Buyer beware should really be Seller beware

This is a warning for anyone selling items on Craigslist.  I feel obligated to post this since I've been saying such great things about the website lately.  I also realize this isn't a sale or purchase of coins, precious metals or anything like it.  But a scam isn't limited to just cars, and if I can help one person avoid being taken advantage of...I'm happy to do it.

Below you will find 3 emails relating to two different people interested in a car I was selling.  I've never sold a car before so for me the process in an of itself was a little confusing.  But I'm happy to say I didn't allow myself to be taken advantage of by the following Craigslist scammers.

Craigslist Scammer Example #1.  Hamilton Lopez (Hamiltonlopez14@gmail.com)

Why I believe this is a scam attempt?
1.  The person is asking to buy my car at my asking price Sight-Unseen
2.  They want to buy the vehicle using a non-cash form of payment. In this case Paypal.
3.  The buyer's grammar isn't perfect (not exactly a deal-breaker, but still something to point out)

What happened next?
I asked this person if there was anyone they could send money to that could meet me to make the sale.  They told me it's not possible and they wanted to keep it a surprise for their "Dad" so no family could be involved.  I said okay and goodbye.

After a quick search on the web I found that other people were being contacted by this person for vehicles many many states away from mine.  So this person has been trying to scam people on craigslist since at least April of 2012. (link to the other site: http://www.crownvic.us/forum/showthread.php?13863-It-s-in-your-mouth!!!-*WW*-*WW*/page402).  You will see that the scammer's email message to me is identical to the one sent back in April.


Craigslist Scammer Example #2.  Paul L. Boone (Boone.Paull@googlemail.com)

Why I believe this is a scam attempt?
1.  The person is asking to buy my car at my asking price Sight-Unseen, and doesn't need to ask any additional questions about it.
2.  They want to buy the vehicle using a non-cash form of payment. In this case Paypal.

Again similar MO to the first and sounds way too sketchy to be true.

After a quick search on the web I found that other people were being contacted by this person for vehicles many many states away from mine.  So this person has been trying to scam people on craigslist since at least July of 2012. (link to the other site: Why I believe this is a scam attempt?
1.  The person is asking to buy my car at my asking price Sight-Unseen
2.  They want to buy the vehicle using a non-cash form of payment. In this case Paypal.
3.  There buyer's grammar isn't perfect (not exactly a deal-breaker, but still something to point out)

After a quick search on the web I found that other people were being contacted by this person for vehicles many many states away from mine.  So this person has been trying to scam people on craigslist since at least July of 2012. (link to the other site: http://www.scamdex.com/ScamTipReports/3618).  You can see that the scammer's email message to me is identical to the one sent to Craiglist sellers in Texas and Georgia.


What's the big deal?  Aren't you protected through Paypal???
If someone puts money into your account and you sell that item to the buyer you would think that you are covered through paypal seller protection.  I wasn't sure so I called paypal to find the answer.  Their hotline told me that as a seller you are protected against fraud and faulty claims made by the buyers.  That is to say paypal will investigate the claim before stripping you of the funds you just received.

The hotline didn't tell me the following ways Seller Protection can be voided:

When you are not covered:

• Items are picked up locally or delivered in person.
• You sell services, intangible items, or digital goods.
• You receive multiple payments for the same item.
• You've received a claim or a chargeback, and the shipped item is found to be significantly different than it was described.
  Example: You describe a new laptop, but send a used one.
• PayPal Direct Payments
• Virtual Terminal Payments
• PayPal Business Payments
• Items that are not shipped to the recipient shipping address on the transaction details page. If you originally ship the item to the shipping address but the item is later redirected to a different address, you will not be eligible for PayPal Seller protection. We therefore recommend not using a shipping service that is arranged by the buyer, so that you will be able to provide valid proof of shipping and delivery.

Further things to be aware of:

4.4 Risk of Reversals, Chargebacks and Claims. When you receive a payment, you are liable to PayPal for the full amount of the payment sent to you plus any Fees if the payment is later invalidated for any reason. This means that, in addition to any other liability, you will be responsible for the amount of the payment sent by the sender, plus the applicable Fees listed in Section 8 (Fees) of this Agreement if you lose a Claim or a Chargeback, or if there is a Reversal of the payment. You agree to allow PayPal to recover any amounts due to PayPal by debiting your Balance. If there are insufficient funds in your Balance to cover your liability, you agree to reimburse PayPal through other means. If a sender of a payment files a Chargeback, the credit card issuer, not PayPal, will determine who wins the Chargeback.

So just something to consider when using Paypal and selling or delivering said items to local buyers.  You will not be protected when a buyer has their credit card cancel a transaction.

Not trying to be paranoid, there's plenty of good people using Craigslist and Paypal.  

But when things don't seem right, remember the old saying, "Cash is King".

Great Deals On Silver Can Still Be Found On Craigslist

Even as silver is soaring, people are still selling it well below melt.  For anyone living near Concord NH this sale was posted on Craigslist yesterday 9/10/12.  10 oz of silver selling for $225.  A link to the ad can be found below the picture.



I have 10 silver coins. All in vey good condition. They all look uncirculated to me . Just looking to sell the lot of them together. All of them seem to by 1 oz each. I can email more details as needed as well as additional pictures. 

2002 Williams duke of Normandy
1993 Mexico
2002 franc
2000 Elizabeth 2
2001 Australia 
2002 American liberty ( slightly brown on one edge)
2002 lira
2000 Canada maple leaf (a little brown on one edge)
1987 American liberty
1994 Mexico ( a little brown on the edge) 



http://nh.craigslist.org/clt/3238935536.html

Canada Will Stop Releasing Pennies in 2013

Good news for Canadian Penny Collectors

Yesterday (July 30, 2012) the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) announced that their decision to continue distributing the penny until February 4, 2013.  The original kill date for the Canadian penny was set for sometime in September of 2012. (Click here: Canada Kills Penny to read the previous post on this issue).  This extension allows banks and shops and the general public more time to prepare for this transition.  Shops will need to train their employees to be ready to round to the nearest 0 or 5 cents.

This extension also allows penny collectors more time to continue sorting until February 2013.  This is just about 6 months away.  The pennies death clock has been reset.  So take advantage of this, and continue to hoard those coins!!!

Here is a link to the article where I read the news: CBC.ca/Penny-story

A Refreshing Craigslist Experience

I believe I am becoming more and more cynical when it comes to finding anything decent being sold on Craigslist.  All too often, I find myself emailing a seller and agreeing to their asking price only to find that they are now selling to a highest bidder because of the high amount of emails they received.  Even worse is when you agree to a set price only to learn that the seller was offered a higher price, and you can either match the "new" price or it's going to the mystery bidder.

I miss the days when the first email agreeing to the asking price won the item.

Anyways my cynicism was dealt a mighty blow last week when I stumbled across the Craigslist post below:

This is a large lot of US silver coins. 11 liberty/peace dollars, 134 half dollars, 107 quarters, and 315 dimes. All pre 1964. I'm also adding a 2 uncirculated silver liberty dollars, and a bunch of buffalo nickels. 
please note that the coins are a mix of loose and in books - the books are not full - the coin totals are as above. If I go by the silver melt value (as of june 8th) this should go for $2820. 

What was it that made this particular Craigslist post so special?  I'll tell you.  First, the seller knew the approximate melt value of the coins, and still was offering the collection at a discount (approximately 18x face value).  Second, the seller agreed to sell to the first person to email her.  I was the second person to email and was promised the collection if the other person failed to buy them.  However, at around 18x face value I didn't stand much of a chance of getting the coins.

I think anyone would feel pretty salty about missing such a wonderful deal on a very nice looking coin collection, especially if you were off by one email.  But at the same time I was happy to see moral and ethical behavior hasn't been completely drained from Craigslist.

It would have been extra nice to interact with this seller and also win the coins, but since I couldn't have both, I'll settle for the refreshing experience and hopefully snag a collection like this in the future.

Happy coin roll hunting!

Canada Gets Rid Of The Penny - Fall 2012

Big News regarding cheap copper
The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) will officially stop releasing pennies in the fall of 2012.  In just over six months time, people will start to have to start rounding their to the nearest "0 or 5 cent".

If you are a coin collector or invest in pennies for their copper, I would suggest picking up the pace.  These next few months will go by fast and who knows if you'll be able to order pennies come September.

It isn't clear to me, if banks will be able to distribute these coins after the new policy starts.  I believed the RCM would start culling copper cents as part of it's recycling program over this option.  The RCM has been culling their Nickel and Silver coins for some time now.

It will be interesting to see if Canadian banks start receiving requests from their customers to order large numbers of pennies through this summer.  Buy them now while you still can!

I have copied the link to the CNN story here: CNN Canadian Penny Story

We would love to hear your opinions, please leave your comments regarding this topic.  

Beware of Ebay items that sound too good to be true

Machine wrapped roll with Indian
Head Penny showing on one side.

We [at CWS] have seen a lot of listings for rolls of coins popping up on Ebay that have rare or uncommon coins showing on both ends.  Sellers seem to have unlimited numbers of original bank wrapped rolls of wheat and indian head cent pennies showing on the end, which can give buyers a false impression of what is to come inside that roll.  There are already ebay guides on the subject, (Beware of Buying Unsearched Rolls), that have been generated to help buyers avoid getting misled.

Bank wrapped Half dollar roll

Over the last 20 years I have been searching penny rolls.  I have found only one roll with an indian penny on an end.  I'm not trying to say that every such listing is a fake, but you really need to be careful.  

I can recall seeing ads on craigslist.org with people trying to buy old coin rolls.  By that I mean empty and old paper coin rolls.  It seemed odd to me until I found out how inexpensive roll crimping machines were.  These machines seal the roll and would give the appearance of being an original roll. 

Machine wrapped rolls of a Nickel roll with a Silver 

Nickel showing (left) and a Penny roll with an 

Indian Head Cent showing on the end.

We understand that there are truly unsearched rolls, and there are many fakes.  We recommend anyone interested in buying these types of listings pay attention to the details and also check to see the feedback for similar items sold.

Bottom line, if a seller lists a roll that they have filled and machine wrapped they will probably not tell you this.  A roll with 2 Indian cent commons on the ends and 48 common wheat pennies inside will carry an enormous premium. 

Not everyone seller on ebay is so shady.  But we would recommend using caution before buying any coin rolls on ebay that are listed as: unsearched, or original. When in doubt you can also send the seller a question about the roll. 

We hope this helps prevents some people from being misled and ultimately taken advantage of.

Will the US Penny and Nickel see a Makeover in 2012?

The US Penny and Nickel may see another change to their metallic composition.  Since 2010 the Mint has been 'researching' alternative metals for US coins.  Recently President Obama's administration asked congress to change the metals going into the Nickel and Penny.

US Copper Pennies minted 1982 and before, valued over 2.5 cents a piece.

All US nickels are valued at just under 6 cents.  And Pennies minted 1982 and before because of their copper content are valued at approximately 2.5 cents.  Many people are beginning to stockpile these coins in hopes that they can be melted and sold for a profit.