What should I do, having found a Fake coin in my stack.

[dom555]

I purchased a 2015 Australian Funnel-Web Spider 1 Ounce Silver Coin at the end of July.  At that time I was very new to silver stacking (still am) so only did some of the tests to check the coin.  There was alwasy something about the coin that gave me that feeling of is this fake or not.   It was only when I purchased a set of scales did my suspicions  get confirmed. Well that and finding fakebullion.com which showed what to check.
To my question, what should I do?
a) Contact the seller and ask for a refund?
b) Chalk it up to experience? (As it has been several months since buying the coin and I have toned it.)

Just looking for a few words of wisdom.
Dom

[mr-dead]

A fake 1oz silver coin is a cheap lesson in the big scheme of things.  I would chalk it up to the learning curve and experience and thank god it wasn't gold coloured

 

[Roy]

 

[sovereignsteve]

13 minutes ago, dom555 said:

a) Contact the seller and ask for a refund?
b) Chalk it up to experience? (As it has been several months since buying the coin and I have toned it.)

address (a) then when that fails, go for (b)

if (a) succeeds, accept you've been lucky and then (b)

[RoughDog]

14 minutes ago, dom555 said:

I purchased a 2015 Australian Funnel-Web Spider 1 Ounce Silver Coin at the end of July.  At that time I was very new to silver stacking (still am) so only did some of the tests to check the coin.  There was alwasy something about the coin that gave me that feeling of is this fake or not.   It was only when I purchased a set of scales did my suspicions  get confirmed. Well that and finding fakebullion.com which showed what to check.
To my question, what should I do?
a) Contact the seller and ask for a refund?
b) Chalk it up to experience? (As it has been several months since buying the coin and I have toned it.)

Just looking for a few words of wisdom.
Dom

Silver seems to be a long term bet else how the hell you going to claw back those premiums?

Either buy big, think monster box or stick with gold.

I found silver to be a real pain, tarnish, milk spots, crazy amount of coins released.

Lesson learned for me.  I will keep a few choice pieces I have such as byb  oz bars.  

The first chance I get I will offload the rest and never again.

 

[dicker]

Personally, I am always interested in seeing detailed photos of fakes, so that I and others can look and learn - would be great to see a photo if you have one.

Best

Dicker

[dom555]

12 minutes ago, dicker said:

Personally, I am always interested in seeing detailed photos of fakes, so that I and others can look and learn - would be great to see a photo if you have one.

Best

Dicker

Here is a picture of the spider coin.
Also here is a link to a site that pointed out the differences between the fake and the real one.
https://www.fakebullion.com/index.php/component/k2/item/30-2015-australian-funnel-web-spider-1-ounce-silver-coin

[dicker]

Hi Dom 

Very much appreciated!  I had not seen that site before so a big thanks!

Best

Dicker

[Draconicus]

@dom555, Seriously, I don't want to play the Black Crow here, but please make sure you have no more Fakes at your stack!

Avoid future sadness as In case you could have more fakes there, I think it's better to know that right now than later!

If you are not familiar with the possible easy tests google it, there's tons of movies about this.

A small advice for you:

- Be your friend and do always all the easy tests ( Ice cube melt, Magnet, listen the coin sound as it should have always a higher pitch like a small bell, etc..), you will never be wasting your time!

- Choose always very well where to buy! Read forums reviews  about the best cheaper and trustable places where to buy Silver! Again it will never be a waste of time!!

I wish you the best luck in the world my friend, and may you never find again any more fakes on your collection!

 

P.S.- And avoid eBay like the Plague!

[matrawr]

Mistakes will happen it's part of the learning curve I've fallen victim to fakes got my money back on most occasions via ebay.

But I'm really weary of car boot sales I wouldn't recommend them unless you're armed with scales and neodymium magnet!

[JonCL]

Funnily enough I was looking for a 1oz Silver Funnel Web spider and saw a very cheap “buy it now” one listed on ebay. The ad did specify that it was made of “iron”- I think silver plated- but looked absolutely perfect. Made me think a bit.

Here you are- in the description it says bullion or 1oz Silver, only specifying “iron” further down the page. There seems to be a few listings for these “replicas”!!

[JackKlugman]

1 hour ago, dom555 said:

Here is a picture of the spider coin.
Also here is a link to a site that pointed out the differences between the fake and the real one.
https://www.fakebullion.com/index.php/component/k2/item/30-2015-australian-funnel-web-spider-1-ounce-silver-coin

Interesting, you can see the copper gleaming through on the high spots. Just be thankful it's not a fake gold coin. 

[dom555]

15 minutes ago, JonCL said:

Funnily enough I was looking for a 1oz Silver Funnel Web spider and saw a very cheap “buy it now” one listed on ebay. The ad did specify that it was made of “iron”- I think silver plated- but looked absolutely perfect. Made me think a bit.

Here you are- in the description it says bullion or 1oz Silver, only specifying “iron” further down the page. There seems to be a few listings for these “replicas”!!

 

EBAY has a few fake spiders in the under "buy it now" for normal prices (£20 ish).  Now I know what to look for they are quite easy to spot. The raised lettering on the fake is easy to spot on pictures.  (The real one has the letters indented).

 

[vand]

Bullion on ebay.. *shrug*

[JackKlugman]

2 minutes ago, vand said:

Bullion on ebay.. *shrug*

That’s my opinion too, but many people buy from eBay and have no problems 

[matrawr]

If buying on ebay and you have the slightest reservation speak to the seller and if they say it's genuine and turns out it's not you got ebay and PP to refund, but if the sellers reply  leaves you with doubts then just move on.

Ebay does get a bad rep but it comes down to your experience of the item offered for sale....if the photo is a stock image and not the actual item being sold stay away.

[Tickety]

As has been quoted to me over the years, there's no such thing as a free education. I think we have all been nervous about something in our stacks over the years. For me it was a couple of 1oz bars, luckily they turned out to be fine. I think most people will stumble across something during our stacking. I would keep it to remind yourself of lessons learned.

[Bullionbilly]

Drill a hole in it and make a keyring.

I got a fake bar off ebay, got a refund and kept it. Made a keyring to remind me !

[StackemHigh]

What ever you do is to learn from the experience. And check your stack.

[Pipers]

I have a few fakes it turns out.  One Gold sovereign that's 18ct that I keep for reference as it's a good fake.  The other silver fakes were silver Pandas that I bought from secondary sellers who have disappeared. 

The best way to test coins is to know dimensions including weight and to have a magnet.  For Gold you can pick up a coin sizer for a few quid + some scales for around £15 -£20 for the house £8 for pocket.  Be aware Government issue coins have a minimum/maximum weight.

 

[5huggy]

Sorry to hear that you copped for a "duff" un - - but you know what they say!

The best school to learn in - "The School of Hardknocks"

Best that you have at least found this early and you are already the wiser!

 

[HawkHybrid]

On 17/09/2019 at 14:50, dom555 said:

It was only when I purchased a set of scales

 

imo a set of precision scales is a must have

(preferably 0.01g).

I usually stick to year variations of the same

coin so calipers is not as important.

you might need to work on your specific gravity

testing. it's easy to test one of each coin once

you have it set up and can then use the

dimensions of the known good coin to test the

others in it's group.

 

HH

[TonyS]

I’ve just received a 10ozT bar from E-Bay. Passed all the tests I chucked at it.

I will echo what others have said, “check the sellers reputation.”

[stephen160]

i have 6 1oz Silver Funnel Web spider 2015 coins if any one is interested

steve

[dom555]

Update on my fake Spider purchase.
I decided to contact the seller even though it was months since I purchased the coin.
Response from seller was not good, he took a long time to respond and it did not look like I would get my money back.
As this was an ebay purchase but well past the 30day complaint window, I thought I was out of luck.
I was just going to put it all down to a learning experience but the seller had really P..'d me off.
Having done a bit of web searching I found that paypal will deal with complaints up to 6 months after purchase. So I filled out the compaint and waited.
After just 10 days they ruled in my favour. A few days later money back in my bank account. 😀

I just thought I would share the outcome and the bit about paypal complaints up to 6 months after purchase (Even if you purchased on ebay).
I am a lot wiser after this and many thanks to all who offered advice. 👍
Dom