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Written by Eric Van
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Friday, 18 April 2008 |
So here's the question. Is eBay a good thing or a bad thing for collecting coins? I personally bought my Washington Smooth edge dollar on Ebay, and picked it up for 66 dollars. I thought that was a decent deal, and when I looked around at other sites that sold it, it was in excess of 125.
Is eBay driving down the prices of coins? Or is it just making it easier for newbies like me to get their hands on a huge number of coins?
Personally, I really like eBay and I like that there are so many choices on there, however there is more to it than just that.
One of the other things that eBay exposes, much to everyone's dismay, is the number of fraudulent coins and transactions out there. Granted, the majority of the vendors are legitimate, and simply trying to make a buck. However, there are always going to be those unscrupulous characters that prey on the ignorance of newbies like myself.
Fortunately I haven't been scammed by one of these yet, that I know of at least, but I can easily see how it's possible.
An example would be two 1916-D Mercury dimes. One is rated MS63 by PCGS, which is awesome. The other is rated MS66 by INCS(fictitious). To a new buyer, the MS66 looks much better, and guess what, it's also 600 dollars cheaper. Why the heck wouldn't I buy that one? Well, probably because it's misgraded, and trying to be passed off as a great bargain. It might be a good coin, and it might not, but you just never know with the lesser known, or even made up grading companies.
Who knows, maybe someone bought that coin, and it was great. If it was, I'm very happy for them, but I would immediately send it in to PCGS or NGC and get it regraded.
Let me know your comments on if eBay is actually helping the coin collectors out there, or hurting them.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 April 2008 )
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