Rogelio Villarreal knew nothing about the French jeweler Cartier, he said, when an ad popped up on his Instagram feed last December. He clicked on it, perusing the pages of bling and other luxury items, including handbags, watches and necklaces, each listed for thousands of dollars.
Then Mr. Villarreal, who lives in Mexico, noticed a pair of earrings: slender studded 18-carat rose-gold cuffs lined with diamonds, priced at just 237 Mexican pesos, or about $13.
“I was amazed to see how much the necklaces cost and so on and I said: ‘Someday,’ until I saw the earrings,” Mr. Villarreal, 27, wrote on social media. “I swear I broke out in a cold sweat.”
He bought two pairs. Later, the price for the earrings was adjusted on the Cartier website to 237,000 pesos — more than $13,000.
The purchase initiated a monthslong tussle between Mr. Villarreal, a surgery resident from the northern state of Tamaulipas, and Cartier, with hundreds of social media users following along — some cheering, others taunting — and even a Mexican senator weighing in on the dispute. But Mr. Villarreal said on Friday that he had received the earrings for the steeply discounted price and noted that he had a special person in mind to be their recipient.
“I’m excited,” he said, “especially for my mom. Those earrings are for her.”