Vendor question

[Padnutter]

Hi I have been lurking here for a while. You all have such yummy stones! I have a question regarding the listed vendors.
How do you know they are reputable, and arent'' selling you fakes? I know some of them must be reputable, but some of them just seem too good to be true sometimes.

 

[Tropicmaster]

If you go back through old threads you will see that several vendors have been " caught" selling something that was not as advertised, and you will see that they were quickly called out on here. Those who did not make things right dont get mentioned, listed, or recomended anymore, so if you are seeing a vendor on the sticky at the top you can pretty well rest that they are what they say they are. This mostly happens with e bay and other similiar type vendors. The ones you see talked about on PS are mostly the cream of the crop and a lot of them are nationally acclaimed. The " too good to be true" feeling you get is due to your overexposure to retail jewelry sales. I know because I felt the same way when I first joined PS. It still blows my mind that people accept paying huge prices for marginal colored stone jewelry at B&M stores because they dont know any better. Stick around here, listen, and learn and you will soon know who to trust and who not to trust. For now if you deal with vendors you see mentioned frequently on here you will not get hurt in any way. I can tell you from recent experience that Finewater Gems, Jeff White, AJS, and Gemrite are all legit and above the table in all their dealings.

 

[T L]

The fact of the matter is that unless you are actually at the mine and digging the stone up yourself, there is no way of knowing it is treated or fake when you get the gem in hand. It is therefore up to the vendor to use the right tools, and insist on lab reports from reputable labs if need be, to identify synthetics and treatments. I do know that many vendors will use gemologists, or be astute in the gemological equipment themselves to make a good call on a stone. Treatments and high end synthetics seem to be rising at an exponential rate, and I am very leary of anything "too good to be true." You may think they're too good to be true next to your average mall jewelry store, but they over inflate their merchandise.

I personally would not spend any significant amount of $$ on a gem without knowing that it's natural and the full extent of the treatment, regardless of the vendor and how much they had someone's trust. Whether a vendor is recommended or not, the most important thing is to educate yourself on the right questions to ask the vendor and to get proof, if need be, of the stone's pedigree (natural, fake, treatments?).

On that note, I do ebay quite a bit, but I have never made a high dollar purchase of a gem without a reputable lab cert, and there are just certain species of stones I completely avoid on ebay.

As always, "Trust but verify."

 

[Indylady]

Is there anything in particular you''re looking for?

 

[Gailey]

Welcome to Pricescope Padnutter

The best advice I can give you is to read everything you can, both here and on the web in general. If you see a stone or a vendor that particularly interests you, do a search here and elsewhere for that vendor''s name and read everything you can about them.

The advice posted by Tropicmaster and by Tourmaline Lover is also sound advice.

AGTA''s Spectrum Awards is a good place to look to see who is entering their material as well as who is winning awards. No vendor who wants to protect his reputation is going to risk submitting anything other than top notch stones.

Don''t underestimate the power and the range of Pricescope. Vendors passing bad stones, and consumers looking to settle scores here are "outed" with alarming regularity.

Stick around for a while and you will soon get a feel for what''s "hot" and what''s "not"

Lastly, if you do see a stone that you are interested in, place the stone on hold (that way no-one will scoop it from under you), post pictures and statistics of the stone and seek advice. There are some pretty knowledgeable consumers here who will always be willing to help. The professional vendors will also chime in from time to time and give un-biased feedback.

We''ve got your back Padnutter!

 

[chrono]

Late to the discussion but there’s nothing more for me to add. There are many things that make a reputable vendor. One of the most important factor is honesty – this takes time to earn this but is done by excellent customer service, accurate pictures and description of the item offered for sale, disclosure of treatment or the lack of, reasonable pricing and of course, the gemstone itself has to match what he/she offers. For items that are often faked or high end, I usually insist on a lab certification from AGL or AGTA. For something less so, I either trust the vendor (who usually does his own testing upfront with his own set of tools) by experience with him/her or reputation, do my own simple testing, or sometimes it is not even needed because there are currently no synthetics.

 

[PinkTower]

Welcome to PS,
I want to add something regarding your last sentence, where you say, ''some ot them just look to good to be true....''

The colored stones do differ in diamonds in that regard. Given an appropriate budget, a conosumer could probably have more than one diamond meeting their criteria to choose from within a couple hours; the numbers tell all once punched into a formula.That is a simplistic way to make a statement, but that is my impression.

Colored stones are not like that. Most collectors think the thrill of the hunt adds to the stone''s allure; I sure do. There are no
Sarin reports, etc. to guide your selection. And creativity,and subjectivity can play a role. With colored stones, patience is needed.


It is not uncommon to develop a relationship with dealors. With a large purchase, the dealer and the customer often agree an independent testing of the stone is necessary.