David Yurman Fakes - Watch out for Moissanite!

[mountainrivera]

This is a PSA. I bought two David Yurman pieces. As you know , new DY Jewelry from an authorized dealer is not discounted so I was encouraged and a little skeptical to see so many great deals all over ebay. I bought my wife a Wheaton diamond ring that retails for $2,850 for $899. This seller had close to 800 feedbacks. I also bought a Three Band Streamline white diamond men's ring, auction ended at $525 this ring retails for $4500. I should add the 15 feedback seller assured me it was checked out and authentic. Wow what a score. Just to be safe I ordered a diamond tester on Amazon for 20 bucks and when it came the rings tested as diamonds.  Then I read about Moissanite, the lab made diamond that can fool diamond testers. After more research I discovered there are testers that can ID both moissanite and diamonds. It was $220 bucks but I figured what the hell, I saved thousands so I considered it insurance. I anxiously awaited its arrival and you guessed it - all moissanite. Both sellers had return policies and refunded my money. My guess is most folks don't check for authenticity and my guess is because that moissanites are that good and they fool many unsuspecting staff at jewelry stores.  So this is my long winded way to say buyer beware. My guess is ebay is flooded with fakes and good luck with your non-diamond purchases cuz I don't know how you will confirm authenticity. Shame on ebay for allowing this proliferation of forged goods. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@mountainrivera 

Thank you for your post and I'm very glad it worked out for you. I personally would never buy diamond jewelry on eBay because of what you stated. Buy from a reputable jeweler always, this is a personal investment people, treat it as such.

    Hope you treated your wife to something special?

[mountainrivera]

LOL - yea I bought the same ring for $3k with tax. I def love my wife but wasn't looking to spend 3 grand but the right thing to do was to get the real deal after getting the fake. She was definitely against me spending the cash but it was the right thing to do.  

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@mountainrivera 

Ahhh your sweet, your wife is lucky! Best to you in this new year. Silver

[mountainrivera]

Another tip. I have sent 4 different sellers with white diamond listings stating that i have a high end tester that detects moissanite and Forever one moissanite asking them if they tested the stones. Not one responded. I suggest you ask when buying diamond DY jewelry. Otherwise it's tough to tell this stuff apart from the real deal. I am going to go out on a limb and say that all these sellers with tons of DY are all selling fakes. The seller i caught has had subsequent negative feedbacks that are quickly removed. Perhaps he is bribing the buyers to agree to remove them or perhaps eBay doesn't want to kill their cash cow. This particular seller has over 800 feedbacks zero negative so looks legit on the surface - buyer beware

[fab_finds4u]

I'm thinking cash cow.

[counselmenow]

The fakes are ridiculous on ebay and I was fooled as well with an alleged authentic purchase.

[counselmenow]

It is a racket and I am done with ebay.  Scammers on Poshmark too

[zanderbe]

Please disclose the Ebay dealers who sold you these fake Yurman items.  Thank you.

[old.crows.nest]

This should not be happening with the Authentication program? 

[old.crows.nest]

@zanderbe Not allowed on Forums. Much trouble to person who posts info.

[flipping_treasures]

Totally agree with OCN, with the eBay authentication program this shouldn't happen.  

Also, OCN is correct, posting the seller's information on a public eBay board is totally against the rules, for a very good reason.

[idealgems1]

As a secondary PSA; you do not need an expensive tester to determine Moissanite.  Moissanite is very highly doubly refractive.  Under strong magnification, like with a 14x to 20x loupe, or with a binocular microscope, tilt the gem and look through the crown facets.  That is the side of the top.  Look at the facet junctions of the pavilion (bottom) facets as they are heading for the culet (the point).  In a Moissanite, some of these facet junctions will appear as two facet junction lines, and this effect will change to other facets as you tilt and rotate the stone.  This is called "doubling", and this effect is quite pronounced in Moissanite.  Once you figure out how to see it, it will be easier and easier to catch.

For a Gemologist, Moissanite is a very easy identification.  It only "fooled jewelers" who relied on thermal conductivity diamond testers to tell whether a diamond was real.  Those are excellent tools for detecting cubic zirconia, but don't work on Moissanite.  Gemologists don't rely too heavily on them because it will show anything with a high thermal conductivity, like say a copper penny, as a diamond.

Another indicator is that every Moissanite I have ever encountered had pronounced rounded facet junctions just looking at the surface of the crown under magnification, compared with the very sharp facet junctions of a diamond.

[powerupk]

Yes. This keeps happening even after the sellers confirm that there are real diamonds. Thanks for sharing. 

[rihin-87]

 selling fake DY.  He even removed negative feedback.  Was trying to get this on the thread, but appears it only went to you sorry

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@mountainrivera wrote:

This is a PSA. I bought two David Yurman pieces. As you know , new DY Jewelry from an authorized dealer is not discounted so I was encouraged and a little skeptical to see so many great deals all over ebay. I bought my wife a Wheaton diamond ring that retails for $2,850 for $899. This seller had close to 800 feedbacks. I also bought a Three Band Streamline white diamond men's ring, auction ended at $525 this ring retails for $4500. I should add the 15 feedback seller assured me it was checked out and authentic. Wow what a score. Just to be safe I ordered a diamond tester on Amazon for 20 bucks and when it came the rings tested as diamonds.  Then I read about Moissanite, the lab made diamond that can fool diamond testers. After more research I discovered there are testers that can ID both moissanite and diamonds. It was $220 bucks but I figured what the hell, I saved thousands so I considered it insurance. I anxiously awaited its arrival and you guessed it - all moissanite. Both sellers had return policies and refunded my money. My guess is most folks don't check for authenticity and my guess is because that moissanites are that good and they fool many unsuspecting staff at jewelry stores.  So this is my long winded way to say buyer beware. My guess is ebay is flooded with fakes and good luck with your non-diamond purchases cuz I don't know how you will confirm authenticity. Shame on ebay for allowing this proliferation of forged goods. 

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