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Making the Most of Online Jewelry Auctions

Online jewelry auctions have made it possible for anyone to offer any sort of jewelry for sale, regardless of its condition or true value. All the seller need do is open an account at one of the online auction sites, and pay a listing fee which is usually dependent on the size of the minimum acceptable bid. Most online auction sites have only loose guidelines when it comes to the information which must accompany each item being sold, and sellers are more or less free to decide how to present their offering.

Online jewelry auction sites, however, will not survive unless their buyers and sellers are happy with the results they achieve, so most sites will offer tutorials on how to make each transaction go as smoothly as possible. Sellers can set minimum bids which may or may not be hidden, because that is the only way they can guarantee they will sell their items for a reasonably fair price.

But the auction sites offer no guidance in helping sellers determine what a reasonably fair price would be, and that’s the reason why so many buyers find online jewelry auctions attractive. Many sellers don’t have the expertise to judge the value of their jewelry and gemstones, and buyers who know what they are doing can sometimes walk away with tremendous bargains. Really smart buyers will spend plenty of time surfing the various jewelry auction sites sniffing out the best deals.

Many of those who sell jewelry online are professionals, and can be relied on to accurately represent what they are selling.  Designers, dealers of used jewelry and gems, and large scale manufacturers will often turn to online auctions to market their wares, but unfortunately so will individuals with less-professional intentions. Manyfake Rolex watches, for example, has been misrepresented at an online jewelry auction.

While some replica Rolex watches are nearly indistinguishable in looks and performance from the genuine articles, the honest online seller will still identify them as replica Rolex watches, but the sellers of the low-quality imitation Rolex watches often do not. Being an educated buyer is your best defense against getting swindled at an online jewelry auction, and you should always familiarize yourself with the auction site’s terms and conditions, which will almost certainly absolve them of any responsibility if you are misled in your purchase.

When you make a bid for a piece of jewelry or a gemstone online, you are forced to take at face value its description. Almost all sellers will supply photographs of their pieces, but no photograph can clearly indicate the color and brilliance of gems, nor the degree to which they might be flawed. And you will, in most instances, be dealing with a complete stranger who may be very hard to contact following the sale. If you are looking for a selection ofBreitling replica watches, for instance, dealing with a recognized company that is selling through auctions is quite different from buying from an individual.

You should never bid on any online jewelry which you would not be happy to have if it proves to be a fake. Even a well-meaning seller may be describing the lovely antique engagement ring left to him or her by Grandma in terms which have nothing to do with reality, simply because Grandma insisted the ring contained a perfect 1.5 carat diamond set in 18-karat gold. The seller couldn’t imagine that Grandpa would have bought anything less than the best for Grandma, and presents the ring in the most complimentary of terms. "Antique," when applied to jewelry, by the way, means at least one hundred years old.

And then there are those appraisals and lab reports which now accompany so many sellers’ gems and jewelry. They always sound impressive, with the appraisals usually suggesting the piece is worth far more than the opening bid, or that the gemstone is top-quality. But either sort of report can be very easily faked, so you, as a buyer, should at least take the time to verify the XYZ Appraisal Company or Laboratory actually exists.

If worst comes to worst, you can at least notify the laboratory in question after the fact that their name is being used on bogus reports. The online jewelry auction site will probably be very interested to have this bit of information concerning a seller as well.

You, as a buyer, need to accept that the true worth of any gemstone or piece of jewelry can only be determined through scientific equipment; this applies to gold as well as stones, even if the gold has a karat mark. Your best chance of finding authentic pieces at online jewelry auctions is to make arrangements beforehand with the seller so that if your bid is accepted, you will be able to place the funds in an escrow account while you take delivery of your purchase and have its value verified by a professional.
 

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Jewelry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.