Gem Shopping on Ebay

[valeria101]

How do you decide wether an Ebay seller is worth his salt and the merchandise as you wish it were ?

There are so many bad stories about diamond buys on Ebay... is there any good news ? Sure there must be some Ebayers around this virtual community. How about some nice stories of gem and jewelry buying ? Anyone ? It can''t possibly be all bad.

 

[Mara]

There are some deals to be had on eBay. I think research is the key. Before I spend even $150 on an item on eBay, I am going to check into the seller. This can be done in various ways. I love feedback. I will go back through pages of feedback, clicking on every live auction item to get a gauge of what sort of seller this one is. I have even emailed a few disgruntled clients in the past to find out why they were unhappy. Good to know right.




I am eyeballing this ring on there right now...it ends in a day. The jeweler has some spectacular deals, and the overall feeling is that their items are 'good for what they are'...even more than a few feedbacks have said that same thing. Pay $300 for a 1ctw 5 stone ring and it's a good deal for what it is. Auctions may say F-G color and VS clarity...but I found out from emailing a previous customer that she had hers appraised at more like SI...didn't have specific color but said they weren't F-G and weren't yellow, but more 'gray'. Interesting.




But even more interesting is that this jeweler honors his refunds. Everyone who has had an issue left positive feedback saying 'item was mis-represented, refund was swift' and others along those lines. So if I decide to take a chance on this auction, for a few hundred bucks to see what I get, I know that I will at least have a refund honored quickly. I haven't seen one refund not honored by this seller in the last 10 pages of his feedback spanning several months. Even the woman I emailed said she would buy from him again.




Sooo we'll see. The ring I am eyeballing is represented as G-H VS2/SI1 clarity. As long as it doesn't look yellow and is eye-clean, I may be willing to take a chance. For $200 that is.

And if I don't like it? At least I know I can get my $$ back.

Would I spend thousands on there? On a diamond? No. Definitely not. But a few hundred bucks...and a good return policy that I know works, works for me.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Okay, I purchased my diamond stud earrings on eBay just two months before discovering PS, so from what I know now, I believe I got a good deal considering, first, the earrings are prettier and are much less expensive than the maul alternative I would have been stuck with, and also were less than what I would have spent buying online from a vender. One of the earrings I'm sure is H&A (as I can see arrows under certain lighting - I'll confirm when I order an ideal scope), but the other isn't. . so one looks slightly better than the other (lol).

So, yes, I do have a good story, but still my transaction wasn't completely hassle free. Unfortunetly, the settings were terribly constructed so I had to have a local jeweler rebuild them (which only cost $36), but was still stressful and a PITB. . . and of course the diamonds are lower clarity/color than what I was promised. They were said to be F VS2 and there actually H SI1.

But, that said, they are beautiful and I wear them almost continuously!

Michelle

 

[valeria101]

Interesting...

After about 3 years of E-bay buying (completely unpractical stuff: rocks, rough, jade...) and surfing, I got to appreciate the environment as an excellent meeting place rather than commercial outlet. Quite usefull if you are looking for goods hardly ever heard of and travel too much to get to know geographically confined sources. Even my shoes used to come FedEx until a few months ago !

The most I paid on an actual auction was less tha $400, the most expensive think I bought after contacting a seller via e-mail with a special request - a few times more...

 

[EdSkinner]

I used to sell on ebay. I sold about 50 items, and of the people who sent feedback all was positive. I was selling jewelry items from $300 and less. My return policy was simple: if you didn't like it return it and I'll return your money. All the items I had for sale, I listed at cost or 10% above cost for opening bid. If I listed acouple of items and got lucky and sold one, between the listing cost, final value fee, paypal fee, ect. I would be lucky if I was making my cost for listing it. not to mention the time you have to take to answer email and get the shipping done. So it just got frustrating. It is even more frustrating when somebody who bought something from one of the power sellers and brings it in for an appraisal, they were just plain lied to about the quality of the stones. The price was there, but there is no excuse advertising that there are 5.00+ ct. of goods in an eternity ring when I can only come to 2.00. Sorry Iam just venting.

 

[Mara]

Well I took the plunge and bid (and won) on the ring I was eyeballing on eBay! My first attempted eBay jewelry purchase. GULP. We'll see!! I sniped it at the last 6 seconds of the auction. Didn't mean to cut it that close but eBay is running really slowly today!!




The seller has a great return policy and the feedback even on people who returned items is almost flawless....sooo I figure if it doesn't look good in person, I can just return it. They don't charge additional fees for returns so that's a plus. The total including shipping and insurance was $300. If it looks good...it would be an AWESOME deal!




Keeping fingers crossed. It should arrive within 3-4 days.

 

[Patty]

How exciting, Mara! I can't wait to see what you think about it when you get it!

 

[valeria101]

He, he Mara! Bets of luck ! It's always nice to get those little 'sparkling' parcels in the mail

Thank you for the insight! It would be unfortunate if Ebay ends up a true bargain dumpster, Ed... but it could, I guess.

 

[Mara]

The ring came today and its BEAUTIFUL. I am checking it out tomorrow at Willow Glen Jewelers to see if it matches the 'appraisal report' and will post pictures tomorrow of it as well with more details. But so far I love it, it's perfect!!




As long as its REAL and not glass, I am really happy with it! It appears just as white as my own e-ring!

So far so good for my first diamond eBay purchase! Keeping fingers crossed it checks out.

 

[caratgirl]

Wow, that is sooo cool. I can't wait to hear what the appraiser has to say. How did it look to you under the loupe? I paid $1100 for mine, and it was a screamer deal (G, SI1). I can't believe how low the bidding went. Congratulations!

 

[Patty]

Mara, that's GREAT! I hope it appraises out well and of course you know we want to see pictures of it!

 

[Mara]

Okay I posted pictures and the story here:




https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-10-stone-right-hand-ring.13432/

 

[Uncle Marty]

Ed Skinner et al,
I too sold both finished jewelry (Kron Jewelers)and loose gemstones (Jewelhouseonline) on e-Bay.

We owned our jewelry store in Freeport NY for over 32 years. We had a complete repair shop and small factory where we did everything including carving original waxes, casting to the finished item.

Whe I sold the store the buyer was not interested in the factory, loose gemstones, estate jewelry,
antique jewelry, cultured pearls, watch parts and straps, Sterling Silver jewelry, and other things too numerous to mention here.

Jewelers on Polygon suggested I sell off my inventory on e-bay. I set up 2 different stores and auctions.
Kron Jewelers my store's name in which I sold some jewelry, most at or below cost (should have sold for scrap and kept the stones), and on Jewelhouseonline sold loose calibrated stones.
I still have lots of loose calibrated precious and semi prescious. Sold some stones.
Sold my stones for very low prices and no one ever complained.
After that experience I have decided to start my own auction with integrity. E-bay has too many rip off artists on e-bay with their cz Diamonds, Burmese Rubies, Columbian Emeralds etc which never saw those countries and Crap stones sold as primo.

We hired a web designer to create a new auction website where I will suggest to my buyers that when in doubt visit a member of NAJA in their geographical area. No need to send Diamonds and jewelery out of their general area.

I too am a member of NAJA but I do not do appraisals because I buy. I believe it is unethical to appraise jewelry with the intent to buy the items.

My auction website is to be called UncleMartysAuctions.com Should be up and running in about 3 weeks. If you have anything you want to sell in this venue call me at 877-595-4687 or write
[email protected] (e-mail to change after we are on line).

Uncle Marty of course

 

[EdSkinner]

Uncle Marty: I enjoy reading your posts. You are a very knowledgeable man with a keen insight into the business. I look forward to seeing your website.

 

[Isaac Zak]

I work for a company called Signed Pieces for 2.5 years.

Signed Pieces exclusively sells jewelry from well-known makers such as
Tiffany, Cartier, Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels as well as diamonds that are certified by the Gemological Institute of America at prices substantially below retail.

Our website is WWW.SignedPieces.com

and our user name on ebay is signedpiecesinc.

This is what you need to request from a seller on ebay when you are making a purchase:

1. Unconditional Refund (no restocking fee, or any other fees).

2. if you are buying a diamond, it must b

e G.I.A certified.

3. Check all the feedbacks (specialy the negetive ones)

 

[Mara]

Welcome Isaac!!




I surf Signed Pieces weekly...beautiful stuff. I was also going to buy one of the 7 stone ring pieces, but decided to buy the eBay item I mentioned above, instead.




I am coveting the diamond Bulgari stacked ring that was on there...a few weeks back.

One of my girlfriends has the one that is just silver. Very beautiful!




Hope you stick around!

Pscope is a great consumer based forum. Promoting your company really isn't allowed here...but helping consumers is!

 

[valeria101]

Would anyone make a major diamond purchase on Ebay ?

Diamonds on Ebay seem like an unlikely offering... the average value of a purchse seems to be way below the range of larger diamonds (such as those PS talks about). However, over time a few diamond Ebay Shops remained on my list.

The first such shop I came accross was 'Diamonds by Lauren', then 'David J Tomas' - there was some comment on PS about each. And then there are two I nevr seen mentioned here:

What do you, experts think ?