Smart online jewelery purchasing?
June 11, 2012 9:42 AM   Subscribe

I am buying a very specific ring, by a name-brand jeweler, for someone's birthday. I know nothing about jewelery, so my first instinct is to just pay full retail at the jeweler's website. Are there smart, safe places to look for used or discounted name-brand jewelery? Do sane people use Ebay any more?
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Sane people certainly use eBay. However, there are a lot of jewelry fakes on eBay, particularly of well-known jewelry brands (Tiffany, David Yurman, Chan Luu, and so forth). So this might not be the ideal purchase to get via eBay.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:49 AM on June 11, 2012


My wife bought her wedding ring from an eBay seller, and was extremely pleased with it - a worn-once piece from Kay Jewelers.
posted by Telpethoron at 9:51 AM on June 11, 2012


If you're looking for Tiffany or Cartier, I think either a vintage place (but high end, like 1st dibs) is a lot safer than Ebay, where fakes abound. And most mass-market, mall jewelers don't make their own pieces, but rather buy the findings and settings from wholesalers.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:54 AM on June 11, 2012


People do use eBay, but there are lots of scams there, so I'd be very wary. There are a number of high-end resale places like Ann's Fabulous Finds and Decades that might have what you're looking for. I'd go that route if you're looking for a specific item at a discount, especially Tiffany or the like.
posted by bedhead at 10:01 AM on June 11, 2012




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