With metals pricing going way up, I recently decided to give buying
chains from an overseas ebay source a try. They were not very
expensive, and I suspected they might be fake, even though they are
clearly stamped 925. A friend of mine, also a jeweler, bought some
as well. Hers arrived first and she tried to oxidize them, and they
wouldn’t, so she tried to melt one, and it would only glow orange
and not melt…therefore, not silver. Mine came a week later. I had
actually thought it had been lost between here and NYC as it took
over a week to get from there to Asheville. When my friend told me
hers were fakes, I emailed the seller saying, 1. I think it may have
gotten lost and 2. my friend bought some, tested them, they are not
silver. I told him if mine did show up, I would report it if mine
were also NOT silver. He refunded my money instantly. I also emailed
ebay a general email saying they should investigate this seller for
fraud because of what my friend had found and what others had
reported with neg feedback.
The chains eventually showed up 2 days ago, and one broke right away
when I tried to straighten the snake chain near the end. So I took
that one, took a torch to it…glowed bright orange, did not melt.
Once I had proof that it was fake, I left neg feedback, but did say
money was refunded.
The seller writes me asking why I left neg feedback when I got my
money back and even more or less admitted they had marked 925 but
they were so cheap so please remove neg feedback…and wants the
chains returned…but is willing to cover shipping.
I never heard back from my first email to ebay. I tried to report it
through their site, but perhaps because it was refunded or too long
since purchased, that system would not work. I tried phoning, but
their automated answering system, which asked me for a pin number,
would verify it then start over, asking for it again in an infinite
loop. So I tried online Ebay chat…they just wanted me to go back
and report it through the system.
Through all of this, the thing that bugs me is the principle of it
(as well as the lack of support)…As a jeweler, I know it is
unethical and illegal to sell non sterling marked as sterling,
period. Most of the buyers, and there are many, do not question what
they receive in the mail…they believe they are getting bright,
shiny sterling silver chains, and they leave him glowing feedback.
As a jeweler, I cannot ethically or legally sell them with my silver
pendants without disclosure (which also means removing the 925 tag
from 50 chains), plus he wants them shipped back and the neg
feedback removed because he refunded my money. I feel I have a duty
to post the negative feedback and report the guy for fraud. The $62
wasn’t a big deal even if he hadn’t refunded it…it’s the sheer
principle of the thing and the fact that many are being bilked by
this unethical seller. What would you do, and how can one get Ebay to
listen? So many of the chinese sellers are selling things unethically
and they do NOTHING about it. (just look up ‘mexican blue opal’ or
opal balls…they sell fibereye spheres as ‘natural mexican
opal’…I just hate it!)
FYI, the seller is
[Edit] ebay ID removed, Sorry, no eBay links on Orchid [/Edit].
Under NO circumstances order from them.
Jeanne