Tips to Avoid Fake Sterling Silver

Greedy and  Selfish Merchants have been deceiving and cheating buyers for a long time and this activity prevails even today. The most common way of scamming less knowledgeable buyers is selling them Chinese sterling silver.

Fake versions of sterling silver have become a big problem not only in the retail jewelry market but also when you want to buy silver jewellery online. The fake jewelry is a cheap metal with a silver plating that is being sold in the market labeled as pure sterling silver.

These fake jewellery pieces can be found on e-commerce websites as well, where they are seen promoted as 925 silver jewelry (which is the percent of silver that the composition of sterling silver has).

Consequences of this are faced by both the buyers and quality jewellery sellers. Because of these defrauding activities, the less knowledgeable buyers end up purchasing fake sterling silver under the impression that the precious jewellery piece that they have bought is actual sterling silver. Moreover, the sellers selling genuine sterling silver have to face losses in their business due to the fake versions being sold in the market for a lower price, which actual sterling silver cannot be sold for.

To protect yourself from getting scammed, here are a few red flags that you can look for before making a heavy investment:

Quality tags increase the cost of a jewelry piece drastically. So you will not find a quality tag attached on most pieces of the fake sterling silver, but will definitely find one on a genuine sterling silver piece. Another distinguishing feature of genuine silver is its greyish colour. Fake versions have a rhodium plating which results in giving them a white shiny finish. So if your piece has a bright white hue instead of a grey one, it is probably fake.

This is the most obvious red flag when it comes to differentiating fake and genuine sterling silver jewellery. So, if a piece has a price tag with a price that seems too good to be true, in most cases, it probably is.

This way might sound funny, but it is actually effective. When you want to ensure the genuineness of a silver piece - smell it. Our experts say that while fake versions have a faint copper odor or brassy smell, true pieces do not have any smell. You can also try rubbing the piece with a polishing cloth. Since true 925 silver has the quality of tarnishing, rubbing it with a polishing cloth will leave black marks on the cloth.

For protecting yourself from being defrauded, the most important thing is to have basic knowledge of sterling silver. Because that knowledge will help you in asking questions to the merchant about your piece and ensuring what you’re buying is true 925 silver. By keeping these helpful tips in mind, you will be sure to prevent yourself from purchasing anything that is less than what your money is worth.

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