Coins and Stock Pictures

Please be careful when buying coins that use "stock pictures" (the same picture used for multiple auctions).
Most sellers using stock photos are smart people, and if they use a stock photo, it is probably one of their best coins. I have bought from sellers before that use stock pictures, and was very disappointed in the quality. I'd say maybe 1 time in 10 I got a coin that was of equal or better quality than the picture.
But the thing you really need to be aware of: Some dishonest coin sellers will use stock pictures in their auctions and not even tell you. I recently won what I thought was a beautiful 1884-0 Morgan Dollar, and it looked like an MS-66 or better in the picture. Just a beautiful coin with a super clean cheek.

What arrived though was a coin more in the MS-62 grade range. There were huge hits on the cheek and a really deep one that went right through the entire nose. I have collected coins for about 30 years and I knew right away this was not the same coin in the picture. The auction never said stock photos were used. But I looked at some past auctions from this seller, and she had used the same picture of this coin in a few prior auctions. I had to file a dispute with E-bay to get the seller to even respond. And I finally did get my money back. But it was a big hassel.
Most sellers are honest and if they use stock photos, they tell you. But please watch out for the dishonest sellers who use a picture of a great coin and send you one of much lesser quality. It is a terrible bait and switch practice and personally, I think E-bay should outlaw it. If the condition of an item affects the value, sellers should either have to use a picture of the actual item, or state very clearly that it is a stock photo.
If this guide helps one collector avoid the headaches I ran into, writing this will be more than worth it.
Thanks for reading.

Update: 5/2006: I found out that E-bay probably suspended this seller. The seller is no longer a registered user. But there are still other sellers out there using stock pictures.