Thai ebay gem sellers- Good? Bad?

[mercoledi]

Hi,
I''ve been poking aorund at some of the semi-precious gem sellers on Ebay, mostly the very cheap ones based in Thailand. I seem to remember that a few people here have bought from them before.

Does anyone have a seller that they love or hate? How is the quality of what you bought?

Obviously I''m not expecting anything that''s very nice for $30 or less. I''m learning how to bezel-set gems and thought it would be fun to buy a few sapphires and play around. It''s obvious from the pictures that the gems tend to be included and have wierd rounded pavillions- probably to retain carat weight, but has anyone bought some and thought they were pretty?

Thanks!

 

[movie zombie]

pretty $30 sapphire?! on eBay?! i realize that hope springs eternal but....... if you''re looking for practice stones then ebay is probably a good choice but to expect those stones to be pretty as well i think is a big load of wishful thinking.

if you''re willing to spend more, check out
http://www.customgemstones.com/ who at times also has stones on ebay

another ebay vendor that i''ve bought from and returned the stone without a problem is
http://stores.ebay.com/Judis-Gems_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

judy has some pretty blue quartz stones that might be fun to practice bezeling on: http://cgi.ebay.com/BLUE-QUARTZ-6MM-ROUNDS-PORT-CUTS_W0QQitemZ4971206825QQihZ004QQcategoryZ110858QQcmdZViewItem

affordable, blue, and online they look better than any $30 sapphire, i think.

have fun!

movie zombie

 

[colorchange]

Date: 2/12/2007 4:03:52 PM
Author:mercoledi
Hi,
I''ve been poking aorund at some of the semi-precious gem sellers on Ebay, mostly the very cheap ones based in Thailand. I seem to remember that a few people here have bought from them before.

Does anyone have a seller that they love or hate? How is the quality of what you bought?

Obviously I''m not expecting anything that''s very nice for $30 or less. I''m learning how to bezel-set gems and thought it would be fun to buy a few sapphires and play around. It''s obvious from the pictures that the gems tend to be included and have wierd rounded pavillions- probably to retain carat weight, but has anyone bought some and thought they were pretty?

Thanks!

If you have $30 to spend, find a good amethyst rather than an ugly sapphire...

There are extremely few reputable sellers on ebay, though there are some, from US as well as Thailand (or France like I, I''m sometimes selling there also).
A general advise is to buy certified stones or stones that are rarely treated, or you''ll end up with worthless stones.
Many sellers see ebay as a huge lake and are fishing, they may be winning anything from $10 to $1000 per fish.

Take care that lots of US based sellers are indeed buying on ebay and selling with a different description (the best example is this guy, I just can''t imagine that somebody be so stupid as to buy in his description....)
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-07ct-VS1-Rare-Burmese-Colour-Mogok-Natural-Loose-Ruby_W0QQitemZ280078344655QQihZ018QQcategoryZ10257QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
A concentrate of all the worst on ebay.
(read the free gem part it''s so funny !)

 

[mercoledi]

Thanks for the help!
I know $30 isn''t going to get anything nice, I just want something to play with that if I destroy, well, I won''t really miss it. I was thinking Sapphires because they''re fairly hard, but you''re right, quartz ahould work just as well.

Thanks for the links movie zombie, I think I''ll do one of Judi''s mixed bag 15C lots, that should get me started!

 

[leggs]

Some of the dealers I have had good success with are.
Settgold
Gemandgem and or
Gemspresent same company
And a realy cheap good dealer is Burmagem just a fun seller who sells dirt cheap.
I love buying and seeing exactly how good a deal or not that I get.
Settgold is priceier but Gemspresent and Gemandgem both I have received awesome sapphires and spinels.
Let me know if you would like others.
Have fun!!!