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"

[traditonalproducts]

You are correct. The most I will ever list on Ebay is $300 and its not Jewelry. I have other avenues for selling the jewelry. I would rather take a 30% hit selling to my avenues than to get into these horrible situations that we all read about. Good Luck out There!

[luckythewinner]

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.

It seems perfectly sensible to me that you would not get an answer about this until there was a decision on the appeal.

[umoraski]

I agree with you!   It's such high end, everyone assumes it's the real thing.   I have bought some gold jewelry at a reputable merchant and found out years later that it wasn't authentic.   

[idealgems1]

The trouble, IMHO, is that GIA are experts at gemstone identification and grading.  With an XRF machine, I am sure that they can very precisely determine the karat fineness of a piece of jewelry.  But they are not, and never have been experts in determining the authenticity of any branded, designer jewelry.  This is out of their wheelhouse, and it shows.

[shoppingmycloset2]

What a nightmare! I am so very sorry! Aside from the issue I posted about, another one has arose! I sold my Cartier bracelet that passed and was sent to the buyer via Fedex by the authenticator. This woman left me positive feedback for the sale, yet opened a dispute claiming to not recognize the charge! This will be the very last time I sell anything of high value on eBay.

[thrift-theory]

I've been a seller on eBay for I think 10 years or something. I never had an issue with selling branded products from my wardrobe, ever. Everything I sell is usually second-hand stuff. Just a day ago, eBay removed my listing for an Essentials wool cardigan for being counterfeit. The real reason they took the listing off was because they didn't allow blurred portions of a product image (which for me, was the screenshot of the receipt). Lesson learned, fine, but they won't let me relist and suggest I don't try otherwise I'll be further penalized. After being treated like a criminal and given no way to resolve it and basically told by other sellers to "move on", I'm deterred from selling on eBay ever again.......

[thrift-theory]

Sorry I forgot to say that your situation is terribly unfortunate becasue the item is expensive. I have a bracelet from that brand and I don't think I'd ever sell it on eBay less something bad happens; basically almost everything you said here. I sold a pair of sneakers and they were sent to the authenticators here in my city. On a forum I passed by online, people said the authentication team in my city are known to be irresponsible and as you said, they've been know to swap sneakers. I don't know how true it is but it took the authenticators a week before they received my package and I almost thought the sneakers were lost. Then authentication started. It was the worst 2 weeks of anxiety I had selling an item. It was hard for me to understand if eBay takes responsibility for the lost item when they send to authenticator and authenticator sends to customer.  Never again.

[clean120306]

I

Cartier no longer offers authentication services.  I guess that the producers of inauthentic jewelry have become so good at replicating it that it became too time consuming or risky to continue that service.  Packaging, certification can all be made to look like it’s the real thing as well.  What’s interesting is that eBay thinks they are more knowledgeable than the company who makes it. Who’s going to back us up when they say our jewelry isn’t authentic?  My understanding (Google) is that only Cartier has access to the data base for each ID # inside their jewelry, but even those can be replicated.

Even more interesting is the fact that some Cartier jewelry sellers are outside of the U.S. and are selling it for less than we are.  Customer service is now outsourced to another country and Carlsbad is also known for  selling wholesale jewelry that comes from another country.

We should be able to have detailed information on the people who are authenticating so that we can do our own “authenticating” on them.

Hopefully you now have your ring back and sold it with no issues.

[damon5501]

I the same thing happened to me at the same GIA at Carlsbad. 

I sold an authentic Tiffany Bracelet but GIA said it’s not and was returned my used and dirty package with a trash. 

As soon as I took it to Tiffany boutique, I asked them for the cleaning and it came back with a new porch and a bag. They don’t authenticate but they only clean Tiffany jewelry but not the fake one. Since they took care of my bracelet, it prove it’s authentic. 

I contacted eBay it was proved as  authentic so if I can re-list the item but they said no because it will go to the same authenticator and it will be identified as counterfeit and it failed Tiffany’s rigorous inspection list GIA was provided by Tiffany so it’s authentic but I can’t sell it. 

GIA  was so unprofessional sending back the item. They used used box, used packing (dirty) with different jewelry store’s sticker on it and a dirty rubber band was on the bottom of the box. 

I have no idea why they use GIA even they don’t know what they are doing. 

I will sell it on poshmark. 

[rugerskick]

I think it is incredibly wrong for ebay to keep sellers in the dark about the qualifications of the authenticators being used here as it is the sellers items, not ebays.  Its the sellers items that have been damaged or lost or judged to be fakes when in situztions like this they are 100% genuine.

Ebay:  hey don't worry about it.  I got a guy for this kinda thing...

Thats all we know.  Thats not cutting it.

[lsugoat]

Sorry it happened. You should  have included a COPY of  all the paperwork with the auction.

Ebay will be ok. You take care hon and good luck on potmark or whatever it  is

[dbfolks166mt]

I think it is incredibly wrong for ebay to keep sellers in the dark about the qualifications of the authenticators being used here as it is the sellers items, not ebays.  Its the sellers items that have been damaged or lost or judged to be fakes when in situztions like this they are 100% genuine.

Ebay:  hey don't worry about it.  I got a guy for this kinda thing...

Thats all we know.  Thats not cutting it.

     I agree with you and from the postings on this board the authentication programs do not appear to be living up to the expectations of what they were intended to do. There are other options besides eBay for moving this type of item that have a lot less risk. It's eBays failure to address issues with quality solutions that has resulted in a lot of sellers and buyers looking at other options for both buying and selling. Competition is a wonderful thing. 

[bigtex501galv]

Shoppingmycloset2.... I JUST had the same thing happen to me with the authentication!  Same quote! 

[jeangirl2008]

The so called "authentication" process is done by clowns who have no clue what is authentic and what is not.  Nobody is held accountable following a failed authentication on an authentic item, and why would anyone be held accountable right? Its like some utopian Orwell movie, we decide and you accept or else. It happened to a friend with a Rolex watch, wasted time and money just to have some clown decide an original item is fake because he/she has never seen an authentic one. It happened to me with a pair of Hoka shoes, purchased online directly from Hoka, if this is not authentic, there is no authentic then, but what do I know the blue haired clown decided the shoes are fake because he/she only wears crocks. It is beyond disgusting and sellers should speak up about it, we get taxed buyers are getting taxed on the same item, racket. failed authentication due to incompetence yet no refund on shipping. I really want to take a look at the authentication squat  and what makes them the experts. 

[a-birds-eye]

Don't think for a second that Poshmark is any better. I sold a pair of Vivienne Westwood boots that Vivienne gave to me herself. Poshmark wouldn't authenticate them and they got returned to me and the buyer refunded. I found out during all this that Poshmark actually send random sellers pictures of the item and ask them if they think it's authentic!! 

I'm glad I read your post because I was thinking of selling my Cartier watch I've had for 30 years. Of course I no longer have the box, receipt or certificate of authenticity and now I'm wary.