Fake Swarovski Christmas Ornaments Are Getting Harder To Spot

It seems like fake Swarovski Crystal Christmas ornaments are more prevalent and harder to spot today than ever before. In our experience, these Swarovski Christmas ornament knockoffs are typically found on eBay and Amazon at discounted prices. Many of the products listed on these sites have excellent ratings, reviews and pictures to help give the perception of authenticity.

So, we decided to purchase the Swarovski 2018 ornament on eBay as a test. We picked a seller with over 4,000 reviews and positive feedback over 99%. This seller was offering the 2018 Swarovski ornament for $28.88 with free shipping. It looked like a great deal to us.

Upon receiving the Swarovski ornament we purchased on eBay, we compared it to one of the 2018 Swarovski ornaments we had in stock already. Being that we are an Authorized Swarovski Dealer we know that ours is 100% authentic. Overall, the eBay purchase looked like a real Swarovski ornament but upon closer examination and comparison it was clearly a Swarovski knockoff.

The packaging was very close to the real thing and probably would go unnoticed to the average person that didn't have another authentic Swarovski ornament to compare with. The three main issues we noticed with the packaging of the fake Swarovski ornament were (see image below list):

1. The blue box color was noticeably duller.
2. The triangle box was less textured and had a slightly different texture pattern.
3. The printing on the packaging was slightly slanted and not of the same quality, sharpness and size.

The ornament itself looked just like a real 2018 Swarovski ornament except for the fact that the ribbon was un-tied. When put side by side with one of our authentic Swarovski ornaments under bright light there is less sparkle and brilliance from the fake. We also noticed excess glue between the crystals on the knockoff. Without an authentic ornament for comparison it would be hard to notice these things. 

Lastly, we weighed the Swarovski knockoff ornament and a sample of some of our authentic Swarovski ornaments. Each and every one of the authentic ornaments weighed exactly 40 grams. The fake ornament only weighed 36 grams (even with a longer un-tied ribbon) which tells us it is just a basic glass knockoff and explains why it has less sparkle. 

We also wanted to share this video we came across about somebody purchasing a fake 2017 Swarovski ornament on Amazon as a gift: 

Given the increased amount of fake Swarovski Christmas ornaments and the increased difficulty to distinguish them today, buyers need to beware. With so many fake Swarovski ornaments everywhere it makes one wonder if they are even worth the risk of purchasing anymore.