E bay fakes

[Tav]

Just a warning that I should have known better. I saw for sale on eBay some Scottsdale mint 1 oz bars that looked really good price just slightly on the bargain side,the seller had 100% positive feedback with money back guarantee so I bought 2 , I tested when arrived and oh dear they stuck to my silver slide like you know what to a blanket,so I messaged the seller he says oh I didn’t know how can you tell etc . Upshot is I returned said bars and get money back. Lesson hopefully learned. But my question is why do eBay who must know this is going on,let it happen ? . I have reported to them but don’t hold out much hope of them ever clamping down on these frauds . So new members like me just be careful out there.

Edited February 8 by Tav

[James32]

36 minutes ago, Tav said:

Just a warning that I should have known better. I saw for sale on eBay some Scottsdale mint 1 oz bars that looked really good price just slightly on the bargain side,the seller had 100% positive feedback with money back guarantee so I bought 2 , I tested when arrived and oh dear they stuck to my silver slide like you know what to a blanket,so I messaged the seller he says oh I didn’t know how can you tell etc . Upshot is I returned said bars and get money back. Lesson hopefully learned. But my question is why do eBay who must know this is going on,let it happen ? . I have reported to them but don’t hold out much hope of them ever clamping down on these frauds . So new members like me just be careful out there.

Nothing new unfortunately. 

Why do ebay let it happen? Because they get their percentage whether item is real or not. Yes so many are flagged, but 100s of sales are not.

[dicker]

It’s worth looking at the “Binlord” thread I started.  EBay has a business model that favours volume and their premiums over quality. 

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

It's legalised criminality - eBay knowingly allow counterfeit GBP, USD and Euro to be sold on their platform. Why the authorities do nothing is hard to understand. On eBay there are more fake Eagles than real ones, I've reported at least 100 sellers, nada, the same seller will show up in my recommendations the next day with counterfeit currency

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

Sadly nothing new and ebay doesn't seem to have any interest in doing anything about it as its been going on for years. I've reported many very obvious fakes over the years and they never get taken down. Ebay enjoys their cut too much and doesn't seem to give a damn about their platform being used this way.

At least you've done the right thing in educating yourself enough to know how to check. Many people buy first and learn all that later on down the road when its too late to do anything about it.

[Tav]

HonestMoneyGoldSilver ,I agree how come the Police/Authorities let EBay get away with it . It has to be easy to trace these frauds , then prosecute a few and hey presto it would stop fairly sharpish . In the end it still should be down to EBay to police it. I have put in a complaint and asked EBay to do something about it, but unsurprisingly I haven’t heard anything yet.

[SidS]

It really scares me how good some of the Victorian era fakes have become. I'm buying from trusted sellers now, even if I have to pay over the value. It's still cheaper than using dealer lists.

[HonestMoneyGoldSilver]

38 minutes ago, SidS said:

It really scares me how good some of the Victorian era fakes have become. I'm buying from trusted sellers now, even if I have to pay over the value. It's still cheaper than using dealer lists.

Items from Temu/Ali priced at £0.49-£3 are being sold on eBay for £30-50. The scammers make a killing and it breaks my heart knowing thousands have paid top dollar for fakes/replicas

[SidS]

1 hour ago, HonestMoneyGoldSilver said:

Items from Temu/Ali priced at £0.49-£3 are being sold on eBay for £30-50. The scammers make a killing and it breaks my heart knowing thousands have paid top dollar for fakes/replicas

Totally agree, eBay is not really safe to buy from now, even I'm struggling to tell the difference with some fakes. I can only be thankful that my pre-1920 quest is winding down to the final hundred or so dates that are left, most of which are threepences and sixpences, which appear unscathed at the moment.

The gothic florin fakes are scarily good. Even the young head halfcrowns are starting to look the part. Sometimes the only thing that gives it away is the statement "this is a space filler plated coin". In all honesty, sometimes I really cannot tell. And this is a numismatist of 34 years saying this. It breaks the heart.