Even though there are thousands of fake coins being auctioned daily on eBay, it doesn’t automatically mean that all coinage sellers are unscrupulous individuals who’re trying to make an easy profit. eBay is a great source to find valuable coins to increase the value of your collection and a good place to find upright sellers. As long as you respect the following tips, you can be certain you won’t get saddled with fake coins for which you end up paying a small fortune.

1. Be extremely careful when you do business with Chinese sellers

Before you place your bid, it is wise to check the basic information of the auctioneer, especially the location where person is shipping the coin from. Regardless of how much you want a certain coin for your collection or how great a deal you think you’re getting, being extremely vigilant with sellers from China and Hong Kong will prevent you from becoming yet another fake coin scam victim.

2. Verify your seller’s partners

As collectors become more familiar with the traditional schemes, scammers are forced to become increasingly cunning. Therefore, if you want to bid of a rare coin that doesn’t have the NGC or the PCGS grading, you should at least check who the seller has been doing business with. Again, if you notice that the auctioneer has done plenty of transactions with people from China and Hong Kong, it is advisable to refrain from bidding. Simply click the “Feedback as a buyer” tab and learn if the coins for auction are bought from China.

3. Always pay with a credit card

Irrespective of whether or not you use PayPal for most your online transactions, you should always pay for coins you purchase on eBay with a credit card. The advantage of using a credit card – credit, not debit – stems from the fact that you’ll have the final say when you wire the cash. Furthermore, credit card transactions can be charged back as a last resort, so you can avoid falling victim to counterfeit coin sellers even after you realize the coinage is not legit. While both PayPal and eBay have several buyer protection plans embedded, none of them can override a credit card chargeback.

4. Don’t close the deal before you get a guarantee of their authenticity

A classic trick fake coin sellers employ lately is to pretend they got the coin from a deceased relative or bought it from an estate sell, while obviously forgetting to provide a guarantee of authenticity. Don’t fall for these tall tales, as they are nothing more than a disclaimer of responsibility from the authenticity or the grade of the coinage.

5. Remember that raw coins are not worth more than $50

If you’re new to numismatics, then know that a raw coin is a term used for coinage that hasn’t been graded by reliable services such as the PCGS or NGC. Even though the seller might place the coin in a professional plastic holder, you have no way of telling that you’re looking at the real thing from photos only. Therefore, unless the auctioneer provides details regarding the grading service he worked with, you should avoid paying more than $50 for a raw coin.