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PLEASE NOTE: The essay which used to appear on this page in its entirety has been moved to several new pages. Use the table of contents below and the forward and backward buttons that appear on each page to navigate through the essay.
I have been a numismatic collector since 1986, at which time I was 11 years old. I first became a member of eBay in 1999. I upgraded from being an exclusive buyer to an occasional seller a couple of years later. In 2004, I was given a lifetime suspension for breaking one of eBay's holiest of rules which prohibits members from publishing the contact information of other members. Having said that, anything and everything I have written below will appear to be heavily biased, written by someone with a chip on his shoulder and seeking retribution against an obvious target. If you can get your cerebral cortex past this technicality, allow me to explain my purpose for having written the essay below. I wrote the bulk of this essay a couple of years before my suspension, and I have periodically added content to it as I continued learning from my experiences. Being in contact with several collectors who are still eBay members has allowed me to continue amassing knowledge to this day. My existence on eBay was tumultuous as my own ideas of how internet auctions should work and how eBay actually works conflicted. I used to be a strong proponent for complete honesty in numismatics. I have since realized that eBay is not a tool for promoting honesty. It is merely a dumping ground for people looking to unload their belongings in exchange for quick money, and as such, it is a bargain-hunter's paradise, not a place where serious collectors can get realistic prices for their rare and expensive items. Consequently, most numismatic collectors and dealers SHOULD NOT be on eBay. However, most people have a higher adaptive capacity than I do, meaning that they learn to live with how eBay functions. On the other hand, I always sought ways to get around eBay's deficiencies and corruption, and that got me into trouble several times before the curtain finally fell on me. Since my suspension, I've continued maintaining my own commercial numismatic site and I've joined other internet auction sites, some of which I like and respect MUCH MORE than I ever did with eBay. I don't miss much about eBay because that site was all wrong for a private collector and part-time seller like me.
Whether you are an eBay novice or someone who thinks they know everything about numismatics, you're bound to find something of interest in the following discussion. I make no warranty of anything I say below. You're free to use this information and share it however and with whomever you want. While my own personal preference would be to see eBay disappear from the face of the Earth, I'm not about to stop anyone from using eBay now or in the future. In fact, I encourage you to compare your experiences to mine. Get out there and be the best (or worst) that you can be, ha ha. (July 2005)
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