I am trying to wrap my mind around whats going on with paypal these days. Since December, I have had 5 payments reversed after having shipped the pieces. The latest three of which are items I shipped back in November! Now, if paypal wants to charge fees, issue credit cards, and keep financial information, they have a clear fiduciary responsibility to their members. From the minute they send an email titled, “You have funds,” they have charged their fee and issued the seller funds. If they’re not sure they can guarantee the money they say we have, they shouldn’t promise it’s ours. Its up to paypal to verify funds; that’s the service we’re paying for.

After I have shipped to a buyer’s paypal-confirmed address and the buyer is happy, I don’t need to hear about it from paypal ever again about it. Money has been exchanged for goods, transaction complete. The notion of reversals clearly means its not a safe method of collecting payment on ebay. So, once again, the buyer has my Tiffany jewelry, paypal took their funds out of my paypal account. I paid ebay fees plus I am out the jewelry and $1200.00. Paypal, after 2 hours on the phone with Marc, they told him that after 75 days to research and collaborate with the customer’s credit issuer, we will probably get a refund because we shipped to a confirmed address. They wouldn’t guarantee it and deterred him from contacting legal authorities to report fraud or theft. As far as I can tell, this is going to be happening on a regular basis now.

I still believe ebay sellers need protection. It’s getting to a critical stage and if we don’t do it as the management team makes new rules, when will we organize?

Last night I had the pleasure of being in the company of a group of smart, accomplished women. As it usually does, at some point in the evening the subject to jewelry. I throughly enjoyed taking about my collection and having the opportunity to look at their own treasures. Everyone has an interesting story about the jewelry they wear. I love those stories. I think that is part of the reason I enjoy being part of the process of acquiring special pieces of jewelry; they become hallmarks of life. Part of a person’s life. A necklace maybe just a necklace at first. But at some point it becomes the necklace. Like the necklace I wore to work the first day of my new job. The necklace I wore when we moved into our new house. The necklace I wore to my son’s graduation.

Even with all the frustrations and haranguing I get from eBay and Paypal, that’s what keeps me going. To help someone find their next the necklace or the ring, or the bracelet. I love what I do because of what I collect and sell becomes to another.

This is a guest post from Diane’s son Marc. From what I understand, regular blog readers are familiar with my work photographing some of the jewelry Diane sells.

I thought it might be of interest to those who are looking for Tiffany & Co. pieces on eBay to see exactly how easy it is for those lacking moral fiber to buy fake Tiffany and resell it. I was scouring the Internet for some information about a necklace my mother found at an estate sale when I came across an interesting link for a Tiffany jewelry catalog. Thinking it might hold more information about the necklace I clicked over and was utterly shocked by what I found.

Pages and pages of fake designer jewelry. Tiffany & Co., Cartier,  Bulgari, Dior, and Chanel to just name a few. All touted, by the manufacturer, to as “100% Copy Original Tiffany Jewelry” and “Top Grade Quality,” with most pieces costing less than $10. You can see engravings and hallmarks in their pictures and orders over $2,000 even get free shipping. I can understand some people might want a fake if they can’t afford an original piece and don’t care about wearing a knockoff, but ordering enough to get free shipping means more than 200 pieces of fake jewelry. Is the person ordering 200 pieces really going to keep those for him/her self? Would you order 200 pieces of fake designer jewelry as stocking stuffers? This is clearly aimed at those who are looking to get into the designer fake market.
Here’s the icing on the cake though. Looking through this website’s news and announcments section, there’s a warning to their customers to be wary of copy-cat websites that have started to spring up. Isn’t this the height of irony?

This manufacturer and whole seller of fake designer jewelry is feeling like they’re getting ripped off!
Take a look at the website [link] and know what you should be wary of buying. If you see any of these items being sold for $20 when the owner could have taken it back to Tiffany’s for $300 you should probably pass on it because it probably came from this factory (or one of there new rivals).
Safe Shopping

I never imagined that my first job would do so much to prepare me for the world of business. Not in that “sell anything to anybody” way that so many people seem to think is something to be proud of, but for giving me a sense of ethical business. My first job was selling Mazda’s in 1978. I know, ethics and selling cars. Doesn’t seem like a likely match, but bringing ethics into everyday life, even work, is something I was raised with. Selling cars was a way to fulfill my responsibility to my family. Making sure everyone is happy and safe with what they buy was my responsibility to my customers. No questions…

I remember a single mother coming in to buy a car. I helped her find something she was very happy with but I found out later that the mechanics didn’t think the car would last long. I didn’t waste a minute in calling her up, telling her what I just learned, and offering her every cent she paid toward a more reliable car if she wanted to swap it. It may not have been what the bosses would have called “smart business” but it was good business. Honest business. This has been my philosophy throughout my career. I’ve been in situations where I’ve felt that I didn’t get what I paid for; where I’ve felt used, taken advantage of, cheated. We all know what that feels like. The last thing I ever want is to bring those feelings to another person. I like to know I am doing the right thing.

A few weeks ago a woman actually tried to BLACKMAIL me on eBay. She wanted money to leave me positive feedback after I fully refunded her money for a necklace she wasn’t happy with. I reported her to eBay and they told me to ignore it and hope the problem would go away (seems like the same way they handle all of their problems). Sure enough, when I didn’t pay her off she left me terrible feedback because I wouldn’t shell out on top of the full refund I had already given her. My feelings are hurt and I am rather stunned by this new breed of scam artist on eBay. I guess we should have seen it coming. eBay is looking into it, but they clearly have bigger issues to ignore than this.

People have trusted me in buying exotic cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars But this miserable individual, who received a full refund for a gorgeous piece of Tiffany jewelry wanted money in exchange for positive feedback. I have nothing to be ashamed of and will NEVER pay a liar and a fraud.

The lady who ended up with the necklace had it authenticated and is truly thrilled with it. So the necklace is with someone who loves it and bought it as a gift for her mother. I guess I’m happy at the outcome, just mad that there are creeps like this trolling the halls of eBay.