How to Become a Successful Online Buyer
Many people swore they would never become online buyers due to the risks and difficulties of understanding the internet. In recent years, however, as many Babyboomers become senior citizens and children are raised "on the net", online buying has become much more common. People don't want to leave the house after working 50 hrs plus each week and the improvements from initial web-based shopping have been immense over the last few years, creating a pleasurable experience for many people. The world of online auctions has grown to incredible proportions as well. The one thing that makes it at times intimidating is that there are several hundred thousand sellers and unlike online stores, products are often intentionally misrepresented. There are also many people who think they know what they are selling but in truth are not very educated about their products. Here I hope to help you navigate through the online buying process and give you some tools to be a successful jewelry buyer on ebay and other sites.
The Lingo - Unlocking Jewelry Codes
Understanding the verbiage that sellers use is very helpful in online buying here is a list of common acronyms and online terms.
STS, SS, .925 or Ster, Sterl - Sterling Silver
Gold Shell - Gold filled 10k-18k means that it is filled gold, about 1/20 gold and 80 parts alloy.
HGE - A form of heavy electroplating - the gold is a bit more than a quick spray application, but will wear faster than rolled-gold.
GE - Standard gold plating. Aka costume jewelry but usually meant to be a bit classier than "junk jewelry" or costume jewelry.
Rolled Gold - a heavy plating of gold meant to last a few years. Bulova watches are a great example of how companies can use gold plating to create long-lasting pieces that are not solid gold but hold value for much longer than plating.
Rhodium, a rare metal that is used to significantly harden the surface of soft metals used in jewelry making such as gold and silver, It also gives metals the reflective finish people desire. It often wears off overtime and needs to be reapplied to keep reflective surface,
k, kt, kts all mean Karats - level of gold count in metals. 14 kts means the product is half gold.
PD or Pd - Palladium rare metal that is worth as much as and at times more than 14kt gold. (PD can also mean "Premiere Design" so be careful. Hallmarks are usually small and meant for a jeweler to see. If the PD is in Bold Print its costume made by this company.
Most common golds for solid jewelry10kt, 14kt, 18kt, all others are either too soft or produce an undesirable effect. 24kt gold is pure gold, very soft and usually only sprayed on jewelry, dishes, or other works of art.
Clues It Is a Fake:
Real gold has a continuous color. If the metal begins to change color or has any green spots, it is fake. Sometimes if real gold is dirty, it will have tinge to it, but the tinge is allover and not different colors. 18kt gold is darker than 14, but there are no changes in the surface of the metal. Buying online you can often see flaws if you simply use a magnifying glass when viewing the pictures. Ebay also offers a magnification viewer built into the site. This is very handy!
GAUDY?!?
Bigger is not always better. Real gold jewelry is often dainty unless we are talking about men's jewelry. It is not very often that you will find a piece of jewelry on eBay with diamonds and gold priced cheaply. If the seller is listing things that seem way off, it probably is. One good way to find out if your seller is pricing something too low in an attempt to sell a fake is look at posts for similar products and use a scrap gold calculator online. Compare values as scrap calculators are very easy to use! Many serious sellers know that some buyers are only buying for scrap value, so they list the grams or pennyweights of the piece posted. However, be careful that they are not listing grams of goldfilled of silver-filled items. People list weights on these items, but it's rather pointless as the gold weights are 1/20th of the total weight (or less) of the piece.
Seller ratings are very important checker buyer feedback and look to see what other buyers are saying about your seller's other pieces.
When Opinion Can Cost!
Sentiment and other factors can be a problem for jewelry buyers on ebay. Many people who are selling Estate pieces struggle because of the grief or attachment they had for the original owner. They overprice because of personal value versus actual value. Double-check items of the same style and weight to see if you are being "sentiment gouged".
READ THE FINE PRINT!
Last but not least! Read the entire post about the piece you want to buy. Many people use the words "gold" and "silver" in their post titles, but if you read the word "tone" is often chopped off or not used until later because the sellers know that you won't take the time to read the listing if they disclose that it is really a costume or gold plated item in the title. It's really an honesty issue that I wish eBay would put standards in place for. While most people are not trying to scam you the ones that are use this trick the most. Also, remember to check if your post says 14kt gf or 14kt HGE ect, because that means the piece is really costume jewelry with a small coating of gold. Also SS and 14kt means the piece is mostly silver and is gold bathed or accented with some gold, but the scrap value will be based only on the sterling value and not the gold value.
Consider the photos a part of the fine print. Cameos, in particular, are better viewed in zoom mode as they are often made of multiple materials. Plastic versions will have an odd dull quality that doesn't seem right.
