eBay grading hurting hobby??

Overgraded, misdescribed notes on eBay are hurting the paper money
collecting hobby.. HERE is why: Occasionaly, I receive a package of
notes in the mail from a seller who wants to get rid of them. Many
times, the notes are accompanied by a list, with GRADES for each note.
I have noticed, over the past 4 or 5 years, that the grading is
becoming worse and worse. I think eBay has played a BIG role in this.
Just take a look at the items in Confederate and Obsolete sections...
I would wager that at LEAST 1/3 of the notes are overgraded. No big
deal, you say?? Well ~ when a new collector bids/buys one of these
notes as a VF+, and its actually a low grade F, for instance, he is
screwed... He may not know this, as he/she does not know how to grade
paper, but assumes, because the SELLER SAID its a VF+, its a VF+.
When/if the buyer decides to dispose of his notes, as happens
sometimes, and he finds out the potential buyer does not agree with
the grades, thus the values, of his notes, he will think the potential
buyer is the jerk, NOT THE ASSHOLE who sold him the overgraded notes
on eBay. You have sellers on eBay who DONT HAVE A CLUE as to how to
grade paper money, and many DONT CARE if they grade/describe it
correctly or not. Hell, some of these guys sell auto parts or swimming
pools, as well as paper money. Now, WITH these overgraded notes, they
usually add such terms as "RARE", or "GEM" on common notes that might
grade XF, if they would take a moment to look at the reverse of the
uniface note, where, in many cases, the flaws are more easily seen..
Recently, I had one ASSHOLE, who just happens to be a PCDA dealer,
give me a ration of crap, because I told him that his describing a
Very Common NJ note as RARE was misleading. His arrogant answer was
what I expected from a PCDA dealer, as most of them think they are
experts. How they ever became "Professional"CDA dealers, I will never
know. Most should stick to selling bullion or coins, where they can
use photograde, etc. OK, enough for this time. Comments? (I am sure
there will be a few... hahaha....) Hasta La Vista... Gene

You are 100% correct but if someone can't grade notes they should not be
buying them, they should of course be able to trust a professional
dealer to sell them an accurately graded note.

If the paper dealers you speak of are not careful the selling of
overgraded notes will result in the ultimate horror, look away
now.......slabbed notes.

In the UK experienced note collectors know who the regular note
overgrading dealers are but new collectors don't, all the more reason to
join the IBNS and mix with fellow collectors.

The meetings in London are I believe mainly populated by dealers (bad)
but the meetings in Edinburgh are 99% collectors attending (good).
Billy


Gene wrote:

Overgraded, misdescribed notes on eBay are hurting the paper money
collecting hobby.. HERE is why: Occasionaly, I receive a package of
notes in the mail from a seller who wants to get rid of them. Many
times, the notes are accompanied by a list, with GRADES for each note.
I have noticed, over the past 4 or 5 years, that the grading is
becoming worse and worse. I think eBay has played a BIG role in this.
Just take a look at the items in Confederate and Obsolete sections...
I would wager that at LEAST 1/3 of the notes are overgraded. No big
deal, you say?? Well ~ when a new collector bids/buys one of these
notes as a VF+, and its actually a low grade F, for instance, he is
screwed... He may not know this, as he/she does not know how to grade
paper, but assumes, because the SELLER SAID its a VF+, its a VF+.
When/if the buyer decides to dispose of his notes, as happens
sometimes, and he finds out the potential buyer does not agree with
the grades, thus the values, of his notes, he will think the potential
buyer is the jerk, NOT THE ASSHOLE who sold him the overgraded notes
on eBay. You have sellers on eBay who DONT HAVE A CLUE as to how to
grade paper money, and many DONT CARE if they grade/describe it
correctly or not. Hell, some of these guys sell auto parts or swimming
pools, as well as paper money. Now, WITH these overgraded notes, they
usually add such terms as "RARE", or "GEM" on common notes that might
grade XF, if they would take a moment to look at the reverse of the
uniface note, where, in many cases, the flaws are more easily seen..
Recently, I had one ASSHOLE, who just happens to be a PCDA dealer,
give me a ration of crap, because I told him that his describing a
Very Common NJ note as RARE was misleading. His arrogant answer was
what I expected from a PCDA dealer, as most of them think they are
experts. How they ever became "Professional"CDA dealers, I will never
know. Most should stick to selling bullion or coins, where they can
use photograde, etc. OK, enough for this time. Comments? (I am sure
there will be a few... hahaha....) Hasta La Vista... Gene

Ok Gene

I agree with you that there's so much rubbish on ebay
plus overgraded rubbish,that's one of the main reasons I've almost
stopped selling on ebay.

Just not worth it any more.

I sell 99% from my web site now, mostly with buyers from ebay
who have stopped buying on ebay.

Saves me fees Lots of fees as I once reach silver power seller status


--
Yours

Michael @ www.worldwidecoins.co.uk
mirror site www.numismatic.biz
email michael at above
World Banknotes & Coins
http://members.ebay.co.uk/aboutme/worldwidecoins/


"Gene" wrote in message
s.com...
Overgraded, misdescribed notes on eBay are hurting the paper money
collecting hobby.. HERE is why: Occasionaly, I receive a package of
use photograde, etc. OK, enough for this time. Comments? (I am sure
there will be a few... hahaha....) Hasta La Vista... Gene

Also what I see are common contemporary notes which are the commonest of all
being sold as "rare" "scarce" and with a high shipping.
The collector will soon lose interest if this keeps hapenning on a regular
basis.



"Gene" wrote in message
s.com...
Overgraded, misdescribed notes on eBay are hurting the paper money
collecting hobby.. HERE is why: Occasionaly, I receive a package of
notes in the mail from a seller who wants to get rid of them. Many
times, the notes are accompanied by a list, with GRADES for each note.
I have noticed, over the past 4 or 5 years, that the grading is
becoming worse and worse. I think eBay has played a BIG role in this.
Just take a look at the items in Confederate and Obsolete sections...
I would wager that at LEAST 1/3 of the notes are overgraded. No big
deal, you say?? Well ~ when a new collector bids/buys one of these
notes as a VF+, and its actually a low grade F, for instance, he is
screwed... He may not know this, as he/she does not know how to grade
paper, but assumes, because the SELLER SAID its a VF+, its a VF+.
When/if the buyer decides to dispose of his notes, as happens
sometimes, and he finds out the potential buyer does not agree with
the grades, thus the values, of his notes, he will think the potential
buyer is the jerk, NOT THE ASSHOLE who sold him the overgraded notes
on eBay. You have sellers on eBay who DONT HAVE A CLUE as to how to
grade paper money, and many DONT CARE if they grade/describe it
correctly or not. Hell, some of these guys sell auto parts or swimming
pools, as well as paper money. Now, WITH these overgraded notes, they
usually add such terms as "RARE", or "GEM" on common notes that might
grade XF, if they would take a moment to look at the reverse of the
uniface note, where, in many cases, the flaws are more easily seen..
Recently, I had one ASSHOLE, who just happens to be a PCDA dealer,
give me a ration of crap, because I told him that his describing a
Very Common NJ note as RARE was misleading. His arrogant answer was
what I expected from a PCDA dealer, as most of them think they are
experts. How they ever became "Professional"CDA dealers, I will never
know. Most should stick to selling bullion or coins, where they can
use photograde, etc. OK, enough for this time. Comments? (I am sure
there will be a few... hahaha....) Hasta La Vista... Gene

I agree that over grading has become rampant on ebay. But then again the people
that say "I don't know how to grade" or "grade for yourself" are almost as bad.

I recently purchased a low priced obsolete. It looked Fine+ but when I got it,
it is so limp that it feels like it was printed on tissue paper.

I am a collector, not an investor or seller. To me the technical grade doesn't
bother me so much as what it looks like. Most of my notes grade XF. But some of
the ones that I don't intend to upgrade would probably grade VF to VF+, because
they look "good enough" for me. I do agree that it is frustrating to look an AU
with four visible folds though.

As an aside just what does "rare" and "scarce" mean? I collect large blue FRN.
Almost all the FR#s have less than 100 notes in the census. Less than 100 would
certainly be considered rare or scarce in most hobbies, but what are the
"offical" numbers for these terms in the paper money hobby?