Ebay and material designated as "Quartz"

Jewelry Discussion
21

Hi, I see many very good comments have already been made on the
misnomers of many types of “stones” on eBay. I’ve been selling
cabochons on eBay on a regular basis for over three years now, and I
don’t think you’re “being picky” at all! Sellers shouldn’t be
misleading buyers under any circumstances, and while there may be
some who honestly don’t realize what they’re actually selling, I
believe most of them DO know.

One that really troubles me is Marra Mamba. After a few true Marra
Mamba cabs sold for relatively high prices recently,it seems that
all of a sudden all tiger-eye from Australia is being called Marra
Mamba. In some cases, the seller will say that it “may” be Marra
Mamba, but in many others, the cabs are represented as being
unquestionably Marra Mamba when it is clear to anyone who knows the
stone that they aren’t. I also see fire agates called opals
sometimes. I think sometimes it is the seller’s lack of knowledge,
sometimes it’s that they just don’t care, but I’m also sure that
sometimes its unethical sellers who know they’re misrepresenting
their cabs in hopes of getting higher prices than they should be for
stones of the type and quality that they’re selling.

Listing synthetics stones as “genuine” is what really gets to me.
Maybe somewhere in fine print near the long-winded ad it will state
something to the effect that it is a man made stone, but only an
experienced and knowledgeable buyer will read far enough to get to
that point. What angers me in those cases is that the seller clearly
hopes that potential buyers won’t read far enough to see that the
stone is actually not genuine, and they also know they have covered
themselves from fraud complaints because when a buyer complains, they
can point out that the listing did clarify what the actual material
really was.

Whether “stones” are being misrepresented on eBay, by a direct
online seller, or at a wholesale show or a retail shop, unfortunately
it winds up hurting both the buyers and the sellers. Of course the
buyer not only pays more for what they buy than it is worth, but they
also go on to misrepresent the material if they use it in a piece for
resale. They may also lose money if their potential buyers recognize
the material for what it really is and therefore don’t buy.

I have also seen personally what I believe is a hesitancy to buy
stones which buyers are unfamiliar with. An example: I sell cabs of
a fantastic material called Arizona tiger-eye, (Chrysotile) and while
I’ve done well with them, I’ve also been somewhat surprised that
more people haven’t shown an interest. I suspect it’s because few
people have ever seen this rare and beautiful stone in person, and
that many may wonder if it is, in fact, “real.”? And the ones that
have seen the best of it think it’s not a genuine stone because it is
so bright that it reminds them of fiber optic?

There are many very reputable sellers on eBay though, just as there
are everywhere. eBay and the internet in general have given potential
buyers access to some fantastic stones they’d probably never be able
to buy otherwise. All buyers need to educate themselves about
unfamiliar materials they’re considering buying, no matter what the
source may be. They need to do research and ask questions of the
sellers, and when buying online, they also need to carefully examine
item pictures (which should be enlarged, clear, and show details
well) and descriptions with care, as well as scrutinize a seller’s
feedback if they are considering purchases through any online
auction. If there is any doubt as to whether the stones being
considered are of the quality they’re represented as, I’d suggest
that people buy just one or two less expensives tones from a seller
to begin with so they’ll have a better idea of how well what they’re
seeing compares to what they actually receive. Once buyers have
learned what to look for in a reputable, honest seller, they’ll be
able to find m any of them with ease.

Steve “Topgems”
http://topgems.homestead.com

22

Hi Tony – not only are the fake “quartz” pieces being sold on ebay
as real quartz, but in some bead catalogs, and definitely at some
trade shows. You are not being too distinguishing at all.

The thing that bothers me the most is that the sellers are only
hurting people who are searching for natural materials. There are
plenty of people who will pay much more for glass than they will pay
for natural materials (go to any bead show), so why misrepresent the
materials?

The sellers are most likely passing on “what they were told” by
their suppliers, and are not knowledgeable enough to distinguish.
(I really don’t think that ignorance is a suitable excuse for
misrepresentation; it is the seller’s moral responsibility to check
their sources.) But it happens.

About three weeks ago I was looking at a website, and they had a
photo of a pendant (of which they had many multiples available), and
they stated (with an exclaimation point!) that it was a REAL bears
claw. Now it was obvious to me that it was a shark’s tooth, so I
e-mailed them the correction. They wrote back that it was indeed a
real bear’s claw, from Arkansas. So, being politely persnickety, I
e-mailed photos of a bear’s claw and several types of shark teeth
back to them, and suggested that they might want to compare what they
were selling with the photos. I figured it was their choice as to
how they wanted to sell. Well, a few days ago, I get an e-mail
telling me that they looked over all of their “bear’s claw” pendants,
and they were ALL shark teeth. (No surprise to me.) They said that
when they purchased them, their supplier had told them that they were
absolutely bear’s claws.

This was a case of nice people who didn’t do any research about what
they were selling. All you can do is notify people of their
mislabeling, and them let them take it from there. If they are
honest, they will do the right thing – if not, then probably only
enforced laws with punitive fines will discourage them from trying to
take advantage.

–Terri

23 
do you ... let the scoundrels prey on the yokels, or do you take
some sort of action? If you go this route, it is virtually assured
that the dealers will post retaliatory negative feedback about you,
and it is possible that you will be contacted by a lawyer.

If forgetting about it doesn’t work or isn’t an option, I like the
take action route. It would be prudent to create an Ebay identity
specifically for conducting this sort of action. That way your
business identity wouldn’t be subject to retaliatory smearing.

Christine in Littleton, Massachusetts
No one deserves lung cancer.

24 
Misty, I hate to bite the hand that feeds  me

Hi Kenneth, I’m not sure it’s my hand your biting or Rio’s. The GIA
does have criteria for grading pearls, although it’s not concrete,
it is a guideline. The GIE does have strict criteria for grading
Tahitian pearls. That is why it bothers me to see AAA-AA-A gradings
on them. I’ve written a brochure, and will have the info on my
website (as soon as I finish it) explaining the 6 criteria use to
grade pearls. Giving people the on the grading system
is the only way to make things consistent, and help people feel
comfortable purchasing pearls. Misty

25

Misty

I totally agree, it’s totally unfair to the customer to represent
Pearls or Gems by such an unfair and undeterminable system of
quality. I can’t fault just Rio for this grading system most other
catalogue’s list the quality of their gems the same way, as do a lot
of gem dealers from Asia and China.

Dr. Fredrick Pogue, George Sinkankas and the founders and
contributors of the G.I.A., A.G.S. and like organizations spent much
of their lives work developing absolute standards which are to be
regarded as non subjective.

Now if every one who dealt in Gems were educated to those standards
then the gem business would be the better for it.

Kenneth Ferrell

26

I have been following this thread with great interest – for a
couple of reasons. Before I explain them, let me first explain why I
joined this list.

I have a wedding aniversery coming up very soon and wanted to do
something for my wife that would be “treasured” by her. An article
in a recent Readers Digest referenced an auction site that had, what
they refered to as “great deals” on jewelry. I went there and saw
these “great deals” – inflated dappraisals and some deceptive photos
(generic instead of actual). Being pretty internet literate, I
proceeded to do quite a bit of research on what I was looking at.

This research led me to Ebay and the auctions there. I saw the same
things at Ebay – mislabelled items, photos that did not reveal the
true quality of what was being sold etc. Some items are too good to
be true - there is currently a canary yellow diamond being offered
that is “eye clen wnen set” of 1.62 carats. The price is $133 - this
simply cannot be real yet they claim it is. To continue, while
exploring Ecay, I came upon the term “lab-created” in reference to
some stones. I went off and searched for lab-created and found some
interesting sites about them. During my searching, I found Orchid and
joined the list so I could read (and hopefully learn) about jewelry.

Not being one to jump into the fire quickly, I spent several weeks
reading and looking. One site in particular intrigued me (If any
one wants the site you can email me). I spend some time on the phone
with the owner of the company and finally ordered some stones so I
could evaluate them - 4 sapphires, 2 CZ’s and a 10.5 carat ruby
heart.

My wife and I were both impressed by the stones when we received
them. But not being satisfied with our opinions since we know very
little, I took the stones to a reputable jeweler in my town. He was
very impressed with the quality and cut. He also is convinced they
are what they were represented as Lab-created corundum, Later I had
the opportunity to put the ruby up against a $5000 natural ruby the
synthetic, in the words of the owner of the real ruby, “was a better
quality stone”. The color and fire as good as the natural. Now I
am researching so I can try to design something my wife will be proud
to wear - even if the stones are not “real”.

Back to Ebay: Part of what I learned is that many of the stones
sold on Ebay come from the same dealer I bought my stones from so I
have a good idea of what they are paying for them (very little). The
other thing I learned is that just because a stone is “natural” does
not make it valuable. Many of the stones offered are of very poor
quality but the bidders pay prices that are higher than the actual
value because they do not understand quality.

I too get irritated over the descriptions on the auctions sites
because many are worded in a way that avoids revealing the real value
of the item being sold. I read (and downloaded) the FTC guidelines
for jewelry because of earlier posts here and have spent a lot of
time reading and re-reading them.

I personally like the idea of the synthetic (not simulated) stones.
They make it possible for someone that could not affort natural
stones to have something that has the same qualities as the natural.
As long as the stones are not misrepresented, I think they have a
place in the trade.

Glenn Vaughn

27

Tony

perhaps if the buyers were to know that Quartz is a rather
common material around the world, they may prefer buying ornamental
glass. they should have the chance.

OK, my tongue is out of my cheek now. We Americans are known to be
imaginative. We are not generally be thought to be sneaky or
conniving. Perhaps the faith of purchase stems from that.

Imagination stirs the market, remember Blue Denin Lapis? The fruit
glass/quartz will soon pass. Some will get a nice return for their
efforts, but fads fade. I can just imagine what will come next.

Terrie

28

Hi Gang,

Relative to possible sales of fraudulently identified material on
eBay; most state’'s Attorney’s General Offices are a good contact
for these types of schemes.

If you contact them, it helps to have a hard copy of the ad & any
other info. It’d really be good to have an actual sample of the item
that was purchased along with supporting documentation.

Dave

29

Terrie,

Your first sentence is an answer for you! Look at the price of
Diamonds and tell me that your sentence makes good sense! Diamonds
are very common, yet with all the promotions and hype and being a
monopoly, they are very valuable! If you like what is being
sold, what difference does it make what it is? Look at the names
that QVC and others call their products!

Boy, they still sell and as far as I have heard no lawsuits.
Different names just give you leeway for braggin’ rights, who will
argue?? (lol) To me, what makes no sense is, that with all of the
excellent man made stones readily available that are really
inexpensive and require no real security to wear ( i.e.-versus a
real Diamond necklace worth $$$) and no-one can really tell the
difference between the stones without special equiptment, why small
diamonds? It’s because they are very abundant and the larger stones
are becoming a rarity and therefore more valuable! As I’m not a
jeweler, but a facetor, I’ve been pondering this for a long time!
The more valuable natural stones that I’ve seen lately are unique,
large and usually not flawless! To me this doesn’t equate, as the
man made stones are all flawless, made from the same material and
as good or better than the natural stones and can’t be distinguished
from the natural stones without special equipment! Not only that, I
understand that they can make man-made stones with similiar type
flaws as the natural stones

This is really just MHO!