Weddingbee boards

I am writing on here because I need as much help as I can get! I recently started this buying/selling of diamond engagement ring business because I absolutely love looking at them and figured it might be a nice little way to make some extra money while im in school and finishing up my Master's degree.

So far, I have sold about 2 rings... (not many lol but enough to make some extra money for the holidays).

So I decided to take a risk and on Nov. 15 I decided to purchase a ring on ebay from a seller who had about 1,050 in positive ratings (almost all items were juicy couture charms that cost around $35 each; nothing of the value of the ring I purchased)--the ring was a $7000 2.75 carat diamond engagement ring (2 carat center), but I had emailed a jeweler in manhattan before I purchased it (showed him pictures of it) who said I would have to come to his location in NYC for any offers over $10,000. I purchased it because (a) I thought I could make a nice chunk of money, (b) the seller [personal info removed] had 1,050 in positive reviews AND (c) a 14 day return policy, so that I could always get my money back since the ring had no appraisal or anything.

OKAY SO, now is where my NIGHTMARE begins. I purchased the ring on the 15th, the seller said she wanted to wait to ship the item until funds cleared through paypal and she would expedite shipment on Thursday--I PAID $30 in SHIPPING. I accidentally had the item shipped to an old address that was still in the ebay system and had emailed the seller immediately after payment as obviously I was mortified to have done such a thing with the most expensive purchase of my entire life. Long story short, she didnt feel comfortable sending it to any other address, so I drove into NYC to pick the ring up this past monday, at my old apartment.

I wait around all day for the damn package to come, I OPEN IT UP AND THERE IS NOTHING INSIDE BUT TISSUE PAPER. TISSUE PAPER. $7000 TISSUE PAPER. The package was not damaged in any way.

I am furious and obviosly start crying. I opened the package in front of my doorman AND the USPS delivery person, both who saw there was nothing inside. I emailed the seller immediately afterwards, her response is "I am consulting with counsel on this matter. I will be responding by the 28TH. thank you," ARE YOU KIDDING ME !? I called ebay immediately, opened a case, filed a police report the next day, went to the post office and had the package reweighed where it weighs EXACTLY the same as what it weighed when that bitch (excuse the language) shipped the package. THE PACKAGE COST $4.16 to ship, she did not expedite it. Her return address was not accurate, she didn't put the correct city or zipcode! She lives in Wilkes-Barre, PA and she put Wilkes with a 4 digit zip. The other thing is that there is no [personal information removed].

This entire thing has been such a nightmare. Currently, the case is still being worked on through ebay's buyer protection policy. I am furious paypal released my funds to her, but because she had so many sales within the past year they were able to do so..I did get a statement from my doorman stating that he saw me open the package with nothing in it--he even helped me look through the fucking tissue paper (turned out to be a good thing the package was shipped to my old address which is an apartment building, as I now live in a house and nobody would have seen me open the package otherwise).

I am including a link to the post so if anybody can dig something up on her let me know. I don't even think the ring ever belonged to her...I think she stole photo's of someones ring or something, maybe someone can do a background check? Thanks for your help...just really needed to vent, I am SO UPSET and am trying to do anything and everything I can to get my money back!!!!

BTW, I called Juicy Couture and they said she is not an authorized distributor of juicy products, I even found out her tissue paper wasn't authentic!

Here is a link to the posting:

[link and personal information removed]

@eloping: I SAW THAT TOO! I forgot to add that, I wonder if she just posted that because she thought that it might be a little fishy she hadn't sold any other high value items? I have no idea..since I live in NY and she lives in PA, I have to go to her precinct if I want her arrested...I still might consider it.

@jaguar: Ebay does have a protection policy for buyers, they are working on it right now and I should have a response by Tuesday..I have been desperately fighting back the urge to do a credit card "chargeback" because once this is done, ebay will no longer help fight the case for you (they don't want you to receive the funds back 2x)..tbh I am moreso writing on here just to vent and see if anyone else has any ideas or has seen this ring before, and also to inform everyone that just b/c someone has positive reviews it ain't mean jack shit!

@KristenGotMarried: Risky but with limitations, I only purchased the ring because I knew I could return it if I wouldn't profit off of it, truthfully I am not much of a risktaker...I am getting my Master's in ACCOUNTING! But, I thought I could maybe turn a time consuming hobby of looking at rings into something semi profitable for the time being..

@USAandKSA: WOW I can't believe that happened. I wish I had known things like this existed beforehand..I will never purchase something of such a high value online ever again, even if I am protected the nightmare and stress this has put me through is just NOT WORTH IT! There was NO BOX at all--the package was STUFFED with tissue paper, like if anything she would have just thrown the $7000 ring into the tissue paper! The tissue paper was her signature "juicy couture" paper which was a fake print of it (I called the company and detailed what it looked like)..also the package was NOT insured, what the hell did I pay $30 shipping for?! I forwarded the email I received from the concierge to ebay...I will be in the city again next week and might consider waiting around for the postal man to quickly write something up--I am probably going to see waht the results are on tuesday first or call the person in charge of the case to see if he needs any other affadavit. I understand what you are saying though--I even considered getting a video tape from the building of me in the lobby opening it up.

@2dBride: That's what I did...everyone keeps telling me to just go through the credit card company, but ebay won't cover me if I do that, so I am just counting on ebay to do as they say! I've never been through anything like this nor has anyone I know so I hope I am doing things the right way by using ebay's method first

@Beingewe: I know I saw that too, I sent photo's of the package to ebay so hopefully they will compare her return address with the one on file and think that something is definitely fishy.

@jaguar: Thank you, I really appreciate your support and I will definitely keep everyone updated...tbh this whole thing has been so embarrassing, it was like the talk of my entire thanksgiving and I feel like such a stupid failure.

DH bought his wedding band on Ebay by a seller with a 99% positive review rating. The order was delivered to a different state. The tracking put it in MI, we live in IL. When the seller never responded to multiple messages from us, Ebay gave us a full refund in a matter of days. It's a titanium band, so no where near the amount of money you're dealing with, but still, it was nice to know they do actually do something about it.

If they don't though, your CC company should be able to do a charge back. I know more than a few people who have successfully gotten their money back for unfair charges. 

Good luck!

@imalittlebirdie WOW what a small world!!!! That's crazy that you said that because I did a search on google and found her name as the owner of that deli also...I *assume* it is her, I don't know how big wilkes-barr/exeter is, I thought maybe I could find something to see if she had done something like this in the past but nothing turned up. Would mail be returned correctly to her exeter address if she simply puts Wilkes on the package? She didn't even do a full zip code! The people at the post office (when I went to get the package reweighed to see if it was the exact same weight as when shipped) seemed to indicate that it was an incorrect address.

@September2012: This is some really scary stuff. I thought paypal was supposed to protect the buyer?! I heard about scams like this happening on craigslist, a scammer emailed me about a ring I was trying to sell and they claim to have a verified paypal address. I heard that what they do is hack into accounts to pay for the item, and by the time the owner of the acount realizes it, the seller has already shipped the item and it is too late!

Oh wow!  People suck!  I'm so sorry this is happening to you!  I live about 2 hours away from Exeter - maybe we can organize a swarm of "bees" to go pound on her door! 

Not much of an update other than that I spoke with ebay last night...they now said there should be a resolution by wednesday. I tried google mapping her address with any/all of the surrounding cities and it brings me to a plot of land!

Also, there was tracking, I signed for the package thinking it would be what I purchased! NOT $7000 tissue paper !!

UPDATE! Ebay ruled in my favor THANK GOD!!! I am so happy they could see through this woman and finally feel like I can breathe easy for the first time all week! YAY!!!

@milesbella: Yes, I wrote negative feedback on her history, I wrote "SCAMMED!!MADE $7000 PURCHASE, RECEIVED EMPTY PACKAGE!OPENED CASE W/EBAY BEWARE!!" Ebay doesn't allow comments regarding the investigation, which I understand. I am also and quite obviously not an avid ebayer..for gods sake I have 26 transactions on there. I am ecstatic that justice was served and I got my money back HOWEVER, I still don't understand why she is allowed to sell anything...she is not even an authentic distributor of the "juicy couture" charms she is selling (per my own investigation). I think I might pursue this case further and try to get her arrested. Even though I did get my money back, people like this disgust me and I want her to realize the gravity of what she has done and obviously don't want this to happen to anyone else who is misled by her "positive" history. Also, I absolutely understand buying/selling on ebay is risky because you never know who you can really trust...but I definitely feel that when push comes to shove, the truth really does lie in the evidence.

Also, as far as the address was concerned--my other address was a verified paypal address, doesn't matter now because in the end it turned out to be a positive thing that she sent it to the initial address because I wouldn't have had evidence otherwise that there was nothing in the package when I opened it besides my own word of mouth (of course the other evidence, that her return address was wrong/wrong zip etc., and that even substituting the address she gave with another local city brought you to a plot of land on google maps, the identical weight of the package etc etc)--definitely having the USPS guy's word along with the concierge helped my case. I don't think I will ever open a package now unless it is in the presence of someone else!