Misleading info in Jewellery sales

[barpinchas0]

L.S.,

as I am a fairly newbee on E-bay, I would like to point out that I came across some things that, what I believe, should be handled with by E-bay with stringency.

Recently I started browsing litterally far far over 30.000 listings of sterling-silver Jewellery sales. And here I noticed that many Sellers advertise their products as real 925 Sterling Silver (meaning 925/1000 or 92,5% silver) while the products are not even close to what is advertised.  In fact they turn out to be:
-sterling-silver plated on copper or alloy
-sterling-silver filled
-Tibbetan silver (an alloy that doesnt contain silver and often even hazardous metals).
-European silver or New Silver (Nickel alloy).
If people have allergies for copper or nickel, they will be so happy wearing this 😞

As the silver prices today are low (1 gram of 100% silver = 0,50 USD) people who buy such a fake object often dont take the effort to ask for a refund nor write a complaint but take their loss instead. And the Sellers gamble on this and often win. So dishonesty prevails.

My request is: Can the E-bay standards be adapted, so to deal with such dishonesty? Or can Sellers be obligated to ad certificates of authenticity (see example) for a search-item claimed to be of a precious metal, even though the item is only 4 USD? I found at leas one honest seller who does this now.

Thanks for your time.

Bart

[jsales0]

Hi Bart and welcome to the boards. 

I’m not sure where to even begin but let’s start with the fact that this is a member to member board and ebay is not reading or addressing your post. You can always contact them directly through the contact link on the site map but respectfully, it will be a total waste of your time.

Ebay is just a venue for buying and selling and bluntly, you’re preaching to the choir. The site is overrun with counterfeits and most of us agree that a large percentage of them probably contain toxic materials.

On the other hand, I for one, have bought so many authentic designer items (including designer sterling jewelry) that would have been out of my budget had it not been for buying preowned on ebay so I’m a  big supporter and fan of this venue. 

You have to buy here using common sense. If it sounds too good to be true it may well be counterfeit BUT NOT ALWAYS. In general we boardies suggest that buyers stick with purchases from US or Western European sellers and avoid Asia with the exception of Japan and maybe Hong Kong and yes, there are legit sellers throughout Asia but it’s also the continent where most counterfeits of luxury items and electronics are manufactured. Bottom line is BUYER BEWARE. Use common sense and get all luxury purchases authenticated  by a known professional authentication service upon receipt.

Also, I try to buy US since I live in the US and would rather support the businesses of my own country but I certainly have bought from Western Europe and Japan. One problem of buying from a seller outside your home is, in many cases, the buyer is responsible for return shipping which can be ridiculously expensive internationally should the item be returned.

I’d personally love to see sellers vetted for authenticity but it will NEVER happen so get over it and be a smarter shopper. JMO

[bonjourami]

And dont buy jewelry from China.

[ag47silver-us]

eBay has it split up by category, Fashion Jewelry is assumed fake, regardless of keywords the seller uses. Any listing in fashion jewelry with the terms 925 or sterling is technically violating search manipulation policy. Either by falsely stating it's 925 or sterling and plated simultaneously, or by putting a fine piece of jewelry in the fashion category to increase exposure. But eBay won't enforce it. Fine Jewelry the seller is obligated to sell solid precious metals settings, or genuine "fine" gemstones in any setting.

I've always won disputes against fine jewelry category purchases from sellers when i acid tested the jewelry discreetly and it was elevated to customer support.

I can't honestly within eBay policy dispute the purity of a precious metals piece if i bought it from the fashion category.

[jsales0]

I can’t imagine any legit seller of fine silver jewelry listing their item in fashion jewelry. That alone would be a back button click for me. 

[ag47silver-us]

eBay leads buyers to fashion before fine, so you'd get more exposure as long as most buyers don't know that fashion and fine differ between genuine precious metals and not.

If you put "925 sterling silver ring" into your search bar, eBay auto selects Fashion Jewelry. They WANT people to be mislead. I lost a lot of business when they forced the change to real sterling in fine jewelry, because 90% of the jewelry buyers just search fashion. It's gotten a little better but eBay hasn't made an effort to teach the buyers the difference. Seems they've done the opposite.