Authentication

[rjgfinejewelry]

Hi  All

28 years on Ebay,  really love meeting all the people from all over the country.  My question to all you other jewelry sales companies.  How are you finding the "authenticity" process?  I have no problem with the idea but I think they have gone a little too far.   Seems they are going to try and match exactly what you write in the listing to what they see.  Now, I understand that if its vastly different yes by all means return it to seller but if they dont understand the item or etc. they shouldnt just return it.  They also need to give full explanations as to what they think or there findings are.  Not just some encrypted words.  Spoke to someone yesterday who had no idea what the inspector wrote.  Anyway, interested in seeing what everyone else thinks? 

[idealgems1]

Our experience has been positive.  We've had two sales rejected by GIA out of maybe 3 dozen that went to them.  We still made the sale in both instances.

In both cases the gemstones were sold to us as we had described them.  One was a star sapphire that it turns out was diffusion treated unbeknownst to us.  Detecting diffusion is doable for a gemologist on a faceted gem but requires advance testing on a cabochon.

The second was a purple garnet we had listed as a rhodolite that did not meet the technical requirements for the variety.  Rhodolite has to have a rather specific refractive index and spectrum.  In my GIA lesson it even makes the specific note that the trade considers any raspberry purplish garnet to be rhodolite regardless of the RI.  It is an inexpensive enough gem that I never bothered checking it fully.  And it really doesn't matter because a "rose by any other name would smell as sweet".  After a quick explanation to the buyer, she bought it anyway after we described it as a purplish garnet of unknown species.  And of course, GIA passed that authentication.

We feel that the program is essentially working as it was designed by protecting buyers, adding confidence, and outing sellers who play fast and loose with their descriptions.

[jklfindings]

The authentication program can be frustrating at times, but in general we like it.  The tolerances they give you are honestly pretty liberal with carat weights, and diamond grading.  I do get frustrated when something comes back because its 13.4k gold, and not 14k, or something similar.  I think they could do a lot better communicating to both the buyer and the seller about why an item is returned, and work towards saving the sale.  They usually give a rather vague reason, and you'll have to call to get a more detailed answer.  That being said, the program has cleaned up the fine jewelry category in a major way, and we have seen a major increase in sales since they implemented the program.  If you have gemological training, you'll be able to figure out the "flow" of the program, and adjust accordingly.  But even seasoned gemologists don't have the equipment GIA does, so even we are bound to see returns like Ideagems1 mentions.

[beulah85]

Criteria and interpretations can vary from inspector to inspector, and the selling company needs to ensure consistency in its processes so consumers can trust each inspection.