From: Louise
Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎10‎ ‎April‎ ‎2015 ‎09‎:‎08
to:

Dear Sir
May I ask for some guidance please in regard to cheap silver plated jewellery made by an unscrupulous Chinese firm calling themselves 925? This obviously bring lots of confusion as some purchasers believe they are buying silver.
Geoff and I run the local car boot sales and am often asked to sort out disputes. To date if a seller is offering said cheap 925 as silver I have ensured purchasers get refunded and the jewellery is no longer offered for sale at any of our events. I also tell the sellers they are seriously breaking the law.
Where the seller is just selling this jewellery and not offering any advice i.e. it’s a ring and its £3 then I tend to say from a contract point of view ‘caveat emptor’. Am I doing right? Should I be insisting this jewellery isn’t sold at all? It’s pretty and kids can afford it so that would feel wrong but I was told by a dealer of someone selling beads at 50p being prosecuted by trading standards even though he wasn’t claiming them to be silver.
This tale may have been more about Pandora fakes but I just feel it would be helpful to get some guidance about the 925 company’s stuff.
Many thanks
Louise Camden-Wiles
Car Boots Cornwall.
Sent from Windows Mail
Hello Louise.
Many thanks for your email.
Though the jewellery isn’t illegal as such, an offence occurs if the seller in any way misleads the consumer as to the nature of the product. If the products are marked/advertised as 925 then this is definitely misleading. Unfortunately we cannot do much about the Chinese firm, but any sale/advert of silver plated jewellery that in any way misleads the public as to being 925 silver is an offence.
If the products are marked as 925 then there would need to be a clear sign at the point of sale stating that it is not 925 silver but silver plated.
Happy to advise further (or possibly investigate your sellers), but can you provide any other info or photographic evidence?
Regards,
Matt
__________________________
Matthew Collings
Trading Standards Officer
Public Protection & Business Support
Cornwall Council
Unit 6, Threemilestone Industrial Estate
Truro, TR4 9LD
Tel: 0300 1234 191
www.cornwall.gov.uk
From: louise [mailto:]
Sent: 10 April 2015 16:11
To: Collings Matthew
Subject: Re: 925 jewelry
Dear Matt
Thank you for your reply. I will print it off and give a copy to my sellers of jewellery. Once they have had a copy of your email they won’t be able to plead innocence. I will try to ensure that where I see people selling 925 them also have a sign warning it is plate.
I don’t suppose I’ll have too much of a problem ensuring this is the done but may I say you are more than welcome to come to any of our sales anytime.
As for my seller she insisted she just sold it as, a ring, a bracelet etc. She says she bought it all at auction and sold it to another dealer as a job lot. He is now dissatisfied but we have all agreed that we will be guided by yourselves. I’m sure the buyer will still manage to get his money back when he sells it on clearly marked as plate.
Regards
Lu
From: Collings Matthew
Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎10‎ ‎April‎ ‎2015 ‎16‎:‎34
To: Louise

Hi Lu,
No problem. Let your sellers also know that ignorance is not a defence where this is concerned. Obviously they can do their own research into the origin of the product.
We do check car boot sales so you may see us in the future. Is there a website details dates / locations?
Regards,
Matt