I have for some time wondered about the eBay sellers who list a watch as "14K or 18K Gold" when the case is filled or just plain fraudulently marked. With the latest gold rush you see a fair amount of that going on. If the seller is not a watch person or new to eBay I have contacted them directly. I have never complained to eBay but I am getting irritated by experienced sellers doing it. Comments or ideas appreciated!

Oh boy, Deacon! This is a subject that I'm sure will generate many comments.

I, too, have seen an increase in filled cases being tagged as solid. I'm not sure what can be done that would be effective across the board. I think contacting sellers as you have been doing is one way. As you can't put a link in an eBay message, providing proof to them may be difficult. If they are truly interested in knowing, they will e-mail you so you can respond with more information.

As far as experienced sellers trying to pass off filled cases as solid....they know exactly what they have (and what they don't) and are looking to dupe an uninformed buyer caught up in the gold mania. I believe contacting those sellers to question the case would be useless. They most likely would throw back a tacky message questioning your intelligence and knowledge of watches.

For blatant examples, I suppose you could "report an item" to eBay. What action they might take, if any, I don't know. I wouldn't think they have an employee on staff who knows enough about solid and filled case marks who could verify the auction item's legitimacy.

I know I haven't said anything that you aren't already aware of. But I really don't see a good, practical way to address this on a broad basis.
Some buyers will just have to find out the hard way that they were taken for a ride and a lot of money. That's what happens when greed takes over.

I have an idea. I know that ebay does followup on complaints that items are fake or fraudulently described.

We post the item here on IHC 185 as being misleading, etc. so more of us are alerted to it. Then three or four of us file a complaint about the same item to ebay, or at least report it as being in error, Ebay will take notice and will send a message to the seller.

If they doesn't get corrected we report it again. Ebay used to remove it after a few complaints. they still might.

If sellers keep gettng messages from Ebay about complaints they should be careful how they list things.

Here is ebays Policy on Misrepresentation:

Policy overview
For a satisfying and fun experience on eBay, we're helping sellers list their items in the most effective ways possible. As general rules, sellers have to:

Select a category that matches the item for sale.

Provide a clear, honest, and accurate description about the item.

Avoid tactics like keyword spamming because they make it hard for people to find what they're looking for.

In addition to our tips on creating effective listings, the detailed guidelines below provide more info on how you can create listings that follow the rules, and we've also described common things that you need to avoid in your listings.

It's against our policies to do anything that manipulates the search or browse experience on eBay. This applies to all parts of a listing, including the title, subtitle, product details, description, pictures, links, and meta tags (see also our HTML and JavaScript policy). If a seller uses tactics that can inappropriately divert bidders and buyers to a listing, we will take action.

Make sure your listing follows these guidelines. If it doesn't, it may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including restrictions of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

Perhaps the definitions and specifications concerning solid gold and gold filled cases that is found in the Complete Guide to Watches could be summarized and sent to Ebay.

Collectors know the difference but the gold speculators are ignorant.

On the other hand, who cares about the speculators getting ripped off?