I was rather skeptical about some products on the eBay site as to whether they were genuine or not, but we all know there are many fakes out there, however, when is comes to currency, this is a different story. See note: Creating Counterfeit U.S. Currency
Under section 471 of the U.S. Criminal Code, "whoever, with intent to defraud, falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, or alters any obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both." 18 U.S. C. § 471. Now, saying the above, some replicas can be made but they must abide by the following below!
Yes, replicas of United States coins can be made, but they must be marked "COPY" to avoid being mistaken for genuine currency and to comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I purchased some coins and based on their title/review and knowing that eBay had a policy of protecting buyers, I took the chance. Here is the purchase title and details:_______________________________________________________________
FREE SHIPING 2024 American Silver Eagle $1 Coin 1 oz. 999 Fine Silver
Sol-seedoflife
Sol-seedoflife
(865) The above slearly states that this product is. 999 Silver and does NOT state that it is a copy. I received the product and promptly had them checked out to realize that they were indeed not silver at all, but some other metals. I contacted eBay support and below is what they wrote back to me! What happened:
We looked into your report and didn't find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent. If you reported content that isn't listed below, we'll send a separate email once we've made a decision. Your reference ID:
**************_______________________________________________________________ This was my second report and also stating section 471 of the Criminal Code. Clearly eBay is not adhering to their once standards of protecting buyers from fakes and sellers on their site. It's understandable that it's not possible to catch everyone, but when it's brought to their attention and they don't do anything, well that's another story. Might want to reconsider buying things on eBay in the future!