The Lure of the Deal: When NOT to Buy High-End Goods on Auction Sites

I think there's pretty much a consensus that these are tough economic times in which we Americans now find ourselves. Money is tight, prices are high. What's most disturbing is the constantly rising cost of basic necessities - food, gasoline, clothing among them. While Bush's $600 'economic stimulus' checks are certainly welcomed, many of us will be using the checks to pay off credit card debt or catching up with mortgage payments, rather than splurging on a trip to our local mall.

In the past, it's pretty much been a rule of thumb that in 'down' economic times, luxury items are more affordable. That 'thumb' couldn't be more wrong! The price of gold is at record levels; jewelers throughout the country are placing full-page ads in the media promising 'top dollar' for customers wishing to trade gold jewelry for cash. (A bit of advice is warranted here: These jewelers are looking for 'scrap' pieces of gold, such as broken chains, bracelets, and the like. The gold is valued at its karat weight (10K and up, 24K bringing the most money), and offers for gold jewelery is based on the total WEIGHT of the pieces, according to karat weight. If you're hoping to make a killing by selling three 10K plain gold rings that have been sitting around in your jewelry box, think again! You'll be both surprised and probably insulted by the offer price.)

In fact, what's happening is that many luxury items which draw their value from gold or are petroleum derivatives are actually considerably more expensive now because of the high costs of gold and gasoline. What we're seeing are folks who feel that the market for gold items, for instance, will continue to rise to considerably higher levels, and thus are paying top prices for gold items. If the price of gold is indeed at "an all-time high", why would you want to spent your hard-earned dollars on gold items now, when they're at their most expensive?

There is one area in particular in which I'd strongly urge buyers of Tiffany & Company and Louis Vuitton items to consider BEFORE purchasing them from an online auction site: the design companies own web sites. Not that long ago, I was thrilled with the purchase of a Tiffany 'little blue book', which came in its original box. I paid over $90 for it online. I received the item, and it was exactly as described.; I was a happy camper! About a day later, I received an Ebay message from a member of that site, asking why I'd paid so much for the Tiffany book when they could be purchased in stock from Tiffany itself for at least 30% less than what I'd paid. While I considered that a lesson learned the hard way, the daughter for whom I'd purchased the book was thrilled. I'm glad she was; with the money I could have saved by buying it directly from Tiffany, I could have put that money towards the purchase of another Tiffany item.

You'd be (pleasantly) surprised by how well Tiffany & Co. has kept their prices in line. Of course, the majority of their items are sterling silver, which is significantly less costly than gold. If you're looking for a real treasure at a good price, consider this: $200 and under can buy you some pretty special - and just as importantly, absolutely authentic - Tiffany products. There's the Return to Tiffany heart tag bracelet ($190), Tiffany 1837 circle earrings, also in sterling silver, for $150 a pair. A darling Tiffany taxi cab sterling charm will only set you back $125, as will the sterling Tiffany shopping bag, one of my favorites. (These can be worn as pendants or as part of a link bracelet.) The Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm pendants are also a nice option: a rhodonite mini heart is only $115, a small sterling silver heart $105. The 16" long sterling silver chain will set you back only $50 - not a bad price for a sterling chain bearing the Tiffany logo. Other charms include the XOXO heart, the Mom, Return To Tiffany, Happy and Tiffany 1837 padlock charms, each for $125.

Before you purchase a Tiffany & Company item on Ebay, check out its price at www.tiffany.com. You may be shocked at the prices of unscrupulous sellers, those hoping to cash in on selling what they claim to be authentic Tiffany items. This is, again, particularly true for the sterling silver pieces, and even much more important for gold pieces (Tiffany's are all 18K gold and up in karat type; they don't sell any 14K gold items - and the authentic ones are marked accordingly.) Of late, there's been a real rash of Asian imports on Ebay and other sites offering deals that are too good to be true - and in nearly 100% of them, they are too good to be true.

Don't think because a seller is including the "original pouch and bag and Tiffany card" that an item is authentic. There's an entire cottage industry based on forging Tiffany boxes, bags and the like. To be brutally honest, there are only two ways to verify that a Tiffany auction item is authentic: 1.) Have the seller GIVE you the original sales receipt, which you will carefully check over and verify by telephone with Tiffany's, or 2) take the item to a Tiffany's boutique for authentication.

For any online auctions of higher-end goods, check the seller's location. The seller is going to charge you $25 to ship from ... Hong Kong? Think again, and get your fingers off the "Bid Now" key as soon as possible. Is the item's description kind of hard to read because the seller's English is so poor? Uh, uh, back off. The seller could be shipping from Chicago fakes that were made several continents away. Even when money is tight, people want to treat themselves to the 'finer' things in life, hoping that they can get them for a "good deal". Wouldn't you feel just awful if you spent $300 on an "authentic" Tiffany set of earrings and bracelet, just to find out that they're not only fake, but could have been purchased at a Tiffany store for $50 less?

The same holds true as well for anther brand with which I'm fairly familiar, Louis Vuitton. Keep in mind that the boys at LV raise the prices on their items TWICE a year. I had purchased a pair of earrings and matching bracelet from the LV boutique in Atlantic City last year as a Christmas gift for one of my daughters. Each piece is now price at $60 more than I paid for it then. Also, remember that LV never, ever has a sale. You can buy directly authentic Louis Vuitton items online now in two ways: 1) through www.eluxury.com, which is the ONLY authorized LV online dealer, and whose receipt is as good as that from a LV boutique, and 2) through LV's newly-updated web site, www.louisvuitton.com. Up until very recently, their web site only displayed their collections; you couldn't purchase them through the web site. That's now changed: you can order directly from the web site, and if an item isn't sold through the site, it will give you the toll free telephone number (1-800-VUITTON) that you can use to place your order directly.

You might be surprised at the number and type of authentic LV items that can be purchased for under $300: scarves, twillies, barrettes, bracelets, earrings, rings and more. Your best bet are the 'fashion jewelry' selections; my personal favorite item is the LV hoop earrings in solid coated brass, which now run $290. They're big, they're in stock, and they scream "Louis Vuitton" in the style's own low-key fashion. Before you pay $400 for a pair of "bubble" earrings offered in an online auction, check the REAL price for the authentic item either through Eluxury or the designer's web site. You might be surprised to find out that these earrings are not only in stock, but their cost is $309...

These are just two 'luxury' brand names with which I'm comfortable discussing, not only because I've been lucky enough to own their pieces, I also collect them for my daughters as well. The great thing about these brands? They really do have "affordable" items, and both brands do hold their value throughout the years. (And of course, you'll keep not only your original sales receipt, but all of the paperwork, boxes, etc. that come with them, right? Having the original documentation and packaging just increases the value of any luxury brand item.)

You work hard for your money, and it's not going nearly as far as it once did, or should. Don't throw it away on cheap imitations when the real deal is out there for a reasonable price. Don't be taken by a deal that seems too good to be true; once again, it usually is.