More than anywhere else on this site, what you are bidding on here is what the seller is willing to demonstrate.
The three requests
"Can you weigh it on camera?" Let the figure settle. For plain gold and silver, weight and purity are most of the price.
"Can you show the hallmark?" Gold jewellery in India is covered by BIS hallmarking: the BIS mark, the purity in karat and fineness, and a six-character HUID. Ask for it close enough to read, and ask for the HUID in the listing so you can check it yourself.
"Can you show it running?" For a watch — the second hand moving, for long enough to be convincing.
What a hallmark does not do
It does not travel from the video to the parcel. It is a mark on a piece, shown by a seller, and you cannot assay anything over a video call. That is not a reason to avoid the category; it is a reason to weigh the price against how much the seller has actually shown you.
What a hallmark does do
Two useful things, neither of them ours.
You can check a HUID yourself. BIS runs an app for exactly this, and a seller who puts the HUID in the listing is inviting you to use it.
A hallmark that lies is compensable. Under the BIS rules, where hallmarked jewellery turns out to be of lower purity than its mark, the buyer is entitled to compensation of twice the value of the shortfall, plus the testing charges. That is the law of the hallmark, not a Metzee policy — but it is one more reason to want the mark and the number written down before you bid.
For stones
Ask whether there is a laboratory report, and from which laboratory. A report without a named issuer is a piece of paper. "Untested, sold as seen" is honest and should be priced that way.
For watches
- What is original and what has been replaced?
- When was it last serviced?
- Does it keep time, and for how long has it been tested?
- Box and papers?
A replaced dial or an aftermarket strap is not a scandal if it is declared. Undeclared, it is a not-as-described claim.
What protection covers
A piece that is not what was described — a weight well below what was shown, an unhallmarked piece sold as hallmarked, a watch sold as running that does not — is covered by buyer protection for seven days from delivery.
It does not cover a stone you assumed was something it was never said to be. Ask the question before you bid.
Questions people ask
Should I ever bid on unhallmarked gold?
Yes, at unhallmarked prices, from a seller who says so plainly. The problem is only ever silence.
Is a certificate from a laboratory I do not recognise worth anything?
It is worth what that laboratory's reputation is worth. Ask the name; look it up.
Can Metzee check purity for me?
No. Metzee handles the money, the delivery and a dispute if the item is not as described. What Metzee will not do.