EBay lies about pearls...how do these sketchy vendors get away with it?

[MMtwo]

I recently thought about selling a tahitian necklace and went to eBay to evaluate what they are selling for. Oh. My. Word. We have "Tahitian" dyed potato pearls more often than not. Or "Tahitian" shell pearls. There were freshwater Southsea (again, egg shaped freshwater) and just endless quackery and muckery.

With eBay's "concern" for authenticity, and the relative ease at shutting some of these auctions off...why don't they do so?

/endrant

 

[seaurchin]

They sure do. Constantly, hugely, overwhelmingly. I don't know why it's allowed either.

 

[LilAlex]

I'm sorry. eBay is such a sewer. I used to sell there when it was human-to-human and then every single auction turned problematic.

And, of course, "authentic" does not mean "valuable" or even "good." I can probably crank out an authentic oil painting every minute or so.

 

[stracci2000]

It's really laughable how pearls are mislabeled on the Bay.
And the pictures are usually terrible, so no way to discern quality or luster.

 

[pearlsngems]

Chinese cultured freshwater pearls are the most common pearls in the world, and baroque shaped FWP are the most common kinds of FWP.

Except for some high end freshwaters (like Edisons and Kasumi pearls from Japan), FWP cost much less than saltwater pearls. It's only to be expected that scammers will try to extract more value from FWP by misrepresenting them. I don't see how eBay can police the gazillion listings of pearls. It's up to us buyers to be savvy about it.

• If the price is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

• Most pearls coming from China are FWP. There are exceptions. Pearl Society, for example, sells genuine saltwater pearls and ships from Hong Kong. If you have a vendor you trust, that is a huge help.

• On eBay, I start off with the assumption that what I'm looking at are FWP, no matter how they are listed, even by private sellers. Then I scrutinize the listing photos for signs that they are genuine saltwater pearls. I think some private sellers are misinformed about what they have. I don't assume they are deliberate scammers, but they can still be wrong. So I start off skeptical, as my default.

• It's great that there are pearl forums where prospective buyers can ask for a second opinion. I'd like to see more buyers use this resource. Preferably before buying!

 

[MMtwo]

Chinese cultured freshwater pearls are the most common pearls in the world, and baroque shaped FWP are the most common kinds of FWP.

Except for some high end freshwaters (like Edisons and Kasumi pearls from Japan), FWP cost much less than saltwater pearls. It's only to be expected that scammers will try to extract more value from FWP by misrepresenting them. I don't see how eBay can police the gazillion listings of pearls. It's up to us buyers to be savvy about it.

• If the price is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

• Most pearls coming from China are FWP. There are exceptions. Pearl Society, for example, sells genuine saltwater pearls and ships from Hong Kong. If you have a vendor you trust, that is a huge help.

• On eBay, I start off with the assumption that what I'm looking at are FWP, no matter how they are listed, even by private sellers. Then I scrutinize the listing photos for signs that they are genuine saltwater pearls. I think some private sellers are misinformed about what they have. I don't assume they are deliberate scammers, but they can still be wrong. So I start off skeptical, as my default.

• It's great that there are pearl forums where prospective buyers can ask for a second opinion. I'd like to see more buyers use this resource. Preferably before buying!

Thank you for writing this out. It is so helpful for new collectors. My first few tries on ebay with pearls was a learning experience!

 

[pearlsngems]

A few more tips:

• Only buy from sellers who permit returns-- and if buying internationally, take into consideration the cost of returning items to a foreign country with tracking.

• Dishonest sellers may post a photo that looks like Tahitians or SSP, but you won't receive the item in the photo. Instead you will get some low quality FWP. Photos are often used over and over. I have seen the exact same baroque FWP photo used repeatedly by Chinese sellers, all with different listing titles (akoya, SSP, etc.)

• Beware "shell pearls" listings. These are just another form of imitation pearl.