Dispute after Numista swap – difference between photos and received coins

Hi all,

I recently completed a coin swap through Numista with someone with a good rating. I sent 2 coins (PR and UNC) and agreed to receive 4 coins described as AU, AU, XF and VF.

Before agreeing to the swap, I explicitly asked for better photos of the main coin. Based on the additional photos I received, I agreed to the swap.

After receiving the coins, I noticed that the main coin shows clear hairlines and scratches and what appears to be a cleaned surface that were not visible in the provided photos. I’ve included a side-by-side comparison (my photo vs the original photo I received).

The other coins also appear to be lower graded than described (e.g. VF instead of AU, Fine instead of XF).

I’ve already contacted the other party, but they do not agree to undo the swap or otherwise adjust it.

My questions:

• Would you consider this a normal difference in grading, or a case where the presentation was misleading?
• What would be the appropriate way to handle this within Numista swaps?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks.

Small update: @jald1960 now wants to undo the swap, but only if I send my coins first and also pay for his return postage. I find it unreasonable that such conditions are being set to resolve an issue he caused.

In the initial swap, he also waited for me to send my coins first even though we agreed differently, and then reused my envelope to send his coins, resulting in the postal service scanning the old barcode and almost losing the coins in transit. I therefore cannot accept his conditions.

Rule 1: never trust someone else's grading. It's all personal opinion and shouldn't mean anything to you, only go ahead if you see photos and are happy with your own personal opinion on its grade. As for the photo they sent you I doubt it was malicious given their overall good rating. 

hello,

the Willem coin seems to be the same on both pictures (scratches at neck).

My opinion about condition: 1 Gulden au is correct, Willem coin is too optimistic because of the scratches (xf-), last two are bullion value in almost every condition.

FlyingRedPanda

As for the photo they sent you I doubt it was malicious given their overall good rating. 

I'm not going to use words such as malicious, because I can't read his mind. But I will say that the given image was his second submission, after I asked for 'better photo’s'. The first time when I asked for photo's, he actually sent me even more deflective images.

Regardless the intentions, when confronted he should have just admitted the images were unjust, and he should have accepted to undo the swap - no strings attached.

MooiZilver

This is perfect example how you can play with light when do a pics, so coin can look different… and better. 

But it's the same coin.

So, that's why I practicaly never ask for pics, because I know what is posible to “mask”. 

Beyond that, I trust here are mostly people who knows something about numismatics and what grading should be look like.

Since there is no way to be absolutely sure how coins really looks like, it's a bit of a gamble, almost every time. 

So, if I'm going to ask for pictures, I'm going to ask for a specific reason, a specific thing I want to see on the coins. 

If I don't see it in the pics, I'm going to give up, even if someone sends me pics 5 times. 

And especially if it's a slightly more expensive coin. 

That's the only safe way to not get something you won't be happy with.

If you had no objections to the submitted pics, if you are not looking for others, with a different angle of light, well... you cannot blame only the other party. This is both an objective and slightly subjective hobby. What is not good for you, may be "just fine" for someone else.

I recently received two silver coins, UNC (which actually may be UNC, but low UNC), MS60-62, something in that range at best. 

But for my liking "it's not good enough", it's not "real" UNC (63-65). But for someone else it might be... just fine.

I've seen that many times.

So what can I do? I can give someone star or two less and explain why. Or even negative feedback. That's all, I'm afraid.