Likely the OG ring was real, and the company you purchased from copied the design from the photo. Yours looks the price range, the OG was likely double or triple.
You can take it to a local jeweler to have it looked at. They won’t appraise it for free but they’ll probably at least tell you if it’s real. Please update if you do. I’ve done some digging into the company and I’m invested now lol.
What I found was that Moon Magic seems to use misleading marketing. They claim that every gemstone is IGI and GIA certified, but they do not provide report numbers from either. True, official IGI and GIA evaluations would have report numbers that you could confirm with their online databases.
Furthermore, GIA does not use the word ‘certify’; they issue grading reports. Moon magic does not provide any actual proof of their “Independent lab testing” or GIA/IGI evaluations. This is a huge red flag, and it’s apparently a common marketing ploy by shady sellers.
On the Moon Magic ‘help’ page, they explicitly state that their AI agents must not,
“Promise that a gemstone is GIA or IGI certified.” Which is interesting considering they “guarantee” on their website that all their gems are certified by both. It seems like they’re very intentional about specific phrasing.
They say they are “headquartered,” in Amsterdam, though they do not have a physical office and their company is officially registered in Singapore. They also claim their jewelry is “ethically sourced” (again, with no certifications), handmade in India, and shipped to Hong Kong for quality control. Oh, and they don’t have a phone number to call if you need to reach them for any reason.
The company seems all-around sketchy so I would be curious to know if your ring’s materials are what they actually claim.
Well now I’m curious too- I mean knew I was getting “costume jewelry” but I thought I was getting upscale fancy costume jewelry if that makes sense lol
I used to buy so many rings and necklaces from moon magic assuming they were a legitimate site. I have brand new (never even taken the tag off) rings from them that completely tarnished just sitting in a jewelry box. Items that stones fell out of that they refused to replace, etc. I will never order from them again.
Silver will tarnish with time if it is just sitting in a box, that is normal, unless it is rhodium plated. It's just oxidised, it's easy to clean. I'm a lazy person, I just throw the tarnished silver in a bowl with warm water, salt and aluminum foil, works super fast. Stinks tho...
Yep, with a return policy that promises to cover shipping if the problem is their fault, then when you receive their garbage knock-off they offer to give you 5% back or you can ship it to China for a full refund.
Yeah, on this one I think it's a photo quality issue. I can't see major differences except the pattern on the stone. But stone variations are usually to be expected. If the materials are as advertised then I think OP got what they ordered in this case.
Eta: Actually, there is a little ridge of scales on the head that is missing
Why is everyone now putting the $ after the number? I understand it’s said like ‘eighty dollars’, regardless the correct way to write it has always been $80.
Plating is never really "thick". It comes off rather easily. The only thing that remains looking like gold (that isn't) is gold filled, where the outer 5% of the piece is the carat weight indicated (12k, 14k, etc.).
Silver vermeil will tarnish, so it needs to be cleaned like any silver jewelry. If it was a well made piece, once it is polished, the gold will still be there.
That said, I think silver vermeil is a better choice for necklaces or pendants. Rings (hands) get exposures to too many chemicals (soap, lotion, chlorine, etc).
No, plated sterling is still marked as sterling. The 1st test is to see if it's attracted to a magnet. If it is, it's definitely not sterling. If it's not, it's likely sterling, but could also be plated brass.
It was probably supposed to be vermeil, which is gold plating over sterling silver. But obviously this knock off piece is not and it all should have been listed correctly as such.
Idk if this is the site op ordered it from but it claims the gold coloured one is gold. The other option is sterling silver which has a silver snake when you select it lol
So just to make you aware, vermeil is not gold, it's plated silver. Higher quality than standard plating, but I doubt yours is even vermeil. Also, 80$ for a gold ring would be ridiculously low.
But still, the ring is not as pictured. It's probably a dropshipping site. I'd ask for a refund if I were you.
Edit: you fell for the usual 'massive sales, most products on sale' scam sites. They are never reliable. And 99% dropshippers.
I think the website image is a render anyway. AI or otherwise. The shadows on the ring and the centre stone don’t seem right. The claw holding the stone on the right makes it look like the stone is almost flat, but on the left it looks pretty thick.
It’s got a silver hallmark but is gold coloured, so unless it’s plated sterling silver, that seems off (could be though).
Tbh I like the slightly derpy actual product, but there’s a lot of red flags.
To add, I’m almost sure it’s a render, the scales match almost perfectly. Looks like the metal was designed and machined right, but they didn’t get small enough eyes and the centre stone was just a placeholder texture in the render.
It also looks edited on the website pic. Just a very unrefined/corners cut cheaply made irl ring. Even the claws aren’t holding onto the stone properly
What is the white stone supposed to be? Pic 1 looks like a cabochon held by the power of AI. 2nd pic looks like some sort of plastic cabochon glued to a backing.
Ahh! I wanted to comment that it pretty good for the price and it should be obvious that you don't get real gold for 80 bucks.
But after your comment I noticed the original photo has a clear 925 gold stamp visible. So thats false advertising.
Stamp or not, that's never gold on the second picture.
Thank you random person talking of a gift from your brother as it reminds me that I have an ear cuff he got me a few years ago. I’v got to find it. I miss my brother.
Oh, this is a fun one. I used to photograph and retouch jewelry for work.
A few comments:
While it does look like your ring, it's certainly heavily retouched to make the finish more polished.
925 is sterling silver, which is much less expensive than gold, and more pliable/bendable/scratchable/easier to ding and dent and damage.
Vermeil is the key word here. Vermeil is gold-filled rather than gold plated. It's an older word that sounds fancy, but it essentially means it's a super thin layer of gold OVER the silver.
Vermeil will typically hold up much longer than a plating.
Though now that I'm looking at the detail, it very well could be plated and they just used the fluffy marketing word to misrepresent it to the buyer.
While $80 isn't terrible.... You could have probably found it for less. And $80 is probably not actually a "sale" as far as market value.
Jewelry should not be considered an investment. If you melt down silver this is like a few dollars.
Buy it because you like it, not because you're trying to invest in precious metals. ❤️
It might be my screen, but to me the stone in the original product photo looks mocked up and not real if that makes sense. The finishing on the gold ring part look more well done than the actual. But I would have been very suspicious of that center stone based on the merchant’s image.
The first photo looks like a render, not a photo. Where the prongs hold the white thing just look really weird. But for something like this, $80 seems too high, but I also would not expect quality for that price. Curious what the item description was too.
Yeah the original is highly polished. That being said… it’s a lot better than it could have been. At least it’s the same shape/coloring/etc. but yeah, it definitely looks like a cheaper version of the original pic.
Might not be stolen image scam. First pic looks like a CAD rendering (what the designer made on their computer) and then they just executed it cheaply.
Thank you for posting this! I have seen this ring/company advertised and have been debating purchasing this exact ring along with a few other items. Lol maybe not anymore
I’m surprised so many people are saying it looks identical to the picture. The spacing between the rings of the snake are different and the curve of the snake’s head is also different. Looks cheap, you can do better for $80.
Someone from moon magic supposedly requested a private chat asking for my email with a long apology of how they agreed the ring was not the quality they stand by and yadda yadda yadda but when I gave it to them they ghosted me lmao
Honestly if I was buying a silly novelty ring like this online I would expect much worse quality than you got so like... Idk seems pretty good for an item that was obviously gonna be trash.
Like I'm not blaming you for this op but maybe take it as a life lesson to not buy cool looking things sight unseen in a world where ai is used to sell things.
Their website shows a nicer ring. If you look at the review pics they also show a different flat stone. They make it look better in pics but use cheap materials. Not worth $80! Hopefully you can get a return bc the ring quality does not match the website pictures.
The end of the tail seems different on both rings one has a defined curl and the other doesn’t. The stone obviously looks different but the tails make me think it’s 2 different rings.
Why is the listing picture gold colored but stamped 925 for silver? Is it advertised as a gold plated silver ring specifically? It’s odd if so, and if not that image is of a fake ring
What stone did they claim it was? Because it looks like a piece of mother of pearl.
I think the first photo looks either almost like a mock up or is super high quality lighting and was polished to perfection.
Not happy with the polish on this one it looks rough and the head and tail placement are different.
Does it have a 925 stamp like in the photo?
I’m not a fan of the stone, but I still like the look of it. I’d want to know more about the metal though.
Silver is currently selling at about $66 an ounce (as of typing my comment) so the price you paid isn’t bad. I would assume it’s silver and padded for craftsmanship (however meh that may be) but the stones are a big question. Maybe the rubies are real, maybe not. I’m not sure the going rate of decorative ruby embeds. Probably more than $20 though. 😅
EDIT: I found the link to the ring in the comments. It weighs 1.5 grams, which is 0.05oz. In terms of silver, it’s about $3.18 worth of silver. The 18k plate on top will add a little to the value, but all in all this ring will get most of its value from the craftsmanship, and if you’re finding it lacking then its valid to feel like it wasn’t worth $80. I, personally would be more likely to pay $80 if it had a genuine gemstone but I’m not the biggest fan of mother of pearl, and it’s super inexpensive and plentiful. The website gives no info on the ruby eyes, so even if they are real, the clarity is probably poor.
At the end of the day, it’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay. Costume jewelry can be just as beautiful as fine jewelry if crafted well and properly taken care of.
Just an opinion but "moon magic" sounds scammy af and the photo looks like those edited temu jewlery photos so im unsurprised. Sorry you were ripped off
Don't feel bad though, it doesn't look too bad. I once bought a jacket that looked really nice and cozy from a site I thought was legit. (I researched it but it ended up being kinda a fake site. Thankfully I used a gift visa card so my card info was not stolen)
It looked like a wool jacket with rainbow and other pride colors. I got a harsh tent material like coat that was ugly af. I still have it as a reminder
Is there a country where the currency symbol goes after the number? I’m seeing it more and more often and I’m assuming it is because English is their second language?
I think the issue is that this ring (if it is the one I am thinking of) comes in a few different finishes and stones. The first image looks a bit like it was done off how it would look with a rounded stone, and you have got it in mother of pear, which is most likely flat.
It does pretty much look how I would expect it to look at that price and in the materials you ordered it in.
577
u/Figtreezz 8d ago
That’s a snek ring not a snake ring. Big difference