It is embarrasing for me as an India Seller. Well the sad Part is I sell Real Gemstone. But other seller with the Fake product earns 10 to 20 times more than me by just selling glass or paste.
They can’t sell it bro they always have low rating and negative comments those people who don’t know how to buy they are always cheated by the sellers. So be aware of Indian vendors they don’t care about negative comments on their account
Thank you for doing the work to out these scammers, I don't understand why ebay doesn't shut them down. I have bought huge gems from India for decorations mainly because there is no way they are real and natural. I was hoping they were lab created versions of what they were were claiming, it's shocking that the vast majority are just colored glass.
You are not only one.... picture in eBay not show you what you buy... Opal market is the same cheap opal big money... this is good lesson not only for you for anybody.. thanks to you to share this information Greetings from New York🇺🇲🗽🇵🇱👌👌👌
I suspected most of these ''gemstones" from India were fraudulent but they are pretty, it's a shame E bay won't go after these sellers. Thanks for doing the testing
My pleasure, it was a fun project. The only thing that was a pain in the rear was having to explain to eBay customer service as to why so many complaints, but once I got through that it was easy to nail the scumbags to the wall. The system doesn't benefit them which is how I was able to do this for everybody's benefit. The seller's from India send the stones through the mail for the most part in regular envelopes for next to nothing, something the USPS won't tolerate if we try to send something their way, our cost is also extremely high compared to theirs, so that is what "traps them into honesty". They sell fake stones for say $15 and pay 25 cents to send it over here. I test and they are glass, once we get through the "dick dance" they come to the realization that it's going to cost $15 or $20 for return shipping. They would obviously pay it if the stones were real, but they know they are fake so they just issue a refund and tell you to keep the stones. Fraud all over the place, but in this rare case the good guys win :)
@@roundsaturn31 I am considering writing a FTC complaint against EBAY for tolerating these scammers based on some examples of comparison prices for real jewels and the cost of the fake jewels that E bay doesn't mind being listed because they get their money off the sale. When it came time to give the reviews on E bay, I gave a good review by basically stating the fake gemstones are beautiful or said nice simulants. As a retaliatory measure, E bay took down one of my Roman Provincial coins citing it went against an accord we have with several countries banning the sale of antiquities to other countries and not to list it again.
Because eBay is outsourced by INDIA! LOL Haven't you ever called eBay lately and always get a customer service representative named "Kapoor" ? It's all a scam now! Gone are the good old days of 2007 eBay with American bases help! Lol
When i bought gemstones from India i didnt get anything. You atleast got something but we were both scammed. I bought from USA, Brazil, Australia and some countries in Europe without problems. I will never buy from India again.
Hey man if you are looking for genuine gemstone im the seller of it I have all type of gemstone if your interested in it just comment back I will send few videos and photos of it and one more I sell certified gemstone
Thank you so much for the info! I have been only recently learning of the demand for gemstones, and the uptick in people taking on the business of selling it. Prior to that, I was purchasing raw stones for tumbling and looking at under microscope. I did receive a junk piece of “Opal”. Learning the basics and the difference in quality. I’ve had the desire to go to school for gemology or mineralogy. Would you mind sharing where you’re greeting your education?
Not educated at that level. I am a "picker" (like on American Pickers) and every once in a while was coming across gemstones, so I started to look things up online and eventually talked to some local shops and then bought some tools of the trade. It's an interesting hobby and knowledge in buying and selling is obviously king. I like it, but I have so many other hobbies and projects already I probably won't go too much deeper. There are classes that you can take at your own pace online without breaking the bank, just depends on how far you want to go. Good luck!
Too good to be true - never bought any gems before but thought i'd get a collection so saw the auctions on ebay so i bought some bits - all appear total rubbish
I agree with that, very expensive to make real jewelry, unless you go rock hounding and get the gems right out of the ground for yourself. However, there is a market for costume jewelry, for all those other gems, especially lab grown gems.
I find and use my own sapphires because of this. Too risky and I can’t afford to go buy stones 😂 luckily I live in a great state for gemstones. And having your own faceted is a lot cheaper than buying. But hey, you can still make money off the glass. Get some aluminum or coin silver and make some lower priced costume jewelry. Offer the lower budget folks something with your stamp as well. 😎🤙🏾
Whenever I get a fake stone I notify eBay first; they give me the refund right away, but they do ask for a video of the stone being destroyed (i.e., smashed with a hammer) - they said they do not want any fraudulent gemstones going back to the seller, as the chances are good it will be re-sold, and they said that results in a loss to eBay. BTW, I've never gotten a genuine gemstone from India - all glass, although the 'emerald' was quartz.
By the way, you gave your money to someone in India and they have their people in the us to ship the stones which are in the us as well. So that's how they save on shipping. The business is in India and their employees go to India to pick up more fakes bring them back to the or the business sends them a restock of them to ship whatever item you bought from the Indian company.
No, at least not in my case. All the stones I bought from eBay that I tested were mailed from India. They ship in an envelope and put postage like we would here for a letter. However, the USPS does not allow us to send items like that. From India to USA the cost is next to nothing, but from USA to India the cost is always 10 to 20 times more than the stones sell for, that's why they never take them back, they already knew they were glass when they shipped....
You mentioned testing the stones yourself, but, made no mention of what tests you used to make your determinations. Were you undertaking a range of tests to find the refractive index, specific gravity , etc... ? or, was it somewhat of a more basic visual process?
On colored gemstones there is a mobile tool that can be used to tell glass from gemstone. It is great for doing work in the field when searching through box lots, etc. It is quick on seperating the two substances, but not 100% accurate for determining exact colored gemstones. If you give the device enough information it will usually get you headed in the right direction, but more extensive tests are needed to be exact. Refractive index tests are needed a lot with this tool, for the purposes of this video I was just trying to assertain glass from actual gemstone for the most part, so the Presidium colored gemstone tester was enough. Also, knowing some of the tricks it was easy to determine that a piece sold to me as emerald was actually dyed quarts. I trust the tool more than my own eyes and feel, however, when a piece the size of a shotglass is presented as Peridot and the asking price is $80 it's pretty safe to say it's going to pass the test as glass...
When it comes down to the posting cost. Look into the international postal union, They add extra costs to us guys so they can subsidise the costs for developing nations
in india ebay is not popular and is just used scar foreiners( what my friend told me ) . but if you are person who can who can go there , you can go to places like rishikesh , rameswaram or many other costal places you can get them for way cheapper like half of the price . i persnolly orderred them from a friend (whome i have meat in peson) they were beautifull when tested by a jeweller they where also what my friend clamed .
Ok so shipping for developing countries the usa and Australia and uk subsidize there postage i recently learnt that china also gets free postage no wonder our small businesses can't compete
In buying and selling toys I can tell you that if I buy something that is a few pounds it will come to me in California from anywhere in China for about $10, if I turn around and send it to anywhere in the USA it's about $23. On the gemstones the price to return anything was much more in postage than the whole ebay transaction....by a ton.
I think the sapphires and ruby ones are real cause they close to moissanite on the diamond tester since both mohl hardness is about a 9, I could be wrong
A good way to know if stones are real is inclusions. If you see them then they are most likely real but trust me if you see bubbles you don't want it and look at the reviews.
Ebay should be ashamed, too. They allow this crap. Complain in writing to Ebay and get them kicked off the platform. Ebay only seems to get upset when you sell something real and want real money for it. Spinels can be worth a lot. Get it appraised and stop buying from losers on bad platforms.
I did the whole thing as an experiment of sorts, just to see what I would actually get. I figured for the price I would get mostly glass, and I did. It was interesting though how the different people responded, from the ones trying to tell me the law and also trying to give me fake info on gemstones to the ones who instantly issued a refund with no hassle. I believe eBay doesn't do anything to them because they want the listings and they know that the scammers will just change names and start new accounts, much like the people in Mylaysia selling obviously stolen Hot Wheels right from the factory, but that's just a guess on my part.
The only thing I'll buy from ebay is unpopular semi-precious or non-precious rough, and even that is a crapshoot. I have everything needed to test, but if you don't have the equipment and knowledge you 100% shouldn't be buying from ebay because you are going to get ripped off.
Does Ebay have customer protection and if so report them , report anyway as a fraud merchant ! I would , PayPal has custermer protect ! Yeah if not here I’m not investing. Thank you for sharing ❤️
You are welcome for the video sharing. Protection is there, you just have to be willing to do some work as the really bad sellers even fight you when you call them out. I had no problem wining 100% of the cases, the numbers of legit gemstones were very low as shown. Good luck with your own search.
They ship them from a us location but give you an Indian return address. If you try to ship it back it will be shipped back to you as undeliverable (I tried returning once and paid upwards of $50) It’s a scam when you see the origin as India, RUN!!!!!!!!!!
I have never seen this. All the stones I bought were from India and sent from India. I never sent any back because since they are fake it is the responsibility of the seller to pay the return s&h charges. The charges going back are way more than the charges coming over since our system does not allow stones to be put into an envelope and sent that way. The scammers don't want to pay for fake gemstones so they issue a refund and you keep the glass. As far as your story goes, why would you be paying for shipping? It's the sellers fault for not providing the correct address, you need to talk with ebay security. Good luck.
I bought in ebay too and in a legit seller of gemstone jewelry in a gemologist lab the name of company is INDRA i like the gemstone with ring i recieved blue sapphire ring 7 CT weight 36 CT and emerald green ring 6CT weight 33 CT i paid only 140 canadian dollars including shipping in usa ct of gemstones of emerald and sapphire are expensive
@@marklestergamayon4082 if it's printed on a little card that looks like a credit card I would be very careful. Every one of those that I tested were glass. My advice to you would be to take your stone to a jeweler and have it looked at if you don't have any testing equipment. Even a lower quality stone of that size and type would be considerably more than what you paid. Good luck and thanks for the comments.
Not sure I understand your statment/question. I quess you are asking how I can expect to buy a precious stone for just a few dollars? Simple, because that's what the ad states. As outlined above this was an experiment to see what was out there in ebay land. Now, did I really expect to get anything but glass...no, of course not, but doing this helps others by being able to show the numbers and it also slaps these scumbags selling glass as gemstone around a little.
Easy fix is stop doing business with eBay like I did!!! eBay was reputable in the beginning,but once PayPal had to step away from all fakery and unethical sellers allowed to advertise their fakes and knockoffs! I go to other websites with responsible and honest sellers!
The reason people in India (China as well) are able to send things so cheaply is because of the International Postal Union. Essentially the costs of sending something are by far the largest when it gets to the US, which the sender doesn't pay. Essentially the entity subsidizing the cheap postal rates is none other than the USPS, due to international agreements. I'm sure China and India are likely subsidizing some costs as well within China and India. But the reason they can send you you something all the way from India than you can send something to someone in your own state is International postal agreements.
Thank you for that explanation Steve. It certainly makes it a little tough to do any small scale ecommerce when a guy in China can send a package to somebody in New York for $10usd and it costs me $38 to send the same package to him from California....
@@roundsaturn31 That's absolutely true. It does take a month to get from China though. I've ordered a bunch of stuff cheap on aliexpress, and while it does arrive, it's not always practical to wait 4-6 weeks.
If you want any gem stone, i can provede you any. You can check the quality of them with whatever equipment you have with you and then only you pay me.
I just bought about 60 of these on ebay from India from $1-2 each with amazing free shipping. Of course it seems too good to be true if any of them end up being real like the few you got. What is the best way to test and verify them?
Robert, if you are not studied in or not presently studying gemology, may I suggest a Presidium Gem Tester II Colored Stone tester OR a Presidium Handheld Portable Gem Indicator PGI Gem Tester. The first one is more robust while the second one is portable. The portable one is around $50 more. There are many videos on RU-vid showing both working. Each will quickly let you know if you are dealing with a piece of glass or a gemstone. That is the main question you will need answered if searching ebay for value I would think. They will not be able to tell you if a gemstone is natural or lab created, but that is something you will learn while using a loup or microscope. They will in most cases also not be able to tell you exactly what gemstone you are looking at. The machines narrow the possibilities down. Most people would then run a refractive index test to try and pinpoint it. Usually, multiple tests are needed, even by skilled gemologists to get an exact answer. Based on my numbers, you will probably have only a few real gemstones as most of the guys selling at that price from India are running a simple scam. Of course, if you are diligent, you will be able to recover your money spent on the fakes and keep the glass imitation gemstones. Odly enough, I still have not recieved one single gemstone that turned out to be real and to be as advertised. Even the real stones were different than what was advertised. Good luck and please share your findings.
Well i watched this a little bit late 🤣 it said US seller NYC but at further investigation it said seller location...India But hey its for a kids Christmas treasure hunt. I will throw some real silver coins in to make me not a cheap scam artist 🤠
I kept going for a while but honestly the work of turning the pirates into eBay was getting old, so after about 100 purchases I stopped. I think I ended up with about 8 total good stones, the rest were garbage. I am sure the kids will love it. Merry Christmas Willie!
I got a bunch of beautiful garnets from India they're faceted but not calibrated and two of them had tiny chips on the sides but that was it!!!!! They all respond to a regular magnet!!!! I did one time get green onyx when they said it was supposed to be low-grade Emerald but I paid less than green onyx price so I really don't care!!!!! U half to learn how to read gemstone language online it can be confusing!!!!! First alway cheak reviews and gemstone details!!!!! If it say lab dont bother unless its a American company and even then double check!!!! I mean like Google Earth the address and see if it's in a industrial zone or somebody's house!!!!!!! But i have had pretty good luck in the past buying gems from India.
From my notes; omsaigems- 2 stones were real, just not what he advertised them to be (bought 1 more piece to test) The new stone tested as real, just again, not as advertised. He gave me a 50% discount and I emailed him asking him if he wants me to keep buying under the outline of my expectations(that they are as advertised). He said to buy and it's his responsibility to provide the stones as advertised. rajgem1- bought 1 item, it was a gemstone, just not as advertised (bought 1 more piece to test) New purchase of Kunzite tested as Morganite, asked for a 50% refund and he gave me the purchase price back (.01) and kept the $6.99 shipping lol, so I asked him for the other $3.49 and I waited. Explained the situation and asked ebay to step in after he stopped communicating, they issued a full refund. Ziongemstones14- bought a natural emerald, it tested as a stone, but not emerald. messaged the seller and he responded with the typical games so I made a formal request for a full refund instead of the 50% discount I had offered him. Money refunded. rogem54- stone was real, just not as advertised (bought 1 more piece to test) The pair of Tanzanite stones ended up being glass. He continued to ask me to take less than a full refund. I asked ebay to step, they closed the case in my favor. Obviously I did this whole thing as a test to see what is out there. If you run my numbers, sadly about 75% are running a scam and play games when you question them, so you have to be able to stay the course if you want your money back An other 15%-20% maybe are just trying to make money without realizing that they are selling fake merchandise or they know that they are but are willing to roll the dice that for the money involved most people will just let it go...either way, this 15%-20% will issue a refund quickly without any problems or having to get ebay involved. The last 5% in my findings are trying to take the high road, but maybe just don't have the neccessary equipment to test or are getting scammed by their own suppliers, I don't know. Let my journey guide you, not too scientific and a small case study, but it is factual. Happy Thanksgiving!
As an update, I now have purchased about 80 gemstones total with 6 turning out to be real....The ones that I show here as real on this video were from ebay or rock & gem shows in southern california.
It screws up all of the real sellers. I have 10 diffrent types of cordiorite/ iolite, and since a few are new people dont have a grasp on the properties of it. Hard to sell honestly from America with this indian junk coming around. Has killed my buisness.
True, the lab certificates that most of the ebay scammers use are themselves 100% worthless fakes. A plastic card from an imaginary lab does not make the stones woth more. Giant ebay scam, but for whatever reason you can get lucky a small percentage of the time. Side note, 100% of the time when a stone came with one of those cards it was garbage in my findings...
I'm so sorry. I'm from sri Lanka. We can send gems with insurance and cash back warranty by our government certify. I'm a licensed gem dealer. Thank you.
where is the most relaible place to buy high quality sapphires online for the best prices, I have been looking but I don't trust ebay at all and most of the other websites I've viewed seem to be selling at full retail in my opinion. Also what is the best lab to send to for testing that wont charge me $200 per stone.
I buy a lot of product at rock and gem shows, check online in your particular area for them. I did this eBay test just to see what I would get and to post results here, I don't otherwise buy a lot of gems from eBay. Yes, many online places charge retail prices. As far as labs to test, I would try to get close to somebody with a store or a dealer that you can build a relationship with, they won't charge anywhere close to lab pricing. Of course, you can always buy a gemstone tester and also take some classes to be able to sort the good from the bad yourself. It won't take long for you to be able to at least be able to get away from the glass, etc..Happy Holidays!
I think better source Gemstone from County of origin rather than middleman. For Example, in Sri lanka you can fine Genuine Gemstone like any sapphire (Especially blue sapphire) you cannot find any county.
Thank you for sharing your findings. This is important information for the public who love gems and don't want to be cheated. It makes it harder for us who have a high level of integrity in the gemstone business. But like you said it was too good to be true.
Yes, the prices on most were absurd, so it got me thinking to do a test. I never really thought that I would get anything good or even real, but surprisingly a few times I did. Seems the whole thing is just a game to some people on eBay, put up lies and see how many people call you out on it, the ones that don't pay for you to continue with your scam business if it's enough money for you...sad. Glad you like the video and its info, thanks for your comments.
China and India get subsided postage costs which the rest of the developed world have to foot the bill. So all those cheap plastic items from china end up costing us more in higher native postal charges. Postage costs/charges to the UK from America on eBay are exorbitant…no doubt they’re recouping for all the cheap garbage from Temu.
Well i got some good stones off esty from India. I gotten some crap to but way more good stones than bad ones. Also its best to just cheak the location of the main office of the company. Uk and US. Is best.
Something I was noticing when I was looking at gemstones from India is they had them at affordable prices at 50 to 100 something dollars for a six star sapphire or six star ruby. They also had true affects like reflections from the light showing how a six star ruby should be. The catch I found was it is a very small stone. I am talking they show a picture making it look normal sized but the reality is it is a 5mm-10mm stone. So you think you are getting a big pendant but the reality is it may be real but it is a stone as big as a pearl or smaller so it is more of a charm than a pendant.
Yes, I reported every single one of them and I recieved my money back on all fake stones. It took some time and effort with some of them because not only were they crooks, but they were also idiots who when caught red-handed continued to lie. They wanted to argue about my qualifications and equipment. It fell about 50/50 in regards to the ones who would issue a refund quickly vs the ones who would fight and force me to go through eBay's fraud department. I didn't mind the workload because i like smacking crooks in the face. As far as a list goes, I will gladly share the info, but be warned that I can only speak about my own personal experience, I can't make any prediction as to their sales before my purchases or after. Here is the list of people I bought from; All Bad ramagem1- all the ones I bought were GLASS ruby.hub- all the ones I bought were GLASS princegemstones10_3- only bought 1 item, it was GLASS earthgems1- only bought 1 item, it was GLASS gemsbazaar10- only bought 1 item, it was GLASS stargemstones- Dyed quartz imitating emerald and GLASS (on 2 stones purchased) Gemsworld_1- only bought 2 items, both are Glass pregemicious17- only bought 1 item, it was GLASS crystalgems_1- only bought 1 item, it was GLASS kk-jewellers- Bought a ruby, it was colored GLASS Hydragem- bought one stone, it tested as GLASS Mixed Results gemstone.hub- all the ones I bought were GLASS except for one stone. That stone was real, but not as advertised. Ziongemstones14- bought a natural emerald, it tests as a stone, but not emerald rajgem1- bought 1 item, it was a gemstone, just not as advertised rogem54- stone was real, just not as advertised omsaigems- 2 stones were real, just not what he advertised them to be Hope this helps you. Let me know how it goes for you. I stopped for a while because it does get tedious when you are dealing with so many at a time.
The problem with Ebay is that each country has it's own, separate company - it's like a franchise. The "US ebay" has no control over the ebay in India, China, etc. So in country like India, where corruption is completely rampant, corrupt practices are going to be allowed, permitted, condoned, and promoted. A US ebayer could present the "US ebay" incontrovertible proof of wrong-doing by a foreign ebayer, and all the "US ebay" can do is request the "India ebay" do something about it. The best you can hope for is to procide enough evidence to get your money back.
Several good dealers here (United States) as well as around the globe. Crystal shops are pretty easy to find and the better ones have gemstones and some even have classes. Best way for you to start is to look up in your area for a rock and mineral show, most likely some people there and clubs that can point you in the right direction. Enjoy!