Buying VCA from ebay seller..without paperwor but reputable seller

Oct 17, 2006
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Hi Ladies,
I was wondering would you guys buy VCA from a reputable seller on ebay but didn't have the proper paperwork, but just the vintage Alhambra necklace with the box? It is reputable seller with great feedback and I can see the other items they're selling are all authentic? The price of it is good and I would be saving alot if I got it. Thanks.

Also, I'm asking bc there are so many fake paperwork out there as well, so even if I had it, and not from a reputable ebay seller, it would be pointless right? I'm so confused. Please help. Thanks.
 
Hi Ladies,
I was wondering would you guys buy VCA from a reputable seller on ebay but didn't have the proper paperwork, but just the vintage Alhambra necklace with the box? It is reputable seller with great feedback and I can see the other items they're selling are all authentic? The price of it is good and I would be saving alot if I got it. Thanks.

Also, I'm asking bc there are so many fake paperwork out there as well, so even if I had it, and not from a reputable ebay seller, it would be pointless right? I'm so confused. Please help. Thanks.
 
Hi Ladies,
I was wondering would you guys buy VCA from a reputable seller on ebay but didn't have the proper paperwork, but just the vintage Alhambra necklace with the box? It is reputable seller with great feedback and I can see the other items they're selling are all authentic? The price of it is good and I would be saving alot if I got it. Thanks.

Also, I'm asking bc there are so many fake paperwork out there as well, so even if I had it, and not from a reputable ebay seller, it would be pointless right? I'm so confused. Please help. Thanks.
 
Here are the problems with this:

1 - on what are you basing "reputable seller" status? How do you know the other pieces were authentic? Tons of people buy (good and bad) fakes everyday and do not even know it. Many counterfeiters will ship a completely different item from what is posted in the listing (which could be a picture of the real item). Is it a well known, highly regarded person from this forum (and you can somehow confirm this)? Now you may be getting somewhere. Don't be fooled by length of years on ebay, or seller feedback. Does the seller have a brick and mortar store with long-standing reputation (ie. Betteridge, etc) or is this an individual seller? How many other VCA items are listed? People sell their inauthentic VCA items in authentic boxes and ribbons all the time (there is quite a market for this, as well).

2 - assuming you do make the purchase, if the seller has not already specifically stated "no returns," you would almost certainly be out of the window for ebay's return policy by the time you send this to VCA (the maison, at cost, not your local store) for verification. This can take months and is still no guarantee. Your local SAs, truthfully, will not even have the skills to authenticate, if they were even allowed. I do not recall the burden of proof for stating something is a fake on ebay these days, but it's probably not worth the risk. To ebay's credit, they have been more supportive on the buyers' ends of things versus the seller; but regardless, the process would likely drag on for weeks and be a hassle.

3 - if you are buying an item <$10K, you are probably not even saving money given the $1500+ price tag of sending the item for verification (and this is the starting price; increases depends on complexity of the piece). Unless you are comfortable with potentially owning an inauthentic item (and not sending to confirm), this is not even smart from a financial perspective. If you ever decide to sell, you are going to run into this problem again of verification (or lack thereof).

4 - the above do not apply to heritage or very old vintage pieces, which you are most likely not seeking to buy on ebay. Stick with reputable auction houses (please know that there are many that are not) and stores (Yafa, etc).

5 - a HUGE pet peeve of mine is that sites like fashionphile and others continue to show the engravings on their VCA pieces, which does nothing but help counterfeiters. Some on this site are even guilty of this.... hmmm @calisnoopy.... mods I wish you would delete that thread instead of just closing it. The information is clearly still available and someone recently unearthed that thread).

6 - I'm sure there's other thoughts on this but this is just off the top of my head. Good luck.
 
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My comments would apply to any branded item.

Everything can be (and often is) faked. It's not the receipt, paperwork, packing or other props that make an item authentic; it's the details of the item itself.

If you buy the item, find a reputable, trusted and most important, accurate authenticator to confirm authenticity. If it's fake, you have the ability to file a dispute.

So in answer to your specific question, yes, I would buy an item without "props." If it's an for which I don't have expertise to authenticate myself, I would have it verified preferably, prior to bidding or buying.
 
I can only speak for myself, I tend to lose a lot of the paperwork for bags and such, maybe because I never buy an item with the idea of selling it on at one point in the future, so I totally understand if somebody else also doesn't have it, as long as the item is authentic, it is a lot harder to fake an item than to fake receipts and such.
 
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Here are the problems with this:

1 - on what are you basing "reputable seller" status? How do you know the other pieces were authentic? Tons of people buy (good and bad) fakes everyday and do not even know it. Many counterfeiters will ship a completely different item from what is posted in the listing (which could be a picture of the real item). Is it a well known, highly regarded person from this forum (and you can somehow confirm this)? Now you may be getting somewhere. Don't be fooled by length of years on ebay, or seller feedback. Does the seller have a brick and mortar store with long-standing reputation (ie. Betteridge, etc) or is this an individual seller? How many other VCA items are listed? People sell their inauthentic VCA items in authentic boxes and ribbons all the time (there is quite a market for this, as well).

2 - assuming you do make the purchase, if the seller has not already specifically stated "no returns," you would almost certainly be out of the window for ebay's return policy by the time you send this to VCA (the maison, at cost, not your local store) for verification. This can take months and is still no guarantee. Your local SAs, truthfully, will not even have the skills to authenticate, if they were even allowed. I do not recall the burden of proof for stating something is a fake on ebay these days, but it's probably not worth the risk. To ebay's credit, they have been more supportive on the buyers' ends of things versus the seller; but regardless, the process would likely drag on for weeks and be a hassle.

3 - if you are buying an item <$10K, you are probably not even saving money given the $1500+ price tag of sending the item for verification (and this is the starting price; increases depends on complexity of the piece). Unless you are comfortable with potentially owning an inauthentic item (and not sending to confirm), this is not even smart from a financial perspective. If you ever decide to sell, you are going to run into this problem again of verification (or lack thereof).

4 - the above do not apply to heritage or very old vintage pieces, which you are most likely not seeking to buy on ebay. Stick with reputable auction houses (please know that there are many that are not) and stores (Yafa, etc).

5 - a HUGE pet peeve of mine is that sites like fashionphile and others continue to show the engravings on their VCA pieces, which does nothing but help counterfeiters. Some on this site are even guilty of this.... hmmm @calisnoopy.... mods I wish you would delete that thread instead of just closing it. The information is clearly still available and someone recently unearthed that thread).

6 - I'm sure there's other thoughts on this but this is just off the top of my head. Good luck.
Thank you for taking the time to be so in-depth. Resellers are getting away with murder - they need to be stopped!!! And the only way is to STOP feeding into their GREED.
 
When it comes to jewellery, my preference is to buy directly from the store (if possible).

I don’t have the energy to worry about authenticity etc.

I know it’s hard when the item is limited edition and you really want it/the savings are incredible compared to the RRP but it’s just not worth the stress.
 
You can only get accurate authentification from VCA, and in that case, you pay $1800 for that information. Obviously it is not worth doing that for a pendant. It might be worth it for high jewelry or another expensive item, but that only works if the vendor is very reputable and can assure you they'd give you a refund. I'd stay away from ebay unless I knew someone personally (or from here) who was selling something. But I am sure everyone here knows the importance of saving the original paperwork!
 
You can only get accurate authentification from VCA, and in that case, you pay $1800 for that information. Obviously it is not worth doing that for a pendant. It might be worth it for high jewelry or another expensive item, but that only works if the vendor is very reputable and can assure you they'd give you a refund. I'd stay away from ebay unless I knew someone personally (or from here) who was selling something. But I am sure everyone here knows the importance of saving the original paperwork!

Thanks. I didn't know VCA would authenticate things. Even so ya, its very expensive so forget it. Def not worth it.
 
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