April 2008 Update: coins.sovereigns.exchange has at least two new eBay IDs: footballmania1234
and Bargains2009. You're advised to stay away from any of these aliases because they all belong to the same crook whose scams are exposed in this guide.

This Guide exposes the scams used by coins.sovereigns.exchange (formerly gquadros) whose real name is Giselle Quadros from East Sussex. She's an eBay UK seller of sovereigns, bullion gold and jeweleries, who has been cheating innocent buyers regularly and uninterruptedly. In the following sections I will tell how she cheated me, unveil her scamming patterns, explain how I exposed her scam in a meticulous detective work in spite of her feigned innocence, sabotage and lies, and explain how I made Paypal refund all my money after months of litigation.
Read this Guide carefully before buying precious items on eBay -- it may well save you time, money and agony. If you've been stung, you can also find here useful tips for getting your money back.
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The Scam Unfolding

On 18th September I purchased two sovereigns (eBay items 280154319228 and 280154319228) from coins.sovereigns.exchange (formerly: gqaudros) a.k.a footballmania1234 a.k.a. bargains2009.

This later proved to be my biggest buyer's mistake on eBay, as that  seller turned out to be a relentless and industrious crook.

The first warning sign: she tried to circumvent eBay fees on item # 280154319228
The actual price for the two coins was GBP 188 paid directly through Paypal according to the following breakdown:
----------------------------------------
Purchased From:coins.sovereigns.exchange
Transaction ID:XXXXXXXX

280154318846 FULL SOVEREIGN 1924 IN PERFECT CONDITION 22 CT GOLD 92 GBP
280154319228 FULL SOVEREIGN 1915 IN PERFECT CONDITION 22 CT GOLD 1 GBP
Subtotal: GBP93.00 GBP

Shipping & Handling via Royal Mail International Signed for to 774XX
(includes any seller handling fees) 95.00 GBP
-------------------------------------------------

You can see that she forced me to pay GBP 95 for S&H instead of a more reasonable fee of about GBP 6-7.

After receiving my payment, the seller came up with various excuses for delaying shipping. She had simply sold coins she didn't even have! Only on 2nd October did she ship my order.
When I received it on 11th October (yes, it took nearly a month!), I was shocked to discover that the envelope contained only 1 sovereign (whose condition was far from "prefect", btw) instead of two.

I contacted the seller immediately but she didn't respond. After several other emails, she finally bothered to reply, claiming that she had shipped two coins and that the envelope "might have been tampered with". There are indeed signs of tampering with the envelope as the photo below reveals. A cut covered by cellotape appears on the upper right corner. However, I have reasons to suspect that this was actually the seller who had made the envelope look as if it had been tampered with, and that the envelope NEVER CONTAINED MORE THAN ONE COIN.

The Perfect Crime? Not Quite...

1) In her shipping confirmation email the seller wrote: "item has gone fully insured". The singular form (which was repeated in another email from her) betrays her real malicious plot.

2) The envelope has a clear rim impression mark of only one coin, right at the bottom of the "A Royal Mail" postal stamp (see photo).You'd expect to see two such marks if the envelope had contained two coins.

3) The postage of GBP 5.15 is a clear indication that the envelope never contained two sovereigns. Otherwise, the total weight should have exceeded 20 grams (a sovereign weighs 8 grams + 6 grams for the envelope itself). An envelope weight of more than 20 grams shipped as Class A Fully Insured International Signed-For to Israel would cost much more than 5.15. View the postal prices  can be viewed online (simply go to the Royal Mail Web site -> Prices ->Chooses Israel and check out all the price table for signed-for shipping)

4) Look at the envelope. Is this how a decent seller, or any sane human being quite frankly, would send two gold sovereigns worth GBP 200 (US$ 400)? I wouldn't send a toothpick in it! gqaudros must have chosen this cheap paper envelope to make her "tampering with" story sound more convincing.

4) Although the envelope looks as if it has been been tampered with, the same tape exactly is also used for sealing the back of the envelope. That SEALING TAPE WAS ATTACHED TO THE ENVELOPE BY THE SELLER HERSELF because it's under THE PRINTED POSTAL SLIP! It's likely that the seller also cut the right upper corner of the envelope and sealed it with the same tape, trying to make the envelope look as if it had been tampered with. What an amateurish job!

5) Giselle Quadros, the seller, admits in her listings that "one out of 25 buyers is an odd buyer", meaning: 1 out of 25 buyers never get their item from her, leaving negative feedback. Imagine how many buyers prefer to incur the loss silently and not leave any feedback at all because they fear a retaliatory feedback for them. Add to that the number of innocent buyers who received coins from her, but do not know that what they received were fake sovereigns (more on this below)!
6) Suppose for a moment that the seller's claim that the envelope was tampered with is true. Why would a postal worker who opened the envelope take out only one sovereign and not both of them?
update
7) A recent negative feedback comment she received from psthurgood exposes coins.sovereigns.exchange completely: Asked me to lie - stamps not gold lost so she could claim PO compensation, crook. Please allow me to translate it into plain English. The auction's closing price was too low (less than GBP 75 per sovereign). Whenever coins.sovereigns.exchange feels she's not making a profit on a sale, she "dilutes" the number of sovereigns she sends to the buyer, making the envelope look as if it was tampered with. The poor buyer is then asked to file a claim, which is quite useless because only the seller will get the money anyway if the Royal Mail accepts it. This scam can work only once for each buyer. However, since she has few repeat customers, she can still practice this trick rather frequently. coins.sovereigns.exchange's scams are also reported in another  recently posted eBay Guide. 

Not All That Glitters...

The only coin that was enclosed in the envelope was NOT the one I'd ordered! Instead of a South African 1924 sovereign that appeared in her listing, I received "by  mistake" what appears to be a 1918 London mint sovereign. Seemingly, I should feel partially relieved that at least one sovereign had arrived. However, as any expert will tell you, there are NO genuine 1918 London mint sovereigns at all! (read lapidary2's excellent review of fake sovereigns sold on eBay ) Thus, the wrong-dated coin wasn't an innocent seller's mistake BUT YET ANOTHER DELIBERATE FRAUD!

I would also like to indicate that even if the seller's claim about
tampering with the envelope is true, the seller's S&H charges clearly included insured shipping, so the least I would expect is a refund for the coin I didn't receive. The seller, however, stopped responding to my emails more than a month ago. Surely she's also made a  profit from the Royal Mail insurance claim...

Paypal Doesn't Tell You

I later found out that that seller, who for reasons I cannot fathom
bears a Power Seller title as well as the SquareTrade mark (recently withdrawn, probably after my complaint), had had similar incidents with previous buyers. Her feedback (as of 13 Jan 08,  49 members have left negative comments for her and 32 neutrals only from the past 12 months!) records similar incidents with other buyers. She has 25 mutually withdrawn feedback comments which mean exactly one thing: this inveterate crook is a feedback abuser who leaves retaliatory negative feedback for buyers who try to expose her rogue selling practice. In all these cases, she ignored buyers' emails and refused to refund their money. She retaliates in a rude, brutal and dishonest manner, but somehow eBay lets her continue cheating innocent buyers (so long she pays eBay fees, eBay are quite contented with this arrangement it seems). Many buyers simply don't even know that they've been victims of a scam because they do not suspect that the coins they received were FAKE! She also has had some charge-back issues. She posts sappy stories that these were made by crooks, but considering the meticulous checks that credit card companies perform in such cases, the more likely cause of these charge backs is the seller's own scams. Those buyers simply didn't get their coins at all, got fake ones, or got a "diluted" envelope from her. That is why credit card companies reverse their payments. Notice that her recent listings
1) recycle the same photos for three different listings, which means that the buyer will obviously not get the coins shown there
2)she asks UK buyers to send her checks or Western Union payments instead of using Paypal, because Paypal are on to her scams, after hearing some tough words from the Financial Ombudsman Service (more on this below). They seized one of her accounts until the investigation is over. Do not ever send cash, checks or WU payments to this crook! You will not be able to file a Claim against her if the item doesn't arrive (and it won't). Best to stay away from her, or at least stick to credit card payments which allow you to reverse payments in cases of fraud.

An ebay member who has also been cheated by that crook, has contacted the Sussex police station. He's complained about a deliberate fraud by coins.sovereigns.exchange regarding listings 280186030242
& 280169961955. Although she states in both listings that the photos show the actual coins offered for sale, the photos are recycled, and were used in previous listings. You should also note that some of her coins are sheer fake, which she shamelessly advertises as genuine! For a detailed discussion about these items please refer to lapidary2's latest Guide.[end update]
I opened a Payapl dispute on 18th Oct . Since the two coins were purchased in one payment (the seller forced that on me, as a means of circumventing her eBay fees), I could only open a single Significantly Not As Described dispute. The seller, who knew she could get away easily with her scam because she had a tracking number, escalated the dispute to a Claim. Although I provided all the evidence and facts above, which clearly indicate a premeditated criminal act, Paypal ignored it and asked me to
complain to the local police station about a theft from a postal item and fax the report to them. I did exactly that. Paypal then came up with the most preposterous requirement: although they received my police report, they couldn't process it because it was written in Hebrew, which is what one would expect to get from any police station in Israel since 1948! They insisted that I should send them a new report, in English, and only from a local police station. They refused to accept a notarized translation of the original report or hire their own translator. Since Israeli police uses only Hebrew and Arabic (the only two
official languages of Israel), they turned my claim down. This outrageous handling of my Claim is now being investigates by the UK Financial Ombudsman Service, who instructed Paypal to reopen this case. Consequently, on 29th November Paypal reopened this case for re-examination of all the evidence they received from me. I hope this time they are hiring a translator...

[29th December update]

Victory!

AFTER A LONG AND EXHAUSTING APPEAL PROCESS, PYAPL ISSUED A FULL REFUND OF $375 ON 28TH DECEMBER:


THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE MAY BE SLOW, BUT THEY'RE CERTAINLY MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, SO TO SPEAK, PARTICULARLY WHEN THE UK FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE MAKES THEM MOVE!
LESSONS LEARNED:

1)  Never give up. Even if you've been turned down, there's always a higher institute or regulatory body to which you can complain.
2) If you've been cheated by coins.sovereigns.exchange or any other crook, don't remain silent. By pressing charges, you're not just taking acting for your own private interest, you're deterring other potential crooks.
3) coins.sovereigns.exchange must be suspended. Her latest feedback comments still report similar pattern of scams and dishonesty. I'm not going to rest until crooks like her are off eBay.

Three Of The Most Common Scams

The evidence suggests that coins.sovereigns.exchange is a crook who cheats eBay buyers on a regular basis. The information provided here is also based on emails from other victims who prefer at this stage to remain anonymous. Her cheating techniques include the following:

1. Sending "by mistake" the wrong item, which is always of a lower value than the original item presented in the original listing.

2. Sending signed-for letters that do not contain the item purchased or fewer items than expected. This way she can provide "proof of delivery".

3. Sending fake items instead of genuine items, such as a fake 1918 London mint sovereign, hoping that the buyer won't notice that.

My Golden Advice to Buyers

I would like again to express my amazement at the fact that such a crook is still active on eBay, and that on top of everything, she bears a Power Seller title. I have lost GBP 188 to this con-artist. I believe other innocent buyers will become victims of her scams, unless eBay takes action (15th December update: sadly, several new victims who probably haven't read this Guide have been cheated by coins.sovereigns.exchange in the meantime, as her latest feedback comments reveal. More victims are probably silent at this stage, mistakenly hoping to reach a settlement with her which of course is completely hopeless). Furthermore, if you have purchased anything from this crook before, you should have your coins, bracelets, earrings, brooches and gold bars checked by an objective expert. Their findings might be quite surprising, and not positively so.

My best  advice for you is to stay away from eBay sellers such as that crook. Buy  your gold from an authorized dealer whom you have met and spoken to, and NEVER USE PAYPAL AS YOUR PAYMENT METHOD! Credit cards are much safer, as they enable you to reverse payments (charge back) in cases of scams and other fraudulent activities. Paypal's misleading GBP 500 Buyer Protection slogan is a disgrace. FYI, Paypal Europe moved their HQ from London to Luxembourg in July this year. They provided no explanation for that strange move (it can't be the rent, can it?), but my suspicion is that this way it's easier for Paypal to ignore UK consumer protection laws and regulatory bodies.  As a buyer, you know what that  means, don't you?

Gold Investment: The Safe Way

I know that many buyers are forced to ignore various warning signs, taking a huge risk when buying physical gold on eBay. Gquadros is only one of many eBay scammers, many of which are still active by the way. If you're buying gold as a form of investment, my golden advice to you is this: invest your money in an ETF. It's immensely safer and more reliable than purchasing physical gold from people you've never met or spoken with. While some of eBay sellers are honest dealers, there are simply too many things that can go wrong with such transactions: items that are never received, items that are not genuine, items whose condition is far worse than described and sellers who delay shipping until the gold price has changed, thus making a profit while you're losing. I've learned my lesson well and I would like to share it with you: invest your money in a trustworthy and supervised mutual fund, ETF and similar financial means that enable you to benefit from the soaring  price of gold, without risking scams and crooks.

You can Help!
If you have have been cheated by coins.sovereigns.exchange, please contact me (simply use the Ask Seller a Question with one of my items for sale) so that we can unite forces and have her suspended from eBay for good. By doing so, not only is this going to be a safer trading platform, but you have better chances of getting your money back from that crook.
I have set an ambitious goal for 2008: making eBay a truly safer place by having coins.sovereigns.exchange suspended indefinitely. You can help by referencing this Guide from your listings and by recommending it to your friends (please refer to my eBay listings to see how to link to this Guide).
Speaking of ridding eBay of crooks, you're welcome to read my latest Guide about an Italian criminal who's still an active eBay member.