I own several Victoria rupees and these photos look OK to me - I don't see any reason to suspect their authenticity. They are showing some different degrees of normal wear. It's also common for Indian coins to sell for well below book value. Keep in mind that technically it's not legal for anything more than 100 years old to be exported from India without a special permit.
The only reason I find it suspicious is because there are so many coins being sold by these sellers and all of them look good.
I had no idea exporting items older than 100 years is illegal.
Depending on how you look at it, it could also mean the coins are fake thus not being as old as the date on them.
There are quite a few fake Indian coins, but fortunately most of them are not very hard to spot (poor detail, cast not struck, incorrect writing, incorrect weight etc.). I would always confirm the weight (a silver rupee should weigh 11.6 grams) and if you are concerned you can do the tests for silver, described elsewhere. There are a lot of relatively high grade silver rupees available in India and I believe they're rather inexpensive there (sometimes little more than silver bullion value). To me the photos of the coins in the links you've listed look OK.
I've bought a handful of coins from sellers like these (I think they are all the same person/organization) and I have gotten some suspectful coins but only ever silver. I've gotten some old bronze and copper coins for a couple bucks and they all look phenomenal to me.
@Seeker55: Good insight, thank you. Do you mean something specifically when you say tests for silver described elsewhere or just generally that I should to search Google for that?
@_Tucker: I also belive they are the same person / organization.
The photos look OK apart from the complete absence of natural toning but can you be confident that is the coin you will receive? Apart from the "dipped" look of the photos, there's a lot of red flags.
Every single coin listed is described as "RARE" which indicates to me a degree of separation from the truth.
All sales are classed as "private" making it impossible to tell if the same stock images are being used over and over again.
There's a lot of negative and neutral feedback, much of it concerning fake or replica coins.
I'd give the seller a very, very wide berth.
I'm sure it's possible to buy genuine coins from Indian or Chinese sellers on eBay however the odds are very much against it. Why not spend a few dollars extra and buy the same coin from an established, reputable seller and be confident that what you're getting is genuine?
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
I have purchased some items from mohsin-shaikh (may have misspelled his user name) and everything was good and the silver looked perfectly genuine. I did purchase a couple of cheap coppers from the seller you linked and it was fine as well, but I would be a bit cautious with silver. Looks OK but some of his reviews aren't that great. Ultimately know the coin before you buy, and that's a good advice always on eBay not just with foreign sellers.
