What's so special about this note that commanded almost $600

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TPGs don't sell their own notes.

BCS and PCGS don't acknowledge errors.

The point is, I don't have to believe the note in question is either an error or worth $600 for me to believe that the seller has a right to sell it and a buyer has the right to buy it at the price offered.  Remember, it takes two people to make a high result, so two different people placed bids of at least $577.  Nobody who starts this hobby comes in with expertise.  Everyone makes mistakes at first.  If someone blames everyone else for their mistakes, they will never learn personal responsibility and maybe they should consider taking up a less expensive hobby where they can't do much harm to themselves.

I agree with the points mmars has made... as a seller you make a listing... this person started the auction at $1... there already is an assumed risk the item will sell and the seller doesn't take a loss.

I don't think anyone can fault the seller... they listed an item and people bid on it... if it's an honest auction the seller has no effect on the final price. This means that there were at least two people willing to pay close to this dollar amount for an error.

I personally didn't think anyone here is blaming the seller for doing something wrong here.. The seller described the note... and put pictures up... the buyers had made the decision to place the bids.

I don't wish to speak for everyone, but I can say that for myself I was shocked to see that someone would pay so much for such a note. I truely feel sorry for them as I don't ever see them recouping the value from this note.

Granted I think I can say that we have all overpaid for notes at one point or another, I think it comes with the territory of this hobby... but an error like this leads me to suggest that the buyer was not at all well educated in this hobby (or perhaps it's just the opposite and they know a whole lot more that I can imagine) or has a very vast amount of money.

One post mentioned some sort of "boosting" tactics to up the price of an auction.. which is poor tactics, but in the end the buyer still is agreeing to a price.... There are worse online auctions out there... I've seen auctions where the price had been run up by "floor" bidders... I back out of the bidding at some point there are a few other bids by the "floor" then all of the sudden I have won the item...leads me to believe that the auction company was just looking to see the maximum they could extract from a customer.

Now I have minimal experience with ebay but I would say that if most people are trying to sell items through an online auction they have hear or would consider ebay as a very popular choice. Having said that I'm sure most items would pretty much go for fair market value with the exception of specialty pieces and the occasional "outlier" listing where the item is bid on by someone who gets "auction fever" or by someone who has deep pockets and isn't concerned with what fair market value is... they simply want said item...

For some strange reason, this "error" is very common on the new series of notes.

I have notes with all possible combinations of digits that are shifted and some in sequential order.

Maybe I should get into e-bay selling. 

I have notes with all possible combinations of digits that are shifted and some in sequential order.

Maybe I should get into e-bay selling. 

I mean all possible 0 to 9 in the last position. 

I have notes with all possible combinations of digits that are shifted and some in sequential order.

Maybe I should get into e-bay selling. 

Unfortunately, you'll be a little late to the party.

 I've just noticed a new bunch of bottom feeders have listed some notes with all the hyperbole and deception of the first listing.  Also, the same guy is back with a whole whack of new listings.  He has a 20 that is less offset than most of the bills in my wallet. His headline is "WOW CRAZY ERROR NOTE. YOU'LL NEVER SEE ONE LiKE THIS AGAIN - GUARANTEED!".  He's clearly gotten overly excited and is now just trolling for victims.

Just to top it off there is a listing with a 1986 $2 major cutting "error".  My favorite.  It's a CBK prefix of course.  He'll be getting a note.

What a bunch of tools.

 



 

Unfortunately, you'll be a little late to the party.

 

Darn. I knew I had to move fast on this one. 

Unfortunately, you'll be a little late to the party....

What a bunch of tools.

If you believe that each and every one of those new listings is going to produce a $500 result, you must have absolutely no faith in buyers to know better such that they require your intervention to protect them.  So sad.

It's at times like these that I wonder why I bother keeping my membership here.

This will be my last post on this, as this horse has been beaten pretty hard (I apologize for that).  I apologize MMars if I pissed you off.

I don't like fraud, and I believe it should be prevented wherever possible, especially when we as enthusiasts possess the knowledge and the means to help reduce it.  Ebay is a community, and they allow for this.  I do this rarely, but if you're chopping up a sheet of 1986 $2 notes and selling them off for 50 bucks each as errors, you will get a polite little note from me.  This fraud used to happen a lot more than it does now. 

Many $20 polymer fake errors have sold for just over face (final price + S&H).  Many more have sold for $55-$90.  There seem to be two listers that are cashing in on this.  They have duped many buyers out of over $1,000 in the last few days. 

I sell a lot on ebay.  I can tell you that most people that buy on ebay are not established collectors.  They are just starting out or buying as a novelty and are pretty vulnerable.  I can also tell that many of them are spending what is real money for them.  You don't get Rosedale or Westmount addresses.  Many are rural.  Many are remote.  Many are apartments in working class neighbourhoods.  There are some very old and very young buyers.

Because of this, I will always very gently and very discreetly make sure that these people are protected (when and how I can).

I thank Rupiah for bringing this to our attention.

Out.

I can tell you that most people that buy on ebay are not established collectors.  They are just starting out or buying as a novelty and are pretty vulnerable.

This is so very true.  I can't stand sellers who prey on these buyers with "buy it nows" on coins or banknotes, asking 10-20 times their true values.  They're simply looking for a sucker.  I filter out those sellers from my searches.

This is so very true.  I can't stand sellers who prey on these buyers with "buy it nows" on coins or banknotes, asking 10-20 times their true values.  They're simply looking for a sucker.  I filter out those sellers from my searches.

Come to think of it, this exactly what RCM has been doing for years Churning out NCLT junk that only declines in value with time, at prices way above the true value. 

It comes down to buyers being smart and not rushing to buy the first item they see. If in doubt, ask seasoned collectors among friends or join a forum like this one.

Also, eBay is a two-way street, buyers can often be unreasonable or dishonest, and on top of that they are protected by eBay policies. BTW, I rarely sell anything on eBay, but pay close attention to feedbacks and learn many interesting things.