Dear Nena,

It is not necessarily a scam. I know at least a few absolutely reliable and honest sellers that make bidders’ identities private.
It is somewhat hard for me to understand why they are doing this as the real identities remain hidden at all times anyways.
With that being said, I have to note that private listings are indeed a factor that should raise a red flag.
According to my personal experience, private listings are mainly used by dishonest sellers. For the most part, it is being done to hide shill bidding (placing bids on your own lots).
You see, in order to engage in shill bidding, sellers have to create new fake accounts (users) all the time. Thus, these fake bidders have extremely limited feedback scores or none at all. If bidder identities are not private, you can easily notice that one and the same bidder with no feedback score is continuously bidding on that seller’s lots. Or there is a bunch of no-feedback-bidders competing for that seller’s lots. So, there is a good chance you’ll get suspicious that something fishy is going on. They (dishonest sellers) don’t want that. Therefore, they make bidders’ identities private (hide them), and bidders have no idea with whom they are competing.
My estimate is that at least 9 out of 10 sellers who make their listings private are scammers.

Regards, Editor

Dear Paulo,

There are two things I’d like to say about Westfield Jewelry Appraisers:
The good thing is that they are perfectly clear and honest about the gemstone treatment methods in their certificates. For example, if a ruby is lead glass-filled, they state “treatment: glass & flux”. Many labs (or so-called labs) do not disclose such information. Westfield Jewelry Appraisers are not like that.
The bad thing, however, is that their estimated retail values are extremely inflated (as Anna has already mentioned). Actually, they are shamelessly lying about the market value of the items they certify.
Therefore, I find this lab very interesting – on the one hand, they are perfectly consistent and professional; on the other hand, they are just a bunch of scammers printing certificates with totally fake retail estimates.

Best regards, Editor

Hi!

First of all, the item’s listing is not entirely fair. It doesn’t say a single word about the ruby’s treatment. This ruby is what is known as lead glass-filled ruby (aka “composite ruby”). Thus, it is not really correct to state it is a natural ruby.
Composite rubies are extremely cheap. This is the exact reason why such composite rubies are frequently mounted in silver settings and surrounded by cubic zirconia (abbreviation CZ). CZs are cheap synthetic stones.
This is a readily available Thai-made pendant, and its true market value is $20 to $30 only. Thus, the present bids are placed by bidders who lack the necessary knowledge.
Hope this helps!

Regards, Editor

Dear Enigma,

It really depends on what you mean by “natural sapphires”. These are not man-made or synthetic sapphires. So, in that sense, you could say they are natural.
However, they are treated. And by treated, I don’t mean heated sapphires which is an industry-accepted treatment method. Most of the sapphires on the market are heated.
These sapphires here, instead, are what is called cobalt-lead glass-filled sapphires. They are also called lead and cobalt glass filled sapphires, cobalt-doped glass-filled sapphires, or cobalt-doped composite sapphires. In essence, these are composite sapphires.
A very low-quality starting material is used – opaque, industrial-grade stones. It is then mixed with powders that contain lead and cobalt. This mixture is heated fusing the powders into a cobalt-lead glass that penetrates the fractures and cavities in the stone. Lead-cobalt glass can account for most of the stone’s weight.
Basically, the technology is pretty much the same as that used for the lead glass-filled rubies. The main difference is that for the cobalt-doped composite sapphires, as the name suggests, cobalt is used.
These composite sapphires have the same durability problems as lead glass-filled rubies do. And yes, they are almost worthless (just like lead glass-filled rubies).
£137.79 (ca. $179) is definitely not a good price for this bracelet. You can easily buy alike bracelets at a price around $40 – $60 on eBay (note: at auction, not “buy it now” format). So, this price here is 3 to 4 times higher than what would be reasonable for a composite sapphire bracelet.
You can read more about composite rubies (in order to better understand issues related to composite sapphires) here:

Lead Glass-Filled Rubies: A Perfect Waste of Money

4 Easy Tips on How to Identify a Lead Glass-Filled Ruby

Arnold,

I do understand you. This kind of situation can be really frustrating. I agree with you that the auction site should step in and facilitate the return and the refund. You mentioned that they keep the money for two weeks. Is the auction site in question Catawiki? I know that they would hold all the payments for two weeks. Anyways, this system is designed to boost trust in the buyers, to make them feel safer, more protected. And if it’s not working to your benefit in a situation like this, then what’s the point to have it in the first place?
What they are saying about private sellers (non-business sellers) is true. The EU law with its right to cancel and return your order within 14 days does not apply here. However, this situation here has nothing to do with the EU law. I mean, the auction house (auction site) can have its own policy in place in order to protect its customers. It wouldn’t be against any law to expand this coverage so that private sellers’ customers are equally protected. And that would be very easy to do as long as the money is still in their account. So, there is no excuse for them not to do that. Except that they are not interested in that. It is bad for the business, I mean. They would rather earn their commission on this sale, and you are left with all the losses.
So, I would suggest you try to convince them that it is their obligation to step in and to protect your lawful interests. However, if it is already too late (they don’t have your money any longer), or you do not succeed in convincing them, here are a few things I’d suggest you give a try:
1. Check whether this seller is selling a lot of items. I mean, does it look like he/she is selling personal belongings from time to time or is it rather a business activity aimed at gaining profit? A lot of private sellers are not really private sellers within the meaning of the law. They are selling a large number of items on a regular basis and for profit. As a rule of thumb, they are not paying taxes. So, it might be a good idea to tell them that if they wouldn’t go for a refund, you might contact their tax authorities and pass on the information concerning tax evasion. I think this is by far the best approach. It has helped me several times actually.
2. Tell the seller that you would contact the police. As you rightfully noted, it can be regarded as fraud if there are serious discrepancies between the description/images and the actual goods. If the seller was from China, this wouldn’t help, but as the seller in question is from the EU, there is a pretty good chance he might reconsider his position.
3. Tell them that you have a powerful blog (e.g. for collectors of antique furniture) with millions of monthly visitors and you will start writing about them if you don’t get your refund. Tell them that in the long run this would hurt them much more than this single refund.
Let me know how did it go!