Should Replicas be stopped on eBay ?

[Danny-boy]

eBay item number 321367468966 is exactly what we are talking about.

Only change they made is removing the denomination as far as I can see.

[CurryMuncher69]

What Ryan Said. 

In a nutshell. 

[HelpingHands]

Assuming that a 1oz Krug priced at £600 is a fake coin they put this in the description.

 

1oz solid good there is 4 left available payment threw Bank transfair and I will only send of after payment is released as there is to much scammers on hear sorry to all genuine buyers thanks for viewing 

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1oz-gold-krugerrand-/252015498574?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aad4b554e

[Guest]

Replica sales should be totally stopped and enforced via AI. Ebay is way way way too haphazard and lacking in any integrity or continuity. I use eBay a lot and even I get caught occasionally.

A while back I tried to sell two genuine Rolex boxes with paperwork for an explorer and a submariner. They canceled my listings and told me that if I ever list such items for sale again my account would be blacklisted and closed. The reason they gave is that selling genuine boxes would encourage people to buy replicas and so the two items together as genuine!!! And yet, they allow any coin to be sold even if it does not say it is a copy or a replica.

They seem happy to make some attempt to enforce the copyright of very large and litigious manufacturers but absolutely no attempt to enforce the copyright of sovereign mints who created the original coins.

[HighlandTiger]

 The reason they gave is that selling genuine boxes would encourage people to buy replicas and so the two items together as genuine!!! 

 

And yet you can buy empty coin boxes and coa's quite readily on ebay. The mind boggles at times with their double standards 

[FriedrichVonHayek]

It is interesting that eBay won't tolerate fake designer goods but will allow fake Bullion.

I blame the Government Mints for not pursuing eBay and the counterfeiters,it also shows that they don't care about their customers.

The big corporations would have an army of lawyers on their case to protect their product and customers. 

[MickB]

This blatant fake is on Ebay now. The Chinese seller is looking at trying to cash in on the fact it's the rarest of all silver maples.

I've reported the seller to Ebay for selling fakes, we'll see if they are still selling tomorrow.

 

(Couldn't manage a screen dump of the whole page or a link, computer says; 'No'.)

[Bumble]

Ebay does not allow fake/replica coins to be sold. It is a stated part of their policy. It can be found on the UK site here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/currstamps.html

and on the US site here:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/currstamps.html

 

There are some legitimate uses of replica coins, e.g. in museums, or for collectors who wish to keep replicas in their homes while the originals are safely locked away in a vault. Under US law all replicas must be clearly and permanently marked "Copy". As far as I know, this is not required in the UK. A seller would be committing fraud if he tried to sell a replica as genuine. Also, if the replica was a currency coin, this would constitute counterfeiting.

[StackemHigh]

Yes they should be stopped but eBay won't want to knock back the revenue that is made from the sales!

[Pete]

Ebay does not allow fake/replica coins to be sold. It is a stated part of their policy. It can be found on the UK site here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/currstamps.html

and on the US site here:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/currstamps.html

 

There are some legitimate uses of replica coins, e.g. in museums, or for collectors who wish to keep replicas in their homes while the originals are safely locked away in a vault. Under US law all replicas must be clearly and permanently marked "Copy". As far as I know, this is not required in the UK. A seller would be committing fraud if he tried to sell a replica as genuine. Also, if the replica was a currency coin, this would constitute counterfeiting.

 

           

 

We know eBay's terms but that doesn't make the blindest bit of difference.

I have given up contacting eBay about PM coin fakes as they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT hence the laughing smilies.

 

Just bought a boxed set of DVD's through eBay and even though they are brand new and still in the shrink wrapping they are FAKE.

I reported the seller of course but he is still actively selling more fakes.

Having a policy and implementing it are on opposite sides of the desk.

[KDave]

Replica coins should not be stopped. How else I am going to get hold of decoy Krugerrands and plated gold bars?    

 

Buyer beware I say - let people read the descriptions properly. Improvements can definitely be made to the listing system so that replica Items have a clear label by eBay's page layout for example. That way it is the Listers responsibility to correctly identify their coins and eBay will advertise its true nature on their behalf clearly so people can not be scammed. 

 

If something is sold as real when it is actually a replica then that is a different matter.

[Pete]

Replica coins should not be stopped. How else I am going to get hold of decoy Krugerrands and plated gold bars?    

 

Buyer beware I say - let people read the descriptions properly. Improvements can definitely be made to the listing system so that replica Items have a clear label by eBay's page layout for example. That way it is the Listers responsibility to correctly identify their coins and eBay will advertise its true nature on their behalf clearly so people can not be scammed. 

 

If something is sold as real when it is actually a replica then that is a different matter.

 

I partly agree with replicas being available but not when they (a.) state a currency value like $1 AND (b.) state one ounce of fine silver 9999 for example.

The replica cannot be exact otherwise it is counterfeit surely !

If I photocopied a £20 note and listed it on eBay as a copy somewhere in the small print, my front door would be getting kicked down in the early hours by the fraud squad.

[KDave]

I partly agree with replicas being available but not when they (a.) state a currency value like $1 AND (b.) state one ounce of fine silver 9999 for example.

The replica cannot be exact otherwise it is counterfeit surely !

If I photocopied a £20 note and listed it on eBay as a copy somewhere in the small print, my front door would be getting kicked down in the early hours by the fraud squad.

Very good point. Where currency is involved then I would have thought an exact copy is counterfeit and therefore illegal to produce. I have seen copies of the $50 1 oz gold american eagles and they have an 'S' instead of a '5' where it would normally state the currency value of 50 dollars on the coin. Therefore the coin has only one actual digit - the zero - as its currency value. That silver maple - if it could be proven as a fake - would certainly appear be in the counterfeit category. Please correct me if I am wrong as I have not researched this subject beyond getting some decoys to fool the wife for when she tries to run off with my gold 

[MickB]

It certainly is a fake KDave. A 1oz silver maple has a $5 value, not $10 and I've never seen the Queen so glum looking on a coin either.

The seller; jincheng-2015 has plenty of other fake coins too for sale. Not one is stated as replica.

[Hookythestacker]

I see your seller states you may not receive the coin pictured Mick, there's a relief then  . There's quite a bit wrong with the listing, Item specifics for instance

 

Item specifics Region: Asia Denomination: £1 Sub-Type: China Country/Region of Manufacture: China Country: Spain

The lack of negs are a puzzle.

[Murph]

It is interesting that eBay won't tolerate fake designer goods but will allow fake Bullion.

I blame the Government Mints for not pursuing eBay and the counterfeiters,it also shows that they don't care about their customers.

The big corporations would have an army of lawyers on their case to protect their product and customers.

I don't know about Ebay not tolerating fake designer goods. Try looking for some designer bag or Tiffany jewellery on ebay and you'll de swamped by fakes.

Ebay seem to ignore anyone selling huge amounts and making them a lot of money but stamp on people who only sell items rarely. Like listing a couple of rolex boxes or when I tried selling a few litecoins by including them as a gift with a silver coin before they had a crypto currency category.

[Pete]

It is beyond belief that these fakes are still being sold on eBay.

So what if the seller states it is a replica or a copy or plated, the coin itself still looks like the genuine article and states $5 face value and 1oz fine silver so in my mind this practice should be banned or made criminal. I have emailed the RCM but probably having as much effect as "pissing" in a volcano. The poor folks that have paid the Buy it Now price must be naive unless they see an opportunity to resell as the genuine item and pocket a few quid.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-Canadian-Maple-Leaf-5-Dollar-Silver-Plated-Coins-999-Fine-Silver-Coin-28-/291588867751?hash=item43e40d06a7:g:FikAAOSw~bFWHOq1

 

 

[Murph]

I received a fake 5 franc coin from an ebay seller once and they had the cheek to say you should have guessed it was a fake from the price it sold at!  I took a chance that the poor pic was what put many people off of bidding.

They did finally agree to refund me if I returned it, probably for them to sell it to some other buyer.

[SilverPirate]

I have noticed there are shed loads of silver Panda's from China on E-bay at the moment with sellers having feedback of under ten and people are bidding on them,you want to tell these people, WHAT ARE YOU DOING,DON'T BUY THIS STUFF. 

If it rings alarm bells don't touch it with a barge poll.E-bay don't give a damn IMHO.

[silversword]

Honestly, what can you do? Nobody who should be interested (Mints, HMRC, eBay, police) seem to want to do anything.

[SoulUK]

Does seem odd that mints would allow it, as i could imagine people new to PMs could get caught out and turned off them easily.

Without the mints caring, no one else will deal with it as its their patents being abused

[a_a]

it is illegal for people within the EU to return counterfeit items, make sure you put this fact in your escalation and it concludes the matter very quickly - full refund, no messing about sending things back

[sovereignsteve]

1 hour ago, a_a said:

it is illegal for people within the EU to return counterfeit items, make sure you put this fact in your escalation and it concludes the matter very quickly - full refund, no messing about sending things back

How about coins bought from China?

[a_a]

Ha, I don't know. Possibly still comitting an offence in the EU, so I'd give it a try if I'd been caught out, having said that I probably wouldn't buy a coin from China now I have been collecting a while (no offence to Chinese people)

[sovereignsteve]

13 hours ago, a_a said:

it is illegal for people within the EU to return counterfeit items, make sure you put this fact in your escalation and it concludes the matter very quickly - full refund, no messing about sending things back

The reason I ask about China is that, assuming your statement would also apply to Chinese purchases and no reason why not if dealing on Ebay.co.uk, who would in theory be applying the refund, it would form the basis of a strategy to eliminate this unsavoury practice.

If everyone just bought these fakes and then put in for a refund without returning the coins, these sellers would soon go out of business or at least stop selling them, as they would be losing money on every coin. I doubt it work with Chinese sellers as they will probably have access to an unlimited supply of coins at essentially zero cost; too many for us to deal with. They would probably sell enough to the rest of the world to be profitable.

BTW Is your statement based on your understanding of the law or tried and trusted practice?