Ebay's Worst Offerings

[Peckris 2]

21 hours ago, Michael-Roo said:

And did you see the other listings? 25 years? Cracked out of a package newly landed from China.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Coins/11116/m.html?item=224097567098&hash=item342d41817a%3Ag%3AD7kAAOSwvgVfIIaY&_ssn=dcb.99

98.2% feedback...

[blakeyboy]

On 7/30/2020 at 12:28 AM, Michael-Roo said:

And did you see the other listings? 25 years? Cracked out of a package newly landed from China.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Coins/11116/m.html?item=224097567098&hash=item342d41817a%3Ag%3AD7kAAOSwvgVfIIaY&_ssn=dcb.99

Is that 1845 horror show tooled? Why bother? Polish a turd and what do you have? A shiny turd.

Boom boom.

 

 

 

I'll get me coat….

You forgot to roll it in glitter...!

[Michael-Roo]

 

WTF?

That scratch is horrible (Scratch? Some might say gouge.) and there's deffo evident wear.

And those import charges?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1816-Great-Britain-Shilling-NGC-UNC-George-III-Bullhead/254676952718?hash=item3b4bede68e:g:as0AAOSwP8pfJLW2

Update:

I've just now noticed their other offerings. Pricing is mental, yet I see they have 1423 sales and 100% customer satisfaction feedback.

Why do Yanks pay these prices for tat?

Edited August 5, 2020 by Michael-Roo

[Rob]

41 minutes ago, Michael-Roo said:

 

WTF?

That scratch is horrible (Scratch? Some might say gouge.) and there's deffo evident wear.

And those import charges?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1816-Great-Britain-Shilling-NGC-UNC-George-III-Bullhead/254676952718?hash=item3b4bede68e:g:as0AAOSwP8pfJLW2

I don't get it. Why would anyone list anything at many multiples of market value? I know hope springs eternal in some eyes that someone will be stupid enough to pay way over the odds, but to me, the only message it conveys is a that of a vendor who has a grossly inflated view of its value, who wouldn't accept a sensible offer even if you made one. i.e. Don't waste your time and move on. It's bizarre.

[Michael-Roo]

'Appears to be proof, or PL'.

[Rob]

10 minutes ago, Michael-Roo said:

'Appears to be proof, or PL'.

Proof of what? Make your own mind up on that one.

[Peckris 2]

3 hours ago, Rob said:

Proof of what? Make your own mind up on that one.

Proof that there's one born every minute.

[mrbadexample]

On 8/5/2020 at 4:02 PM, Rob said:

...the only message it conveys is a that of a vendor who has a grossly inflated view of its value, who wouldn't accept a sensible offer even if you made one. i.e. Don't waste your time and move on. It's bizarre.

It also makes me dismiss all their other listings as they are clearly trying to rip someone off. 

[Rob]

41 minutes ago, mrbadexample said:

It also makes me dismiss all their other listings as they are clearly trying to rip someone off. 

Dismissing the others could be false economy. They might be trying to rip people off, or I suspect in many instances particularly on ebay, they haven't got a clue. A bit like those in the £600 for a Churchill crown thread. You've got to check for mistakes.

What would you do if a listing as a bog standard coin was 10x market value, but the coin in question was an unattributed variety of that basic item usually selling for 10x that of the normal one? Would you cut off your nose to spite your face?

I paid £100 for this (unattributed) one in 2007 having sold an aEF of the same variety for £400. I would have happily paid £500 for it given the one now slabbed MS65, but raw at the time, sold for £600+ hammer in 2003.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Rob

[Diaconis]

Sage advice

[mrbadexample]

49 minutes ago, Rob said:

What would you do if a listing as a bog standard coin was 10x market value, but the coin in question was an unattributed variety of that basic item usually selling for 10x that of the normal one? Would you cut off your nose to spite your face?

No, but you've changed the parameters. We've gone from bog standard at 10x market value to an unattributed variety at a fair price. 

If you mean I've looked at one of their coins at a hugely inflated price, and one of their other coins was an unattributed variety, I wouldn't have seen it in the first place because I'd have moved on. 

If I think a coin is a good price, I look at the seller's other listings to see what else looks good. If it's a terrible price, I don't bother. I can't look at everything.

[Rob]

The point I'm making is that you can't dismiss things based on a single coin at what appears to be a highly inflated price. You have to look at all of them. By ignoring everything that is above whatever you consider a good price will inevitably mean you miss things that are not mis-priced. Which at some point must include things you might otherwise buy. If it is on eBay, then every BIN has to be 15% over what it would otherwise cost just to cover fees, so by the above argument, no BIN should be considered. At the end of the day, all that appears cheap may or may not be a bargain, and all that appears expensive may or may not be overpriced.

[TomGoodheart]

As always, it comes down to knowledge and perseverance, whether it's ebay or anywhere else.  You need to know what's common and what's not and what's a general price for something that you're prepared to pay.  I've just picked up something from France at what I feel is less than I'd pay here at auction.  I might regret it - their photos are rather harsh, however it's also illustrated in a book where it looks better, so I took a gamble.  However I've spent the last few days finding examples and seeing what they sold for so I feel relatively confident. 

I aim to keep my search parameters quite wide in the hope that I'll pick up mis- or poorly identified pieces as well as those correctly classified.  And I don't buy to sell, so I have the luxury of being prepared to pay 'collector's' rates and not worry about profit margins.

I guess what I'm saying is that we all need a buying strategy and working out how much crap you're happy to look at in the hope of finding something desirable is worth considering.

[JLS]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exeter-Halfpenny-token-1792/402352651395

A notorious modern fake - pretty obvious if you compare closely to the original, but we token collectors don't normally have to worry about such things too much....

[Peckris 2]

2 hours ago, JLS said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exeter-Halfpenny-token-1792/402352651395

A notorious modern fake - pretty obvious if you compare closely to the original, but we token collectors don't normally have to worry about such things too much....

fake or repro?

 

[blakeyboy]

cake or death?

[Diaconis]

31 minutes ago, blakeyboy said:

cake or death?

cake please

[blakeyboy]

Looks like we're gonna run out of cake- didn't expect such a rush...

[Diaconis]

37 minutes ago, blakeyboy said:

Looks like we're gonna run out of cake- didn't expect such a rush...

there's always the Chicken

[Peckris 2]

12 hours ago, blakeyboy said:

cake or death?

"fake or repro" is a genuine question. If a repro and sold as such (cheaply), then it's not a fake nor is it notorious. However, if intended to deceive and sold as genuine, then it's a fake and many fakes are indeed notorious.

[mrbadexample]

On 8/14/2020 at 9:21 AM, blakeyboy said:

cake or death?

What sort of cake? 

[Michael-Roo]

Chris Morris will explain….

 

[blakeyboy]

Thank you for flying Church of England

[JLS]

On 8/13/2020 at 7:54 PM, Peckris 2 said:

fake or repro?

 

Well, a repro sold as genuine is as good as a fake to me on eBay. If you're not familiar with the type the style might be convincing, especially from photographs. This is one of the only relatively good copies of a common 18th century token which comes up with frequency; previously published in TCSB among other places. 

But whether the original intent was to deceive is unclear.

[Sword]

I think for coins  or  tokens, a repro needs to have a feature that enables it to be readily distinguished from the original. E.g. stamped with WRL for example. Even if it was originally sold cheaply as a replica, someone will undoubtedly try to sell it as genuine later on.