Through the global marketplace of eBay, many people have learned about Roman Catholic Saints relics. This is good and bad. Many churches no longer have relics on display for the faithful to venerate.

But, unfortunately, many have derived profits by selling relics against the rules (Cannon law) of the Church and eBay rules. EBay rules supposedly forbid the sale of human body parts, but that is exactly what many Saint relics are- pieces of bone, hair, or even skin. See the link on my ME page  for a site that gives translations for all the Latin terms for relics, "For All the Saints".

Please click the links I have provided, all the information you need is available by going to the proper page.
It is silly to waste time by writing to me when all you need to do is click on the red and blue ME letters next to my name. EBay doesn't allow me to post user names or links outside of eBay on this page. 

There are three types of relics:

first-class relics are parts of a Saint's body,

second class relics are things they owned, such as books or clothing,

third class relics are things touched to first-class relics or shrines of Saints.

Third class relics

---Some people call a relic of soil or water from holy sites "memento" or "souvenir" when in a rosary center or medal rather than a "relic".

This is just a difference in wording, not an attempt to mislead on the part of anyone selling medals or rosary centers with soil from a shrine inside.

Third class relics are often given out free by religious orders, or may be bought as part of a holy card, medal,  badge, or rosary center. The cost for them is not much more than a regular medal, card, badge, or rosary center. The medals are easily obtainable for less than $3 each.

--Many relic badges you see on eBay currently may not be authentic. If a seller is selling a new authentic relic badge, they should be able to tell you what community they were made by. The badges I've usually seen lately are 4th or 3rd class relics if they are real, no markings to say who made them or what class relic they are, even in the auction listing.

All these and third class relic cards are found easily on the Internet and anyone is allowed to sell them.

For relic medals, if they say "ex indumentis" it is a third-class, if it says "relic" then its a second-class piece of the Saint's clothes. Relic rosary centers contain soil from shrines or Saint's graves, water from Lourdes, or third-class Saint cloth relics just like the "ex indumentis" medals.

First class relics

First-class relics are never to be sold. Religious orders may distribute them in exchange for donations.
If they are to be used for public veneration, the document from the order issuing the relic must be included. This is essential in determining real relics from fake ones, the Saint should match the Order issuing the relic, for the most part.

That is, for example, a relic of St. Francis would be issued by the Franciscans, not the Passionists.

At one time, a quite common fraud on eBay was the sale of fake relics with fake documents seemingly signed by Nicholas Ferrante, a Passionist.

Below is a real relic with document:

Usually these older ornate reliquaries with documents are real.

If you do have a real relic without document, your parish may assist you in getting the document replaced so public veneration of the relic can be allowed.

Below is a classic example of the fake Ferrante documents often seen on eBay:

If you open the outer case, a red wax seal with the seal of the Congregation issuing the relic and red threads should be seen.

Sometimes in old relics this is broken or missing, authentic ones often have scorch marks and are not picture perfect:

Below is a new, probably fake relic. Relics this new should have a document with them.

The paper inside the relic, if it's First-class, should say what it is, such as "ex ossibus", a piece of bone.

The above relic is probably a second or third class relic, if it is a relic at all.

Second class relics

Another important tip is to check what other items they have for sale. I recently saw a seller offering several fake relics with almost identical Ferrante fake documents at the same time!

I also wouldn't trust those who sell both modern celebrity relics (such as a lock of Elvis' hair) and religious relics.

Relics can also be enclosed in a crucifix or pectoral cross, these are often used by missionaries.

Go to this page to avoid wasting time and click on the red letters "For All the Saints", who has kindly listed my guide as an informational link.

The website owner is a relic expert and has a consultant in Rome who can do extensive research on request.

 Some well-meaning sellers offer both fake and real relics because they cannot tell the difference.

A new type of relic has been showing up, a relic expert tells me not to buy "homemade" relics because there is no way to prove if they are real or not. They have no document or wax seal as mentioned above.

Sellers, especially Power Sellers, are obliged to follow eBay policy:

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:
Listing cancellation
Limits on account privileges
Account suspension
Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
Loss of PowerSeller status"

If a person is listing items they do not know if are authentic or not, and they even say in the listing they do not know the age, history, or origin of these items, they are violating eBay policy and should be reported.

Some sellers are not Roman Catholic, so they feel they are superior to Church law. Some claim to be "Catholic", but are not Roman Catholic. God and his saints will not be mocked.

eBay lets honest and non-misleading sellers like me (at least 3) be unceasingly harassed by someone's auction listing without punishing them. It hurts honest sellers to be called frauds, and if someone says they sell fakes, even if their names are not mentioned. Pray for honest eBay sellers like me!

God bless, Immaculata Rosaries