Description of jewellery and online shops

[susieq]

Have been browsing the big-three sites for selling hand-made jewellery online and am really surprised at what sellers are getting away with in their descriptions; is it really legal in this country to have the main headline say "silver and gold XXXX" when on reading further down the description it turns out that the gold is either plated or, in one instance, brass? I know that the price is usually a give-away to the true nature of the metal, but then again I know the price of gold. Surely if your item is silver and gold plated, or silver and brass, you shouldn't be allowed to imply it's silver and solid gold?

Or am I being pedantic?

[Aurarius]

It's annoying yes, and ideally they wouldn't be allowed to overstate their wares in that way. Without looking at specific adverts it's hard to say whether claims are illegal or just exaggeration.

Outrageous though legal exaggeration happens with all sorts of things. An estate agent will tell you a house is in a highly sought after area when it's in a slum. A book dealer will tell you a book is rare when it's common as muck. And just about anyone will tell you something is a bargain when it can be had cheaper up the road.

[pearlescence]

Lots of websites with silver and gold fail to display the hallmarking act notice as required ...and neither does eBay. I think the big sites pass the buck legally to sellers, or try to. It would be interesting to see a court case on that, or on the difference between genuine and authentic. (and corp tax too, since eBay UK is based in Ireland for tax I think)

[caroleallen]

It annoys me too SusieQ. The big online shopping sites have no policy on hallmarking.

[SteveLAO]

susieq....if you're happy to name and shame, I'd be happy to have it checked out to see if there are any offences committed under the hallmarking act....otherwise it may be a trades descriptions issue?

[caroleallen]

OMG, that would be a huge can of worms!

[LydiaNiz]

I emailed a large (and veeeery expensive to sell on) handmade website about their policies after seeing overweight and unhallmarked 'silver' being sold, and was told they relied on the sellers to 'take care of any regulations'.

[Wallace]

I have had someone bring me a ring they purchased from the UK from a jewellery making site. It was heavy enough to be hallmarked, at 1.3g for 9ct, but instead it was just stamped 375. I advised the customer that she needed to be aware that it was not properly marked. Her reply was, that it was cheaper that way. Sometimes people feed the machines.

[trialuser]

I suppose it depends on whether it was sold as 9ct gold. There is no law preventing you from stamping 9ct gold as 375 and selling it as yellow metal.

[Wallace]

it was sold as gold. I should have said - but given the top comment, I didn't think to add the fact.