To educate both buyer and seller about accidental and/or intentional misrepresentations of coins for sale in internet auctions where we deem such coins to be questionable errors. To use the assembled knowledge of the greatest names in error coin collecting, as assembled at Error World, as a tool to remove such questionable coins from the  ranks of the major internet auction houses. To offer the willing buyer and seller the opportunity to expand their knowledge by becoming members of Error World.

For some time now, questionable error coins have been appearing in the major internet auction houses. We have all seen them and have joked about them in the posting area. As good internet citizens, we have even taken it upon ourselves to write e-mail (to the seller, the auction house, the buyer) in an attempt to stop this practice. In many instances we have been SUCCESSFUL!  Up until now, however, it has been a disorganized effort. While it is laudable that individuals have taken it upon themselves to enter the fray, it is time to start a concerted effort to address this problem in a systematic way! 

While the seller may be justifiably unaware of the exact nature of his "error coin", the experts assembled in Error World have no such doubts. In an effort to keep uninformed buyers from getting "burned" by ostensibly uninformed sellers, it behooves us, as THE recognized experts in the field of error coin collecting, to intervene. We have a mandate to "educate" the populace as to what is and what is not a true mint error. 

To this end we take it upon ourselves, with the consent of the membership, to form the First Internet Auction Watchdog Error Coin Committee. Said committee shall be committed to spreading education to seller and buyer alike. We also shall commit ourselves to the removal of all questionable coin errors from the ranks of the major internet auction houses!

1. The committee shall initially meet to select a Chairperson, who will serve for a period of one year and will report directly to Lazarusone, our Founder. All reports will be submitted to said Chairperson prior to any action being taken. The committee will meet in a suite on EW2 that will be set up for them by Lazarusone. A private chat area will also be set up for the exclusive use of the committee, where issues attendant to the item in question can be discussed. All documents relating to the final disposition of the case will be filed with Lazarusone, and stored on EW2, who will preserve them for future committees.

2. The committee member, having been made aware of a questionable coin up for auction, either through his own browsing or having been alerted by another member or the Chairperson, shall personally visit that auction to obtain the url to the picture of the coin in question and to obtain a copy of the coins description.

3. The committee member shall than examine the picture of the coin to see if it indeed does conform to the posted description. If the committee member is at all unsure of the coins authenticity, he shall post the url of the picture of the coin being offered and solicit an opinion from the membership and the Numismatic Experts gathered here.

4. In the process of the investigation, the committee member shall investigate the feedback of the seller and whether the seller is brand new. This information will be taken into consideration when evaluating the situation.

5. When the committee member feels that he has enough information to make a case against the coins authenticity, he shall submit a written report to the Chairperson of the Committee who will, at appropriate time intervals:
          a. Contact the seller of the coin to request the termination of the auction.
          b. Contact the auction house to request the termination of the auction.
          c. Contact the bidder(s) in the auction to apprise them of our opinion of the coin.
If the coin is determined to be authentic, all reports will be filed and no further action will be taken.

6. The Chairperson shall report to the membership and to the Founder prior to and after the implementation of each step in 5a, 5b and 5c.

7. In the event of negative response to item 5a AND 5b, the Chairperson may want to consider requesting the membership to start a letter writing campaign to the seller and to the auction house as this seems to have worked in the past. The Chairperson will remain in charge of all letter writing efforts and may wish to use one of the draft copies above.