I'm not on AOL. Mind you I've been getting a lot of spam lately (more than usual) and I heard it was quite good at handling that. Quote
Guest Dan Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 I think the error came from my crap phone line. I'm moving next week so it should get better. Quote
Guest custard1966 Posted January 28, 2004 Posted January 28, 2004 Spotted a couple today that made me chuckleThis one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...4&category=3397claims the coins range from F to VF. Well, unless the wrong photo has been posted I don't think any of those are anywhere near fineAnd this one is somewhat ambitioushttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...1&category=3397 - claims it's high grade. Well, it's barely VF which values at £175 in the latest Spink. The £500 he wants is for EF - which that certainly isn't in my opinion. Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 28, 2004 Posted January 28, 2004 Thanks for those!Buns are always hard for novices to grade but at least the start price is not too chuckle worthy.The 1869 is certainly around VF, it isn't a bad one but the £500 start price and god knows what reserve is ambitious. I'd probably sell that for around £100.00 and I'm sure i'd have to wait sometime for a buyer. Quote
Guest custard1966 Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 I think this one takes the biscuithttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...2&category=3397A 'very rare' 1967 penny !But he chooses to illustrate a 1949 which he claims is in worse conditionAnd the spelling of Elisibeth... with her 'Imprint' on the back. Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 I think he must be foreign, because 'Imprint' may be a bad translation and 'Elisabeth' is the correct German spelling, which is close.If he's British, then we have trouble! Quote
Sylvester Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 I think he must be foreign, because 'Imprint' may be a bad translation and 'Elisabeth' is the correct German spelling, which is close.If he's British, then we have trouble! Three things upset me about that auction...1) Referring to the Queen's head as upon the back of the coin... grrrr it really annoys me when people do that! I'd have though it was obvious which was the front and which was the back? Same goes for a £20 or a $2 bill.2) The use of the work L@@K, most auctions that i see that used as are usually selling crap.3) Bad circumstances forced him to sell it, wow 10p debt?That's not to mention he showed a picture of the wrong coin (one which was better nonetheless), and the persistant use of the word Rare!Anyone would have thought it was a 1954 penny he was flogging... Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 Whenever I see the typical 'Rare' ebay coins I always wonder exactly what qualifies the seller to state that fact? I mean is it perhaps the fact that they only have 1, or have seen 1?Why can't the trade desriptions act be relevant on ebay auctions too? Because as we know, that year was fozen until 1970 and is the most common penny year of all time.I'm with you on the Heads side thing, I get so many people stating that the monarch is on the back, and usually don't bother replying to them.I think ebay would seriously raise their profile with collectors if they didn't allow crap like that and had a adjudicator to remove wastes of space. Quote
Sylvester Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 Whenever I see the typical 'Rare' ebay coins I always wonder exactly what qualifies the seller to state that fact? I mean is it perhaps the fact that they only have 1, or have seen 1?Why can't the trade desriptions act be relevant on ebay auctions too? Because as we know, that year was fozen until 1970 and is the most common penny year of all time.I'm with you on the Heads side thing, I get so many people stating that the monarch is on the back, and usually don't bother replying to them.I think ebay would seriously raise their profile with collectors if they didn't allow crap like that and had a adjudicator to remove wastes of space. It's not that i think people shouldn't be allowed to sell crap on ebay, afterall i think 1967 pennies fall into that category, i've seen far more of those than i have 1972 pennies.I just think they should sell it for what it is. It might seem strange but i've often seen low grade common coins described as such go for far more than they are really worth, even if the seller made a big point about how common and low grade the coin was.Conversely i've seen them being over rated and the sellers just get no where.I sometimes think they should be made to pay to use the word rare, something like £2 every time it's used in a sentence and £5 if it's in the title. That way the only people using it would be those that are actually selling rare coins and would get such a good auction that paying a bit extra for the word rare wouldn't even be noticed.There's nothing more infuriating than seeing someone selling a beaten up 1997 £2 coin with a reserve of £5 and having the words 'rare', 'once in a lifetime chance' being smattered throughout the auction description and L@@k at every available opportunity. Sometimes i feel like telling them what they can do with that £2 coin.I.E. Go to the friggin shop and spend it as £2...!Syl.(It's these same people that state, 'It was my uncle Eric's therefore it must be rare because it's old. Look it even had a date that starts with 18, and it's as shiny as if it was new... i even polished it last night! MUST BE WORTH AT LEAST £200!!! I think it's a penny, can't read the last digit though, 90 something'.) Quote
Chris Perkins Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 I sometimes think they should be made to pay to use the word rare, something like £2 every time it's used in a sentence and £5 if it's in the title. That way the only people using it would be those that are actually selling rare coins and would get such a good auction that paying a bit extra for the word rare wouldn't even be noticed.Great idea, but they'd probably do what spammers do and change it slightly to 'R@re' or even 'Rair'. And I think ebay should charge for 'Rare' but refund the fee if the item sells for over it's start price.I mean there probably are lots of other items that really are rarish. Quote
Sylvester Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 I sometimes think they should be made to pay to use the word rare, something like £2 every time it's used in a sentence and £5 if it's in the title. That way the only people using it would be those that are actually selling rare coins and would get such a good auction that paying a bit extra for the word rare wouldn't even be noticed.Great idea, but they'd probably do what spammers do and change it slightly to 'R@re' or even 'Rair'. And I think ebay should charge for 'Rare' but refund the fee if the item sells for over it's start price.I mean there probably are lots of other items that really are rarish. They can use the tern 'very scarce' Quote
Guest custard1966 Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 When I didn't think they could get any worse...http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...0&category=3397 Quote
Geoff T Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 I actually laughed out loud.Love the creative use of English too.Geoff Quote
Chris Perkins Posted February 14, 2004 Posted February 14, 2004 How much does it cost to start an item at £1000? I bet ebay don't get paid by that shady (and obviously completely unserious) ebayer.Waste of space all round. Quote
Geoff T Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 It must take some doing to get a feedback of minus 2! Quote
Chris Perkins Posted February 18, 2004 Posted February 18, 2004 Yes, especially when it isn't offset by any positives!I got an 1868 RRITANNIAR error threepence today off ebay.deLooks nice enough. Quote
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