Beware Online Sale/Auction Sites

We used to be occasionally asked to evaluate a jewelry piece found on one or another of the many popular online Sales/Auction Sites.  We did for a while, a short while, but now we just don't do that anymore.  It became too hard having to tell customer after customer that their "great deal" was highly suspect and probably not the article advertised.

Some of the issues we have found: 

• Gold or other precious metal not of the purity advertised.
• Counterfeit Designer Jewelry.
• Simulated gemstones instead of true synthetic or natural gemstones.
• Inaccurate sizes and weights for precious metals and gemstones.
• Plated non-precious metals bearing stamps of precious metals (e.g., 10k, 14k, 18k, etc).
• On and on.

This photo was passed to us recently, although we were aware they were being sold.  Practically everything you need to take a piece of jewelry and package and authenticate as Cartier.  The jewelry won't, of course, have the Cartier mark, but many counterfeiters have the dies necessary to add any mark to any piece of jewelry.  It's not that hard.  They also have in their counterfeiting toolkit precious metal purity stamps.  Not hard to turn Gold plate into 18k Gold - or make it appear to be.  And how do they get away with this?  Most buyers will never check.

So everyone be careful out there.  And the rule of thumb, as always, remains:  If it looks like it's too good to be true, it probably isn't.  
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