I know that the unsuspecting buyer can easily be ripped off by fakes or shadey deals on eBay, butthat's not the kind of rip I'm talking about.

I'm referring to seemingly honest auctions on which people are bidding way over the value of the coins.

For instance: A Run of the mill Walking Liberty Bullion Piece, Notice the price! Are the W's already worth that much after only a year? It seems that either someone is being dishonest, someone is willing to pay way more that the value of the item, or I'm missing something. I know the '95 W Proofs are valuable.

Or there's 1919 D Walking Liberty Half

I have a bunch of WL Halves in that condition. I just recently returned to the collecting world after about 10 years, but that guy's grading has to be a bit optimistic, doesn't it? I mean, AU? With that much tarnish and worn that flat? It would seem like whoever buys that is going to be paying way more than it's worth.

I don't know, I could be WAY off here. I wouldn't buy anything from eBay that wasn't junk at spot price, but what do you old pros think of these auctions and others like them?

I've seen lots worse.
The 2006 W 20th Anniversary Silver Eagle in a PCGS MS69 slab will run you at least $95 anywhere. With a mintage of less then 1/2 million it should be the key coin to the set.
The Walker is not even close to AU and it will not sell for close to $1200. Its still a $100 coin in F. Personally I find it tough to pay much for a coin without holding it and looking for myself but some people can't get out or have no place to buy.

you can ask whatever you want for something.... getting it is something else.

as for grading on e bay.... thats why the sellers provide pictures... if you HAVE to buy a raw coin on e bay.. the coin had better have a good picture. I do not recommend buying raw coins on e bay. It's a minefield...

The 19-D half is a pretty nice Fine and fortunately, no idiots have been bidding it up...

Ah. I didn't know the W was so rare.

That's what I was referring to about the Walker. The seller hinting at an xf/au grade, which was obviously crap.

True. There are always people putting things on eBay for way over value, but in this case, there were a lot of people bidding on the pieces, which just shocked me I guess.