I haven't been selling for quite a while but have some higher end jewelry pieces I'd like to list that would fall into the AG category automatically.
After reading over the AG FAQ etc I'm actually skeptical and not at all enthusiastic about shipping off jewelry to an unknown third party (glossy pics don't count), then on to a buyer who can still choose to return an item (according to your return policy) which then goes BACK to the so-called GIA (have my doubts about this), where they 'verify' your item is indeed what was originally sent out, then gets shipped on back to you, the seller. They 'verify' it is the same exact piece exactly HOW? Are they taking close up PHOTOS of your main carat stone??? I highly doubt that! Do you know how easy it is to pop a stone out of a prong setting and replace with another of lesser grade/value?! It's very easy. Has anyone had any bad experiences/hesitation such as this?
It's bad enough chewing fingernails shipping items off to buyers with signature delivery and insured, add a higher value and this extra layer of supposed expertise in the middle; how would one then go about proving that what you received back from the 'experts' was actually switched out? Even if you have detailed close up photos in high resolution, this middle layer of AG giving your buyer-returned item a thumbs up green check pass via their 'inspection (consisting of WHAT?) seems like a bad potential loss set-up. Ugh. I'm def on the fence.
