posted on January 2, 2002 12:04:30 PM new
I would appreciate any advise on how to procede with this problem. I recently purchased a lot of what was listed as 5 vintage Austrian Crystal necklaces from a seller with alot of pos feedbacks. I emailed her prior to bidding to ask the condition of the bead, if they were chipped, scratched ect and also if she combined shipping as I was also thinking of bidding on another auction she had closing the same night. She emailed back that yes she combines shipping and the beads were in excellent condition with no wear. so I bid and won. Mailed payment via MO and received the necklaces today to find out the were plastic! They were listed in the catagory/lampwork/glass:crystal. The word Crystal was in the title, description and catagory. I contacted her with the problem and she emailed back that she never said they were glass. Crystal is glass.She now refuses to refund my money as she said she did not misrepresent the item. I feel strongly that she did and need to know where to go from here. I'm not sure how to contact safe harbor or if this would help as I have never had a problem like this before with a seller. Although the pics were quickly deleted the # is 1679330081 Please let me know if any of you have had this problem and how you handled it. Thanks!
posted on January 2, 2002 12:17:26 PM new
I have never had a file a fraud report so I am not sure I could help you there. I also don't know jack about beads but I sure as heck know the difference between glass and plastic.
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I looked at the auction and I am sure I would think they were glass/crystal. She does have the one sentence about them being "light" in weight. Would that have been a clue?
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I also checked her feedback and it looks like she has had a couple of problems before in describing items. She apparently described something as bronze that turned out to be pot metal. She also described something as cut glass that was only pressed glass. That being said, however, she has hundreds of satisfied customers so I would not have hesitated to have bid on her auctions.
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Perhaps someone else can offer you advice on this with more experience. I am sorry this happened to you.<br />
Edited to add: I am sure the lady who recently purchased my crystal water goblets would have been livid if I had sent her the plastic ones from the party store.
[ edited by dixiebee on Jan 2, 2002 12:18 PM ]
posted on January 2, 2002 12:27:21 PM new
Star222,
I agree with you. Her item description does seem to make the reader believe that the necklaces were made out of genuine crystal. The only statement to the contrary was that the necklaces were very light. I'm not sure there is much you can do at this point.... and I'm not sure if the time involved in anything you could do would be worth the $50 you spent on the necklaces. I would probably send out one more e-mail message to her, include a definition from Webster on the word Crystal, request my money back, and then tell her if she did not comply that I would be posting negative feedback for her in reference to her misrepresentation. I don't think there's much else you can do about it. Sorry this happened to you!
posted on January 2, 2002 01:01:44 PM new
You really got shafted here. The word "light" in the description was only to make them more attractive ( light necklaces being better than heavy ones from a wearing point of view).
All the warnings to sellers in her listing suggests that she has had problems like yours before.
posted on January 2, 2002 01:23:22 PM new
What really stinks about the listing is the phrase:
"All sales are final unless I ascertain that I have unintentionally misrepresented my item."
So, if she deliberately misrepresented something, you don't stand a chance. And if you point something out that she doesn't want to believe, then you're also out of luck.
20/20 - this should have been reason enough to stay away.
posted on January 2, 2002 01:52:42 PM new
I hope this helps. I just took a look at that auction. First of all the title says,"5 VINTAGE AUSTRIA CRYSTAL NECKLACES" austrian crystal especially if it is vintage is NOT plastic!!! Austrian crystal is known for high quality GLASS crystal!!!
Here is something else. Austria is it's own country, Not part of Germany at all! I know some sellers who have gotten in trouble with ebay for stating in an auction description that something was "LIKE" a certain brand or type of antique. This person is just out and out lying about it.
My suggestion is to contact safe harbor and/or ebay about this auction BEFORE contacting the seller again. Have something to stand behind so you can argue with strength. See what they suggest before you go any farther with this seller.
Even though this seller as a huge amount of positive feedbacks, take a look at the few neutral & negative feedbacks they have. Looks like this isnt the first time this seller has done this.<br />
edited for typos
[ edited by paloma91 on Jan 2, 2002 02:00 PM ]
posted on January 2, 2002 02:48:29 PM new
I sell on Ebay, and I would consider it fraud to list as such. I am also tired of people listing reproductions knowing they are such and "not mentioning" that they are so. If I were to have sold the necklaces, without that information, it would definitely have been in error. I would refund ASAP, and be embarrassed.
Bygrace
posted on January 2, 2002 05:19:16 PM new
Why don't you direct the seller to this forum at AW? If this was an unitentional oversight that could be forgiven. But...$50.00 for plastic? That really seems to be quite unreasonable. Anyone, can actually tell the difference between crystal and plastic. It maybe harder to discern between crystal and glass, but if someone is a regular seller they should be able to even distinquish the difference between glass and crystal or state, "I am not sure".
posted on January 2, 2002 05:46:55 PM new
50 dollars for 5 - if they are crystal thats a steal,if plastic,thats expensive.
why dont you negotiate a price somewhere in between,like 25
posted on January 2, 2002 06:08:23 PM new
STOPWHINING...she should do no such thing. She paid for crystal, expected crystal, and should either GET crystal or get her money back. Why on earth would you pay $50 (or even $25) for fake plastic crystal necklaces?
I think the seller should be invited here to explain why she won't refund. It certainly seems like deliberate misrepresentation to me.
posted on January 2, 2002 07:09:08 PM new
i have a question-
when you bid on a piece of vintage jewelry which said ruby,saphire,emerald etc on gold,and it is not real stones,but the starting bid is 9.99 and ending bid does not reflect real stones value,will the buyer be unhappy when she finds out it is not real stones??
sometimes it is hard to tell if the stones are real on a piece of old jewelry,it is not marked and it is not worth testing,so sellers start it at 9.99.
if ending bid is 50,does the buyer expect real ruby,saphire and emerald ??
posted on January 2, 2002 08:03:57 PM new
The fraudulent seller here listed the beads as Austrian crystal and put them in the crystal category instead of the plastic category. Looking at the auction I would have expected Austrian crystal beads also.
It is wrong for the seller to hide behind this statement "All sales are final unless I ascertain that I have unintentionally misrepresented my item."
In this case the buyer should ascertain that the item was misrepesented. I agree with twinsoft that they should file a fraud complaint with ebay.
posted on January 2, 2002 08:06:15 PM newsometimes it is hard to tell if the stones are real on a piece of old jewelry,it is not marked and it is not worth testing,so sellers start it at 9.99
The seller should then mention that they do not know if the stones are real and that is why they are starting it at $9.99. Then it is up to the bidder to take a chance as the seller is not misleading.
posted on January 2, 2002 08:16:41 PM new
After you file a fraud complaint, eBay will contact the seller and give them a chance to respond to your complaint. The process is similar to SquareTrade, with each party posting initial and follow-up comments.
eBay will also notify the seller that if she is found to have committed fraud, she will be suspended. IMO opinion, this is a clear case of intentional fraud. The seller will refund your money or get kicked off eBay.
posted on January 2, 2002 08:25:21 PM new
ebay bidders are pretty savvy,if they see an item starting at 9.99 with no reserve,they would think it cant be real stones??
no dealer can risk selling the real thing for less.
as for the austrian crystal,they could be rock crystal which is not glass,
of course if you have 5 of these rock crystals for 50,you have done very well for yourself,i bet you are not going to complain they are not glass!!!!!!!
posted on January 2, 2002 08:33:12 PM new
Thank you all for you view and your help. As of now she says she will refund the money, but not the postage and then emailed "wasn't the one pink one glass?" making me sure she new she sent plastic. I don't want to invite her here as she will then probably never refund my money. To stopwhining, yes some times sellers will list an item @ 9.99 to save on the listing fees when they are sure that they have a great auction and it will be reconized and go for a high bid. Gemstones are harder to determine, but not impossible, like rubies can be put in milk and the milk will show pink. I am no rookie at collecting crystal and actually my husband sells gemstones and beads on ebay under a different id beadkat. Neither one of us has ever been so blatently, (spelling) lied to before. But the pics on this auction looked like very nice crystal and it is not unusual to get some good prices.Again, thanks so much for all of your support and maybe she'll still refund the auction but I'm not that sure.
