EBay, the largest portal for Coins and Currency, announced controversial policies this week that favor coins slabbed by PCGS and NGC. The policies are complex–you can read about them by clicking here–but it is Proxiblog’s opinion that eBay’s loss will be Proxibid’s gain.

Proxibid is being contacted by numismatic writers to comment on the eBay policy. In our analysis, we mentioned Proxibid, noting that Proxibid supports many of our recommendations, although we are independent of the portal. We also mentioned that “after a long hiatus from eBay (because of fraudulent, doctored and overhyped coins),” we bid this week on a few select coins and questioned several other sellers.

One eBay “top seller” was asked how a 2012 coin could have pastel colors, and this is what he wrote: “It is my secret, and I am not going to disclose it. No chemicals are used during this process.” Yeah, we responded, but electricity might (a way to cause silver to blush in primary and pastel colors). We noted in our interview that eBay had no problem listing this coin without such a disclaimer. And we saw clearly chemically treated Morgans being listed for $12000+.

We mentioned that we agree with Proxibid’s newly revised terms of service and complimented the company on adopting a zero-tolerance policy on counterfeits sold by independent auctioneers.

In the end, we think eBay’s new guidelines are overly complex, open perhaps to legal analysis, and will drive more business to Proxibid. So auctioneers should heed our best practices as listed in our Articles page and prepare to outshine eBay sellers by focusing on integrity and numismatic knowledge.

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.