Pet peeve with ebay... looking for solid gold and getting gold plated.

[sunshine110victoria]

Annoying.  Looking up solid gold or real gold on ebay and ending up with dozens of pages of gold plated!  Not the same and a waste of time.

[i*m-still-here]

Yes, but I'll bet if you arrange them from highest to lowest priced you'll get the solid gold at the top.

That's the way it works.

My pet peeve is with "Silver."

Sellers play really loosey-goosey with "Sterling."

Countless listings state that an item has tested as sterling but it 's not marked.

If it ain't marked : It's probably not Sterling  and it's definitely not the worth the risk unless you really know your stuff (Chinese imports for example).

[2011limey1]

Definitely agree with I'm-still-here - yes, it can be frustrating when looking for the real thing.  It happens when searching for "genuine leather" also and comes up with ones that are PVC.  When looking at items such as this is the only time I look at the most expensive first.  In my experience when searching for sterling silver and gold, the seller usually posts one of the pictures with the stamps clearly shown.  I will say, even though I purchase from China,with silver, gold or leather goods you have to be very wary.  Obviously, if it seems like a crazy ridiculous low price, don't get sucked in - in these categories you definitely get what you pay for.  So I never purchase from there for the "real deal".  A long time ago I hate to admit, I did get sucked in with a "Genuine Leather Purse" from China - in the picture it even had one of those "Real Leather" tags attached.  Got it - yes the tag attached WAS leather....but the bag wasn't!  I like it any way and do wear it, but never again.

[i*m-still-here]

When I mentioned Chinese Imports I was referring to antique Sterling pieces.

These are heavily collected and prices are way beyond other Sterling prices,

Unlike other Sterling pieces these items are often unmarked.

[sunshine110victoria]

Thank-you for the tip.