Have you ever been "Had"?

Oh the joys of online shopping and E-bay. Toss in a little "I have no idea what I am doing", and you have a recipe for being "Had" (Laughs) These are a few of my stories and I am sure many of you would have some wonderful stories of your own with regards the joys and hazards of online shopping.

I collect mainly Australian coins and WWII German coins and I often look to E-bay to see if I can find that special or missing coin. Since beginning my hobby as a numatasist...., a numasticsis..., a coin collector, I have learned a great deal as to what to look for and what to look out for from this forum. Here are a few examples of me being "Had".

I have these two amazing 1 pfennig coins. One is a 1939 D, the other a 1939 J. I bought them both as "Uncirculated" and the pictures on E-bay showed them both as being all shine new and sparkly. (Laughs) Welcome Kipsley to the world of cleaned coins. Only later whilst reading on this very forum about "cleaned coins" did I realize I had been Had. Oh well. I did not pay much for them and they are nice to look at, though clearly they can not be graded as "unc".

And how often have we all seen a coin on E-bay as graded by the Seller as being XF yet the picture shows a coin of no better than Fine on a good day. Once again I learned from this forum that Sellers will often over-grade their coins. Again I learned something about buying coins online.

But the best story I have is of a 1930 KGV Australian Penny. Now.... I am no expert on coins but I do know that one of these things is worth well over a few thousand Australian dollars with a mintage of just 1,200. So here's one on E-bay for $50.00. Firstly I think "Fake", but given it's description is of the genuine article I'm also thinking "Maybe the Seller has no idea what he's got?". So with heart thumping and thinking "I'm gunna be rich!" I took a good careful look at the pictures and looked up a few other websites dedicated to fake coins and how to spot them. Sure enough after just an hour or two I had proven this coin to be a fake, albeit a good one. And given I'd never likely ever have the real deal in my collection, I bought it (making sure to label it properly as a "Replica" in its Flip). So I guess that is one example of me not being Had thanks to my learning here on this forum.

So those are a few of my best examples of being "Had", and how education and asking questions here can avoid disappointment. But for me, even these few coins (as mentioned above) make me smile when I look at them and I'd not part with them. They are after all.. fun, and I'd like to think that is what my hobby of numistiks.. nematics... coin collecting is all about.

So c'mon!! When were you (if ever) "Had" when collecting coins?

I think everyone has from time to time. I'm lucky that most times I've managed to profit out of it.

The first time was a George V Indian rupee that looked legit, but when I got it I found it was a veneer from a real coin that had been sliced off and stuck onto a base metal slug. But it was such an interesting fake that I listed it for sale showing what kind of fake it was and I ended up getting more than I had paid for it.

The second time was a George III shilling that looked copper in the picture. I asked the seller and was told that it was silver and it was probably the way the light was shining on it when they took the picture. I got it and sure enough, it was copper. But I realised that it was a contemporary forgery that was copper with silver plating and the plating had worn off (there were a couple of places in the lettering where there were traces of the silver plating) so I listed it for sale as a contemporary forgery and again got more for it than I had paid.

I've been "had" more than a few times during my collecting so far; and I mean both buying coins that turned out to be fake/suspicious, or paying way too much for a coin type. I guess the bargains I've spotted and gotten balance the latter out, but there's no making up for the former.

For example, I've personally had bad experiences with Indian Rupees; I've bought a fake of both the "continuous legend" 1840 EIC Rupee, as well as a fake 1919 George V rupee. To be fair, at the price I paid I was kind of sticking my neck out for those two, but at least I didn't loose too much on that adventure. They're (the fakes, not the dealers! ) at the bottom of the English Channel now.

But once I paid an entire £35 for an 1863 Swiss commemorative 5 Francs, thinking it was the "deal of a lifetime", suffice it to say it was just a very good fake, and I learned the hard way about that adage about things being too good to be true.
And like you I also believed the seller was ignorant of his inventory (which does actually happen quite a lot in the UK with regards to continental, incl. French coins; I've bought an 1831 W franc for £10, which I recently confirmed that Le Franc lists at 280 euro in it's condition).

The classic understatement from an article another member posted on this site rings pretty true.

"Understand when buying these coins and taking into consideration how coins are sold via the internet these days the sellers are not always professional dealers as they once were"

Professional dealers lived for the repeat customers, they couldn't afford to rip people off or they wouldn't come back and buy more coins. Now with internet auctions opening up sellers to buyers all round the world, there's nothing stopping unscrupulous dealers ripping off as many people as they can, because they know there are millions more people they can rip off, and if they get a bad enough reputation they can always just set up a new profile and start all over again.

Iam sure we all have been had, I have been had too. But iam one of the few who don't buy from e-bay. Or any selling site, but here. Yes there have been times I really wanted too. Like Mark sells . But I have decided to keep my collection e-bay free. The only e-bay in my collection was my wife got me a 5 or 10 lbs lot. And the X-mas after she died the kids got one for me. Mostly to keep my mind busy. So not dealing with e-bay I remove most of that mess. If I ever have time to log in some UK and France coins . My collection will be over 11,ooo coins cataloged. Only with the help from people here and a few shops. So I guess iam an odd ball. But I think there is a lot of headaches from e-bay and other sites.

Have y'all ever wondered why every sketchy eBay seller just can't wait to tell potential uyers that he "knows nothing about coins"? At some point in their spiel about their "estate find" you can be sure that you're going to find those magic words. Do you think they're telling you this in an attempt to appeal to your inner decency and sense of fair play in the hope that you won't take advantage of their inexperience? Of course not! They're looking for some sucker who will rush in to score some cheap coins before the other sharks smell the chum in the water.

There's a grain of truth behind the old saying "You can't cheat an honest man". There's even more to that old time pearl of numismatic wisdom, "Books before coins".

A few months ago I bought an Ancient Roman sestertius from a reputable dealer. After further research and with help from Numista members it turned out to be a good fake however the dealer was fair, he took back the coin and refunded my purchase.