Tiffany & Co Jewelry

 Sadly, a large percentage of Tiffany jewelry sold on eBay is counterfiet.  And, unless you have experience purchase authentic Tiffany jewelery from thier stores or their official website, it can be easy to be fooled into believing the auction item is authentic.   If you fell victim to one of these sellers you CAN get your money back. 

Here’s how….

1. As soon as you suspect that your item may be fake, take one of the following steps: 
   a)  Go to Tiffany dot com and check your item against the photos of the authentic piece. 
   b)  Look at the piece under a magnifying glass.  If the item has links, carefully examine all of the links.  They should be soldered closed.  Look at all of the engraving.  You’re looking for misspellings and small dots in the engraving.  Small dots are a sign of lazer copying.  Tiffany does not use lazer engraving.  They engrave by hand or by machine. 
   c)Send me the auction number so I can review it and offer my opinion. 
   d)  Take the item to your nearest Tiffany & Co. store if there’s one within driving distance.  Tiffany & Co. employees are not allowed to authenticate jewelry but they will tell you if they believe it to be fake.
   e)  Take the item to a reputable, experienced high-end jeweler who has experience with estate pieces.  They may be able to render a good opinion.
2. Once you’re satisfied that you’ve purchased a fake, email the seller.  At this point, I prefer to take the approach that it was an honest mistake.  Assume that the seller didn’t know he/she was selling fake merchandise. This usually has a better success at getting a quick refund from the seller. Being accusatory puts the seller on the defensive and reduces your chances of a speedy refund. Tell the seller that you will be shipping the item(s) back to him/her and expect a full refund, including the shipping fees.  Let him know that you will forward a delivery confirmation as soon as you have one.  Be sure that you’re shipping to the correct address. 
3. If you receive an unfavorable response from the seller or if you don’t receive a timely response, immediately contact eBay’s resolution center to report this auction as a fake:  http://resolutioncenter.ebay.com/ 
4. IMMEDIATELY log on to your PayPal account.  Click the Resolution Center link at he top of the page to open a dispute.  In that dispute, state that the merchandise is counterfeit and that you’ve shipped it back to the seller.  Include the delivery confirmation number.  Shipping the item back expedites your refund.  Note:  no matter what the seller states in the auction, you have 45 days from the payment date to open a dispute.  A seller’s “No Refund” policy is NOT valid in the case of counterfiet items.PayPal will send an email to the seller and will include what you’ve written in the dispute.  PayPal will also immediately freeze the seller’s account for the total amount you’ve paid (including shipping).  The seller should respond to that email. 
5. If the seller responds unfavorably and doesn’t issue a refund, log back on to your PayPal account and escalate the dispute to a claim.  Again, include the delivery confirmation number.  This allows PayPal to track the delivery and verify that the seller has received the return. 
6. After you’ve received your refund, be sure to leave negative feedback for the seller and state that the reason is that the item was proven to be a fake.  This helps to protect future buyers.  As of April 1, 2008 sellers are prohibited from leaving negative feedback for sellers.  You no longer need to fear retaliation for honest feedback! 

What happens now?

You will receive copies of any correspondance the seller sends to PayPal.  If the seller continues to deny the claim, PayPal will investigate.  Most of this is done automatically and you may not hear from PayPal again.  Don’t fret.  On the 30th day from the day your escalated the dispute to a claim, the entire amount of money that you paid to the seller will be returned to your PayPal account.  If PayPal is able to verify the return of the item, you may receive your refund even sooner.

PayPal Policy:  PayPal automatically holds payments for eBay items if the seller…   

• has been an eBay member for less than 6 months and sells and item for more than $100
• has an eBay feedback score of less than 100 and sells and item for more than $100
• has a buyer dissatisfaction percentage greater than 5%
• has an average DSR (detailed seller rating) of less than 4.5
• has received fewer than 20 DSRs in the past 12 months
• is listing in a high-risk category

PayPal will release the hold…

• When the buyer leaves positive feedback
• 3 days pass after proof the item was delivered
• 21 days pass without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on the transaction.
  PayPal may hold the funds longer if a dispute, claim, chargeback, reversal or other action to disupte the payment has been filed.

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I appreciate the time you spent reading this guide and I sincerely hope you’ve found it helpful.

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Tags: Tiffany Bracelets, Tiffany Jewelry, Tiffany Necklaces, Tiffany Pendants, Tiffanys

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 7:58 am and is filed under Helpful Entry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.