Fake Bullion on Ebay
Summary: katoombasales reported a Chinese seller on eBay for selling fake Perth Mint bullion coins, having discovered the coins were counterfeit after purchasing one to compare. eBay did not take action despite receiving photographic evidence. sandypebbles criticized buying from known scammers, while *casey* and springyzone discussed the use of automated feedback and how feedback systems aid counterfeit sellers. australianauctions updated that eBay authorized a return, but noted the seller simply replaced the removed listing with an identical one. katoombasales also mentioned notifying other organizations including Perth Mint and Scamwatch but received limited response. They encouraged others to report similar counterfeit items to sellers.
Reported to Ebay a Chinese seller selling fake Perth Mint Bullion Coins (There are a lot of them) this seller has sold on one listing over 140 coins at $101 each , they can be got on a Chinese site for $7 , I bought one and compared it with genuine coins and it's clearly a copy ,sent the photos to ebay who decided no action is required!
katoombasales
OPOct 5, 2026 at 11:34 PMIf You see a Fake coin on Ebay please message the seller with this Notice (unfortunatly links to the official notices cannot be included) If people just sit buy and say nothing then nothing will be done, you could also make similar notices for any other fake items you see.
: NOTICE — SUSPECTED COUNTERFEIT BULLION COIN
This coin is has been identified/suspected as not being a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin.
You are now expressly notified that there is a serious question regarding the authenticity of this coin. It should not be resold or represented as a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin without its authenticity first being established.
Australian Commonwealth law contains serious offences relating to counterfeit money. The Crimes (Currency) Act 1981 (Cth) contains offences concerning knowingly uttering counterfeit money (s.7), buying or selling counterfeit money (s.8), and possession of counterfeit money without reasonable excuse (s.9).
Sections 7 and 8 provide for a maximum penalty of 12 years’ imprisonment for an individual in relevant circumstances.
OFFICIAL COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATION:
katoombasales
OPOct 5, 2026 at 11:24 PMCoin has been returned to seller with the following notice: NOTICE — SUSPECTED COUNTERFEIT BULLION COIN
This coin is being returned because it has been identified/suspected as not being a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin.
You are now expressly notified that there is a serious question regarding the authenticity of this coin. It should not be resold or represented to another purchaser as a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin without its authenticity first being established.
Australian Commonwealth law contains serious offences relating to counterfeit money. The Crimes (Currency) Act 1981 (Cth) contains offences concerning knowingly uttering counterfeit money (s.7), buying or selling counterfeit money (s.8), and possession of counterfeit money without reasonable excuse (s.9).
Sections 7 and 8 provide for a maximum penalty of 12 years’ imprisonment for an individual in relevant circumstances.
OFFICIAL COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATION:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A02499/latest
Where applicable, representing counterfeit goods as genuine in trade or commerce may also contravene the Australian Consumer Law, including provisions concerning false or misleading representations.
ACCC — FALSE OR MISLEADING CLAIMS:
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions/false-or-misleading-claims
ACCC — FINES AND PENALTIES:
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/compliance-and-enforcement/fines-and-penalties
This written notice is being included with the returned coin so that there is a clear record that the recipient has been notified of the authenticity concern before the coin is returned to their possession.
Date: ______________________
Seller/recipient: ______________________
Returned by: ______________________
springyzone
·4 days ago · Edited@katoombasales
@australianauctions
which I figure is the same person.
You say that you bought the coin so you had proof it was false and for sure, your feedback photos back you up. And I am sure you think that might help buyers.
But do you realise how many steps it takes for buyers to even see them?
There are a lot of buyers who don't even bother to check feedback at all. They might look at the overall rating and say oh it's up there at about 98%, that's okay.
Then there are some who will hit the feedback tab, and what will they see?
I tried it out. At first it takes you to a screen view that shows 6 'recent' feedback, all positive and not in order. What I saw was a positive from this last month plus some from within 6 months, then ending in another positive from this month.
At this stage, a lot of buyers would say-looks all positive over the last few months and stop there.
If they make an extra click, "see all feedback' as I did, they come to a general page. Mine shows 25 comments per page. There is only one neg on that page and it is low down. Your comment is actually 3 pages back for me. so somewhere almost 75 comments back before I can see your neg & I will only see photo details if I open your neg properly.
Of course I could just click on negs and your comment comes up faster, but what I am saying is ebay doesn't make it easy for customers to see. Your comment shouldn't be after some from 6 months back.
I think the item location misrepresentation is important in that the coins are coming direct from a country where counterfeit is legal.
I admire your efforts to get sellers like this shut down. Most of us here would love to see ebay acting more against scammers but unless the big guns get involved, Aust mint etc, I fear they will continue to thrive in ebay. I am glad you managed to get an ad pulled but as you say, the seller wasn't deregistered, just put up a different ad.
Here's a screenshot of where your comment is showing for me. And if you see the comments, how many people are swearing the products are genuine, which I think is probably not the case.
australianauctions
·4 days agoJust an update: Ebay has authorised return to her at Victoria address and supplied return label. The listing I bought from has supposedly been removed (This listing has been removed for a policy violation.) but it seems she has just replaced with an identical one
springyzone
·5 days ago@katoombasales
Yes, on one of your photos (the sideways view) it clearly shows up that the coins are not the same.
At that price and suspecting it was counterfeit, I personally would not have bought it & I would be interested to know if ebay will grant a refund if you open a claim for this item, so please let us know.
I have been mightily confused by this thread as when I looked at feedback given, what i was seeing was that you bought it off a seller based in Australia.
Who is (of course!) one of ebay's most reputable sellers.
But it sounds as if they organise to have the couns sent direct from China.
I have not been able to look at the actual ads where that seller received recent neg feedback. So I looked at one of the seller's current ads for a coin and it is saying located in Bentleigh, Vic.
Did your ad say that? Then you may be able to get at them for false item location details, I am not sure.
But the chances of ebay shutting down this seller are about nil.
I think the problem is so many buyers won't have the real coins to compare to, so they are going to give this seller a positive. And every sale is commission for ebay. They don't really care if you, a private buyer, claim these are fakes. It takes big companies or corporations to intimidate them.
katoombasales
OP5 days agoYeh good point about misrepresentation on location (Bentleigh Vic) but thats relatively unimportant I want Ebay to shut down these sellers I'm not just after a refund. I have also sent details to Perth Mint fraud section some days ago and as yet received no response. I have also made a complaint to scamwatch who pretty much said they are not interested.
sandypebbles
·5 days agoeBay are not going to shut these sellers down
eBay go out of their way to protect such sellers
It does not mean buyers should go ahead and support them
Hence is why eBay put the blurb about 'most trusted sellers' on even the worst sacmmers
Hence why eBay provide automated positive feedback because the seller sent 'something'
Read the forum, read how many thousands of posts there are about exactly this type of thing
Read how eBay point blank refuse to abide by their own policies time after time
Read how many scammers have posted here, asking how to make their scams better and the mods refuse to remove those posts
If you want eBay to shut down such sellers (will never happen because eBay do not care the first step is to stop helping these sellers stay in business
Which is exactly what buying from them does
If every single buyer made the choice to stop buying from these 'people' it would be far more pro active than wanting or thinking eBay will ever do something
australianauctions
·4 days agoyeh unfortunately a lot of buyers buy because they dont realise its fake which is why I did to prove they are but which in the end has just caused them a minor hassle unless Perth Mint gets it act together and responds
sandypebbles
·4 days agoA lot of buyers don't bother to look at anything (the lifted photos, the neg feedback, the positive feedback mostly left by bots) or any of the giant red falgs
Very easy to avoid a lot of the scammers eBay support but too many buyers take the attitude that 'eBay let them buy' and that 'they should not have to take any responsibility at all for their buying choices'
*casey*
·6 days ago · Edited@australianauctions
"Really, do you think they can use bots to get feedback ?, I doubt it there needs to be a verified sale with tracking"
Perhaps take some time to read some of the threads here on our forum ?
Have you any idea how many hundreds to thousands of UK and AU accounts have been hijacked and had their country of registration changed to Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, to name just a few countries ?
The US site introduced eBay automated postive feedback well before the AU site so they all boosted their feedback for fake transactions there and are now happily scamming on the US site.
They have plenty of hijacked account IDs to fall back on.
Along with all the hijacked accounts and fake tracking for sale on Facebook !
Those are often linked to users in Pakistan.
sandypebbles
·6 days agoeBay automated feedback IS just that, automated feedback left by eBay bots
Doubt away
All the bots needs is something was posted, something, nothing else is taken into account
Does not matter if it was what was listed or a pile of wet rags
eBay automated feedback has zero involvement from human buyers
Read up on it
You had all the evidence from the other buyers saying it was fake, there is no excuse to support a scammer seller. You are more protected if you do not buy from a scammer AND you help protect others by not helping a scammer stay in business
australianauctions
·6 days agoI wanted to see how good it was (very good) and use it as evidence. I should be protected under buyer protection anyway. Really, do you think they can use bots to get feedback ?, I doubt it there needs to be a verified sale with tracking
*casey*
·6 days ago · EditedLooking at the seller's initial feedback when they first started , after that the majority of the following positive automatic feedback from eBay (for counterfeit items) will be a network of fake transactions, by sending 'something' to 'someone' that showed tracking.
Trying to build up good feedback to continue scamming ,
with eBay happily aiding and abetting fraud.
sandypebbles
·6 days ago · EditedNo surprise
eBay won't touch sellers in China
eBay fully support scammer sellers and refuse to do anything about things like knock off death trap batteries and used underwear
Regular members here are well aware
Why on earth would you intentionally buy one though?
All that achieved was to support a scammer
The seller already has numerous negs for fake coins and fake sunglasses and most of their positive feedback is from eBay bots
There was zero chance what you bought was going to be real
katoombasales
OPOct 5, 2026 at 11:25 PMCoin has been returned to seller with following notice: NOTICE — SUSPECTED COUNTERFEIT BULLION COIN
This coin is being returned because it has been identified/suspected as not being a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin.
You are now expressly notified that there is a serious question regarding the authenticity of this coin. It should not be resold or represented to another purchaser as a genuine Perth Mint bullion coin without its authenticity first being established.
Australian Commonwealth law contains serious offences relating to counterfeit money. The Crimes (Currency) Act 1981 (Cth) contains offences concerning knowingly uttering counterfeit money (s.7), buying or selling counterfeit money (s.8), and possession of counterfeit money without reasonable excuse (s.9).
Sections 7 and 8 provide for a maximum penalty of 12 years’ imprisonment for an individual in relevant circumstances.
OFFICIAL COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATION:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A02499/latest
Where applicable, representing counterfeit goods as genuine in trade or commerce may also contravene the Australian Consumer Law, including provisions concerning false or misleading representations.
ACCC — FALSE OR MISLEADING CLAIMS:
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions/false-or-misleading-claims
ACCC — FINES AND PENALTIES:
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/compliance-and-enforcement/fines-and-penalties
This written notice is being included with the returned coin so that there is a clear record that the recipient has been notified of the authenticity concern before the coin is returned to their possession.
Date: ______________________
Seller/recipient: ______________________
Returned by: ______________________