Misleading listings, reporting to Ebay shows little regard to buyers being duped & honest sellers .

[ellasemporium18]

Excuse the rant, but reporting a misleading listing to eBay has zero, zilch results.  There are a huge number of jewellery sellers that use the title "925 sterling silver........."etc, they sell these items for next to nothing (£2.99/£3.99 etc... with free postage) as a jewellery seller, believe me, I'd love to be able to buy these items at this price if authentic!!! but its obvious, they are not (take off postage, packaging charges and fees, they would need to be paying £1 and less per item) they are plated, at best, but certainly NOT pure silver.

They use 925...etc... in the title, some in the specifics and even some, in the description, but almost always list them under costume jewellery,  rather than fine jewellery catagory that sterling silver should be in.

A lot of buyers see the listing title, see the price and have no clue what the price of precious metal, per gram is (these items would be under scrap price if genuine) and the items sell in large volume.

This not only is misleading and duping customers, but directly impacts genuine sellers who list their items correctly,  why would someone buy a ring from me at £19, rather than a £2.99 with free post item?

I reported a particular seller, with 925 sterling in title, specifics and description,  of the 7-8 listings reported, every one came back with; "we looked into your report and didn't find the listing to be in violation of our policy" so I take it, its OK to describe a product as fine jewellery, in the title  but list it under costume jewellery caragory? It's done specifically to deceive and there are 100s if not 1,000s of customers falling for it.

Think I will buy a huge volume of base metal jewellery for pennies from China and try the same myself,  as its obvious that Ebay have little interest in misleading listings and sellers

[technthread]

It may be worth asking this tomorrow on eBay's weekly chat between 2-3pm:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea...

I have seen other jewellery sellers like you post on these boards so maybe if they see this they may be able to tell you if it has been asked before and worth the bother or not. The system does seem flawed from what you have said but I guess whoever looked at it at eBay (assuming it wasn't AI) didn't have the knowledge needed. 

[1956glyn]

I totally agree with you.  I too find what you say rather frustrating.  There is way too much "fake silver" on the site.

I am a bit  OCD about collecting jewellery etc and sometimes have a clear out.

I have a  sterling silver curb chain which i started  at below scrap price...fully hallmarked.     No bidders but then again why should they when similar are listed with just 925 at just a few pounds.   I guess so long as it looks ok then buyers do not mind if its real or not.   Or maybe as you say they are just being duped into thinking they have had a real bargain 😞

[1956glyn]

Just to add i have given up reporting items.   Last week i saw a little job lot of items and included was a replica hand gun !!   I reported it and you guessed it Ebay came back and said the listing was fine with no violations 😞

[ojewellery]

Is it just price that concerns you?  I think its quite hard if all the information in the listing is technically correct for eBay to do anything unless buyers report SNAD (Significantly Not As Described).  Whilst I agree with your frustration, I find the higher end pieces with Sapphires, Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds being listed set in gold that isn't hallmarked and then when you read the description its not even real or lab created its simulated - could be just a piece of glass.  The price, images, title and specifics all imply its one thing - its a real small print misslead.  It damages trust in the platform but for higher end pieces this is being worked on with authenticity guarantee.

Regarding sterling silver or even hallmarked gold being fine jewellery, the policy was updated last year and the list of gemstones allowed is now quite restricted.  I have some of my own designed hallmarked gold pendants with price tags in the hundreds that are not in fine jewellery.  Green Onyx and White Topaz are not considered gemstones by eBay.  Coloured topaz - made by heating white topaz are!  But those are the rules.

Another stone that may interest you thats not allowed to be listed in fine jewellery is CZ/ Cubic Zircon/ Cubic Zirconia - notably not the same stone as Zircon, that is allowed.  Likewise, if you don't know the stone, its not a fine item.

Sterling silver items over 7.78g need to be hallmarked to be sold (whether new or second hand) - so most bangles, even hollow ones should be hallmarked not just stamped 925.  There are a few excemptions such as period pieces where you can verify the piece is an authentic aged piece (not an easy task)

Here's the policy:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/jewellery-precious-metals-loose-bea...

Here's the dealer notice which give a bit of info on metal weights and excemptions for sale without hallmarks:

[ellasemporium18]

It's not just the price, we as sellers are up against items being described as 925 sterling silver, when they are nothing of the sort, but it's also buyers being duped into believing items are sterling (if it says it in the listing...etc...)

A little bit of detective work last night and I soon found identical items on temu (they haven't even bothered to change the photos, just hijacked them directly!!) Not one on Temu is being sold as 925 or even plated, its "alloy " in the description,(strange in this case how Temu is more honest than Ebay!!!!) a ring sold for £4.99 free post on eBay,  58p on Temu, £6.99 "sterling" being sold on Ebay, 88p on Temu and so on.

There is also the issue that a lot of the "alloy " coming out of China has some decidedly "iffy"  content, lead being just one of them.

Ebay seem indifferent to this, even though the evidence is there (was thinking of posting some side by side example photos, but wasn't sure if this would breach any rules? Although they do not show the seller) but I wonder what trading standards would say???

[ellasemporium18]

Yes, you are absolutely right, people will  go for the "bargain" without a clue of the true value of the item (if an average ring weighed 8-9gram, you couldn't even buy it scrap for what they are selling it for!!)

A bit of detective work uncovered most of the items I'd reported, on Temu!! Identical photos to Ebay listing! (Seller hadn't even bothered to take their own!!) & all of them described as "alloy " (not a whiff of even plated!) & hilarious that Temu are more honest in their items description than Ebay!!

As I said in response below, not only damaging to sellers who have a large % of folk thinking this is the true price of what they believe to be  a genuine precious metal, but completely duping  customers, as well as potential health risks, as Chinese "alloy" can have some pretty noxious ingredients,  lead, being one of them.

[ojewellery]

@ellasemporium18 wrote:

They use 925...etc... in the title, some in the specifics and even some, in the description, but almost always list them under costume jewellery,  rather than fine jewellery catagory that sterling silver should be in.

Please read and consider the above post on sterling silver being listed in the fine jewellery category - I don't agree with your interpretation of the jewellery policy.  It would be worth you reading it and considering  it and whether there is room for a different interpretation as to why the items you're reporting are actually correctly listed.

The problem is ranting is very ineffective - other than its good to get things off your chest once in a while.

---

With alloys there is a risk of interesting metal mix, so known supply is worth having.  Do you have reach compliance certificates for all the sterling silver you're selling to verify its mix (92.5% silver mixed with other metals so an alloy), have you visited the factories items are produced and done due diligence? 

What about the second hand items, how much traceability on origin/ country of supply do you have?

If we're expressing our frustrations and demand everyone prove the metal sold is as advertised, what are we actually asking?  That eBay demand reach certification, all items regardless of weight are hallmarked?  I've thought about going that route on my items but I don't think eBay customers would pay for all silver items to be hallmarked and reach certification for low volumes is expensive.  I'd rather do import declarations from traceble supply.

As for price of silver its 61p/ gram pure today.  I've been offered items direct from a manufacturer who wanted to get into supply in the UK of $1/gram - including mold manufacture.  It was based on quite high minimimum volume ordering.  It appears those listing in China pay pence to list and pence in postage, far cheaper than we can get domestically, labour is also cheaper so volume sellers could be making a profit selling tiny light sterling silver items - or clearing old stock as scrap value is much less than pure price.

[ellasemporium18]

Well, all jewellery I sell is UK sourced and if it doesn't have a full hallmark , I  test it, as I was saying below, Royal Mail class gold (all ct.) Platinum and sterling silver as fine jewellery, regardless of what, if any, stones it contains and if you don't send by any other method of posting, but special delivery, you have no claim, this is obviously not cost effective for cheaper items, so you have to take the risk, but if it goes missing you can forget getting any  compensation for that item.

What it comes down to, is having a genuine item, whether it's listed in costume or fine against listing something with the title telling us it's something which it obviously is not.

Quite simply they should not be putting 925 sterling in the title, when it's obvious that these items, are available on Temu and the likes, stating content is base metal/ alloy , its the same as putting diamond in the title, when it's made of glass.

With Chinese silver, I've seen very few items (although they may be stamped 925) that test as such, almost all, except the very lightest items are fake.

[marco@ebay]

Hi ellasemporium18, thanks for your post.

Could you please confirm the item number for me, so I can look into this for you? Please note that I cannot guarantee you with a different outcome, but I can definitely take a deeper look to see what can be done here.

Thank you,

Marco