Should Replicas be stopped on eBay ?

[Paul]

from the seller :

" FROM THE PORTLAND MINT COLLECTION - Suppliers of museum quality copy coins to collectors, antique & curio dealers, museum shops, coin jewellery makers, educational institutions & re-enactment groups"

 

In other words, "We sell fake crap toot but at least we make it sound good, posh & respectable in the process".

Their feedback shows nearly 100 folk who should try and kick their air addiction

[crocky]

I reported a so called replica kook, although it only fetched £1.49, it was still a fake and was sold and not withdrawn by ebay, these coins are now in the market! The 1822 crown I 'bought' listed as a replica, how can it be a replica, and how can the seller hide behind a UK address listing when he is posting from China, unfortunately he repaid me before I had a chance to leave negative feedback, what else can you do, the few fakes I have inadvertantly bought were all very good, if it wasn't the fact that one was made with the reverse upside down that without real testing it would have fooled me. Watched a docu on TV a couple of days ago about fake £2 coins in the UK, coming from China, and the anti fraud division had problems telling them from the real thing with all their sophisticated equipment, it [mostly] came down to the point that each side of the coin was out of alignment. The guy said that once they get that right the public at large will never know they are fake, even the built in mechanism in machines, although they can spot and eject £1 fake coins the £2 fakes were accepted as real! It will only get worse. Fortunately the fake pandas are getting less and less bids in the UK!  

[SilverPirate]

I have been scouring E-bay today just looking for a bargain,nothing came up but loads and loads of Pandas from China,What will be the repercussions of this Panda market flooded with fakes.I think it would be sensible to keep your receipt from reputable dealers and keep with the coin for a future re-sale.It is OK to stack these fakes if you want a dummy safe full, but i feel so sorry for the newbies being ripped off right now,i hope it do's not scare these potential customers of the future, off.

[crocky]

It will undermine the whole secondary/reselling market and hit new sales, would you want to buy another after buying a fake, I have quite a collection of 19th C. crowns but after buying my recent fake I am very wary,I will buy another one, if cheap enough just to leave negative feedback, problem is, after visiting China on other business dealings,they will just sell under another ID.

[SilverPirate]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-oz-silver-kookaburra-year-of-the-goat-/172018782851?hash=item280d1e5283:g:s2UAAOSwcBhWXUgl

Nothing is safe, you have to read it very carefully. 

[BaldyBob]

Reported the item, which I admit is a futile act.

[Pete]

I contacted the BBC Rip Off Britain team to report the fakes on eBay etc but in hindsight I should also have contacted Fake Britain.
There probably isn't enough public interest in this topic to merit inclusion.
I wonder if our regular bona-fide suppliers like Atkinsons, HGM, STG etc would screen fake bullion like Eagles, Maples etc - perhaps someone on the forum might care to ask them as they do buy back silver coins. If they do screen how do they do this ?
I bought a tube of brand new Maples a while back, before the forum days, from Weighton in the UK and they were total crap quality coins. When I reported my dissatisfaction, the top guy said he was far too busy to check every coin ( even for a fraction of a second ) so tough !
That would perhaps answer my point on coins sold back  - so good fakes may still end up being unknowingly recycled to the likes of us stackers.
That's why it is very important to maintain pressure to outlaw this practice and name & shame the sellers who are no better than criminals in my opinion.

[SilverPirate]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/silver-shield-freedom-girl-1oz-copper-coin-silver-plated-/262176401231?hash=item3d0aee674f:g:Q-kAAOSwwE5WWaom

Clearly labeled plated, obviously one of there copper rounds been plated. But still only worth its copper weight to me.Zero feedback says it all.

[SilverSniper]

Depends on what you mean by 'copy' or 'replica'?

There are products which have the wording 'copy' on them, but they are solid .999 fine silver.  i.e. Some private mints in America produce copies of the 1oz buffalo rounds, and the 1oz rounds which look like Eagles, and Morgan Dollars and they have the word 'Copy' clearly shown on them .... but it is the design which is copied, they are not fake silver at all.

All items which are sold as being solid precious metal, which are not should be banned, as eBay are very quick to remove fake Tiffany jewellery or Gucci watches when they are listed.  However, eBay seem just happy to collect their fees.

[HelpingHands]

I reported eBay to trading standards last night.

[SilverSniper]

4 minutes ago, HelpingHands said:

I reported eBay to trading standards last night.

Can I suggest you don't hold your breath 

[HelpingHands]

Next step.

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-a-fraud-including-online-crime

 

[goldbones]

I used to take this stuff seriously but then i reasoned that eBay was simply a global boot sale with about the same level of oversight and regulation.

But worse than a car boot (or garage sale) since you are not there seeing the item or face to face with people.

Globally Ebay has 32,000 employees many of which are your basic secretary or admin rather than a huge legal team checking each item. But put that into perspective

32,000 employees vs 125 million users registered each of which selling untold number of items per day basically means there can be no real human oversight and only automatic computer algorithms that have to be programmed in, whoever you send a message to has to go through a bunch of red tape and office monkeys who operate off of a script.

 

[HelpingHands]

The seller's feedback comments would say this is fake.  If so, it's a naughty listing with this price and description.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1oz-krugerrand-/151910995622?hash=item235e99d6a6:g:XuEAAOSwnipWY4oP

[HelpingHands]

What is this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-Gold-Bullion-Bar-999-Purity-/111846648969?hash=item1a0a946c89:g:EBMAAOSwxN5WaWvB

And you have the justify your intentions before you buy.  

First let me ask, what is your motivation to buy gold? Are you a saver, a speculator, looking to diversify your portfolio or are you looking to gold as a form of financial insurance.

 

[MickB]

16 minutes ago, HelpingHands said:

What is this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-Gold-Bullion-Bar-999-Purity-/111846648969?hash=item1a0a946c89:g:EBMAAOSwxN5WaWvB

And you have the justify your intentions before you buy.  

 

 

The bar has 999.9 on it and they quote .999 but they've sold two of them!

[sovereignsteve]

Bargain of the century

[daz]

6 hours ago, HelpingHands said:

What is this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-Gold-Bullion-Bar-999-Purity-/111846648969?hash=item1a0a946c89:g:EBMAAOSwxN5WaWvB

And you have the justify your intentions before you buy.  

 

 

Copied and pasted straight from here even the photo.

http://www.thegoldbulliondealer.com/by-metal/gold/bullion/100g-gold-bullion-bar

[watchesandwhisky]

Probably harvesting information of what houses to rob next - find one who buys a lot of bullion that bought your cheap bar on the minute chance it was real and bam, you have the address of a stacker:/

[Paul]

Use can use TinEye  google chrome extension to reverse image search to see if image have been used elsewhere on the web before.

 

[goldbones]

40 minutes ago, Madstacks said:

Probably harvesting information of what houses to rob next - find one who buys a lot of bullion that bought your cheap bar on the minute chance it was real and bam, you have the address of a stacker:/

I think if you're going to buy bullion through eBay or individual sellers a lot then you need a po box and have it redirected to you :

http://www.royalmail.com/business/services/receiving/safety/po-box

 

[watchesandwhisky]

27 minutes ago, goldbones said:

I think if you're going to buy bullion through eBay or individual sellers a lot then you need a po box and have it redirected to you :

http://www.royalmail.com/business/services/receiving/safety/po-box

 

I agree, at the very least have a separate account for buying only with private feedback.

[Pete]

16 hours ago, MickB said:

The bar has 999.9 on it and they quote .999 but they've sold two of them!

This seller should be jailed never mind having his item delisted. "Hand poured " must be plated lead !

Note that he has sold 11 with 9 remaining but at 14:41 today his auction ended.

Perhaps eBay got him to delist but that doesn't cure the problem.

[HelpingHands]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Credit-Suisse-One-Ounce-Fine-Gold-Bar-Presented-In-Capsule-New-Collectable-/291637461822?hash=item43e6f2833e:g:qj8AAOSwwE5WbHld

I'm starting to think that we should buy up the fakes and refuse to return them unless the seller sends funds for the return postage.  

Feel free to pile on the reporting for now. Ha.

[sovereignsteve]

I think that's a great idea but we need someone to definitively say this approach is correct according to ebay's rules and regs, and will work.