Comments on: Morgan Dollar Collection, Policy Updates to Enhance Coins Experience on eBay

By: Marshall

Marshall — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:11:04 +0000

Does John Albanese still have ownership interests in NGC? If so, the restrictions are not just a little bit self-serving! BTW, does this mean ANACS isn’t “approved”? WOW! That has to be a kick in the head to everyone who owns coins in their holders! I think we need to really read the fine print on this. It is hard to believe that this will apply to all coin sales. Besides the 2 Krugerand example, what about selling $120 face value of US 90% silver?

By: RonnieBGood

RonnieBGood — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:33:06 +0000

Its all about the profit. See the latest on eBay: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ebay-reports-20-earnings-increase-2012-04-18

By: RonnieBGood

RonnieBGood — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:37:58 +0000

George,
Per your prior request, please contact me at RonsCoins@frontier.com.

By: george glazener

george glazener — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:16:15 +0000

Good points gentlemen. Perhaps we as collectors could more often buy directly from some of these trustworthy dealers such as Chard Coins and bypass eBay entirely. In the past, I’ve purchased coins over the eBay platform, learned to trust the vendor, and then established my own account directly with that vendor. And in turn, those same vendors might be open to the idea of offering consistent price breaks, free shipping, or other perks as a way to keep loyal customers who choose to bypass eBay in the future. We don’t HAVE to do things the eBay way…

By: Bubba Gamer

Bubba Gamer — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:34:10 +0000

I think Ebay’s policy is a bunch of crap. To force a person to get coins graded by one of two companies to be able to sell them on Ebay makes it seem like Ebay is getting some kind of kickback. The coin world existed before grading companies. I think Ebay loses a lot of money by their rules. They are starting a new policy where you get a discount if you offer at least a 14 day return policy. With the way precious metals prices bounce, why should a seller have to be on the hook for 2 weeks? It is kind of frustrating with them. I just don’t list much anymore because of the fees. How much more resources does it take to host a $1 item vs a $100,000 item? None really, but they charge a lot of fees for the $100,000 item. It would be nice if there was some competition for Ebay to keep them from gouging people. All of their rules favor buyers and sellers pay all the fees. Grading companies also favor larger companies. As if big companies need a big advantage over the little guys. Eventually it will just be the big business you can buy from and you will be paying more. That is how this stuff works. Some very smart people have figured this out. So, when you wonder why you don’t see the bargains you used to on Ebay, look at the rules. That is their purpose. The people with money don’t want competition.

By: Lawrence Chard - Chard Coins

Lawrence Chard - Chard Coins — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:57:36 +0000

Although this appears to be presented as an improvement of some kind, it actually incorporates restrictive practices.
We are ambivalent about all coin grading (it reduces the use of individual judgement) in any case.
There are two distinct restrictive practice elements here, one is the commercial preference for two existing, and apparently the two best, at least in the USA, but if somebody owns a coin graded by a different party, it seems churlish to disallow them from offering it freely. Buyers are at liberty to research the different qualities of the various grading companies.
The restriction on coins offered at $2,500 or over to be graded is a restriction of freedom of choice. It is also ridiculous. If someone wants to offer a quantity of bullion coins, for example 2 or more Krugerrands or Eagles, they should be free to do so without having to have them professionally graded.
eBay would do far better to police the existing coin listings for abuses, misleading descriptions, and more.
One simple example, try searching the “coins” category for “gold”, a large number, perhaps 10 to 20%, of all items listed are not coins, but circular metal medallic discs resembling coins, Often these are offered by members with hundreds or thousands of similar listings. This is despite a recent announcement that eBay were to stop “replicas” from being listed. I believe there is nothing much wrong with replicas, except that they are often misleadingly described either as genuine, or with a strong inference that they are genuine, and without any warning that they are not real coins.
Of course, all this is probably harder to police, which is almost certainly why eBay can’t be bothered to do so, apart from the loss to their income stream from these phony sellers.
Other eBay scams include the ubiquitous but ill-defined “100 mills” gold plated garbage. A quick search only revealed 283 such listings today, I have previously noticed thousands, but even this is 283 too many.
I could cite many more examples, some older ones are listed on our websites.