Lately, a lot of our friends and kind customers have been finding other sellers listing Tiffany items which seem identical to ours. There is a reason for this: apparently, it’s easy to copy and paste pictures from other listings on eBay. So a malitious seller can use our photos, copy our descriptions, and then who knows what they’re really selling?

As a rule of thumb, if our pictures are great, thank you, they’re Marc’s. If you see my fingers in the picture, sorry, but at least you know that I’m actually holding the item I’m selling. If you see other sellers using Marc’s beautiful pictures, please know that they do this without our permission and could be selling ANYTHING.

I recently bought a beautiful Tiffany gold key ring on eBay. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found that the “Tiffany gold key ring” was actually gold-painted straw. When I contacted the seller, they insisted that they had shipped an authentic gold Tiffany key ring. I could have lived without the aggravation and hassle that came with trying to return the piece of straw to it’s owner. Fortunately I paid with Paypal and they helped me sort that out.

I have noticed an alarming increase in counterfeit designer jewelry on eBay recently. Someone is banging out a lot of silver cufflinks and charm bracelets (in addition to the usually suspect pieces). When I notified eBay that the increase in counterfeits was getting alarming, their answer sounded a lot like something I heard two-years ago. That, “many people like buying counterfeits and enjoy wearing them.”

I have to wonder, how many buyers will see the first counterfeit as the “final straw” that keeps them off eBay forever. One person selling counterfeits hurts all online sellers.

If you’re considering buying an item where the seller is showing a piece that’s too perfect (only Tiffany themselves sell their items new), or using a photo that is so blurred that the details are lost, be reasonably cautious and ask for additional photos; honest sellers who actually have the pieces they’re selling shouldn’t be too hard-pressed to take some extra pictures.