I have been selling on eBay for over 8 years. I have achieved Platinum Power Seller Status with over 7,500 unique positive feedbacks with a 99.9% positive percentage. You would think that I would read an auction before I bid and be saavy enough to spot a fake.

Well I got taken.

I bid on a David Yurman authentic Black Onyx ring in the David Yurman search. Well at least I thought I did. The picture was so compelling and the title said David Yurman, so I bid without reading the small type in the body of the auction description. When I won the item at about $180.00 I was elated and paid on Paypal right away. Of course, I didn't want to be accused of being one of those slow payers, sellers all hate.

After paying, I savered my win by reading the description as I should have done thoroughly before I bid. That's when my heart dropped. I was duped by a fraudulent seller who was breaking the Trust & Safety rules regarding VERO and keyword spamming and misprepresentation. The title said David Yurman s,. Down deep in the description was s = "style". Also the words quartz were used in the description. The title said Black Onyx. Quartz is the same material that old Coke bottles were made out of as well as the windows in your house and car, quartz = colored glass.

I \filed with Paypal against this seller to recover my money. Fortunately, a very helpful Power Seller manager at eBay helped me report this seller to Safe Harbor. Trust & Safety suspended the seller almost immediately and removed all active listings.

By the way the registered telephone number of the seller is a fax line so I could not verbally communicate with her. I wrote several e-mails. The seller returned two of them telling me not to threaten her and that she would refund my money ASAP. To this date I have received no money refunded by her. I did eventually get all my money back from Paypal since I funded the payment with a credit card and this was an eBay auction.

As a postscript, I looked at the sellers 100% positive feedback rating of (1) sale.

Another poor schnook bought a similar fake ring for over $350.00 and gave positive feedback. I wrote this buyer through the eBay secure messaging system. She wrote me back. I told her to persue a claim with Paypal and eBay if she felt duped. I don't know what the outcome was. I am hopeful of recovering all my money after speaking with my account manager at Paypal this morning and filing the claim. Thanks to eBay for the rules and application of the rules. I feel I am getting justice, and I don't feel so bad anymore about being hoodwinked!

The moral of the story to me was that 100% feedback means nothing unless they have sold over at least 25 items.