I found out tonight that my listing limits are now down to 5 a week. I’m trying to figure out what I have done to make them mad this week. Lets see..burned anyone? No. Sold fakes? No. Changed my selling identity? No. Made an honest comment on the Safe Forum? Yes. I have been sharing this experience with other sellers, who find themselves in the same boat. More fakes then ever on ebay, none of them are mine. Yet, my listing limits are down to 5. At this rate, by July, when they say I can appeal, I may be down to 0 listings. On the upside..my listing fees continue to shrink. How is ebay making more money then ever? Oh yes, they increased the cost to list of that fake stuff…Dynamic business plan. Please, Google, start an online auction site. PLEASE!!!! 

I am feeling much better, with the help of pain medicine, when I remember to take it. Michael, Catherine and I laid one ton of Arizona pink flagstone. No jewelry…Its the same flagstone we had at the house where I grew up and I raised the boys. My brother, Mark and the boys and I put down 4 1/2 tons of it! That was a huge project! Michaels backyard is gorgeous. He told me its starting to remind him of our old house that we loved so much. I think they are very happy there.

Its too bad Marc and Vito are both out of the country right now. Marc would have carried that ton of rock, by himself in about 15 minutes. Vito would still be measuring and looking for the best deal. Not to mention, hollering at us that we do everything backwards. Oh, I miss them so much…I think they will be very impressed when they see all of the changes at Michaels new house. The guest cottage is ready for paint. Catherine and I put texture over the new sheet rock. It was such a mess and now its bright and beautiful.

Michael convinced me to go to the dentist to have a chipped tooth repaired. I ended up with an excruciating root canal. I am in so much pain right now, my head is pounding… I wanted to mention that I didn’t wear jewelry to the dentist. I am  convinced the dentist would try to “up-sell” me on some fancy dental work if she thought I could afford it. So, here I am, the pain medicine is not working and I am dizzy with pain.

I have always felt that jewelry should be appropriate to the event. Business dress: pearls, gold, diamonds, Rolex watch. Casual: Big diamonds, colored stones, Tiffany gold Atlas watch.  Evening: BIG diamonds, no watch…I have a few pieces that I wear all the time, but I enjoy wearing different earrings and bracelets.

If you see a Discovery Store, try to stop in and look at the jewelry. Sometimes you will find an interesting piece of jewelry that some kind person has donated to a good cause. I like the idea of contributing while buying something wonderful. The ladies who work there are usually very sweet and happy to share their knowledge of  vintage jewelry.

Time for pain medication…Oh, one more thought…I was told years ago, if you wear emeralds to sleep, you will have vivid dreams. I have such vivid dreams anyway, I never really noticed a difference. I would love to hear any thoughts on stones and their interesting properties.

Last week ebay told me that Tiffany & Co has an issue with me concerning copy write infringement with my listings. So, I emailed Tiffany and asked them about this. I had a lovely call from their representative and have so much more information then ebay is willing to give. Tiffany has no issues with me at all. They are in litigation with ebay about sellers of fake Tiffany. He told me that they have no problems with my auctions. He can tell I am listing authentic pieces and he offered to help in any way possible. I have a long history with Tiffany. He says its the fake pieces that Tiffany objects to because they get hundreds of complaints, everyday, from people who are stuck with fakes they bought on ebay. Ebay won;t help these people and Tiffany isn’t liable either. They are demanding that ebay remove those sellers completely. He had not heard of the ridiculous listings limits and he actually found that funny. If a seller is listing fakes, what good is it if they can only list 7 fakes a week? They should not be allowed to list any fakes. Thats the whole point.

So, 3 emails to ebay later and I have heard nothing from them. I guess they don’t like being caught in a lie. Well, I don’t enjoy being lied to either! The wonderful and positive thing is that the website: www.Tiffanycollector.com is doing great! We are selling a lot of pieces and adding more everyday. Maybe this strange and unwelcome ebay event has been the best thing that could have happened…

Marc made it to Nanchang and its not as “sub-tropical” as he thought it would be. He bought a heavy coat and sounds ready to explore this new city. The house is very quiet and the pets miss him like crazy. Max patrols every room looking for Marc. Its so cold here. I have our avocado trees lined up in the kitchen.

Vitos dear mother, Anna, had her 80th birthday. Last year we had both of our birthdays in Italy. I’m looking forward to visiting later in the year when things warm up a little. It was fun to have Thanksgiving there with Michael and Catherine. I’m still not sure if Anna likes American food, but she went along with it. She refused to try the matzoh ball soup I made her when she had a cold. She thought I had invented white meatballs and she wanted no part of it. Of course, thats just what Vito translated for me.

Michael, Catherine and I went to San Francisco for the day. We took the train, which I find very exciting. We walked everywhere. Museums, Chinatown, up and down hills. It was a wonderful outing and I enjoyed their company very much. The shopping in the city is wonderful and interesting. We all found some very interesting things. Today we are working on Mikes guest cottage. I wear layers of Vitos heavy sweatshirts

This evening Marc leaves for his teaching job in China. I will really miss his company. While he was home he created my website: Tiffanycollector.com and my blog. This has saved me since ebay isn’t letting me list my collection except a few pieces at a time. Marc also bought me a huge wonderful safe and he has been wonderful company.

Vito is still in Ischia for another month, so it will be very quiet here. Luckily, I have my cats and dog for company. I will have time to help Michael remodel his guest house. Marc and I have been there for the past 2 nights and it has been fun working with both boys. So far, the sheet rock has gone up beautifully except for one small incident. By mistake I shoved my hand through a wall. Luckily I was wearing my huge Tiffany gold Peretti cuff, so it actually saved my wrist from a huge bruise. Jewelry that looks good and serves a purpose…It doesn’t get much better. I have blisters on my palms from the hard work. I love it.

I have been thinking about the lady who wrote about how to spot a fake on ebay. I am going to write more about that this evening. Its such a huge problem and getting bigger everyday. I’m convinced that ebay is making a safe haven for counterfeiters and getting rid of the people who sell the real thing. I was told a few days ago that it wasn’t ebays idea to give me listing limits, but rather it came from Tiffany. Ebay claims Tiffany&Co is upset about my listings. They claim its copy write infringement. Really?? I don’t use their pictures or descriptions. Where did that come from?? So, I sent Tiffany an email asking if this was true and why they did this. Have not heard one word from them. Ebay keeps changing their story and Tiffany ignores me unless I’m shopping. I’m going to get a complex pretty soon.

Michael took me to visit a huge store yesterday called Ikea. This was a first for me. Usually huge stores, that aren’t Tiffany’s, intimidate me. This is a huge, cavern of a place that smells like cinnamon sticky buns as soon as you walk in the door. Of course, this makes everyone leaving  buy a giant 6 pack of the puffy treats. Mike bought a new bed for his beautiful new house. I bought sticky buns and Swedish coffee. Michael was kind enough to stop at a little antiques shop in the area and I was rewarded with a fantastic Tiffany silver bamboo necklace. I just love this bamboo collection. I wear my Tiffany bamboo hair clips almost everyday. Nice of Mike to indulge me with an antiques store. When Marc and Mike were little guys we would go to Monterey and Carmel, at least once a week. Not only are the beaches gorgeous, but there are fun restaurants and shops. The boys have excellent taste and it was always fun to find the hidden treasures. They would look at vintage toys, especially old Superman stuff, cars and space ships…Even 20 years ago, the vintage jewelry held more appeal to me. I look at a lovely old piece of jewelry and can imagine wheres its been….Living close to San Francisco, there are many of these wonderful old shops and exotic pieces from the great old California estates.
Treasure hunting for everyone means something different. For me, its finding a rare piece of Tiffany jewelry.

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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