eBay and PNG Collaborate, Replica Coin Listings to be Removed

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PNG LogoeBay (www.ebay.com), the world’s largest online marketplace and a global leader in mobile commerce, recognizes that the coin category on eBay is a dynamic space with a passionate — and informed — community. They are listening to their customers and re-engaging with coin enthusiasts on and off eBay.com to understand how we can make the coin experience on eBay even better.

As part of eBay’s commitment to buyers and sellers in the coins category, they are collaborating with us to ensure the coin experience on eBay meets industry standards and is an effective destination for buyer and seller coin enthusiasts. As part of its work with the Professional Numismatists Guild (www.pngdealers.com), eBay will be setting up a program to better educate collectors about the PNG and its member dealers. Several eBay representatives were in attendance at the PNGmembers meeting at the 2012 F.U.N. show.

One of the first updates eBay is making to the coin category is a policy decision to remove replica coin listings from eBay.com. Effective February 20, 2012, new replica listings and replica re-listings will be disallowed. This decision was made in response to feedback received by the coin collecting community, including PNG members. This policy decision will help ensure compliance with applicable laws (the Hobby Protection Act) that require replica coins to be permanently marked with the word "COPY." eBay will be aggressively enforcing this new policy.

PNG President Jeffrey Bernberg enthusiastically endorsed eBay’s decision to eliminate listings of replica coins:

"The new eBay policy is very positive for consumers. Most of us who have been in the coin business for any length of time have encountered numerous people who have been hurt by replicas — both financially and emotionally. I personally have seen dozens of cases of people mistakenly thinking they had a real gold coin but it was merely one of the a base metal, plated "Baldwin $10" replicas distributed in the early 1960s as a give-away in cereal boxes. People truly believed these were genuine gold pieces simply because they’d been in the family for 40 or 50 years. The new eBay policy set forth with PNG’s collaboration will have a lasting, positive effect for decades and even for generations to come."

PNG Executive Director Robert Brueggeman added: "Stay tuned for more exciting announcements over the coming year — this is only just the beginning. eBay is committed to working with PNG to grow the business of its member dealers."

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Paulson

As far as buying/saving $ and eBay goes: If you send the seller a question about an item, find another of their listings, and send the question from that item page, rather than from the one that you actually want. This will add a little bit of work for the seller, if they want to add the question/answer to the item description page that you are actually interested in. If you see an item that you want listed in auction format, send the seller a message asking if they will accept $x to end the auction early and sell the… Read more »

Werner Tseng

speaking of ebay, they keep raising final fee percentage for sellers, and recently took away ebay bucks for buying bullion coins. frankly i find myself buying and selling a lot less on ebay now. e.g., for a roll of 2012 silver eagles, it’s cheaper to buy directly from a us mint authorized company like apmex.com than on ebay. i hope ebay management realizes that they are slowly driving away business.

bill

I stopped selling early last year, it is easier to just sell my coins to apmex. Now with the prezzies going bye bye, I have nothing to buy from ebay anymore either. I used to buy P rolls there because i live in a D state and would buy those at the bank. Now I doubt if I will continue to collect the pres. dollars. They can rot on the shelf at the mint now instead of a fed warehouse hahaha Im gonna cash in my $1000 worth of golden showers er I mean dollars and buy some nickels 😉… Read more »

Tom

While they’re at it, I would like ebay to prevent sellers from anonymously acting as their own shills. Some sellers bid up their own auctions just to get more, when they could just set a reserve price. I don’t know for sure that it occurs in coin auctions, but I’d bet a cereal-box “gold” coin that it does.

Figleaf

Replicas must have the word COPY on them. If so, they are not a problem. They are of educational value or can be used as fillers. In this way, this action not only solves a non-issue, it also serves at hampering trade in items that have a legitimate use. The action contrasts sharply with eBay’s steadfast refusal to deal with fakes. Practically all Chinese coins and coins offered from China are fakes. A large share of the Roman coins coming out of the Balkans are fakes. An increasing number of US coins offered are fakes. Even slabs are now faked.… Read more »

Bubba H

Does this mean that only replicas sold as replicas are banned? They try to make it safer, but someone selling a replica as a replica isn’t a problem. The analogy that families have been hurt because they thought the gold plated coins were real because they have been in the family for 40 years is kind of stupid. How is Ebays ban going to help them? Ebays policy changes always seem to hurt sellers. Maybe it makes it safer which is questionable. It would be nice if they maybe got sellers together to help them set policies rather than collectors… Read more »

cbrown

I think all coins of unfavorable history should be banned due to so many naive people that are just getting into coin collecting and not understand the importance of genuine coins. Banning these fakes will stop all the guess work out of collecting and put the prices back to where the prices of real coins should be. This will also stop the bait and switch tactic that some collectors are unaware of that happens every day on ebay and and other sites as well. I know it will be a lot of extra work for everyone, but then again being… Read more »

Peter Poulsen

Another marvelous decision from ebay!
Ebay has ignored fake reports for so long that its hard to imagine that they all of a sudden has started to care for the customers. Rather in order to fake some interest in the collecting community; they have come up with this sloppy piece of trash.
With the new policy it seems that honest collectors and sellers of replicas/fakes and contemporary counterfeits will be harassed while ignorant or outright criminals can continue business as usual!

Steve

They have gone a step further. “all replicas” are now banned (I had listings removed). My replicas were 3 inch “coasters” or “paperweights” of US coins. They are also removing all the 2 ounce “bullion” coins that look like mercury dimes, etc. And supposedly are taking out all the miniature replicas as well. My email from them said “a replica regardless of size or age of any coin manufactured by a government”. So it is not even US coins, but worldwide coins too.