What really grinds my gears

[JayAg47]

1. Dealers who don't remove sold items among their inventory, and don't have an option to filter it out.

2. Removing how much the item was sold.

Thank you

Please share your pet peeves. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by JayAg47

[John Conduitt]

5 minutes ago, JayAg47 said:

1. Dealers who don't remove sold items among their inventory, and don't have an option to filter it out.

Worse when it is sold and doesn’t say so.

[John Conduitt]

Auctions that are not online at all.

Lack of attributions when it isn’t hard.

Coins with no provenance.

Tax rules that stop coins being sold to me.

Markups (and demand) for slabbed coins, especially when there’s no need for a slab.

Staples in flips sent in the post.

Coin storage for coins less than 16mm or thicker than usual.

I must hate collecting 😂 It explains why I go back to the same dealers and auctions time and again.

Edited July 1, 2022 by John Conduitt

[kirispupis]

The following are my pet peeves:

• Artificial toning of coins
• Deliberate misattribution. I can understand dealers getting a reference or mint wrong, but don't deliberately misrepresent a coin that was long ago proven to not be what you say it is. A strong example are those high-priced bronzes from Nektanebo II.

 

[Kaleun96]

Dealers that keep "bumping" their coins on Vcoins or MA-Shops so they frequently appear in the "new" listings. Wallin Mynt, I'm looking at you 👀

[seth77]

Sellers who:

1. do not remove their sold items from their current offer

2. do not get in touch themselves after you have paid for an already sold items

3. after a week of no contact, the representative of the platform where he has his inventory posted contacts you to say your payment would be reimbursed

[Finn235]

I once bought several medium/highly priced coins from an auction house (we're talking $50-200 coins here) and they stuffed all of them in the SAME 2x2. Jostling against each other.

Thankfully no damage, but come on. Flips cost 50 cents each.

[Curtisimo]

Dealers who slab their coins and then lose the ephemera. Lots of provenances have been lost that way. 

[Spaniard]

Fake sand patinas!

[Sulla80]

pet peeves:

- buyer's fees over 20%

- slow shipping - at least above a certain threshold for total sale, just ship fastest possible (what does the buyers fee cover after all)?

[Kali]

Coins that are shipped/wrapped in layers and layers of packing tape, you need a chainsaw to even begin to start it.

Plastic flips that are stapled shut, especially around the coin or opening where the coin slides out.

Packages shipped but never sent the tracking number.

Charging $10+ to ship, usps label shows $3 was paid, no insurance.

Seller shows they're located in France or something, item ships from Bulgaria instead, Uh Oh!!!

Edited July 1, 2022 by Kali

[Kamnaskires]

I'm with my buddy from Spain, above:

 

The fact that the management at VCoins apparently does not see any correlation between following dealers' pledges, from the VCoins Code of Ethics, and the obvious, chronic application of phony patinas - i.e. inauthentic patinas - by several of its stores*. Or, more to the point, that it would seem they don't care.

 

10. I will vouch for the authenticity of items I sell...

13. I will not intentionally misrepresent items I sell...

 

*One of whom has earned a spot on Warren Esty's fakesellers list due to the practice.

[kirispupis]

6 minutes ago, Kamnaskires said:

The fact that the management at VCoins apparently does not see any correlation between following dealers' pledges, from the VCoins Code of Ethics, and the obvious, chronic application of phony patinas - i.e. inauthentic patinas - by several of its stores*. Or, more to the point, that it would seem they don't care.

 

10. I will vouch for the authenticity of items I sell...

13. I will not intentionally misrepresent items I sell...

Keep in mind this is my biggest pet peeve, too, but technically the seller/Zurqieh is abiding by the above. From what everyone has said, their items are genuine. They also clearly show the applied patina. In their case, I've noticed the rare coin with no patina has the text "as found." So, in other words - the assumption is every coin has a fake patina unless they say so.

My frustration with VCoins is that clearly some of the non-coin antiques are fake. I once saw an item identified as a "Roman era thimble" and since my father-in-law is a tailor, I thought it would make a nice gift since it wasn't too expensive. After research, I learned that as far as we know, they didn't use thimbles (or we haven't found any). The thimble was a much later invention, and the particular one I was looking at was mass-produced in the late 1800's/early 1900's. That's the only antique I've bothered to investigate there, but I suspect many others are also fake.

[Finn235]

Adding to my above:

- Ebay sellers who claim to "combine shipping" and then knock $30 shipping for 6 items down to $27, and only when you ask. Then it arrives in a first class, uninsured polymailer.

- Once had a buyer open a claim against me because he "didn't receive" a coin. I had no proof of course, so I refunded the $15. Then after getting the refund, he listed it for sale on his ebay store. Ebay wouldn't help.

- Once had a buyer who routinely sent lowball offers for coins. Usually with messages along the lines of "Come on, we both know its only worth $XX." Finally accepted one, only to see him immediately list it with my pictures for double my original asking price.

- Once sold a very nice Trebonianus Gallus ant for $40ish to holding-history. He had it slabbed, and of course it came back MS, and then proceeded to sell for $300.

I really don't know why I even bother with Ebay, sometimes.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Finn235

[ewomack]

A few of mine:

• Dealers at live shows who try to gauge your income, and then your worthiness of interaction, from your appearance. I once attended a larger local show and was very surprised to see a display of hammered coins in one of the corners. I wasn't dressed too elegantly and I never dress up for shows, I go to relax and enjoy myself. At this particular show, I wore less than perfect jeans and a t-shirt, probably with some old obscure 19th century baseball team logo on it. As I approached the empty hammered coin booth I saw eyes look at me and then look away immediately. All of the dealers at the booth, I think there were three, had on "business" or "business casual" dress. They remained silent. No one said anything to me even as I looked intently at the coins for maybe 5 minutes. No one made eye contact, even when I looked up at them and scanned their faces one by one. No one looked back or said anything. Not only that, no one else visited the booth during this time. They had a coin I would have actually been interesting in looking at. I could afford it. But I decided to walk away because my existence wasn't even acknowledged. I was the only one there. I was one and they were three. I felt like a pariah. They might have actually had a sale, but I didn't want to purchase anything from people who ignored me outright. And I don't need a ticker-tape parade. A simple "hello" would have sufficed. Of course, I'm assuming that they judged me on my appearance, but I couldn't think of other reasons why they would have completely ignored my obvious interest. Maybe they were just snooty? Maybe I should have just broken out into Latin? I've had similar, but less intense, experiences with dealers who seemed to brush me aside until they saw my wad of cash. Only then did they begin treating me like a human being. Thankfully, it's not common, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine.
   
• Dealers who assume that you're uneducated on your subject matter. I was perusing Japanese coins at another local show and the dealer held up a slabbed Meiji dragon coin and said "This is a one year type coin for this series" with confidence. He was referring to the Taisho dragon, only minted in 1914 or 大正三年. I said "oh! Is that the Taisho?" and his face immediately sank. I looked at the coin, clearly saw that it was a Meiji and handed it back to him. "Nope, that's a Meiji," I said. He looked at me with puppy dog eyes, which I interpreted, maybe incorrectly, as guilt, and said, with much less confidence, "you know... now that I think of it... maybe it's the one after this that is the one year type." He wasn't even right about that. Had I remembered, I should have known better, because the same dealer had earlier tried to sell me "a Sen" that was not any Sen that I had ever seen. He likely didn't expect me to know any Japanese, possibly because I in no way look Japanese.
   
• Dealers who become grumpy or distant the second they think that you're not going to purchase something. At another show, I saw a small cabinet of ancients. Among them sat a Marcus Aurelius silver coin. The dealer greeted me, talked to me, was extremely pleasant and fun to to talk to. I forget what we discussed, but we spoke for a few minutes about ancients. I asked to see the Marcus Aurelius and he handed it to me, beaming. The obverse looked pretty good, but the reverse was a bit of a mess, so I said "thank you" and handed it back. He immediately clammed up, looked upset and didn't look at me or speak another word to me. I walked away knowing I would not visit his booth again. Though I wasn't going to purchase that particular coin, for all the dealer knew I was on my "first round" where I look at a bunch of things before deciding what to buy. I could have easily returned in 15 minutes and bought it. I still don't understand his reaction, but his entire demeanor changed drastically the second I handed the coin back to him.

[seth77]

I often think that these types of behavior, plus many others ranging from snobbery to downright trying to scam people, is a reason why many people are turned off coin collecting. And afterwards you see very emphatic posts on forums regarding how the 'hobby is dying woe me'.

[Kali]

38 minutes ago, seth77 said:

 And afterwards you see very emphatic posts on forums regarding how the 'hobby is dying woe me'.

That's what makes buying coins online much more pleasant. Don't have to worry about being judged.

I have gone to a few coin shows and I stick out like a sore thumb because of the color of my skin. I too don't dress in "high end" fashion, but comfortable since those convention centers can get very hot. I've had plenty of the scanning at me, being watched closely as if daggers are ready to be thrown. No thank you.

The dealers I have actually bought from were pleasant, answered any questions I may have had & were happy to make a deal if you bought multiple items, no matter the cost. Those are the ones that earn my return, but it's few and far between. And since Covid, I haven't gone near a show since nor do I think I may go again.

[ambr0zie]

For me there is only one annoying thing - delays in sending.

There are houses who send the package the next working day after the invoice was paid. I don't expect this level of performance for everyone.

But when a house sends a package after 7-10 days I wonder why do they offer expensive shipping. Insurance is the same for normal post at least here.

[El Cazador]

5 hours ago, Kaleun96 said:

Dealers that keep "bumping" their coins on Vcoins or MA-Shops so they frequently appear in the "new" listings. Wallin Mynt, I'm looking at you 👀

100% can relate- very annoying 

[DonnaML]

What Zurqieh does in terms of applying artificial "desert" patinas to LRB's doesn't seem as annoying to me -- perhaps because it's more easily reversible -- as what Athena Numismatics does in applying an artificial "bluish" patina, using some sort of chemical process, to its large inventory of perfectly good silver denarii. I know from experience that that's reversible as well, but not as easily. You can find several posts of mine on this topic on Coin Talk. It's really frustrating to scroll through coin after coin that I might want to buy that this dealer has basically ruined.

I was also incredibly annoyed when I purchased a Roman Republican denarius through the Ancient & Medieval Coins Facebook sales group from an "amateur" dealer in Germany, based on the photo of the coin on his personal website -- he was supposedly selling off his collection.  But the coin he sent me was a different specimen of the same type, not as nice as the one in the photo. He claimed that the photo was only an "example," and refused to give me a refund.  As I paid by bank transfer via Wise.com, I had no recourse (unlike paying via credit card or Paypal), and he eventually stopped answering my emails.  Fortunately, I was able to recoup most of what I paid by re-selling the coin on V-Coins through John Anthony, but I am still angry when I think about what happened. That's the last time I pay someone outside the USA by bank transfer (through Wise or otherwise) who isn't a reputable dealer or auction house, or someone I otherwise know and trust. True, paying by Paypal or credit card is more expensive, but at least you have some recourse if it turns out that  the seller is dishonest. (Or the coin never arrives and the sender didn't insure the package. I paid Cayon Subastas via Wise for the coin I bought in February that never arrived, but the package was insured and I eventually did get a refund.) 

 

[Theodosius]

Finding out from an expert that a coin you bought is a fake. Returning it to the dealer, getting a refund, and then seeing the coin for sale in an auction a few weeks later.

[jfp7375]

2 minutes ago, Theodosius said:

Finding out from an expert that a coin you bought is a fake. Returning it to the dealer, getting a refund, and then seeing the coin for sale in an auction a few weeks later.

wow, that's a bad one. that dealer deserves to be identified IMO, although I guess its possible they sold it as a forgery and it was then put to auction by someone else...

[Alwin]

These days :
Deceptive photos of coins in general. For exemple: dead-cleaned coins that seem to have a nice patina, scratches or other defects largely "erased" on the image, deceptive images that round off coins that are not...

 

[Theodosius]

Posting a new coin in a forum and having a self-proclaimed expert tell you in gory detail why it's a fake. Sending it to David Sear and spending over $100 on postage and authentication fees, but finding out it is authentic and a very nice example of the type according to David. The coin being authentic was awesome, risking it in the mail there and back and waiting months was not.

[Ryro]

I suppose we're supposed to gripe about dealers and auction houses. Buuuut, as a buyer who finds a way to attend any and all auctions, regardless of time zone, that have coins I NEED, I dislike all the prebidding! It Jacks up the prices of the coins so that, before its even showtime, I don't even dream about bidding on them. 

This, "I put in my highest bid and see what happens weeks later.", is a baaaaaaad idea. 

What folks with this mindset don't know is that the dealers and auction houses can see exactly how much you put your max bid in for. We've seen dozens of houses, top level houses have been guilty of it again and again. And you've got to be niave as a baby on his/her mama's teet to think that they all don't and some just work out more than others. 

Oh, and dealers that overcharge on shipping. Yes, packaging is a real thing and a bit of a pain. But to make $20 on it (unless it comes with bonus items or in a really cool presentation) on top of what the mail charges do this. Tell em Peter: