After you emailed her???!!! Wow - utterly shameless.
At least she took down the claim itās made by Manuel Hoyungwa, and that itās Native American.
I wasnāt scammed by her, itās just that I have one of his pieces, and it made me angry someone was falsely claiming that ring was his. It wasnāt even a āgoodā attempt at selling something falsely. Iāll give her the benefit of the doubt, and hope she just didnāt do her due diligence in researching the item.
If your refund was recent, Etsy probably paid the refund. There are tons of people there who seem to be ignorant of the Arts and Craft law as to labeling.
It looks like similar to but sloppier than Carol Felley storyteller pieces (non-Native), with shallow-relief people inside the embrace and the storytellerās upturned feet. How funny an idea it would be to knock off this sort of material.
And then claim itās by a deceased Hopi artist. I think I will stick to mostly shopping in stores that I trust.
@JW - Yeah, it was recent and odd. Usually a store wants their merchandise back to issue a refund, not just surreptitiously dropping the money back into the account with no comment. AND no response whatsoever to my own attempts to reach out directly to the store. This Zia Jewelers seems to be a big Etsy āshopā purportedly out of Albuquerque, NM. No idea if thereās a brick & mortar store. It seems to do a lot of business, with many items it is claiming to be Native. Iām with you @Ziacat - lots of individuals are unaware and donāt do their homework. I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt. Iām afraid my eyes arenāt good enough (yet, maybe never lol) to determine if this Etsy site is engaging in purposeful fraud. Iād report, if I was sure. If anyone here with better eyes than mine feels like a jaunt into Etsyland, let me know your opinions about their stock.
Not requesting the item back is suspect. Except that Etsy has a new policy in which Etsy itself issues refunds and it does not impact the sellers finances or require a return of the item.Not saying this is what happened and itās on the list of possibilities.
Good to know as I donāt usually shop there and donāt know their policies - thank you @JW!
Wow. I sell vintage jewelry on Etsy. Some is Native American, and I go to great lengths to authenticate pieces and makers, and always label reproductions or imports (which I try to avoid!) Annoys the heck out of me that other unscrupulous sellers can give the whole site a bad reputation. I even pay to have gems authenticated. Sometimes itās glass. I canāt imagine selling it as real. More than annoying. Infuriating.
Bless you and other authentic, honest sellers. You are highly appreciated and please know none of my comments were meant for you or anyone else that deals with integrity! I absolutely understand the frustration.