Help purchasing jewelry on ebay

sparklegal · Dec 15, 2012

I'm new to this site. I am a seasoned buyer of jewelry in person, but new to buying jewelry online, and very leary. I am interested mostly in pre-owned items. Some items are easy to judge, but others require a more seasoned viewer to evaluate. Not only is it important to be able to judge the item, but also the seller as well.

I am presently looking for a sapphire/diamond ring. I noticed an ongoing jewelry auction on ebay and request some suggestions on how to evaluate authenticity of seller and/or items. Attached is an item of interest. I realize that everything except perhaps the GIA report should be taken with a grain of salt, because it's created by the seller themselves.

Here is something I'm considering:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/330841817140?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

What is your opinion of this piece? How can I judge a seller's reliability? I did notice they have a return policy and "top rated plus" rating. Does anyone have any experience with this seller?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

chrono · Dec 15, 2012

I have no experience with this company but can share my opinion of the ring.
1. Heated sapphires are not rare.
2. Sapphires (and all gems) only need to be eye clean. They are trying to make it sound rare in order to increase the asking price.
3. Colour is nice but not fantastic.
4. Setting is poorly constructed. Metal work is uneven, the prongs are blobs and not symmetrical with the baguettes not well lined up.

distracts · Dec 16, 2012

I would not buy from the seller on the basis that their videos are super-gimmicky, and to me that makes them untrustworthy... there has been a thread before on how hilarious it is that all these middle-aged to elderly women supposedly selling their estate jewelry collections supposedly collected over many years have only items that look like they were made within the past decade (stylewise), and absolutely no jewelry that looks like it was from the 70s or 80s or even 90s (they're almost all halos and there's rarely, if ever, yellow gold). I dunno. I strongly suspect the videos are just ads and not real people like they claim (some of them they have been using for over two years), and that gimmick makes me distrust them. Also, all of their pieces appear to have similar metalwork (they all look like the Chinese-manufactured settings many on here get on ebay), and there is little if any variation in quality (nothing that I can notice from their photos, anyway), which leads me to the idea that they are a retailer masquerading as an estate liquidator (if you look at any true estate liquidator, there is lots of variation in quality, even if they only sell high-end or low-end items). Which, again, makes me distrust them. Your opinion may vary, but on that specific seller? I wouldn't.

I also just plain wouldn't buy corundum on ebay from any seller that hasn't been vetted by the forum though.