Can anyone please explain this?

[zengirl]

I just bought these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-AAA-GRA...item2c5e4b5574

How are they so cheap yet supposedly of good quality? No postage costs either. I have a horrible feeling that the old adage "if it's too good to be true, then it's too good to be true" might be appropriate here. Can anyone tell me what I've *really* bought?

[Amrita]

They are probably freshwater. Even so, from the picture the quality seems fine....and if it IS actually that quality in FWP, it is still a good deal. You will come to know once you actually have them - if what you get is what was in the photo. Definitely not Akoya. But would they even be good quality FWP at that price...? Will be interested to see photos once you have them..

[Agustus-Collection]

hmm i would say those are shell pearls, could be Freshwater though, NO Akoya that's for sure.

If they are FWP like Amrita said, it would be still a very good deal.. unfortunately i have my doubts.

Sven

[Admin]

No doubt. Look at the other auctions. It is loaded with fw described as natural color black akoya, South Sea, etc. The seller is a fraud.

To your question, yes, too good to be true. It's not possible to buy the lowest commercial grade 7.5-8 mm akoya strand at even close to that price from anywhere in the world. It's not even possible to buy a pair of earrings as described from any dealer in Japan or China - where akoya pearls are produced.

[zengirl]

So the seller is blatantly lying?? How is this allowed?

I know I'm a bit of a trusting soul, but I'm shocked. If you have some second rate cobbled together vacuum cleaners and sold them as Dysons surely the advert wouldn't last a day. I suppose it must be because the people who make the decisions, or police ebay for fraud, don't know enough about pearls? Or it's just such a hassle to try and prove it, and by the time they do, the person/advert is long gone?? Who knows.

I don't mind if I get FW pearls instead of Akoya. I am about to order a genuine necklace from a website called Pearls Only which gives a certificate and it seems a really trustworthy place to buy pearls (it took me three days of continuous research to find what I wanted)!

But I thought the £20 necklace on eBay was worth a pot to see what I got. I highly doubt they'd be Akoya, but I want to know what they are. The seller is stating that they are Akoya pearls. I want to know if I'm being blantantly lied to. If I get a nice string of FW pearls I'll be happy enough (although still lied to and it's still fraud), but if I get shell pearls I'll be livid! I will take a couple of good quality photos as soon as I have them and post them back on this thread. The seller says it will take up to 20 days to post them to me.

Thank you for your replies.

[jshepherd]

Yes. The seller is blatantly lying. We have an entire section about eBay here on this forum. It is extremely difficult to weed through the thieves and liars on eBay to find those that are actually selling what they claim to sell. The problem is, most buyers know very little about what they are buying, and are often trusting souls. What would the sellers ultimately face anyway? Nearly all of them are based in China, where parts can be thrown together and sold as Apple products in stores that are called "Apple," that look identical to our "Apple" stores, staffed with employees that genuinely think they work for Apple, yet the products are nothing more than knockoffs, and there is nothing Apple can really do about it. eBay makes money on every sale, so why would they care?

Pearls Only is also based in China and their pearls ship from China, but it is run by a guy from Canada. And because it does have its own real storefront (a Website) and markets in North America, they have to be more reliable and honest than those on eBay.

What you will receive from the eBay seller is a strand of freshwater pearls. Is it going to be a horrible deal? Probably not - you'll likely receive real pearls and you paid very little for them. Were you lied to, cheated and mislead? Yes. That is the part that so many of us here have taken such offense to over the years. It's been going on for more than a decade.

[jshepherd]

Then there are the BIG frauds on eBay, like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...ht_1604wt_1141

A "hoard" of low-grade, commercial quality freshwater strands being sold as South Sea for South Sea prices. It's auctions like that that make my skin crawl.

[Agustus-Collection]

Jeremy.. we are with you skin crawling wise !

[pearlescence]

Once the pearls have arrived and been identified you can leave feedback which is straightforward and informed. Or if you paid with paypal you can file a complaint. Both things will go some way towards getting eBay's attention. Too many paypal complaints and a seller will lose paypal. That is harder to start up again under a different name and would go at least a bit of the way towards stopping it all.
People do what works, so if the modest things we do make it harder to work then hopefully gradually it will stop (in our dreams!)

[zengirl]

Jeremy - that "hoard" is no longer available for auction.

It's incredible the lies being told in such detail and repeatedly. I know for you it's immediately obvious, but for most lay people it's not. We don't know much about pearls - I probably know more than anyone I know (and I know very little) so it's not really the fault of the consumer, but mostly the fault of the seller (and eBay for letting the Chinese continue to con the world). They are writing completely false things adamantly, repeatedly. If you know about pearls you will straight away think it's false. Most other people would not be so sure and would most likely be conned.

Hmm, so just before I buy, do people think Pearls Only is a reputable place to buy pearls from then? Am I going to get what I order? Is the certificate going to be meaningful or just another load of lies?

[Caitlin]

You can go over to the other thread on this topic to see why the sale was withdrawn.

http://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/sho...1342#post91342

[Honey_and_Lemon]

Can we move these threads to the ebay or what pearls do I have? forum.

[Caitlin]

Good call H&L

A natural organizer? Please let me know anything you notice! I'd appreciate it!