In 2000, when I was still in the car business, I became a member of ebay. At the time, there must have been about 1000 Tiffany listings and  it was very fun and new. Over the years, the Tiffany listings grew by thousands. Sure, there have always been fakes on ebay, but for someone who spent a lifetime coveting those little blue boxes, I could tell what was the real thing. Last night when I checked, the Tiffany listings are back to about a 1000. It looks to me that at least 80% are fake. Keep up the good work, ebay.

The best part of having a place to show off my beautiful collection is that I can make room for new pieces. There is some old Tiffany that I have been accumulating for a long time. In the past few days, I sold two Elsa Peretti bracelets and, left with just one, I decided I couldn’t part with it. I put it on and now its my new favorite. Its the right size for me to wear everyday, but not as flashy as some of the large Peretti pieces I love. The gold is warm on my wrist and I am wearing it with my old favorite Tiffany gold Atlas watch. Looks very elegant. I needed cheering up today as I am still very unhappy over ebay’s decision to keep my listing limits in place for 6 months. There are more fakes now on ebay, then ever before. I am seeing people who used to sell old Cartier and Tiffany on ebay, listing homemade bead necklaces, etc.

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Just before I went to bed last night, I got a little letter from ebay. Since I may be a threat to the positive experience of ebay, I now have a 6 month listing limit, rather then 3 months that they gave me before. The only difference is, I have become very vocal in my displeasure of ebays tactics. Not only on the ebay forum, but on tv as well. Since my first listing limits began, I have had all positive feedback. In fact, I have NEVER had a negative feedback in 7 years!! . In 6 months, I can request, in writing, a new review of my account. Since giving me listing limits, I have been very vocal on the ebay forum called safe harbor. Safe?? Well, pages upon pages on the safe harbor have been removed by ebays moderators. They really don’t want too much criticism, nor do they want to hear any chatter about lawyers and new websites. I am starting to hate ebay. Its like a divorce…the thing that once brought so much happiness is now causing the greatest grief.
All year long I bought beautiful estate jewelry (much of it Tiffany) to list over the holidays. Some of this jewelry I even bought on ebay…They had no problem with me all those months of buying. Now, however, I can only list 7 pieces of Tiffany. Many sellers, faced as I am with listing limits, are simply opening new accounts. I am so proud of my perfect feedback and I feel like I have nothing to hide. I have always felt its the purveyors of the fake crap who keep coming up with new accounts. One, I have heard about has had over 500 ebay accounts!!!!! Funny, ebay hasn’t caught on to that one. No, they shut me down,. Brilliant move ebay..I’m a real threat! So, my divorce from ebay continues. Its very unpleasant and may require lawyers, but I will proceed just as I did with my first divorce, knowing right is right and ebay can learn to live without me.

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Marc, the genius, has my collection on froogle now. I am very impressed with this. I have also heard from some of the friends I’ve made on ebay. Nice of everyone to continue to be so interested in my vintage Tiffany collection. Ebay is giving me the silent treatment . Everyone knows, I can give the silent treatment for years.

Something else wonderful happened this afternoon. Our neighbors missing cat, Jake, who has been gone for over a week…showed up today. Marc is the hero of the neighborhood since he found the missing kitty. The funny thing was that Jakes mom stopped over today just as I found the phone to call her. She was so happy, she was crying. Jake will be an indoor cat from now on. There has been a lot of neighborhood talk about bobcats, so she was terrified that Jake was gone forever. Plus, we’ve had rain and crazy wind storms. The power was out for almost 2 days. It turned into a very happy, sunny day.

We have listed some antique Tiffany silver pieces and Marc is teaching me about indoor photography. I usually take my pictures outside, in the sun. Thats why so many of pieces look like they have clouds on the gold and silver. Now, I can take pictures in the evening or in the rain.

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Everyone is telling me that after getting ebays listing limits, the best way around that is to simply open a new ebay account. As a new seller, with 0 feedback, they have no listing limits. I find this so interesting. Now, I personally find this dishonest. I’m rethinking this right now. The fact that ebay saddled me with listing limits, aren’t they calling me dishonest? Again, 1700 transactions, 100% PERFECT feedback. If I open a new account, they feel that is safer for potential buyers??? Interesting logic they’re using.

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After 7 happy years on ebay, recently faced with the wicked “listing limits” I went to the ebay forum called Safe Harbor. I have never been there before and it was eye-opening to say the least….After a bit of lively discussion and more then 300 posts, from various members, Ebay actually censored a few of the postings and not because of language. It turned out that one of the posters is actually an ebay employee, though he didn’t admit this until just before all of his posts were deleted. One of the memebers, participating in the discussion, was able to save some of these postings. I was able to email this member and get a copy before it was his turn to be censored. The employee is posting under the ebay user id: pooksie112. You can recognize me as: acarlover1. I present our copy of ebay’s censored page 11.

Enjoy

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Hello! My name is Diane. I have have been collecting Tiffany jewelry for years. I started selling some of my collection on ebay with the user name: acarlover1. After 1700 perfect transactions, ebay decided to give me a “listing limit.” You see, ebay is involved in lawsuits with many designers and name brand goods. Tiffany is one of them. They claim this is to protect ebay users from buying fake pieces. Now, I am all for that, but in doing this, they are shutting down some of the most honest sellers you could ever find. More about that later. Marc, my son, took me over to ebay in San Jose to talk with them about this issue. Well, after 2 hours, we never made it past security. Plus, they were very rude. With all of the $$$ I spend on my ebay listings, I really felt used…

Then, we notified our local news station. Daniel Garza came to the house and interviewed me for almost 2 hours. I was on TV!! I showed him my solution to ebay..My own website devoted to selling my extensive and always changing Tiffany and estate jewelry collection. Marc worked very hard on my website: http://tiffanycollector.com

I hope you enjoy my collection. Please feel free to email me with any questions or if you are looking for a special piece of jewelry. I travel trough europe a few times a year, looking for rare and spectacular jewelry.

Diane@tiffanycollector.com

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