Buyers - don't use Authenticity Guarantee... unless you are prepared to lose all your money :) | Jewelry

quercusrabidicus · 2025-06-07T14:41:47.627000Z

Jewelry friends, learn from my horror story. Well, it's finally happened - after 15 years of buying and selling vintage jewelry on eBay, I have been cheated and will lose a lot of money. Not cheated by the seller, but cheated by eBay themselves, the people with more money than God. The seller shipped the item - a pendant with a stone hanging from the bottom of it - and then the Authenticity group informed me that they could not authenticate it. When I asked why, they gave a vague misspelled answer about the metal content is unable to be tested. So I emailed the seller - a huge jewelry storefront that I've bought from before - and they said they tested it and it is reliable. I figured I'd like to assess the item myself, and if a jeweler didn't like it, the seller has a 30-day return policy anyway. So I told eBay to send it to me anyway. Obviously, dear Reader: FORESHADOWING. This is where I went wrong. Turns out the pendant was broken, and that's likely why the Authenticity folks didn't want to send it to me. It almost looked like someone had handled it a little too harshly and twisted the small jump ring that attached the stone to the main part. So again I contacted both the seller and the Authenticity people. And the Authenticity people demanded photos of the packaging and the Authenticity paperwork. I said there is no paperwork because you didn't authenticate it, but the seller agrees to a return, I just want to return it. I figure even if the seller wants to charge me for a couple hundred dollars worth of repair, at least I'm not totally out of money. eBay refused to let me send it directly to the seller, so I complied, packaged it up carefully, and FedExed it back to the Authenticity group. Still following me? Well, you know what happened. They refused to "authenticate" it and sent it back to me and informed me I cannot have a refund. Even though the seller is willing to refund. So, learn from my naivete: a) Never purchase anything via Authenticity Guarantee. If you want a unique item, do a little googling in case the seller has a real storefront elsewhere, or a shop at the other "e" site. b) If the "authenticators" (heavy quotes there, hahaha) refuse to authenticate, DO NOT accept the item. It might still be perfect, it might be exactly what you want, but if you then choose to return it under an existing return policy, eBay will not honor that policy, even if the seller would. As of now, I have no idea if I'll get any of my money back, but this was perhaps the lesson I needed to learn: don't trust eBay; don't trust their authenticators; and don't buy anything valuable on this site through the authenticators. eBay is not supporting sellers as they used to be. I will say this: I used to feel that eBay backed the seller 90% of the time, and that's why I was willing to make large purchases from unknown people. And for most of my time as a collector of vintage/antique jewelry, I was right to trust! I've successfully bought a lot of high-end jewelry off this site, met many very kind and honest sellers, and had an overall good experience. If I bought the wrong thing, I politely asked to return it, and returned it, and no one was harmed financially. I've successfully passed on my own pre-loved things and my buyers were happy too. But now this Authenticity Guarantee group is inserting themselves into the middle of the transactions, and they are demonstrably *not* honest nor well-meaning! If you buy something that allows returns, you want to be able to make the return. And you certainly don't want an intermediary "authenticator" with a metal detecting device and zero education to break the item and then stick you with the bill for it.

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Buyers - don't use Authenticity Guarantee... unless you are prepared to lose all your money :) | Jewelry | eBay Community