bitbobs2013 of Heanor, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, stole our 1986 Commowealth Games Gold Proof Two Pound Coin photograph to use on eBay, without our permission, to try to sell his own. Totally dishonest. Image theft is endemic on eBay, and most sellers appear not to care whether their buyers are deceived.
High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member’s feedback was 0 with 0% Positive Feedback according to eBay.
eBay Copyright Thieves
Many eBay vendors use our coin photographs to sell inferior quality coins on eBay. These eBay members are dishonest and should be avoided.
We believe eBay profits from IP rights infringements (copyright theft), and does so knowingly, only removing infringing items reluctantly, if at all.
What’s Wrong?
We invest a great deal of time, effort, and cost into creating some of the best photographic coin and gold bar images on the internet. We strongly object when lazy and dishonest people decide to use them without a by your leave or thanks, doing so in competition with us. It is always possible, even likely, that sellers who steal photographs do not own a similar item, and have the intention to totally defraud potential buyers.
Copyright theft is dishonest. We recommend you avoid doing business with dishonest dealers. The vendor is not only cheating us by stealing our copyright images, he is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.
Gold or Brass?
Fools Gold Two Pound Coins on eBay
As we explain on a page of one of our websites, we frequently receive enquiries from people who think they have found gold, when all they have found is brass. Many of these people we fail to convince of the truth, probably because they would prefer to cling on to a hope that they have struck gold. When we see listing like this one on eBay, we strongly suspect that the coin is a brass one, and the deluded seller thinks it might be gold, so goes on to state this as fact in his eBay listing. There are many clues in this case, the seller has stolen a photo, and failed to provide his own photo of the actual coin. He has failed to state that the photo is not his own, or of the actual coin. He has failed to state that the coin is in its original box with a certificate, or to post a photo of the box, state the certificate number. It is our guess that there is no box or certificate because it is in fact a nickel-brass version. the fact that the seller mentions two scratches also makes it unlikely this is a proof coin. What we do not know is whether the seller is stupid, ignorant, or dishonest. All three in combination are a strong possibility!
Stupid, Ignorant, or Dishonest?
The selling price gives us a few clues. As we write this, the intrinsic gold content of a gold two pound coin is about £500, and the seller would be offered close to this amount by many different coin dealers. If the coin were scratched, it would probably only sell for scrap gold, in which case it would still sell for over £400. The item “sold” for £255, so the seller would receive less than £230 after eBay fees, possibly under £220 via PayPal. Why would somebody sell a genuine gold coin for less than half its real value? Possibly it had been stolen, and eBay must be the world’s biggest marketplace for stolen goods.
If the coin does turn out to be brass, we guess the buyer will be disappointed when he receives the coin. Perhaps he should know better. If a buying price sound too good to be true, as here, then it probably isn’t. The buyer could have performed a Google image search to discover that the seller was using our photo, then questioned the seller about whether the photograph was of the actual coin. Many sellers lie or provide evasive and ambiguous answers to such questions, which usually indicates whether they are stupid or dishonest. Many eBay buyers seem very naive, although if they do sometimes get bargain buys, do they ever wonder about the provenance of the item? Habitual e-Bay bargain buyers are possibly aware that they may be buying stolen goods, but do they care? Are they as dishonest as many of the sellers?
Sample Listing
gold 2pound coin
Obverse
The Third Portrait
The obverse (head side) is the third major portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Ralph David Maklouf, FRSA.
It came into use in 1985 and continued until 1997 inclusive, a total of thirteen years.
Reverse
The reverse design is a thistle encircled by a laurel wreath superimposed on the cross of Saint Andrew.
The design is in recognition of the thirteenth Commonwealth Games which were held in Scotland in that year. The 1986 £2 was the first British coin issued to commemorate a sporting event.
Edge
The edge is milled, and has an incuse inscription:-
XIII COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCOTLAND 1986
Technical Specifications
Diameter, Millimetres 28.40
Weight, Grams 15.98
Alloy (Carats) 22
Fineness (Millesimal) 916.6
Actual Gold Content (Grams) 14.63
Actual Gold Content (Troy Ounces) 0.4707
Mintage 3,277
- Seller ID:
- bitbobs2013
- Item Number:
- 181065443218
- Date:
- 20th January, 2013
- Description:
- gold £2 pound coin 1986
- Price:
- £255.00
The seller was asking for a starting price of £49.99.
Even before eBay’s greedy 10% selling fees, and possible PayPal charges, the seller would almost certainly have been much better off selling the coins to us, instead of stealing our photographs.
Username:
bitbobs2013Place:
Heanor, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
