In this post I am going to share an experience I had when listing a commemorative coin for sale on E-Bay. The coin was de-listed/removed when E-Bay determined it was a replica or a copy of a coin. They don't prohibit the sale of a replica or copy of a coin but when listed it must be described as such. And technically, selling a coin that is a copy or replica without disclosing it as such is fraud, something which is against the law.
In this case the coin was authentic. So what went wrong? Could I call them to clear up any misunderstanding and to allow me to re-list the coin?
I received an e-mail shortly after the listing went live informing me of their decision and with the following information:
"We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Replica coins and currency policy. Replica currency that follows our rules can be listed on eBay, but replica coins and counterfeit currency are not allowed."
What is their policy?
- Only one-sided replica paper currency that follows these rules can be listed:
-- Size is less than 75% or greater than 150% of the genuine currency
-- The listing includes a photo of the actual replica paper currency being sold
-- The listing includes the word “replica” in the title and description
- Replica coins are not allowed
- Counterfeit or altered coins and currency aren't not allowed, nor is equipment designed to make them
What happens next?
"You can't relist items we've ended. Please ensure your current and future listings follow this policy."
What did happen next?
I called customer service and I was told, "no you cannot re-list the coin. In order to re-list the coin you must have it professionally graded."
*****
Not good news. The coin in question wasn't that valuable. In MS65 it would be worth about $140.To get the coin professionally graded by PCGS or NGC would be costing more than I could earn selling it. Part of the cost is an annual membership before I could submit the coin. After that is a cost per coin. In my case that's not particularly a bad thing as I have plenty of other coins that I could submit. Getting a coin graded is a good way to validate the authenticity of the coins. However, my goal was not to go to all that trouble. My goal was to simply sell off what coins I have, as is.
It should be noted that I have been a member of E-Bay since November 2003 without any negative feedback.
What went wrong? Why did E-Bay determine that my listing was fraudulent?
I consider myself to be very knowledgeable when it comes to identifying coins and knowing whether they are authentic. So of course I was upset when they determined I had posted a fraudulent listing. I argued with the customer service rep. I told them to arrest me then, if they were going to accuse me of of committing fraud. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was wrong and I assured them, to no avail, that the coin was authentic and that they were wrong.
After I hung up the phone, got over being angry and offended, I calmed down and proceeded to figure out what went wrong. I first considered my listing, the words I used to describe the coin. I found nothing wrong there. The coin is in exceptionally good condition and though not a professional grader I would consider it to be MS 65 or better. It is actually quite flawless and that is what really confused me. Did it look so great that it was too hard to believe it was authentic? I mulled that idea over a bit and then decided that was a ridiculous thought. So what then?
When taking photos of things to sell I have several options. I will use a scanner - a flat screen scanner which will give me a resolution of 1200 dpi or higher and I generally will use 600 dpi which, if the coin isn't slabbed (encased in plastic) and lays flat, will render the coin in exceptionally good detail. Or I will use a digital camera - my being 20 megapixels; or I use a USB digital microscope.
Here are the images of the coin I listed taken with my USB digital microscope:
They look pretty good, don't they? Too good to be true?
Here are two images of similar coins, one stamped as a copy and one that is listed as a "restrike". Technically a coin that is a restrike is a coin that was restruck by a government mint for whatever reason it happened; it is a tricky way to describe a coin as having been created as a copy or replica after the fact, as a restrike of a legally minted coin.
I was confused. To make things even more difficult to understand, I didn't simply post the two images of my coin; I posted the following close-up images, again using my USB digital microscope.
CLOSE-UP PHOTOS of AUTHENTIC COIN
The more I compared the images the more dumbfounded and annoyed I became with E-Bay. I was even more annoyed as E-Bay flat-out offered no other options with regards to validating my claim. It wasn't until I decided to use my flat-screen scanner at 600 dpi that I realized what the problem was. Compare the following images to the ones I took with my microscope and you will see, I believe, that to E-Bay my previous images looked fake. Again, the images are not fake, but simply put, unexpected as most images of coins posted are done using a flat-screen scanner or camera, though when considering that older digital cameras may have been rendered at less than 10 megapixels, or even less than 5 megapixels, how fake could the ones using the microscope really appear?
You can be the judge of that I suppose. The images are of the same coin I was trying to sell and personally although they do appear to be strikingly different, I do believe E-Bay is on drugs! I think the problem is that those taken with the digital microscope look, well, too shiny. Too good.
