Real Cartier Ring Failed Authenticity

[shoppingmycloset2]

I last week I sold my Cartier Juste un Clou 18k gold ring along with a Cartier matching bracelet to 2 separate buyers. Both items arrived at the GIA center in Carlsbad, CA, on the same day. 2 days ago I received an email from eBay indicating my ring failed its "test" and the buyer was being refunded. I was stunned! I bought this ring myself from the Cartier boutique and have the certificate of authenticity, invoice, paper cc receipts, and all original packaging. I listed everything accurately and provided photos of the engraving in my listing. The buyer and I exchanged several friendly messages over the course of the sale. The reason for failing was listed as "does not seem authenticate" - what an absolute joke! Whoever they have performing these tests are inept and incompetent. They probably have never seen a real Cartier ring! I was humiliated and embarrassed that the kind buyer now somehow thought I was trying to scam her. Ironically, I feel as I have been scammed by this entire ordeal. The bracelet, however, passed and was sent to buyer!

First thing I did was message the buyer and apologize. Thankfully, she was understanding and explained that she had a feeling this would happen because a friend of hers sold a real Tiffany jewelry piece that also failed.

Second thing I did was call the GIA center directly. No one answered, so I left a detailed voicemail. Then I emailed the GIA center and explained everything. Not long after, a kind woman replied back and apologized for my experience. She provided me with the direct line to eBay's authenticity dept's customer service. I called and spoke to a man name Tim. I told him what happened and expressed how upset I was. I did not appreciate being accused of selling counterfeit, and said eBay will lose sellers if they do not fix this obviously flawed program they have in place. I also said I did not trust their authenticator, and I was worried over how my ring will arrive back to me - will they swap it out for a fake and keep my real ring?! He told me he was going to try and hold my ring at the hub for further review and inspection, but couldn't guarantee anything, as it was already showing as being shipped back. As of today, the ring is in fact en route back to me, and while looking closely at the USPS tracking, I noticed they sent it back without requesting signature upon receipt. What if something happens to the package? who is responsible? Did they insure it for its true value, or treat it like counterfeit? I am out $45 in shipping fees as well, from my own pocket, as I did not charge shipping to the buyer.

I appealed their decision and have not heard anything back. I asked Tim if I would be able to re-list the item (not that I actually want to, but out of principal) even though I was told in their email that I am no longer allowed to list it. He said he did not know and I would have to ask later.

Depending on the outcome of the appeal, I am ready to pull all my listings and sell on Poshmark, instead. I am not an avid seller... I sell from my own closet and sometimes I go months without listing anything, but when I do sell in the future, it will not be with eBay.

The audacity to charge 3% more for jewelry items over $500 just to cover the cost of this clown show they call "authenticity guaranteed"

[ckimodog]

@shoppingmycloset2 

Very sorry for your experience.  Like many of the other authentication processes on Ebay, this one seems to be very flawed.  My thoughts are they hire inexperienced authenticators who know little if anything about something of value like you described.  There have been numerous posts like yours here on the forum from others expressing their disappointing experiences with the GIA authentication.  

All I can suggest is to sell it elsewhere or locally for cash to get what you want.  Until Ebay gets this feature to work successfully it just doesn't seem worth it to list or sell it on this or any other internet platform in my opinion.  Take it to a pawn dealer or jewelry store that buys jewelry.  Those people are experienced and most have a background in that field.

Good luck. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     You are not the first to post about problems with the eBay authenticity programs. I cannot see the ring and bracelet you sold, maybe because it failed the process but I see several others bracelets that made it through the program and a ring you currently have listed. The pictures and descriptions all top notch.  

     Ironically these programs were setup to protect both the buyer and seller but as ckimodog  stated the programs may have quality and reliability issues. The programs were designed to encourage both buyers and sellers to list higher value items and reduce the risk to the seller and buyer. If buyers and sellers loose confidence in the program it may in fact have the opposite effect and like you sellers may consider other venues or platforms and buyers may follow the sellers to those venues and platforms. 

     I have never listed any items that would have gone through any of the authenticity programs simply because of the risk. I have however, had some high dollar merchandise that I have sold through other venues, mostly local, that I have never had any problems or issues with. 

[movieman630]

Find a local auction house.

[gail5176]

Are  the authentications done by jewelers or someone they hired off the street, for $10 an hour? 

[m60driver]

The problem with all these authentication centers is that there is some pressure on the authenticators to find inauthentic items that do not pass their muster to show to their managers that they are doing their jobs.  This combines with the pressure of not making a mistake with high value items.  The end result is that a few authentic items fail the inspection process.

[myfrugalboutique]

I am so sorry to read this, especially since you included the documentation. I have had an issue with a buyer that has caused me not to sleep. I sold a gold and Diamond Roberto Coin bracelet last month, and it went right through authentication. The buyer gets it, and 30 minutes after being delivered she opens a NAD case, and posts picture of the bracelet upside down….no diamonds showing on the back side. Finally it is returned to the place in California and is there now, being checked again. My $2000 has been on hold for over a week. 
‘This buyer is a real thief , and all I want is my bracelet back. I will never sell another high dollar piece of jewelry on ebay after this experience. 

[jewelbiz]

I don’t know if my response to you will be helpful or not but I hope so!

For about 4-5 decades I’ve been an independent antique jewelry dealer working for myself on 47th Street, NYC’s diamond center buying & selling.

Many times I bought Cartier signed items & for whatever reason the people I usually sell to on that street never thought that the particular item I had in my hand at the time was real, authentic Cartier.

I considered myself a kind of expert on signatures & would then walk the few blocks to the Cartier store and show the item of jewelry to them.  100% of the time, it was original and real.

I remember I once had a very unusual enamel ice skating ⛸️ boot charm, pendant complete with I guess a platinum blade & 18 karat gold workmanship so ornate & complex a charm or pendant, I never saw anything like it before in my lifetime.  Everyone I showed it to, dealers in business for decades, said it wasn’t shown in any back catalog.  The signature looked ok to me so I again brought it to the Cartier 5th Avenue store & they said yes it was original and real.  It was a beautiful rare one of a kind special order.  
For some reason people tend to think some Cartier jewelry is fake when it isn’t.

Fake Cartier jewelry exists since the real thing is so desirable and expensive!

[turnpiketreasures1]

They should have photos and bios of the people doing authentications, just like they have for CEOs and heads of other departments. And their bios should have what makes them experts in their field, like jewelry or collectibles. My son has purchased quite a few baseball cards that had to go through authentication, and he said one of them was advertised as having a signature, and when he got it, it was not a signed card, but a signature printed with the card. He got his money back, but the whole thing made him wonder about buying other high value cards like this. eBay should fix this quick, because it doesn't take long for the word to get out about things like this and they'll lose money quickly, especially on high priced items. Poshmark sounds like a good fit for what you sell. Good luck.

[bonjourami]

Im really glad I changed my mind about listing some of my beautiful diamond jewelry here. All these complaints about the authentication service are really disheartening.

[jewelbiz]

I have sold high priced jewelry here for 25 years without any problem whatsoever but now with this authenticity requirement I will no long list my beautiful jewelry items if it will need to be shipped off somewhere to a stranger.

Anyone can check out my decades long feedback to see some very high priced items sold here indeed!

But if it now needs this authentication for items over $500., no more!
 System too risky as it now is!

[bonjourami]

Op, a few years ago I sold my Tiffany, platinum, diamond, and sapphire ring thru a local auction house here in Chicago. It did great, and their jewelry experts who authenticate are really experts.

[chapeau-noir]

I was watching one of the authenticator videos here and when the authenticator said he got his experience working in a pawn shop I stopped watching.

[movieman630]

That's basically like saying you can cook in a 5 star restaurant because you worked in a soup kitchen.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

What another horrible experience for someone. They did you a favor, because they probably would have held your funds and taken 15%. Sell it in person to someone and keep all of your profits. eBay has gotten so rich they don't need small sellers or high end sales. I guess their just focused on eBay motors because that's all I see advertised. But they are ruining that right now with their "fitment guarantee". eBay THE WORLD'S LEADER IN GUARANTEES AND AUTHENTICITIES.