Last updated on July 10th, 2020 at 03:52 pm

Last Updated on July 10, 2020 Posted by Colonial Acres Coins

Being a coin collector has always attracted harmful attention from dishonest traders and auctioneers. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the providers you are getting your precious coins from, especially when shopping online. In order to protect yourself from falling into the trap of scammers, we have some helpful advice from one of the top Canadian coin dealers.

Authentication Papers

If you are not careful enough, it is very easy to get scammed on eBay. When it comes to scammers, they have become increasingly innovative in the ways they present and advertise fake coins. Most commonly, fake coins are distributed out of China and Asia in general, which is why it is good practice to look for sellers with a strong reputation, like Canadian coin dealers.

Often scammers are prepared with proper looking certification for their coins, so this is one aspect you must pay very special attention to. Another important thing to note is that you should never invest too much for coins that lack authentication papers. In order to get a confirmation that the coins you are looking to purchase are not fake, you should examine the authentication documentation carefully, research the person or company who performed the authentication and decide whether you are satisfied with their credibility.

Read the Refund Policies Carefully

To avoid being scammed out of your money, you should always check the return and refund policies. Carefully reading these policies will ensure that even if you get a fake coin you will be able to return it and receive your money back. If the seller does not offer any form of refunds or has very complicated return policies, this should be a major red flag. You are most likely dealing with a scammer.

Be aware, that while eBay does have a return policy in place, it can be up to you to prove the reason for your refund or return. This means you should save any correspondence with the seller to verify that you did not receive the item you were promised. Also, be sure to save a screenshot of the original listing as proof the seller used deceitful language.

Seller Feedback

Another important thing you should check before even considering buying a collector coin on eBay is the seller’s reviews. Of course, you will be looking for positive reviews and feedback, as anything other than that will be a big red flag. However, other than the tone of the reviews, you should also have a look at the number of sales the seller has completed, and correspondingly the number of feedbacks and reviews they have accumulated.

Usually, you would feel more secure about your purchase if your seller is an established presence on eBay and they have a large collection of positive reviews. While you shouldn’t completely disregard newcomers, there is a significantly increased risk that new sellers, whose profiles are not that established may be scammers. There are now browser extensions, which sift through feedback pages and show you the negative and neutral ones, so you can easily see what the weak points of a given seller are.

Participating in coin auctions online, and especially on platforms like eBay is a risky endeavour. Many of the sellers will be truthful and credible, however, there is always someone lurking to make easy money on a careless buyer. Therefore, it is extremely important to act and take precautions before you spend your money on such highly valuable items. Do your research into the coins themselves, into the authentication authority, which signed the certificates, and investigate the seller’s history on the online platform. If you go through all these steps, you are going to be making much more secure purchases in the future. And if you prefer to do your business with reputable numismatists, Colonial Acres is one of the most well respected Canadian coin dealers.