Tips for buying on eBay?

[PickieBee]

I'm a total newbie and have always assumed that gems were out of my price range. Then, like so many others, I came to pricescope for a little help with an engagement ring and before I knew it was sucked into the colored stones forum! I'm seeing so many beautiful and enviable pieces in here...I'd never even HEARD of spinel before (please try not to roll your eyes at me too much!).

I'm seriously considering making my first CS purchase (probably for a RHR), and am most likely to be looking on eBay. What kind of general tips for eBay buying do you more experienced PSers have? I plan to start out small and cheap until I feel more confident!

My impression is that blue sapphires are out of my price range, but I'm looking at spinels (especially gray ones!), smaller emeralds, maybe even colored diamonds...and I'm continuing to read more about things like tourmaline, morganite, spessartite...

What should I watch out for? What are the common newbie mistakes?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I would not start with eBay - there are just too many manipulated photos, undisclosed treatment, misrepresented stones. Of course, there are honest sellers, too, but it isn't the easiest place to start.

I would start with good sellers, either second hand (DiamondBistro, LoupeTroupe), from people in the community and good original sellers, or reliable sellers. If you want precision cut stones, look for less expensive varieties from cutters. If you are ok with commercial cuts, there are good dealers with huge variety, which can be fun to look through, picking and choosing according to your priorities.

If you give us an idea of your budget and parameters (colour, size, shape or whatever is most important to you), PSers can help you find a good stone.

You can even get blue sapphire relatively inexpensively, as long as you are willing to compromise. It isn't going to be a Kashmir cornflower blue but steely blue and other shades that aren't trade ideal can be a lot less expensive. If you are ok with heat treatment (low heat, not BE diffusion or things like that), the price is lower.

Coloured diamonds would actually be the most expensive in your list, specially more attractive ones (weird browny stones, highly included "frozen spit", etc, not included). You can come across bargains but they are rare.

 

[cm366]

HPHT treated coloured diamonds are not that expensive and can look very nice for the $. They're just a long way from 'natural'. I'd agree that eBay is not the place to start looking for nice stuff, but if you wanted to get an array of very inexpensive stones to build your own sense of what looks good in a photo but bad in real life, or get comparisons between the nice ones you'll find on LT/DB and the vast range of 'commercial' grade stones, you could probably blow $50-100 on eBay and get 10+ 'bad example' stones to figure out whether you can tolerate a window, inclusions, things like that.

Reading the stickies up at the top of the CS forum will help you avoid several of the common mistakes. Going to a local gem show, or even just browsing through the inventories of vendors with lots of material (AJSgem, multicolour, wildfish) will give you an idea of relative prices - they shouldn't necessarily be compared between vendors, as they have different photo styles and price schemes, but you can look at AJS's 400 spessartites and see what features cost more (size, pure orange, clean) and what costs less (slightly brownish, reddish, included).

When you're browsing, save the photos you like so you can compare them directly to a stone you're thinking of purchasing - it's easy to look at a picture in isolation and think the colour's great, only to place it next to an exceptional stone and realize it's not. "Colour memory" is notoriously bad, and even long term professionals keep comparison stones handy for this reason. Start looking at the cheap ones, save the pics, then compare them 1:1 with the most expensive ones to get an idea of the subtle differences in saturation (how MUCH colour there is) that can have big effects on price.

 

[distracts]

For buying on ebay, I'd just stick to the ebay vendors noted in the stickied post on this forum. I don't think I've ever bought a colored stone from ebay that wasn't from one of those vendors or a PSer.

 

[T L]

For buying on ebay, I would suggest toolhaus.org. However, LadyD is right. There's lots of manipulated photos and the like on ebay, so use trusted vendors.

 

[caf]

PickieBee - I am a total newbie too. I have bought two stones from ebay vendors listed on PS. Jeff Davis is one who has nice stones at different price points. He is on ebay and also has his own website. I got a pretty spinel from him and also a green demantoid that I am waiting for. My impression is that PS long timers have seen bad stones or fake stones sometimes from ebay and don't want PSers to get taken. That is at least my impression from reading the boards. Plus some of the PS vendors are awesome cutters - truly amazing. The bench guy who set my spinel was really impressed with the stone and its cut.

Happy shopping!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

PickieBee - I am a total newbie too. I have bought two stones from ebay vendors listed on PS. Jeff Davis is one who has nice stones at different price points. He is on ebay and also has his own website. I got a pretty spinel from him and also a green demantoid that I am waiting for. My impression is that PS long timers have seen bad stones or fake stones sometimes from ebay and don't want PSers to get taken. That is at least my impression from reading the boards. Plus some of the PS vendors are awesome cutters - truly amazing. The bench guy who set my spinel was really impressed with the stone and its cut.

Happy shopping!

Rather more often than "sometimes". Most of the stones being sold are junk or misrepresented.

 

[PickieBee]

Thank you all for your input! Keep it coming!

I had thought to start on eBay because their buyer protections are pretty good-- if you open a case they nearly always side with the buyer. But I'm glad I asked before buying anything! If you have any other tips for online buying in general, bring 'em on. I do think I will stick with vendors recommended on PS for sure.

 

[T L]

I will tell you that I would never ever buy sapphires or rubies on ebay, except from very trusted vendors, and a full report from a reputable lab, indicating ALL possible treatment, just not saying "heated."

I have bought sapphires on ebay with success, but it was from a very trusted vendor, with a good refund policy. One must also note that many of these sellers reside in Southeast Asia or India, and returns can be a pain for someone like me, that lives in North America, or even Europe.

You also have to be weary of synthetics/simulants too. The one gem I think is a good buy right now on ebay is chrysoberyl. It's raely simulated, has no known synthetics or treatments I'm aware of. It's often photo manipulated though, but you can find some really decent buys on chrysoberyl through various ebay vendors.

I think ebay is a great place to buy inexpensive semi-mounts though, although some people do complain about the quality.

I also think it's a great place to buy second hand small diamonds, or off color (brown or yellow) diamonds, for a decent price.

 

[caf]

I was being restrained in my comments - being new and all.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I do not buy on ebay anymore but will share two tips:

As suggested well respected vendors who are listed on Pricescope.

Used jewelry with gems from someone who does not usually sell jewelry or gems, has the stone listed as genuine with the setting being 18K gold or platinum, and priced reasonably with a good return policy. Make sure you have these stones tested by a recommended appraiser.

 

[PickieBee]

Used jewelry with gems from someone who does not usually sell jewelry or gems, has the stone listed as genuine with the setting being 18K gold or platinum, and priced reasonably with a good return policy. Make sure you have these stones tested by a recommended appraiser.

That is excellent advice, thank you!

 

[RandG]

I have had good success on ebay, both buying and selling. Know your seller, ask pointed questions and request additional photography. Sellers who are evasive or unwilling to give you what you need to feel comfortable should be excluded. You also want to make sure that you buy a stone that has a certification from a well respected lab like GIA or AGS. Having a cert will impact your ability to sell the piece in the future, should you decide to do so.