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Thanks Caitlin and GemGeek. You did not sound discouraging at all :-) Regarding getting the pearls for less in the US is that 1:1 (in general) for the same quality (and I presume we are talking about Chinese freshwater pearls?)? I like the idea of selling to friends, but what is a trunk show...

Caitlin - that is the big question :-). But the obvious factor of there already having been one (if not more) middlemen involved makes the potential of profit less and less. And from everything I have read the real SSP sources are all very tightly controlled.

So, for Greenhills, are these pearls in general about the best one might expect to find there? My wife said that at the vendor she was at that these were the best they saw. And from my perspective if I were to go with her on a trip in the future is there any market for this grade of pearl back...

Hi GemGeek. Thanks for commenting! I wasn't sure though from you post if it looks to you like these pearls are just junk ones dyed dark? She only bought one strand of these dark ones. Though she looked so pretty with them on last night I wished she had several rows of them. Unfortunately...

A funny note on this. I had thought she paid US$275 for this strand We are at the mall tonight having the clasp looked at and comparing to other strands for fun and it comes up she actually paid US$85 for these not $275.

Next week she is going to write her contact and ask him how the shopkeeper described the pearls. I will share that with you when I find out. Here are a few close ups I took. I took my autofocus lens off and flipped it around backwards to try and get very tight macro. After looking at these in...

Here is a tighter crop. This weekend I will see if I can get a shot of them in natural light.

They have a decent heft to them also. I wish I has a scale handy to give an accurate weight.

They are very dark, gray almost black.

I asked her what type they said they were and she said they did not say they were South Seas.

Quick shots Quick shots I tried to get some quick shots of the pearls. My wife is very petite (4'10") hence her preference for the 7.5mm+/- :-) I am not sure how the sites compression engine will effect these, but the photos are sharp on my end. They are on white paper with a Canon 40D...

Nuts. I can't add attachments from my iPhone.

She's back! Photos will be coming later but I can confirm they are not Mikimoto's :-). Compared to her other strands they do look quite nice on her! Though I am still to green to say if they are FWP or SSP they are not as obviously FWP as her other strands which are for gifts. After talking...

What is it you pro's like to see in pictures? One of the strand, and a close up of one or two of the pearls? Do you like the photos against a neutral background, or is there a recommended color? I will throw something in for scale too.

I double checked (I was also hoping they said "like Mikimoto"), but she said they told her they are "Mikimoto". Since most of this is via SMS I really don't have much detail, so I will be *very* curious to see what she ended up with! They do sound like they look nice on her, which was the goal...

Great summation of it Caitlin, thanks!

Hi Jerin, My wife's trip to Greenhills seemed to go well. A couple of her clients came along, one of them said that he used to be in the wholesale business and actually had GIA accreditation (not sure if I am referencing that properly, or how current his accreditation is). She ended up with...

Hi all, I posted previously in the long (and very useful) thread in this forum Helping hand in the Philippines. I realized, belatedly, in that long of a thread it is easy to get lost so I thought I would try one more to the point. Background: My wife is in Manila this week for the first time...

I forgot to ask. Does anyone have a suggestion for a target % of price to shoot for when negotiating. I believe I read on another thread that in China offer 10% of the asking price and shoot to get it for 30%. I wasn't sure if there was general rule people worked by for bartering in the...

Greenhills (again :-) Can US$300 buy anything nice? Greenhills (again :-) Can US$300 buy anything nice? Hi all, This is my first posting on this site. I have tried to follow proper forum etiquette and research on here (and other sites) to answer what questions I can myself. Background: My...