There is confusion by many buyers and sellers on silver vanity items, old or new, as to if it is sterling or silverplate, if it is just tarnished and need polishing or worn and needs to be resilvered and  if condition is good, bad or ugly.

Indeed many sellers and buyers need to be informed on these topics. As a buyer, I grew tired of seeing so many silver vanity items being listed as sterling  by sellers who see no word sterling or #925 on the item and just assume, because it is silver that it is sterling or that the items just need polishing, but are so black that they need to be resilvered, which is costly, and where obvious bad condition is not in the listing.

Now, as a buyer, I go to "Ask the seller a question" and I ask many questions. Most sellers welcome the information, but a few do get upset and I think, to myself, did they get upset because they did or didn't put what should or should not have been in their listings. If they don't answer all of my questions I don't buy.

As to, is it sterling or just silverplate. 99% of the time American sterling silver will be signed "Sterling" or with the number 925. If it is not, and you think it is it has to be tested to see if it is sterling. Sterling has 925% silver next to silverplate which is coated with alittle silver. Big difference between sterling and silverplate in silver content and price. If a buyer buys because a listing said sterling and then finds out they paid good money and it is not sterling there can be a problem.

As to, is it just tarnished and just needs polishing or is the silver worn and it needs to be resilvered, which many sellers don't know that resilvering can be costly. To resilver a hand mirror, for example, could cost $100.00 or even more and if you have to replace a damaged beveled mirror or take out dents the cost goes up.

Many sellers do not know that if an silver item is real tarnished, as so many do not try to polish the items they list, or if they do polish and see a dull silver under the tarnish they assume it just needed polishing, but in fact, it need to be resilvered. I will say that if any vintage item has a least 50 to 60% of its shiney silver left on it, that is ok, as most do want the old items to look vintage. But dark black tarnished vintage silver vanity  items look and really are terrible and don't display well.

 As to condition, nothing is worse, then being a buyer and getting obvious bad condition silver items where that bad condition was not in the listing. I have bought many before I started asking many questions. To have to hassle with the seller, maybe or maybe not get your money back, is it really worth the time and energy to do that. I don't feel it is.

I have a box full of bad condition junk, hand mirros where the mirror was glued to the frame and glue was all over, bad dents were the seller cut off the bad spot in his pictures and then said his 9 year old daughter took the pictures for him and he didn't really look at her pictures. But, I have to say the best was, that even when I asked about damage and was told by the women there was no damage, whatsoever, this hand mirror had dents everywhere. I sent is back, lost some money in shipping, she paid me back, was not happy, but when she got it back she emailed "I don't know what I was thinking, I don't drink anymore." Just as location is number one so is condition especially when you can't see it yourself.

As a buyer, ask questions, if you don't get the right answers don't buy. As a seller, which I am also, do you very best with your listings, be honest, if you don't know, don't say it, you'd would want that from any seller if you were the buyer. It is called integrity.   Thank you