Ebay Sellers Worth Your Buck

[Mandy]

Hello everyone
In a previous thread I offered up the idea that maybe we as members at the Pearl-Guide forums ought to hanker down and name what Ebay sellers we have found worthy of trust and possessed honesty. If anyone has any names to offer up or remember finding success in purchasing pearls on Ebay please post them here and eventually a list will come out of it for new and old Ebayers to see. Links to Ebay sellers can be provided as well (to the feedback page or their store) for easy access and to see what current goods are currently up for auction.

If you don't remember a worthwhile seller's name was then that's okay Perhaps they may be mentioned by someone else or you'll find them again while surfing Ebay. Just make sure to let us know so that we can prevent newer buyers the potential of being led astray.

Stick this too please, if it becomes a popular thread <3

 

[Kathleen Conway]

Trusted eBay Sellers

Trusted eBay Sellers

Hi Mandy,
I have found that on various forums to which I belong, people are not forthcoming about eBay sellers they like because (except for Buy It Now) eBay is a competitive, auction enviromnent. So many people are like the guys on fishing shows who will only say their big bass is from "a little spot up North".

As mentioned in previous post, I use Toolhaus (www.toolhaus.org) to read all negative and neutral feedback, and this has saved my bacon a time or two.

Who you like and trust also depends on what you are looking for. I recently bought a single big, fun keshi for a great price from a seller called floridapearlgirl.

 

[Mandy]

Hi Mandy,
I have found that on various forums to which I belong, people are not forthcoming about eBay sellers they like because (except for Buy It Now) eBay is a competitive, auction enviromnent. So many people are like the guys on fishing shows who will only say their big bass is from "a little spot up North".

I do understand what you're saying, even though it is rather selfish. I was hoping to open this up for people so they would have at least a little help when surfing Ebay.

As mentioned in previous post, I use Toolhaus (www.toolhaus.org) to read all negative and neutral feedback, and this has saved my bacon a time or two.

That's a pretty nifty link there, Kathleen. I'll be sure to bookmark it myself

In any case, what Ebay sellers I find I'll be sure to post them here for everyone. Anyone else is welcome to participate as well.

 

[pattye]

Hi Mandy and Kathleen and all,

I do buy on ebay--but mostly "buy it now" usually because I may want more than one, if it is a strand of pearls, especially. Sometimes I will do an auction if it is something unusual and I am buying other items from that seller. We know from the other posts on this forum that feedback is only one factor to consider. The quality of the photos when buying pearls is a huge factor, and if the photo is actually the strand or pearl that actually is being sold!!! We all probably would love a great ebay bargain. Because there is potentially a lot of profit in pearls, especially for that guy in China, it leaves a lot of room for fraud with little protection for the buyer.
I guess my point is like Kathleens, that there is a lot of subjectivity in evaluating ebay sellers, and the quality and value of each offering is up to us to decide, especially when it comes to pearls. There have been several sites mentioned previously, Pearl Emporium, which has a range of lower cost pearls, but not rounds. I personally think DruzyDesign has great photos and the site is an education in itself, because of the variety of gemstones and pearls she offers. I don't personally think anyone has found any ebay site so wonderful it's overflowing with fab bargains that they are keeping it top secret!!!

Pattye

 

[Caitlin]

Hi All I too use eBay to buy. In addition to Pearl Emporium I have used Integrity Pearls, Beadaholique, Cool beads, and a few others. I generaly get after postage, about what I wold have paid in a local store, but I have a bigger choice and it will be delivered to my door. I look for bargains, but rarely find them. What I do get is market value pretty much everytime.

I use every tool I can get to search eBay for me. So far I hacve found nothing I'd recommend for search. There are several feedback sorters, the above one is fine. I search for ebay tools fairly often because I find the pearls section of eBay too ungainly, even with all the limits I put on a search.

 

[Mandy]

There is one ebay seller I frequently look at, known as wildflower_hill, which is a store managed by a woman named Cindy. She sells a variety of beads as well as plenty of freshwater strands which, from my experience, are attractive and pretty for beading. A lot of what she sells are dyed but I do believe she has carried some natural colored strands but usually her freshwater products have a lot of variety for color and size.

DruzyDesigns really has a lot of what appears to be great stuff! Certainly it's a bit on the pricy size but from what I gather on the forums her merchandise isn't cheap in quality.

I also caught one seller before (name is hugepearls) and for the most part they sell undrilled or pendants of south sea pearls. A lot of their products aren't round and show a number of the blemishes on the surface, but I believe the seller is honest in showing numerous photos of the merchandise as well as all the markings found on the pearl surface. Their pearls do look nice though and are posted with reasonable prices.

Ebay had the potential to be great; the premise to purchase things online via auction isn't a new idea anymore but like everything on the internet the possibilties are endless, in a way. Too bad it's bogged down with fakes and deceitful merchants

 

[Caitlin]

Hey! I was perusing the various pearl bead stores in this thread and guess what I found at Integrity Pearls! 12mm cranberry red potato pearls! I ordered 2 strands but think if I got about 5, I could really cherry pick for my faux faux Lop Noors. (Yes I intended to write faux twice- it is a joke waiting for those who read the threads throroughly)

And just think! It didn't take me near as long as others to find them! And fairly decently priced at just under $11, $22 for 2 strands and $4 postage!

......click here to see for yourself

 

[pattye]

Hi Mandy, Caitlin and All,
I can wholeheartedly recommend Wildflower Hill. I would have mentioned her before, but I thought you were focusing on pearls only. Her pearls are usually, but not always, part of a combined set. I have dealt with her for I think about 3 years, and found good quality, reasonable cost items.
I do recommend any time you purchase dyed pearls, to carefully check and see if they need washing before using. Sometimes there is an excess of dye, and the pearls even look better when washed. I mostly use a little dish soap and toothbrush. Caitlin, have you had experience with this??
Also Caitlin, I will expect to see a photo soon of the faux faux Lop Noors in a glorious necklace!! Of course you won't have to do a dye test on those!!
Pattye

 

[pattye]

Ok Caitlin,
I had to go for some of the red ones too! You have no idea how I longed for (faux)those amazing red Lop Noors. Now what are we gonna do about the padparadscha pearls ?????
Pattye

 

[Valeria101]

Hm... good question. I wonder if not many of the 'pink' freshwater pearls would not fit in the range of color hues assigned to Pad sapphire to begin with: namely a warm pink-towards-orange rather then cold pink-towards-purple.

Some pinks are more orange than others and those seem to qualify even better, in theory... but wouldn't that be a silly! After all, sapphire is not the only gem that comes in that range of color, yet nothing else is called 'Padparadscha'. That's a rather high pedestal to put anything on...


PS. not sure how common this is, but sometimes pearls are called 'cream-rose' to describe a mellow peach color, not unlike the color of said sapphires. I am definitely not saying that color alone is good reason to use the name, definitely not (otherwise you'd have a bunch of topaz, spinel, tourmaline and even diamonds called 'pad' overnight just because they are light orange-pink in color - and what's the good of that?)

 

[perlas]

It's very difficult to capture the exact color in the picture but here is a pinkish peach strand with a silver rose overtone. White strands are placed beside the strand to show the color difference. Depending on lighting conditions, the strand looks peach or pink.

 

[perlas]

The next photo is a peachy pink strand with silver rose overtone. The pearls in the necklace is lighter than the pinkish peach in 1st photo. I also placed a white strand to show the color. The white pearls at the side also has a silver rose overtone. Depending on the lighting conditions, the peachy pinks look cream or pink. It looks quite white in the picture because of the high luster and overtone.

The peachy pinks and the pinkish peaches are hard to match because of the intensity of the overtones and luster. A strong silver rose overtone makes the pearls seem to "glow".

 

[Mandy]

Those are very pretty pearls you're showing us, perlas! Mind telling us where you got them?

 

[perlas]

Hi Mandy,

I live in the Philippines so I just got them at Greenhills. There are very few strands like those so you have to hunt them as most strands are a pure peach. Sometimes, a strand or two of these colors will be included in a honk but that is very, very seldom. The size of the pearls in the photos are approx. 9-9.5mm, which makes it more difficult to come by.

The peachy-pinks/pinkish peaches though are often seen in multicolor strands but rarely on a single colored strand because the matching is difficult.

 

[pattye]

Thanks Perlas,
Those photos are very helpful. I still find it difficult to judge the colors, sometimes the light seems too bright. I can see that comparing the strands side by side can be helpful. Do you have any helpful tips??
Pattye

 

[perlas]

Hi Pattye,

We have different monitor settings so it's very difficult. The problem with natural colored pearls is that they may tend to do a bit of color shift when it comes to lighting. A single flash in the camera may change the look of the pearls. Like the photo I took, the silver overtone and strong luster makes the pearls look a bit white when in fact they're obviously not at hand!

If you are buying the pearls in person, always bring a sample strand. Also, I check the pearls away from incandescent light to guage the luster.

 

[Valeria101]

Lovely pearls!

Is this even possible to dully 'translate' Padparadscha shades among pearl body colors?

No real examples at hand... since no one calls any pearls 'padparadscha' officially there is none around to point to. In the back of my mind, the image of an intensely colored pink-rose pearl would be something like this:

Silly, no?


Wouldn't dare use the 'P' word for pearls though Chances are I am wrong, but it seems that while the respective shade is rare and therefore valuable in sapphire, it is anything but rare for freshwater pearls, with the respective consequences on value. So the use of the 'P' word.... better forgotten?

Just a personal opinion, of course.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Valeria
That was a great explanation of padparadscha. I had never heard the term used for pearls or sapphire except one source which has since been discredited. It may be very common as a color in CFWP, but it makes me think that one could keep an eye out for the occasional pearl that really magnifies that color condition so the undertones and orvertones shift over and enhance the main color. It will be a personal use of the color term though, and not an industry-wide one. At least, not yet.

Those multicolored strands sound better and better for beadmeisters to collect, don't they? It would take time to collect and match pearls of the same size and shape in any unusual color, so it becomes a wonderful pursuit for pearl lovers. The Pursuit of Color in Pearls. The Pursuit of Padparadscha Color in Pearls..... (Now I am trying to magine how to sort and keep all the different colored pearls in a collection and what to do with the extras. Sounds like a whole sub-industry possibility....

I like your links, they are educational. Thanks

 

[pattye]

Thanks everyone,
for your photos and comments, now back to ebay sellers--

Back to the original line on this thread, another person with variety of pearls is Rainbowislandpearls. I have purchased from her, she has an interesting selection, and often offers smaller lots, ie, less than full strand.
You will, of course, have to judge the values for yourself.
Have 1 strand of fw coming from hugepearls, my first purchase from him, he usually doesnt have fw, but photos in general are good. Thought i'd take a chance.
Pattye

 

[Texan]

Ebay versus others

Ebay versus others

Today I received 2 orders of pearls, from 2 different people on ebay. Like most everything there, it's a gamble. One order was from a vendor in Asia, and I was worried - and they were absolutely stunning and probably worth twice what I paid. The other was a seller in the States, and they were worth nothing at all.

Here's what I think: Most of the ebay sellers are making a profit (of course). Some can do this because they live in another area of the world where costs are cheaper. Unfortunately, the people in those areas are sometimes poor, and fraud runs rampant. Others live in areas where costs are more. The make a profit by simply knowing where to buy, and then passing stuff on to you for additional money, ridiculous shipping costs, no refunds - a different kind of fraud, in my opinion.

For an example, let's look at hugepearls (http://myworld.ebay.com/hugepearls). I have no idea what they are doing exactly... and no stake in their company of course. But he is selling 2 "south sea" pearls that are black. He shows a lot of closeup photos and measurements - they are about 9mm x 18mm each, and the bid is $57 - and they have 5 hours to go. If you don't like them, you pay for shipping both ways, must return them within 3 days, and pay a 15% restocking fee... and you wind up with nothing.

Now, over at www.icgems.com, there are 2 "tahitian" pearls - also black, about 10mm x 13mm each. You can buy (not bid) the two of them for $27. The refund policy is that you return them within 15 days, and you get a full refund. Which sounds better?

Again, I have no idea what hugepearls is doing, but... what if he bought pearls from ICGems? Then he's making 100% profit, and his return policy really prevents many returns.

Food for thought...