Can we start a new thread with respected CS vendors?

[Upgradable]

I use the old pinned thread a lot, but most of them are either not active anymore, or do not include some of the really good vendors that many of you use.

**Edited by moderator. This thread has been pinned for the use of PSers. Please remember that all recommendations made in this thread are by individual users and mileage may vary.**

 

[T L]

I don't know Uppy. There would be some vendors on this list that people trust, but I wouldn't buy from with a 200 foot pole, and vice versa. I think customer experience varies, and people can search for themselves who is a trusted vendor. Also, a list might cause conflict, and perhaps a vendor may think they are "above the law" once they get on this list. If there is no list, people are more forced to search the vendor on PS and I think that would be more of an education for them, then just going to a list, spotting a vendor, and they're done.

I think the vendor photo list speaks volumes as well.

 

[justginger]

I think it's a really good idea, Uppy. The pinned vendor list has nearly 60 websites, some not even functional. I don't know anyone who has the time or desire to manually search through every single one of those entries - I certainly don't, though I did try once. I got to the Gs and gave up.

It would be helpful to have a shorter go-to list, with commonly used vendors. I understand everyone has different experiences, but I would say that a consensus could easily be reached as to which 10-15 vendors are the most frequently used/recommended/visited by CS PSers. It's not a list to explicitly outline who to 'trust', moreso a starting point for those who are just getting into CS, or those without an excess of time to spend trolling.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Some sort of categorization would also be useful to a newbie: precision cutter, native stones, sapphire specialist, high end dealers. Of course, many sites can fall into more than one category, but that would be ok with a little common sense.

 

[movie zombie]

the vendor's name attached to the website would be helpful......everyone talks about "Tan"....a searching this forum for his website/s was a pain in the ash....

 

[distracts]

I don't know Uppy. There would be some vendors on this list that people trust, but I wouldn't buy from with a 200 foot pole, and vice versa. I think customer experience varies, and people can search for themselves who is a trusted vendor. Also, a list might cause conflict, and perhaps a vendor may think they are "above the law" once they get on this list. If there is no list, people are more forced to search the vendor on PS and I think that would be more of an education for them, then just going to a list, spotting a vendor, and they're done.

I think the vendor photo list speaks volumes as well.

But there's already a list - this would just be updating it.

I think it's a good idea. I usually go to the list before I go to my bookmarks.

I don't even know that a "most used" or "respected" list is necessary - I think even just a "these are colored stone vendors that people have used" list is good. Especially if it includes some of the ebay ones. I think a shorter list gives people fewer resources, and a longer list gives people more. I know googling for where to buy colored stones produces only a few of the vendors on the list currently.

 

[0-0-0]

I think an updated list of vendors with store name, vendor name, and website link would be extremely helpful. I don't think it's necessary to put vendors into categories, but any vendor who has a history of issues with refunds should not make the list.

 

[LD]

I think an updated list of vendors with store name, vendor name, and website link would be extremely helpful. I don't think it's necessary to put vendors into categories, but any vendor who has a history of issues with refunds should not make the list.

It's precisely for this reason that the list isn't a good idea. One person could have marvelous customer service and another with the same vendor could have an opposite experience - so who's right?

A list that simply has vendors with links to their websites should be sufficient (or the original one updated so old ones removed) which is probably preferable.

I don't believe we should call them "respected" or "trusted". It should simply be a list of places people could try.

 

[minousbijoux]

In a way, we do it almost every time someone new comes along looking for a stone - we list out the "usual suspect" sources, the precision cutters, even ebay stores we frequent (some of which admittedly have mixed reviews...)

I too went to that list when I first came here and found it useless because so many of the vendors were not functional and often didn't correlate to what was generally recognized as the preferred vendors in the board discussions.

 

[kenny]

How about a clickable list?

When you click on a vendor name it brings up a list of threads in which the vendor is named.

It would not be that much programing work for how much it would help us learn about vendors, good and bad.

 

[movie zombie]

good idea, kenny!

 

[T L]

I don't know Uppy. There would be some vendors on this list that people trust, but I wouldn't buy from with a 200 foot pole, and vice versa. I think customer experience varies, and people can search for themselves who is a trusted vendor. Also, a list might cause conflict, and perhaps a vendor may think they are "above the law" once they get on this list. If there is no list, people are more forced to search the vendor on PS and I think that would be more of an education for them, then just going to a list, spotting a vendor, and they're done.

I think the vendor photo list speaks volumes as well.

But there's already a list - this would just be updating it.

I think it's a good idea. I usually go to the list before I go to my bookmarks.

I don't even know that a "most used" or "respected" list is necessary - I think even just a "these are colored stone vendors that people have used" list is good. Especially if it includes some of the ebay ones. I think a shorter list gives people fewer resources, and a longer list gives people more. I know googling for where to buy colored stones produces only a few of the vendors on the list currently.

I don't know if they're all trusted vendors though. I mean, NSC is on the list.

I think just updating the list, with a disclaimer saying that "please do your own additional research on these vendors here and on other sites before shopping" would suffice.

I think we can all agree that the current list is way too old and in dire need of updates.

 

[0-0-0]

I think an updated list of vendors with store name, vendor name, and website link would be extremely helpful. I don't think it's necessary to put vendors into categories, but any vendor who has a history of issues with refunds should not make the list.

It's precisely for this reason that the list isn't a good idea. One person could have marvelous customer service and another with the same vendor could have an opposite experience - so who's right?

A list that simply has vendors with links to their websites should be sufficient (or the original one updated so old ones removed) which is probably preferable.

I don't believe we should call them "respected" or "trusted". It should simply be a list of places people could try.

Let me clarify my point. I don't care who's right. IMO any vendor who repeatedly delays or refuses refunds for returns made within the stated policy is a huge red flag. I don't think it's a good idea to include these vendors in a list of places people could try.

 

[cm366]

Hey Uppy,

I think that's a wonderful idea. I know it would've saved me a lot of frustrating hours looking through defunct sites... As far as 'trusted' vendors - everyone's experience will vary and different people will actually be hoping for different experiences. A detail-oriented constantly communicating precision cutter will be great for highly educated buyers but confusing for purchasers who don't know the difference between zoning and windowing. It's still better to provide those folks with a list of starting points than to just let them drift. TL - your idea of a disclaimer is a good one, maybe organized the same way as the current list and simply titled 'Commonly used' or 'Commonly discussed vendors'?

 

[JewelFreak]

Great idea to update the vendor list at the least, Uppy. I think a newer version of what we have is good enough -- keep it simple. Maybe just add a note for newbies that these vendors are generally recommended but in any group of businesses, not every experience is perfect in every transaction.

--- Laurie

 

[distracts]

I don't believe we should call them "respected" or "trusted". It should simply be a list of places people could try.

Yes, this. Then if people wanted to find out how "respected" or "trusted" vendors are, they could search the forum (and there could be a note to that effect). But I think without a list of vendors to start with, asking people to sift through the forum on their own is a bit much - it's very overwhelming when you first come here, and not everyone wants to jump in and ask questions. I didn't - I was reading this board for a year before I joined.

 

[Ella]

We are happy to provide a new pinned list but at this time we cannot do a clickable list. We will look into it for the future.

 

[Arkteia]

Great idea, it always surprised me that the list was so old. Some of the websites were even obsolete.

 

[chrono]

The list really needs a major spring cleaning, and a huge note for the searcher to also do their own research because it's not a 100% endorsement from any particular PSer.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Ok, based on the more recent posts and my memory (which is not very good!), I came up with the following list. I know I am missing a lot of good vendors, specially the ebay sellers, so please help out! I tried to include only the vendors that have been used by several PSers over time.


Precision Cutters
Barry of Artistic Colored Gems - www.acstones.com
Rick Martin of Art Cut Gems - www.artcutgems.com
Gene Flanigan of Precision Gems - www.precisiongem.com
Dan Stair of Custom Gemstones - www.customgemstones.com
Jeff White of White's Gems - www.whitesgems.com
Richard Homer of Concave Cut - www.concavegems.com/
Dana of Master Cut Gems - www.mastercutgems.com
Andrew Gulij of Gemfix - www.gemfix.com
Jerry of Gem Art - http://www.gemartservices.com
Bob Kast - www.bobkast.com
Ulli of Osiris Gems - www.osirisgems.com
Roger Dery of Spectral Gems - www.spectralgems.net
Lisa Elser - www.lisaelser.com
Gary Braun of Fine Water Gems - www.finewatergems.com
www.gemcal.com

Gem Dealers
Pala - www.palagems.com
David Wein of Multicolour Gems - www.multicolour.com
Gem Line - www.litnon.com
Swala Gems (specializes in Mahenge spinels, tsavorites and other African Gems)
Leibish - www.fancydiamonds.net (specializes in fancy colour diamonds)
Brad Pailey of The Gem Trader - www.thegemtrader.com (specializes in rare and unusual stones)
Edward Bristol of Wild Fish Gems - www.WildFishGems.com (Unheated Sapphires and other untreated stones)
www.NaturalUnheatedRuby.com (exactly that!)

Ebay Stone Vendors
Tan of gemburionline, odysseygem, vvs1gem
Weblorn - http://myworld.ebay.com/weblorn&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533

Ebay Setting Vendors
American Set - http://myworld.ebay.com/americanset/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
Lan.bo4 - http://www.ebay.com/sch/lan.bo4/m.html
diamondmounts - http://myworld.ebay.com/diamondmounts/
jewe2004 - http://stores.ebay.com/jewe2004
LOGR (Lord of Gem Rings) - http://stores.ebay.com/Lord-of-Gem-Rings

Etsy Setting Vendors
Daniel M (Dan) - http://www.etsy.com/people/danielmjewelry
Adzia - http://www.etsy.com/people/AdziasJewelryAtelier
Sally of Heart of Water - http://www.etsy.com/people/HeartofWaterJewels
Julia Taylor (JKT) - http://www.etsy.com/people/juliakaytaylor
Kyleanne - http://www.etsy.com/people/kyleannemetals
Maddie of OneGarnetGirl - http://www.etsy.com/people/onegarnetgirl
Jill of janishjewels - http://www.etsy.com/shop/JanishJewels?ref=ss_profile

Custom Setting Vendors
Whiteflash - www.whiteflash.com
Brian Gavin Diamonds (BGD) - www.briangavindiamonds.coom
Victor Canera - www.victorcanera.com
Green Lake Jewelry - www.greenlakejewelry.com

Other sites
Opal Auctions - www.opalauctions.com
Diamond Bistro - www.diamondbistro.com

 

[GemFever]

what a great list, thank you! I know I'll be saving it for personal reference, whether it gets pinned or not

Thanks!

- Anya

 

[chrono]

Lady D,
I know the edit is a timed function so I hope you can add 1 more vendor to the gemstone dealer list: AJSgems http://www.ajsgem.com/
Link for Swala: http://www.swalagemtraders.com/

 

[erinl]

David Dawson at Rough 2 Refined Gemstones http://rough2refinedgemstones.com/

Uli Zeisberg at Osiris Gems http://www.osirisgems.com/

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I missed the editing window... But I will, tonight, make a new list with all the additions people are making.

 

[Ella]

If everyone uses this thread to come up with a list of vendors to try I can then pin the list.

We do not want to have a list of proven or endorsed vendors, so please make it just a comprehensive list of colored stone dealers that PSers have had good experiences with.

 

[kenny]

If everyone uses this thread to come up with a list of vendors to try I can then pin the list.

We do not want to have a list of proven or endorsed vendors, so please make it just a comprehensive list of colored stone dealers that PSers have had good experiences with.

Ella, did you intend to include the words, do not?

The only vendor of colored stones I've bought from has been Leibish & Co. www.fancydiamonds.net .
They only sell Fancy Colored Diamonds, FCDs, with color of natural origin (except the black ones with no GIA report, those are treated).

I'm a photographer and will say that FCDs are hard to photograph if you want to capture the color accurately.
The problem is even in real life the color appearance of FCDs is constantly changing with the environment and the lighting - but after seeing the same diamond in a zillions situations your brain does sort of sum them all up and develop a single impression of what the "true" color is.

This is a problem for vendors who want to use a picture to represent that "true" color to buyers of a product that can increase in value 10 times or more if it has, say, no trace of brown, or a trace of red.
After 20 transactions I have found Leibish's photography to be very true to life, and I consider photography ethics to be hugely important when choosing a vendor of colored stones.
It infuriated me to read Natural Sapphire Company's statement that they photoshop a perfect star onto their star sapphires and justified it by saying they have a return policy.

Over the years I have collected a dozen FCDs from them, (bought 20 and returned 8 )
All the transactions went smoothly and I got no bad vibes for all my returns.
After so many good transactions on these rare goods I have grown to be quite an outspoken cheerleader for them.

They have a huge selection in all price categories and excellent customer service.
They are in Israel, and the diamonds arrived via FedEx, but the higher value ones arrived via the high-security shipper, Malca Amit.
A representative from Leibish named Itzik posts here.

 

[T L]

I added some stuff in bold. Thanks for the great starter list!!

Ok, based on the more recent posts and my memory (which is not very good!), I came up with the following list. I know I am missing a lot of good vendors, specially the ebay sellers, so please help out! I tried to include only the vendors that have been used by several PSers over time.


Precision Cutters
Barry of Artistic Colored Gems - www.acstones.com
Rick Martin of Art Cut Gems - www.artcutgems.com
Gene Flanigan of Precision Gems - www.precisiongem.com
Dan Stair of Custom Gemstones - www.customgemstones.com
Jeff White of White's Gems - www.whitesgems.com
Richard Homer of Concave Cut - www.concavegems.com/
Dana of Master Cut Gems - www.mastercutgems.com
Andrew Gulij of Gemfix - www.gemfix.com
Jerry of Gem Art - http://www.gemartservices.com
Bob Kast - www.bobkast.com
Ulli of Osiris Gems - www.osirisgems.com
Roger Dery of Spectral Gems - www.spectralgems.net
Lisa Elser - www.lisaelser.com
Gary Braun of Fine Water Gems - www.finewatergems.com
www.gemcal.com

Gem Dealers
Pala - www.palagems.com
David Wein of Multicolour Gems - www.multicolour.com
Gem Line - www.litnon.com
Swala Gems (specializes in Mahenge spinels, tsavorites and other African Gems) www.swalagemtraders.com
Leibish - www.fancydiamonds.net (specializes in fancy colour diamonds)
Brad Pailey of The Gem Trader - www.thegemtrader.com (specializes in rare and unusual stones)
Edward Bristol of Wild Fish Gems - www.WildFishGems.com (Unheated Sapphires and other untreated stones)
www.NaturalUnheatedRuby.com (exactly that!)

Ebay Stone Vendors
Tan of gemburionline, odysseygem, vvs1gem, thegemology (new store I was just notified of)
Weblorn - http://myworld.ebay.com/weblorn&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533

Ebay Setting Vendors
American Set - http://myworld.ebay.com/americanset/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
Lan.bo4 - http://www.ebay.com/sch/lan.bo4/m.html
diamondmounts - http://myworld.ebay.com/diamondmounts/
jewe2004 - http://stores.ebay.com/jewe2004
LOGR (Lord of Gem Rings) - http://stores.ebay.com/Lord-of-Gem-Rings
leejewelry
beyondjewelry3

Etsy Setting Vendors
Daniel M (Dan) - http://www.etsy.com/people/danielmjewelry
Adzia - http://www.etsy.com/people/AdziasJewelryAtelier
Sally of Heart of Water - http://www.etsy.com/people/HeartofWaterJewels
Julia Taylor (JKT) - http://www.etsy.com/people/juliakaytaylor
Kyleanne - http://www.etsy.com/people/kyleannemetals
Maddie of OneGarnetGirl - http://www.etsy.com/people/onegarnetgirl
Jill of janishjewels - http://www.etsy.com/shop/JanishJewels?ref=ss_profile

Custom Setting Vendors
Whiteflash - www.whiteflash.com
Brian Gavin Diamonds (BGD) - www.briangavindiamonds.coom
Victor Canera - www.victorcanera.com
Green Lake Jewelry - www.greenlakejewelry.com

Other sites
Opal Auctions - www.opalauctions.com
Diamond Bistro - www.diamondbistro.com

 

[chrono]

It's great to be able to consolidate the list so nobody has to scroll through page after page for new updates.

TL,
I'd like to add JBEG into the custom setting section. http://www.jewelsbyericagrace.com/

 

[LD]

I added some stuff in bold. Thanks for the great starter list!!

Ok, based on the more recent posts and my memory (which is not very good!), I came up with the following list. I know I am missing a lot of good vendors, specially the ebay sellers, so please help out! I tried to include only the vendors that have been used by several PSers over time.


Precision Cutters
Barry of Artistic Colored Gems - www.acstones.com
Rick Martin of Art Cut Gems - www.artcutgems.com
Gene Flanigan of Precision Gems - www.precisiongem.com
Dan Stair of Custom Gemstones - www.customgemstones.com
Jeff White of White's Gems - www.whitesgems.com
Richard Homer of Concave Cut - www.concavegems.com/
Dana of Master Cut Gems - www.mastercutgems.com
Andrew Gulij of Gemfix - www.gemfix.com
Jerry of Gem Art - http://www.gemartservices.com
Bob Kast - www.bobkast.com
Ulli of Osiris Gems - www.osirisgems.com
Roger Dery of Spectral Gems - www.spectralgems.net
Lisa Elser - www.lisaelser.com
Gary Braun of Fine Water Gems - www.finewatergems.com
www.gemcal.com

Gem Dealers
Pala - www.palagems.com
David Wein of Multicolour Gems - www.multicolour.com
Gem Line - www.litnon.com
Swala Gems (specializes in Mahenge spinels, tsavorites and other African Gems) www.swalagemtraders.com
Leibish - www.fancydiamonds.net (specializes in fancy colour diamonds)
Brad Pailey of The Gem Trader - www.thegemtrader.com (specializes in rare and unusual stones)
Edward Bristol of Wild Fish Gems - www.WildFishGems.com (Unheated Sapphires and other untreated stones)
www.NaturalUnheatedRuby.com (exactly that!)
John - www.simplysapphires.com
www.bkkgemstones.com (mainly Sapphires but some other colored gemstones and jewelry)
www.djraregems.com
David of Diamonds by Lauren - www.diamondsbylauren.com (mainly fancy coloured diamonds but has a range of coloured gemstones also)
Andrew of Gemfix - www.gemfix.com
John of GemRite - www.gemrite.com

Ebay Stone Vendors
Tan of gemburionline, odysseygem, vvs1gem, thegemology (new store I was just notified of)
Weblorn - http://myworld.ebay.com/weblorn&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533

Ebay Setting Vendors
American Set - http://myworld.ebay.com/americanset/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
Lan.bo4 - http://www.ebay.com/sch/lan.bo4/m.html
diamondmounts - http://myworld.ebay.com/diamondmounts/
jewe2004 - http://stores.ebay.com/jewe2004
LOGR (Lord of Gem Rings) - http://stores.ebay.com/Lord-of-Gem-Rings
leejewelry
beyondjewelry3

Etsy Setting Vendors
Daniel M (Dan) - http://www.etsy.com/people/danielmjewelry
Adzia - http://www.etsy.com/people/AdziasJewelryAtelier
Sally of Heart of Water - http://www.etsy.com/people/HeartofWaterJewels
Julia Taylor (JKT) - http://www.etsy.com/people/juliakaytaylor
Kyleanne - http://www.etsy.com/people/kyleannemetals
Maddie of OneGarnetGirl - http://www.etsy.com/people/onegarnetgirl
Jill of janishjewels - http://www.etsy.com/shop/JanishJewels?ref=ss_profile

Custom Setting Vendors
Whiteflash - www.whiteflash.com
Brian Gavin Diamonds (BGD) - www.briangavindiamonds.coom
Victor Canera - www.victorcanera.com
Green Lake Jewelry - www.greenlakejewelry.com

Other sites
Opal Auctions - www.opalauctions.com
Diamond Bistro - www.diamondbistro.com
www.jewelsbyericagrace.com

Added a few in bold above. Just a thought though - should we really separate out precision cutters from gem dealers? Wouldn't it be better to put them into one category i.e. Gem Dealers/Lapidarists? The reason I'm saying this is that some on the precision list also have non-precision cut gems.

Chrono - have added Erica Grace for you.

 

[Gempassion]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not sure how to add to this list, but Michael E. isn't on it yet.

Best,