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Share your eBay colored stones stories!

Pinkmartini87

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
1,314
Hi all,

Was wondering if anybody has any eBay buying stories of colored gems /jewelry to share?

I was recently duped by a too good to be true $500 “emerald” ring which turned out to be chipped, the wrong size, and likely quenched quartz instead of actual emerald to boot. Seller also quite nasty.

I wonder how others’ experiences have been on eBay buying colored stones and jewelry? Or should I stay away forever from eBay as a source of buying jewelry?

Please do share and as always, photos of yummy stones/jewelry are always welcomed!!!
 

LilAlex

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
3,589
Well my best was a pretty ruby ring that was being sold by someone who clearly had no idea what they were selling. It was from an account that had a lot of old-ish good feedback but nothing recent so I assumed that it was at least not stolen. Beautifully made with the right patina and the stone looked "right." I'm super-wary of things that look too good to be true but this seemed like an old-fashioned garage-sale find. I think I made an offer and started some back-and-forth with the seller.

Surprise: eBay sent me an email notification that the account had been hacked and the auction was not legitimate. So some thief was hijacking the spoofed account's good name and feedback record. Pretty happy I never pulled the trigger!
 

Niffler75

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
Messages
1,112
I think it's buyer beware on Ebay but there are some really good deals to be had.
One of my recent purchases is a red sunstone ring (in my avatar). It came with a certificate of authenticity. The seller was very happy to be selling and was super pleased with the price as I know how much sunstone rings can sell for! ;)2
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
Reporting for duty.
Get a cup of coffee (or tea or....) and get comfy.
I have been buying jewellery on eBay over 15 years. Dare I say hundreds of purchases. Seriously, hundreds.
And the times I was ripped off? Once, and that was selling something. I have only sold a handful of pieces, I usually only sell because I’ve upgraded to something bigger and better.
I used to buy watches, manual wind cocktail watches because o was heartbroken at the thought of them being melted down for gold and stripped of their gemstones. I have over 50!
But here are few of my favourite buys,.
My aquamarine ring.
Now, a huge aquamarine ring has been on my want list for decades BUT it had to be under $1,000. I like a challenge! Took me over 15 years but I prevailed. The ring I bought came with matching earrings - bonus. They were screw on and I had them converted to to post earrings.
My Alexandrite and diamond bracelet.
This was expensive but what a rare find. What a nerve wracking 9 day auction. I upped my max bid 3 times and almost felt sick every morning when I checked the current price. I was successful and it is a favourite piece.
My Emerald and diamond ring.
This was probably 10 years ago but this was a score. I think I paid $1,000 or so for it. Not a lot, it’s a lovely ring. The emerald is a paler more vivid green but that’s the colour I love.
My surprise sapphire ring.
A recent purchase, a sapphire and diamond ring for $200. This was a fluke buy. I wanted the setting for a gem I had. I assumed it was a synthetic, as had the seller, and $200 for a 14kt gold and diamond setting is cheap. The setting was in my size (no extra resizing costs) so I bought it. I was rather astonished to realise upon receipt that the sapphire is actually natural. Heated but natural. The seller, a business seller, didn’t bother checking the sapphire and basically sold it for scrap value.
I still buy on eBay, currently I’m resting as the Aussie dollar is awful against the US dollar.
So here are some photos. 39873A72-5116-468D-BF93-D4E0BFF70280.jpeg EAFF4FFD-11D8-4057-A169-1E83DEDBB4A9.jpeg 7AE87193-11E0-4CF7-AF70-19AB0865339C.jpeg 4E1EB205-B3D3-4B98-ADF5-28417F11B9D9.jpeg 49F15F05-29A7-43A6-9789-3DF644CBFFAE.jpeg 7597B88D-5532-4D28-B754-098DC6FACAD7.jpeg E4435953-4C57-45B9-AED6-4CE8DC22C1EF.jpeg 079F8084-5918-4656-86A3-47650DFD5729.jpeg
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,159
eBay used to be a great place to buy gems and gold settings about 10 to 20 years ago. Some of my best deals came from eBay. Sadly, it’s more of a minefield today.
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
AND I don’t want anyone to think I’ve not made mistakes.
I have.
Here are two.
The Men’s watch.
This was being sold by a lady with very low feedback. Her husband had passed and she needed money. She said it wasn’t working and she thought the watch needed a new battery (and I knew it was a manual wind) so I assumed it would work. She showed a photo of the invoice for having the diamonds added to the watch band back in the 1990s. So I bought it. Not cheap!
Upon receipt I realised the watch movement was toast, not repairable. Ouch. I then discovered the white gems were CZ. Double Ouch. And I was furious, not at the lady but the scummy jeweller who cheated them back in the 90s. He charged them for diamonds and put CZ in instead. Scum bag.
So I didn’t return it, left lovely feedback for the lady and kept it.
The emerald earrings and the watch band.
A double error here.
The earrings were described as green stones, I thought they might be emeralds so I bought them. Not emeralds but jade and given the colour treated to within an inch of their life. Still a very pretty green.
The diamond set watch band.
It didn’t have a movement and I thought I could replace the movement with one I already had but in a lower quality watch fitting. Of course the watch movement I wanted to swap across didn’t fit. Grrr. Then to add insult to injury, the watch band didn’t fit. Too small. In my enthusiasm to buy the diamond watch band I didn’t check the band length. Lengthening a watch band is expensive. Boo Hoo.
Thankfully I can think outside the square ha ha and put one of the green stones into the watch, perfect fit, and found a watch band lengthener. Woo Hoo. E314BC57-9247-42F9-AB0C-3EDB24C084C5.jpeg DE9EABAA-BC95-4CBB-AC65-2D9FFEDB3215.jpeg 0FA8F8EC-40A8-44A5-9996-1D36E1DA8ABC.jpeg
 

YadaYadaYada

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 2, 2016
Messages
11,840
Not EBay but on Loupetroop, many already know the story but for old time sake....

I had literally been trying to find the perfect lavender spinel, it had to be just the right shade and many I found were too pink or if they were the right shade, too expensive. There was this sapphire ring that came up on Loupetroop and the sapphire was really well cut, looked like a nice lavender but it was out of my budget since I didn't like the setting.

So I think it started at $799, then $699 and finally $599 and that's when I decided to nab it. When it arrived this was literally the most sparkly sapphire I ever saw but a look through a loupe was concerning, it was too clean although I did find an inclusion under super bright light if it was at just the right angle. Nothing else though which I thought was very unsapphire like! Started thinking maybe it was a lab stone, the seller bought the ring vintage so it's pedigree was a bit uncertain.

So now I had a real mystery on my hands, I brought it to my appraiser/gemologist who looks at all my new finds and she gave me the news, it was not a sapphire! Nope, I had bought a spinel and it was natural AND it was the perfect shade!!!

That explained why it was so sparkly! I ended up resetting it and that made the stone stand out even more. There you go...bought a sapphire and got a spinel instead.

Seller's original photo
IMG_6306.jpg

In direct sunlight:
IMG_6342.JPG

Reset:
IMG_7919.jpg
 

lmyracle

Shiny_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
417
I was told only to buy from people that had 100% (not even 99%) positive reviews and had returns. I’ve come close to buying things In the past but only ever pulled the trigger on the ering in my avatar photo.
 

Pinkmartini87

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
1,314
Well my best was a pretty ruby ring that was being sold by someone who clearly had no idea what they were selling. It was from an account that had a lot of old-ish good feedback but nothing recent so I assumed that it was at least not stolen. Beautifully made with the right patina and the stone looked "right." I'm super-wary of things that look too good to be true but this seemed like an old-fashioned garage-sale find. I think I made an offer and started some back-and-forth with the seller.

Surprise: eBay sent me an email notification that the account had been hacked and the auction was not legitimate. So some thief was hijacking the spoofed account's good name and feedback record. Pretty happy I never pulled the trigger!

@LilAlex Woah, close call indeed!! So glad you didn’t get mixed up in that mess!
 

Pinkmartini87

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
1,314
@Bron357 Wow, amazing experiences—thank you for sharing and keeping me entertained on a Sat night in due to COVID. I especially love that beautiful Alexandrite bracelet and how you put together a gorgeous bracelet.

And I just wanted to emphasize how kind you are to that lady with the CZ watch; even though you could have returned it, you chose not to out of kindness. It reminds me of something my father used to say, “Sometimes it’s more important to do the right thing than to insist on being right.”
 
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Pinkmartini87

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
1,314
@StephanieLynn It’s really gorgeous and I like the new setting even more! I’m so glad it worked out so well for you in the end. Such a lovely color for a spinel!
 

Pinkmartini87

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
1,314
@lmyracle Thats a gorgeous ring in your avatar! What a score!
 
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