Check out this China-based pearl purveyor for a potential customer

[Caitlin]

A member who is having difficulty signing in asked me about this compay http://www.shecypearljewelry.com/pearl-necklace-jewelry.html

Is anyone here familiar with them? They offer free shipping and a 90 return.

Tell me about the 4-5mm SSP's on their front page. Those look kinda like Perlas' babies don't they?

 

[salem]

Sorry I can't be of much help, but I know what you mean. My jaw actually dropped to see SS pearls at 4-5 mm. It seemed they were all below 8mm. Although, I didn't look too indepth. So just freshwaters I guess? So not too honest at leats in that respect? The first strand listed on the top page was a freshwater for $30. I imagine the quality can't be very good. Interested to see what the experts write in.

 

[jshepherd]

They have been around for a while. I would say they are more or less eBay sellers with a Website. Their South Sea pearls are clearly not South Sea. They are either freshwater or Akoya. One thing to notice are the clasps. The particular clasp they use on almost all pieces is the nearly the lowest of low grade clasps in China. You can almost always base some of the quality expectation on the clasp. Take this piece, for example:
http://www.shecypearljewelry.com/pearl-jewelry-set/white-freshwater-pearl-jewelry-pjs004.html
In a size of 8-9mm, the strand cost them about $10. Knotting in China will run about a dime. So if a decent clasp was used, it would double the cost of the necklace.

Oh, and this is a quote from their Site:

Is it real south sea pearl? Is this south shell pearl or imitation pearl? I like this one, but why so cheap? Are we talking about the same type of South Sea pearls I see all over the internet at very high prices?
Absolutely yes, it is real south sea pearl instead of south shell pearl or imitation pearl. We provide Appraisal Certificate with product. Please don't worry about it.
We do provide so much cheaper but good and real south sea pearls than other online vendors. Do you know more than 95% of pearls selling in the world are from China? As based in China with such a high volume customers and a large-scale of business, our company can provide the most high quality pearl jewelry at an unbelievable good price. And because we are now selling them online to the direct consumer market, we can greatly cut our cost for the very expensive rent for the "real" offline stores on the high street. We are the shortest cut both to the pearl farm and the consumers! Don't hesitate to buy from us!

Just based on this lie I would give the Site a big thumbs down. They clearly cannot be trusted. Unfortunately the Site is based in China, so there is nothing the FTC or the JVC can do about it. They are free to deceive and steal just like their eBay counterparts.

I have an idea! Everyone that reads this thread should go to the Website and send a contact message letting them know why they will never buy from them... just as a test! Let's see if we can turn them honest! I will be the first one to send an email!

 

[Mafiaz]

Thanks for the response, I realized I can finally post now although I never got the registration validation.

The particular item I was looking at for Shecy was their white AAA 16" FW 7-8mm necklace:
http://www.shecypearljewelry.com/pearl-necklace-jewelry/white-freshwater-pearl-necklace-A3-00C-w1.html

The clasp looks like it'd be a 14K white gold ball clasp and the grading system seemed to be the standard A-AAA.

However the price is $142.50, if the description is accurate the same necklace is $200 at most online retailers.

Seeing that they are falsely advertising the SSP, do you think they are being honest about this particular product? Thanks!

 

[jshepherd]

Pearl grading is extraordinarily subjective, and I have never met a dealer or supplier in China with whom I would agree when discussing grading. Every dealer in China sells AAA grade. But one thing you learn very quickly is that AAA means nothing as every dealer has a different standard there.

Shecy Pearls has dishonest descriptions, and they are based in China. How easy will in be to send the product back if you are not satisfied? Their return policy is just as valuable as other ebay sellers - it is worthless.

In my opinion, any Site that is clearly a 50% lie (Shecy's entire South Sea pearl side) is not a company anyone should deal with. You will lose, and you won't be saving any money.

 

[pattye]

Logically nobody is going to nucleate with itty-bitty mop beads to get an itty-bitty SS pearl so small it's not worth much with only one to the mollusk!!!

Pattye

 

[Ashley]

Logically nobody is going to nucleate with itty-bitty mop beads to get an itty-bitty SS pearl so small it's not worth much with only one to the mollusk!!!
Pattye

Jeremy is completely right. There is no chance they are actually selling South Sea pearls. Seeing this on a Website is very disheartening. After looking over the Site it is apparent that this is a Chinese company, and there is nothing the JVC or the FTC can do against them. We all knew eventually that they pervasive fraudulent selling on eBay would make its way to the real Internet, but it would have to be International.

I think all sellers and consumers on this forum should send Schecy Pearls a message and let them know that their reputation will be severly tarnished here over the years if they do not start telling the truth. Sellers should especially be worried as their dishonesty can affect the integrity of all Internet based sellers in the eyes of the average consumer.

 

[Caitlin]

I agree with that.

And post a copy here. I like the idea of a new thread for each separate case with the company name in it. If we do that, a google from an innocent buyer researching, will bring our thread up.

Why not just tell the truth and earn the appropriate profits for the product? People like these make me feel like they regard customers as "marks" - just a bunch of foreigners that deserve to be fleeced.

 

[Ashley]

While we're on the subject of dishonesty and disinformation...

I had a phone call from a customer today wanting to know what type of pearls Mikimoto sells- Obviously I reply with "Akoya pearls", right? I start going into my spiel about how all you're really paying for are clasps and papers (which everyone on this forum knows at this point), and he interrupts me to let me know that he's found out from a source on the web that Mikimoto doesn't sell Akoyas at all!! Check this out:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Buying-Guide-for-a-Mikimoto-Pearl-Necklace&id=380932

This page is filled with so many inaccuracies and straight out falsities it's astonishing! And to top it off, this author is posting on a variety of topics and spewing her half-researched clap-trap p I love that word, and must pay due homage!) all over the net for everyone to find! Worse, my client let me know that this is one of the first links that came up when you Google "Akoya vs. Mikimoto"...

So, my question is: How many people surfing the net right now are looking for a geniune source of pearl education read this author's article and come away with some very strange notions? Then, she helpfully directs people to pearl sites that don't even exist! Or at the very best are unreliable! Who pays this person??

"The best way to distinguish a true high-quality Mikimoto pearl from other pearls is to look for a unique road map or line pattern on the surface of the pearls under a 10x magnifying lens. Experienced jewelers can recognize this. On your own, you will want to find genuine Mikimoto pearls to compare with your intended purchase. Once you see the difference, true Mikimoto pearls are easily recognizable." <--- Wow! This one is a truly amazing thought... I bet no other pearls in the whole wide world will ever display actual aragonite platelets overlapping over their surfaces.

I think I will have to write this person a nice lengthy letter as well. It's just really disappointing to me that these blog sites will apparently hire anybody that can string two sentences together coherently and post this junk as truth.

 

[jshepherd]

Wow! You were not kidding. That article is bad! But the author listed, Nathalie Fiset, looks to be a paid spam writer. If you look at her list of articles you will see that most of them deal with financing, plastic surgery, and weight loss. The pearl Sites linked from the Miki article are actually Sites, although the links are dead today. But they have been under construction for a long time...

 

[jshepherd]

Congratulations everyone! The aforementioned Site has done away with the dishonest representation of South Sea pearls. They are now referred to as Akoya.
Good job, those of you who let them know you did not like what you saw. I know several people did as I received some pretty upset emails from Shecy's. But it looks like it worked. One more step in keeping the Internet (sans eBay, of course) clean!

 

[Mandy]

Good job, indeed Although, since some of us here have pointed out their dishonesty, how can we point out that their products really are Akoya as well and not just slapping on a new popular name to their pearls? Oh, well, at least we've done something good about it anyway by scaling down their mismarked merchandise.

 

[Orlando]

So now the akoya they sell are the really akoya pearls? How about the grading? I have a necklace coming from them now AAA grade and also one that I just received from one poster here.

 

[pattye]

Well, Orlando, Welcome---

When you get your pearls, you will have to let US know what you think. Are they round, with few flaws? Please post some photos and let us know if you think you got a good value. Sounds like you have some pearl items to compare.

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time