Online distributors promote pennies for $1,500 after final cash are minted. But is it a rip-off?

The US authorities’s official phaseout of the penny has prompted a surge of online sales itemizing rolls of one-cent cash for tons of or even 1000’s of {dollars} — however don’t be fooled, an skilled says.

Inflated costs popping up on websites like eBay and Etsy are “100%” the result of opportunists exploiting public confusion about the end of the penny, John Feigenbaum, government director of the Professional Numismatists Guild and CEO of Whitman Publishing, told The Post on Friday.

“Whenever there are stories about coins, scammers come along and take advantage of the headlines,” he said.

A surge of online listings promoting containers and rolls of 2025 pennies for tons of or even 1000’s of {dollars}. REUTERS

“On Etsy, it’s not unusual to see a penny that’s not even worth a dollar being listed for $100,000. People try it on eBay, too. Nobody is policing what people charge.”

In latest weeks, full containers of 2025 Lincoln cents — which price banks $25 — have been listed online for anywhere between $500 and $1,500. Some collectors have reported paying $20 for a single 50-cent roll.

Feigenbaum says those costs don’t mirror the cash’ real worth.

“The market for pennies in the numismatic world starts with the dealer-to-dealer market, and that translates to what customers should be charged,” he said.

“There should be a very direct connection between what things are worth wholesale and what they’re worth retail. When a dealer doesn’t want it, that’s a strong reflection on what collectors should pay.”

He dismissed claims that 2025 pennies from Philadelphia, the place the last one-cent cash have been made last week, carry any particular premium.

Top figures in the numismatic world, who say unsuspecting patrons are being misled into believing odd cash are uncommon collectibles. Getty Images

“Yeah, it’s not true,” Feigenbaum said.

“We’re probably looking at a billion coins. In 2024, they made something like 3 billion. People are tying together two different stories to make it sound like these coins are valuable.”

Feigenbaum says there may be only one 2025 penny product with real collector worth — the small quantity of omega-marked coins the US Mint struck to commemorate the end of the denomination.

The picture above reveals an eBay itemizing for rolls of pennies promoting for practically $1,000. eBay

“Those coins have a special mark. They’re valuable. That’s everything in this situation,” he said.

“Without the omega privy mark, it’s a penny. With the omega, it’s going to be worth $10,000 or $20,000.”

The Mint produced 232 omega pennies in Philadelphia, 232 in Denver and 232 gold variations — all of which will likely be auctioned in December.

Coin specialists say that those pennies — in addition to the final handful of one-cent cash that have been minted — could fetch as much as $5 million.

“They made them artificially rare,” Feigenbaum said. “Artificial rarity is still rarity, and these will definitely carry a significant premium.”

An eBay itemizing for 50 rolls of 2025 pennies are promoting for $1,500 on eBay. eBay

Feigenbaum in contrast the penny frenzy to the 1976 bicentennial coin craze, when Americans hoarded redesigned quarters and half-dollars by the tens of millions in the mistaken perception they’d turn into invaluable collectibles.

“Everybody hoarded them,” he said.

“People thought they’d be valuable. Today they’re still worth around face value. Scarcity is scarcity — if you make a billion of something, it’s not rare.”

For today’s 2025 pennies, Feigenbaum says the rule is simple: if sellers aren’t shopping for, neither ought to common customers.

Some sellers on eBay want to take benefit of the authorities’s phasing out of the one-cent copper cash. eBay

“If a dealer says, ‘I don’t want your penny … I’m not paying you two cents for your one-cent penny,’ then there is no market,” he said.

Feigenbaum confused that the high-priced listings spreading online don’t mirror the numismatic market — only vendor hype.

“The public reads some article that says, ‘The penny in your pocket could be worth a million dollars,’ and that’s where we are,” he said.

“The Omega coins are special. Everything else is not special to collectors.”

The Post has sought remark from eBay and Etsy.

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