How is this possible?

[Davey Wavy]

I just watched an auction on Ebay for a sapphire and diamond bracelet, set in platinum, that came with an appraisal sheet from some laboratory that said the replacement value of the piece was 40 thousand dollars. The auction had no reserve, and ended at just over four hundred dollars. The seller has a very high positive feedback rating, and so I''m led to believe he is not lying or selling garbage. What''s going on? How can a bracelet worth thousands sell for hundreds? I''m looking for a stunning gift for my girlfriend, and if this is the real deal, I think I''ve found my answer. Hope someone out there can help me figure this out...

Dave

 

[AGBF]

On 9/9/2003 9:11

2 PM Davey Wavy wrote:

"The auction had no reserve, and ended at just over four hundred dollars. The seller has a very high positive feedback rating, and so I'm led to believe he is not lying or selling garbage. What's going on? How can a bracelet worth thousands sell for hundreds? I'm looking for a stunning gift for my girlfriend, and if this is the real deal, I think I've found my answer. Hope someone out there can help me figure this out..."

If it were worth more than $400, it would have sold for more than $400. The trick here appears to be in being satisfied with the product even if it is a $400 product. ($400 is still a lot of money.)

 

[innerkitten]

Interesting. Well I have bought things on ebay that turned out to be fake. Not jewelry but a woolen scarf that was supposed to be brand new and made of wool. When I got it I knew something was wrong it was awful looking and the tag was chopped off. So I wrote and said this doesn't look like wool, and he wrote and said well it's 10% wool. I never wore the scarf I just tossed it and decided that i would be more careful in the future.So you have to be very careful. This guy also had good ratings.

 

[Davey Wavy]

Thanks for the input. Have you ever heard of Labtrade Laboratory? The auction description included an image of the report issued by this supposedly independent appraiser for the bracelet I am referring to. The report clearly states that the replacement value is over $40k. I, too, get suspicious at such things, but when the seller has a nearly perfect record, it makes me wonder. Can the hundreds of people who have bought from them be too naive to realize that the item is worth less than stated? Is there a possibility that a wholesaler or manufacturer avoiding the middle man and the mark-ups could offer such a bargain, a genuine bargain, of this nature?

 

[mike04456]

No sane jeweler puts a $40,000 piece up for a no reserve auction. Jewelers typically use those kinds of auctions to move old stock they haven't been able to clear out any other way. I've never heard of Labtrade, but they have a fairly slick website:

http://www.labtradelaboratory.com/index.html

Grading reports can be faked, by the way. GIA just busted a major fake cert ring earlier this year.

You have to take ebay seller ratings with a grain of salt, because it is possible to fake them using shill accounts and the like. And yes, a lot of times customers don't realize what they've bought and give positive feedback when they've really been ripped off.

Personally, I would not buy fine jewelry over ebay, at least nothing over a few hundred dollars. It's kind of like going to Vegas--don't gamble what you can't afford to lose.