It’s just so sad that this is what the majority of society I guess has come to and finds perfectly normal. Like haha. People don’t offer people deals, or fairness,or tell the truth if they can take something from you or hurt you in some small however insignificant way so they can feel and appear all that more superior. Is life just about the con now at the expense of people like me who don’t have a need to feel more or lesser than anyone except live the best life I can achieve? You can’t achieve much of anything if you’re say me and that’s the norm. As a kid I would steal out of out large bottle filled with change so that my friend could eat lunch with me. Because at recess they had already eaten their apple. A lot of us (small town I guess) instinctively thought that way.As a family come to think of it, we didn’t do much together besides dinner. In life as a part of a social network we look out for each other and offer advice when asked. Thinking again, that has actually been on a decline too. Rather just run off wreck the bank account experience all the pain and misery making the same dumb choices everybody else made once and learned already. When there’s a perfectly good platform right here Where I could have just said Hi my name is wash rinse repeat. This is what I’m thinking of doing. I was wondering if anyone has experience in that area or could recommend … Blah blah blah break old habits. Get better results. You know when you just need to rant? Thank you.
Certainly, My appologies It was one seller in particular that I had a some shady issues with and you took care of it when they would not provide any answers as to the advertised goods almost immediately. You also took care of an issue regarding shipping fees defaulting to the quickest most expensive rates rather than standard and My partner was refunded or the order cancelled I don’t quite remember. I’ve had really good experiences with the site, my partner included. The auction house officer has been a huge asset.for which I did not previously utilize admittedly. We do now whenever there’s a potentially large purchase. Yours and Ebay seem to be the most popular and reputable according to customers. I had a wonderful experience with some opals on your site as wella tons of real raw crystal and wish to again in future If I haven’t offended thee too badly. The issue here isn’t Ebay either/ It is its unvetted sellers.
Your experience is not uncommon. Ebay might crack down on some seller selling fake women’s handbags but when it comes to gemstones it is “Buy Beware”. I’ve spoke to EBay of the matter in the past on this and they pay no mind.
There are Countries on Ebay where I wouldn’t buy a damn thing: (1) Nigeria…(2) India. Count on getting screwed if you do.
With all the Gemstone Trade Shows canceled this year due to the Covid 19 Virus it’s really tough finding good stuff at reasonable prices.
May I respectfully suggest investing a little money in gem identification equipment? Refractormeter, S.G. kit, etc. Much cheaper than sending a gem to a certification lab and in this part of the World use only GIA. No one outside the U.S. knows any other.
By all means, give a Ebay seller a Bad rating if you catch them selling misrepresented stuff. Don’t worry about about being sue. Won’t happen!
There was a recent article in Gemworld’s Guide (a by subscription publication) in which one of the gemologists described buying a number of stones on ebay and receiving fakes described as naturals, and very included stones described as clean, etc. You have raised the awareness level here, and that is good. Beyond that, I guess we all have to be aware that ebay and other stone auctions are not interested in anything that complicates their business and their bottom line, which is more fees for more auctions. Stick to those you trust who offer you a return privilege and bone up on your gemology, as many of these fakes are easily recognizable to anyone with some gemology skills. You might seek a legal opinion from a local legal clinic or your local DA. I would also talk with the postal service if these came USPS, as the sellers have, I think, engaged in mail fraud. Whether this would make any difference with an out-of-country seller or not, IDK. A good reason to deal only with domestic sellers in the US, but the best deals are to be had from producing countries. There are folks overseas who are quite honest, but you have to know who they are and deal with them directly. The price may be good, but it will not be a bonanza…if sapphire is $1000/ct, you might get it for $800/ct, but not for $8 or $80/ct. Ditto, tourmaline for $100.ct, but not for $10/ct unless it is fake or way off in color and/or clarity. Caveat emptor!
Go get em. PayPal is your best option. Usually fraud is a 2 year statute of limitations from the date you knew or should have known about the misrepresentation and some states have deceptive trade practices statutes but suing anyone is costly upfront and usually protracted. You can file a complaint with your state’s attorney general’s office, consumer division. But get PayPal to follow up since they have the power to cut their account off. That hurts them directly where it hurts the most, in the pocket. We all have a duty to our fellow consumers to report and help stamp out fraud and keep our markets free of racketeers. Misrepresentation is fraud and like someone said, probably mail fraud but certainly good old fashion fraud. Never be afraid to call it out for what it is. There is no “buyer beware“ where specific facts are stated and those facts are false and you relied on those facts to induce you into a contract for sale. If it’s false, it’s fraud. Puffing like: “it’s a pretty stone, better than most or nice color or very fancy or a great price” are not actionable since they are opinion but a specific stated fact such as size, clarity if a standard is used, statement that it is a real and not synthetic stone are examples of factual actionable facts if not true as stated. Identification of the stone is actionable if not as specifically stated. Next time, get a separate confirmation from the seller in writing if you are uncertain. Send them a message stating: please confirm; 1. This (describe the number of the item or send a pic of their listing) stone is an authentic natural earth mined zircon, with measurement 9mm x 10mm with a clarity of at least VS as that is commonly understood In the gem industry, etc with exact details. Pin it down and leave nothing out of your request for confirmation. If they refuse to confirm, they are a fraud. If they confirm and you kept a copy of their response and it’s not true once you check the stones upon arrival, you have your proof of direct fraud without any questions of ambiguity in the stated description. Set fraudulent people up to fail upfront and you as a smart savvy consumer. And then blast them all over the Internet when they lie and deceive. If you have the proof, then you are safe because truth is a defense to libel or slander and you will be cleaning up a very dirty business in this industry that is fraught with fraud and criminals. So, I say good for you. Now let’s all do the same. Let’s bring some truth and trust back to online sales by pushing out those who have made it an untrustworthy marketplace.
I will NEVER buy cut gems or rough on such places. I only buy without actually SEEING the items on my table from a few reliable, trusted old friends & traders. I NEVER had a problem. Et voilà. Most people in this trade are hyenas. Unfortunately.
Why not head down to your local rock shop or rock mystic and pick up some quartz jelly beans, they are cheap and if the cut fails why worry. I always have a stock of them to test new faceting cuts, before spending time on valuable material.
Bonjour
Il faudrais mentionner ces vendeurs .cela pourrais aider des acheteurs potentiel. car cela est de la pure escroquerie,vous pouvez depose un litige avec paypal .ces vendeurs peu scrupuleux donnent une mauvaise image alors que certains vendeurs sont honnêtes et passionnés de gems
mais s’ils sont des criminels dans le commerce de faux bijoux, ne seraient-ils pas dangereux? Ils ont déjà mon adresse. Je ne veux rien commencer qu’ils pourraient finir pour moi. Si tu vois ce que je veux dire.
You’re not kidding…
Actually I’ve had pretty good luck on Gemrock and the problems I did have there, they were very helpful in solving. Still disgusts me that the business is literally crawling with people on the take.
Very helpful, clear and forthright response. Thank you!
If it’s an expensive stone backed up by a GIA cert, wouldn’t that settle the matter whether the stone is a fraud or not according to defined industry criteria? And for inexpensive stones on ebay, fraudulent sellers are hoping you won’t complain on ebay. If you do, such sellers are probably hoping that they have some good feedback that will cast doubt on the negative reviews. And, they can always have some friends buy their merchandise and give good feedback that the seller hopes will offset the bad. But Paypal is a powerful weapon for consumers.
Bravo:
There are lots of people who have been burned with “on-line” purchased items who didn’t know that there was anything that could be done about it. Thank you for posting what you did, about possible solutions to some of crooks who have infiltrated this industry. You have given a spark of hope to the gemstone buying public. If even the least of your advice is followed, ie. if it’s a LIE, don’t be scared to stand up and shout out loud YOU ARE A LAIR.
I am new to gemstones & really enjoy buying them (both rough & faceted). I’m looking forward to buying more in the future if the economy allows.
I HATE A CROOK. Thank you for helping us weed them out.
Yes Yolanda, 6 months. I ordered something from India through eBay in March just before CoVid Lock down. I was repeatedly assured it would arrive. At 5 months with no package, I filed a claim and was reimbursed in full. Btw, it still has not arrived.
I had one similar, I got reimbursed for them, but i never learn, I tried again in August, the stones arrived yesterday, so I owe the seller now. At least reimbursement is a pretty easy thing to do.
PayPal is a joke! It is 98% managed by A,I, and a stupid bot at that. Their policies are rigid and not very well defined or discerning. God forbid you should have a unique issue to settle. The bot will put you in a continuous loop back to square one and don’t even bother trying to call. Real people agents are scarce and often busy with other clients or maybe there really isn’t anyone to take your call… Regarding a recent issue I had with them they sided on behalf of a counterfeiter. They provided a return address to me in Chinese. When no one got back to me by the time the ticket was to close I printed off the address, stuck it on the return box and mailed it. The post office will not issue a tracking number to undecipherable addresses. It isn’t like there’s a translator at their offices. When I brought this to PayPals attention they refunded me on the shipping fee but then kept the item purchase money citing that I had not provided a tracking number. Like WTF? I will not deal with a stupid corrupt company like PayPal if I can avoid it. Nobody works there!
That’s right. You can’t be sued for telling the truth. Help make our marketplaces safe and honest. Report every false statement and fraudulent vendor. Put them out of business.
I have 7-8 blogs, and when a company does something wrong, I post it, and the company’s name and everything about it. I am not worried about being sued, for as long as what you say is true, they can’t really sue you. Of course, when a company does an outstanding job at something I praise them. But heck, if you ever feel like posting on one of my blogs about this kind of thing, let me know, I will be glad to have someone post something. I have had time to keep the blogs up right now, and don’t want all my readers to get bored and leave me.
Another thing. I purchase from gemrock also. I notice that they have the Gem Sheriff or something where, if you believe they are selling fake, you can have an investigation done. I was considering doing that myself. I suspect that some of the few things I purchased were not on the up and up. I have purchased items, for example a carved wolf’s head. I saved a copy of the ad, because for some reason, I suspected it would not be the same on I purchased. It ended up being almost exactly half the size of the one I supposedly purchased. I contacted the vendor and we emailed back and forth a couple of times, they apologized and sent me the right one. The one they sent was identical to the one in the picture. Now, whether or not any of them are actually mookite, I can’t tell you that. BUT, they made good as far as I am concerned. If the material is not the true material, I don’t know, and really at this point, I am unconcerned. When it comes to wolf items, whether real of fake, if it looks good, and the wolf looks natural, I let it slide. Wolves have a particular look in their face, and if the artist can get that right, then I am happy.
But when it comes to something I plan to mount as a ring or necklace, I am much more picky. I have found at gemrock, some sellers care and some have really bad attitudes, and really just don’t give a damn if you like it or not.
Seriously, if you would care to post on one of my blogs, feel free to contact me, I would love nothing more than pointing out to others, bad sellers, and I have a tendancy to bitch about things anyway…
wildass1@protonmail.ch
Hi. I am brand new to IGS, but have been studying gemstones and minerals my whole life. I feel for you, IMDone, because I got stars in my eyes when I first discovered Ebay, and decided to take a chance on overseas gemstone dealers. I love treasure hunting, and will always take a chance on well-priced things, online or at thrift/antique stores. I hold myself to pretty strict price standards, though, that way I wont get too burned. My rationale is, that if it’s not a true treasure, at least I got a pretty thing for a decent price. I purchased some “denantoids” that were “certified”, and my money is on them being some sort of simulant, but I haven’t tested them yet. Bottom line is, if they’re fakes, I didn’t pay much for them and easily recoup my cost. Best, I make a pile of money. Online buying is like gambling, you never spend more than you are willing to lose. Half the fun for me is taking a chance and maybe getting something fabulous. I also scrutinize the sites carefully and read the product descriptions carefully, and take careful notes. Some of them sell quality stuff, but alot of them are just scammers. Caveat emptor. Good luck in your quest(s).