Finally Got My First Authentication Rejection...

[idealgems1]

...And I am not complaining about it!

I am a GIA trained Graduate Gemologist who with my wife operated a brick-and-mortar fine jewelry store for more than 40 years.  But no one bats 1.000.  Ebay's authenticator caught a diffusion-treated star sapphire that I had bought as natural from a gem dealer many years ago.

A gemologist like me can easily detect diffusion treated FACETED sapphires.  The gems need to be repolished after the treatment, and it leads to color concentrations along facet junctions that can be observed in diffused light.  But CABOCHON cut sapphires, like my star stone, are not as easily detectable.

Bottom line, the treatment should have been disclosed to me when I bought the gem.  But it wasn't, so now I'm taking a bath on it.

Still, I'm happy that GIA caught the treatment.  It saved the buyer from vastly overpaying for the gem (like I did).  Had the ring sold when our store was still open, chances are the treatment would have never been discovered.  But that buyer would have also vastly overpaid for the gem (again, like I did).  And if the buyer would have for some reason submitted the gem to a lab like GIA, my reputation would have been on the hook.

I explained the whole ordeal to the would-be buyer, and she is understanding and empathetic.  But also thankful for the authentication service.  It sucks for me at some level, but still, the process worked like it was supposed to.  And overall, I'm glad it did.

[jklfindings]

The Authentication Guarantee has been great in my opinion.  Sales of pieces over 500 has had a nice jump since it was implemented. I've had a few things come back for relatively simple reasons, but nothing has ever been erroneous.  Mine, and my buyers only complaint has been in a lack of buyers ability to simply say "It's okay, send it anyway!"  My favorite instance of this has been an antique ring testing as 13.2k instead of 14k...  Unfortunately we don't have the $20,000 xrf gun to verify karat that closely.  Ring came back, and was immediately relisted and repurchased by the same buyer lol.  

[idealgems1]

I agree.  I like it.  It protects the buyer of course, but also protects honest sellers...from fraudulent listings competing with our honest ones, and from switcharoos being returned.

Buyers should ABSOLUTELY be given the results and offered the option of accepting it anyway.  The most ridiculous rejection I heard about early on in the program was one that was rejected because the finger size did not match the listing...BECAUSE THEY SIZED IT FOR THE BUYER UPON REQUEST!  Ha ha!

[jklfindings]

Thats.... so eBay lol.

[theshoppingmom2]

@idealgems1  Thank you for posting this!

[wastingtime101]

---

@idealgems1 wrote:

Buyers should ABSOLUTELY be given the results and offered the option of accepting it anyway. 

---

They implemented this for handbags in the Fall.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Upcoming-improvements-to-the-Authenticity-Guarantee-proc...

According to that announcement:

We are starting with Handbags US this year and will start ramping up to other categories and markets in the first half of 2024.

Perhaps you will see what you're wishing for with jewelry by the Summer.

[jklfindings]

Exciting news!  Just got a message overnight from a buyer.  The authentication center could not verify diamond color on a ring due to the way they are set...  So they asked if she wanted to continue with the transaction or not!  She is going ahead with the transaction, and I'm going to call the authentication center today and get details.

[albertabrightalberta]

@idealgems1 

I am so impressed with your integrity, honesty and humility! It's so rare to read the type of post you made and have the rejected seller be grateful that he (seller) made a mistake that was caught. And to have you be happy that you didn't sell it in your B&M store where the error wouldn't have been caught just makes you more honest! 

I'd buy from you in a heartbeat! 

Thank you for this thread. 

[idealgems1]

Early in the process we had one like that too...but they really didn't know what to do with it and it sat on someone's desk for a week or so.  The buyer was clamoring for them to just ship it.  And honestly, why would we have graded the clarity I-2 and then lied about the color?  Ha ha.

I'm not taking credit for the change in the way they handle it but I did make the suggestion.  Or that if they didn't disprove the stated facts in the listing that the default should be passing it with a note that indicated what they could not 100% verify. 

The other point I made is that Gemologists make color calls that are difficult to make because of the way diamonds are set while doing appraisals EVERY DAY.  We make the calls the best we can and add a disclaimer about certain limitations.  But we don't have the luxury to just throw up our hands and say, "I just can't tell...".

[idealgems1]

Aww...THANK YOU! ❤️

[idealgems1]

The happy ending to the story is that the same buyer who purchased the ring before and saw it rejected, bought it again knowing the treatment...and saved herself over $500 on the same exact ring.  We just heard from her, and she loves it!

It cost us a little money this time, but again, the authentication process worked!

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@idealgems1 wrote:

The happy ending to the story is that the same buyer who purchased the ring before and saw it rejected, bought it again knowing the treatment...and saved herself over $500 on the same exact ring.  We just heard from her, and she loves it!

It cost us a little money this time, but again, the authentication process worked!

---

And they all lived happily ever after!