How do I protect my sale ( ebay question )?

[kyra's mommy]

Hi All,

I've been a little spooked lately with all the posts I've seen on this board about Ebay. I have listed a gold coin worth about $600 on ebay today and now I'm having second thoughts. What if someone buys it and then says it wasn't real, mails it back to me and has switched the coin? Is that even possible? What can I do to protect the authenticity of the coin and prove that it is real?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[DianeV]

You may need to have a coin dealer type person give you something saying its authentic. I would also add that to the auction so that whoever wins knows you have authenticated it and have proof. Also have lots of pictures that will show exactly the coin you listed. Not much else you can do unfortunately

 

[kyra's mommy]

Would you take the listing down and just sell to a coin dealer? I would probably lose about $50 selling to a dealer but it might be worth it? Not sure.

 

[Kies99]

I would not sell it to a dealer. You might end up getting a LOT less for it than on Ebay. Remember, the dealer wants to make money. They are not going to give you a truly fair price for it.

I'd go with DianeV said and get it authenticated (or whatever they call it). Then I'd take deatailed pictures. Get as close up as possible. Keep track of all the records and make sure to mention them in the auction.

You might also want to see if the dealer will give you an offer on it and that'll give you and idea of what you should start the bidding at on Ebay.

 

[Shreggor]

As others have said, get it authenticated and hope for the best. If the buyer lies, you are stuck. A good scam artist will know this and all the authentication in the world won’t matter to Ebay or Paypal. There is no protection for sellers on Ebay. There’s not much you can do. I’d take the listing down and cut my losses at a dealer if you don’t want to take the risk.

 

[01spirit750]

As far as ebay is concerned, you had "A" gold coin authenticated. There is no way to prove that the coin you shipped to the buyer was the actually gold coin that was authenticated.

This is the problem with Ebay forcing the use of paypal. Previously you could accept a check or money order. Wait 10 days to clear and then ship. It was out of ebays control.

I believe ebay determined that the buyers were always more important then the sellers. If you think about it, ebay needs the buyers more then the sellers.
Fewer sellers means less competition and higher prices which means more profits for ebay.

I would cancel.

 

[Kitzka]

maybe you could try another online site? i like bonazle (if i am allowed to mention that here)

lara

 

[kyra's mommy]

Thanks for the advice. I took your advice and removed it from ebay. I wouldn't have for something small but this is too much of a gamble for me. What a shame that ebay has come to this.

 

[2005s4]

You might want to take a look at Craigslist & try to sell it locally. I sell a lot of things on there.. and it's always a cash transaction.