- Joined
- May 3, 2001
- Messages
- 7,516
When you are shopping on ebay, you MUST be careful.
I just found this half million dollar, 11 carat diamond ring on ebay.
Nice looking ring, and way out of most budgets.
Or is it?
I actually made this ring for a client some years ago. IT IS NOT A DIAMOND!
It is platinum, and the side diamonds are real, but This is NOT a half million dollar ring. I know they do not intend to deliver this ring, it is not even in this country unless they bought it from my client. And if they did, they surely should have figured out it is not a diamond, and even then, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE STOLEN MY PICTURES OF THIS RING!
I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident, but it is not. I have friends that are in the Rolex business. They tell me that a HUGE percentage of the "Rolex" watches on ebay aren't.
My friends have notified ebay many times about this and the dealers never seem to be punished for selling obvious fakes. I have notified ebay more than once about people stealing my photos and they make the thieves take my pictures down, but they don't make the thieves go away.
So, how do you protect yourself from things like this?
One hint of mischief is that there is no GIA report shown, even though it is touted on the offer. This would be a pretty obvious thing to most PriceScopers, and it is hard for me to imagine a serious buyer not wanting to see a copy. I know for sure, that if I was trying to sell such a diamond, I would have the report out for all to see.
Also, look at the listings by the company. If the photos appear to be taken under dozens of different photography setups, well maybe they were, and by people who have no idea that their photos are being used. At least it would seem so to me.
Google the company. Often you will find hundreds, if not thousands of listings about the company. In this case I could not find anything that I could definitively identify as being about the same company on ebay. To me, this raises many flags of caution, but perhaps I am just being too sensitive.
One of the most important protections you can take, in my opinion, especially in an area where you are not an expert, would be to have the item sent directly to a qualified appraiser so that you will have an expert evaluating the value of your purchase. That way, should you find it needs to be returned, there can be no claim of the item not being the same one sent, since it was never actually in your possession. If it is a real deal, it will bring you great piece of mind to know that you actually found that needle in the haystack. It will also save you a great amount of money should it turn out to be, like this item, just another item that is not as described.
Frankly, in my opinion, it is pretty pathetic on the part of ebay not to take a more proactive role in ridding itself of repeat offenders. It is also DANGEROUS to your pocket book to assume that anything you see there is real or they would not let it be posted there.
NOT true.
What is true is that there are some great bargains there, but there are also some great frauds there too. It is up to YOU to decide which is which.
So, be careful out there!
Wink
I just found this half million dollar, 11 carat diamond ring on ebay.
Nice looking ring, and way out of most budgets.
Or is it?
I actually made this ring for a client some years ago. IT IS NOT A DIAMOND!
It is platinum, and the side diamonds are real, but This is NOT a half million dollar ring. I know they do not intend to deliver this ring, it is not even in this country unless they bought it from my client. And if they did, they surely should have figured out it is not a diamond, and even then, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE STOLEN MY PICTURES OF THIS RING!
I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident, but it is not. I have friends that are in the Rolex business. They tell me that a HUGE percentage of the "Rolex" watches on ebay aren't.
My friends have notified ebay many times about this and the dealers never seem to be punished for selling obvious fakes. I have notified ebay more than once about people stealing my photos and they make the thieves take my pictures down, but they don't make the thieves go away.
So, how do you protect yourself from things like this?
One hint of mischief is that there is no GIA report shown, even though it is touted on the offer. This would be a pretty obvious thing to most PriceScopers, and it is hard for me to imagine a serious buyer not wanting to see a copy. I know for sure, that if I was trying to sell such a diamond, I would have the report out for all to see.
Also, look at the listings by the company. If the photos appear to be taken under dozens of different photography setups, well maybe they were, and by people who have no idea that their photos are being used. At least it would seem so to me.
Google the company. Often you will find hundreds, if not thousands of listings about the company. In this case I could not find anything that I could definitively identify as being about the same company on ebay. To me, this raises many flags of caution, but perhaps I am just being too sensitive.
One of the most important protections you can take, in my opinion, especially in an area where you are not an expert, would be to have the item sent directly to a qualified appraiser so that you will have an expert evaluating the value of your purchase. That way, should you find it needs to be returned, there can be no claim of the item not being the same one sent, since it was never actually in your possession. If it is a real deal, it will bring you great piece of mind to know that you actually found that needle in the haystack. It will also save you a great amount of money should it turn out to be, like this item, just another item that is not as described.
Frankly, in my opinion, it is pretty pathetic on the part of ebay not to take a more proactive role in ridding itself of repeat offenders. It is also DANGEROUS to your pocket book to assume that anything you see there is real or they would not let it be posted there.
NOT true.
What is true is that there are some great bargains there, but there are also some great frauds there too. It is up to YOU to decide which is which.
So, be careful out there!
Wink
I have seen stolen pictures a few times on ebay.
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