eBay's Coin Certification Policy

Complaining is really easy to do and I know that this blog is filled with it. But that was because I needed an outlet for my frustrations with coinage issues. :-) HOWEVER, it is nice to talk about something where you’re not complaining. My attempt to do so lies with eBay’s recent change in their rules. They have stated that if you’re selling a coin that has not been encapsulated by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), Independent Coin Grading (ICG), National Guaranty Corporation (NGC) or the American Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS, the acronym being especially important since it hasn’t belonged to the ANA in a long time) then you can’t mention a numerical grade in the title of the listing, you may not reference a grading company or price guide at all (title or description) and you can’t state a dollar value. These policies may be found on eBay.

To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about these new regulations. In Coin World’s Letters to the Editor, it seems as though there are many people on both sides of the isle and I plan on presenting arguments for and against.

Those who are for it like the fact that eBay is aggressively going after fraudulent listings to protect buyers from dishonest sellers. This is done by making it more difficult to pass off a cheaper coin by putting it in an official looking holder and calling it “certified.” I’ve never had problems with this but that is because I’ve purchased three coins off eBay and all of them were still in their original government packaging. But I could see being upset at buying what I thought was an MS-61 Eagle only to find that it was XF-45 at best and had been cleaned.

On the other hand, those upset with the new policy argue that eBay has chatted with the the Professional Numismatists Guild and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets and determined that only four certification/grading services are “worthy” of being truly considered certification/grading services. I’ve read that the owner of Soverign Entities Grading Services was exceedingly irritated because a customer retracted a large submission (multiple coins) because the coins could not be sold on eBay as a certified coin.

I can see both sides here but I think that what eBay should do is work with the American Numismatic Association to come up with a list of criteria that a grading service must meet in order to be “genuine” in the eyes of eBay and the rest of the numismatic community. Just a thought.