|
An open letter to fellow sellers and buyers of genuine, authentic, pure, natural, real beach sea glass, requesting assistance in creating a separate category for genuine sea glass and another category for man made tumbled or recycled glass. As one of several purveyors of genuine beach sea glass that is pure in nature and unaltered by processing in a rock tumbler or an acid bath, it greatly distresses me that it is difficult for consumers to weed out the genuine article from the machine tumbled that is often passed off as the real thing. Recently this problem has escalated, as customers shopping for genuine beach sea glass on eBay fall victim to a number of sellers peddling artificial sea glass as if it's the real thing. Several of us who sell genuine beach sea glass, either loose or as part of our jewelry, have had enough of it. After contacting several legitimate sellers over the matter, this "open" letter is one of the results of our "joining" together to clean up the listings in the sea glass category and to request that eBay create separate categories for genuine versus artificial sea glass. Genuine beach sea glass is a disappearing "natural" resource, and as a result will only continue to go up in value. As it becomes more and more popular, people continue to attempt to "cash in" on it's popularity. Since the genuine article can be hard to find, many simply make their own "sea glass." While artificially tumbled glass has a market and that there is nothing wrong with it, it just needs it's own category. There is a certain mystique attached to genuine sea glass and to those who care, it is a big deal to be sold "fake" sea glass as opposed to the genuine article. What can be done? Ask before you bid or buy. When you see a listing that should not be categorized as sea glass, report it. Contact eBay and request that the sea glass category be divided into genuine beach sea glass and man made, tumbled glass, so as to eliminate confusion for buyers and sellers as to what category to list in and as to what they are browsing through. You can use the suggest category form and forward your suggestions for category changes to eBay.
Thank you, |