Some nice finds from E-Bay

[Nerida]

Yes, that's the one. Sorry for any confusion!

 

[ksrizz]

sorry to give my opinon. I truly didn't mean to disturb anyone. It is only that so many people come to this sight for education and, well, I guess what one eye sees might be different from anothers. I honestly did not mean to be rude. It was my honest opinion meant in light of trying to be completely objective, not thinking that I may be hurting someone's feelings about their purchase. Please accept my apologies.

Kelli

 

[Caitlin]

The lowly beaders have the temerity to embrace, love and use cheap, even schlocky, luridly dyed pearls called "commericial" pearls. Most eBay sites sell the latter. When I first got here, I would timidly talk about these commercial pearls and got teased by the venders who consider the commercial pearls worse than nothing. They got used to us though and we bring a dab extra to this forum.

 

[jshepherd]

...and we bring a dab extra to this forum.

A dab extra?!?! I say it is more of a dollop!

 

[silverseajewelry]

(Quoting Caitlin's post above) Can someone help me figure out how to quote correctly? Last time I did it, I got what appears above, but no little quote thingy.


Three kinds of freaks, Caitlin. Don't forget the crossover freaks who are all of the above: buy fine quality pearls for themselves, bead and sell less expensive pearls and dabble in (or are proficient in) fine jewelry construction. I think several of us are crossover freaks!

 

[Caitlin]

I think most of the lowly beaders are now "crossovers" and so are some who came here thinking about top of the line pearls. It has been a function of this Forum to create a breadth of interest! Whereas, when I first got here, lowly beaders were not represented at all, except by me; it was all round-pearl buyers and sellers! Whereas they always used to sell round pearls, baroques are now also included.

Where it was once either/or, it has become both/and on each side. There is now a continuum from one to the other.

 

[PGDesign]

sorry to give my opinon. I truly didn't mean to disturb anyone. It is only that so many people come to this sight for education and, well, I guess what one eye sees might be different from anothers. I honestly did not mean to be rude. It was my honest opinion meant in light of trying to be completely objective, not thinking that I may be hurting someone's feelings about their purchase. Please accept my apologies.

Kelli

Ksrizz - Please don't worry about sharing your opinions. It's just that my jeweller, with his 26 years experience (and GIA diplomas) has somehow failed to acquire your skill when it comes to 'objectively' appraising pearls from photographs! I certainly don't expect the pearls to appeal to everyone, but it can be helpful for others to see what is out there. That is the purpose of the thread.

As you say, different eyes see different things. In that respect I'm afraid I don't see the obvious lack of lustre and lack of reflections that you felt moved to comment on. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm presuming that your opinion is gained from purchasing from this vendor yourself? And as has been said by a very experienced member, we're not all absorbed with buying high end items all of the time, which I'm sure is the purpose of a 'Pearls On e-Bay' section.

Regards
PG

 

[Nerida]

I've got a new designation! I'm a crossover girl through and through!

I wear pearls almost every day (like many/most of us) - some very expensive ones, some SS's that I've had for 15 years, some ebay finds, many bought overseas and even (gasp!) some fake ones!

My customers, like me, are often women in my age group (mid 40's) with fabulous pearls looking for "extras" - cheaper pearls for ropes, torsades, funky high impact pieces etc. They also are often shopping for fabulous pearls for daughter's 21sts, graduation gifts, wedding gifts etc etc. I (like many on this forum) need to cater to all tastes, and also all budgets - Apex's pearls suit this well, and my intent on recommending them is as a good, reliable seller of mid quality pearls and budget prices whom people who need/want this option can tap into.

I think most of us are crossovers, there just isn't enough money for all the pearls we lust and crave over....still working on my multicolored Tahitian strand plans...

 

[airdancer]

(Quoting Caitlin's post above) Can someone help me figure out how to quote correctly? Last time I did it, I got what appears above, but no little quote thingy.

I think you deleted too much - that's why it didn't turn out. Leave the opening with (QUOTE: member;post number) and the last bit with (/QUOTE). The curve brackets have been substituted with square brackets for this reply to work.

 

[silverseajewelry]

Ksrizz - It's just that my jeweller, with his 26 years experience (and GIA diplomas) has somehow failed to acquire your skill when it comes to 'objectively' appraising pearls from photographs!

Ok, a practice quote. Plus, I'd just like to point out that for the last five years, I have never passed a jewelry store without at least stopping in to look at the Tahitians and other exotic pearls they might have. It absolutely amazes me how little the average jeweler knows about pearls...especially Tahitians (and this includes many serious stores in Philly where I used to live). I am sure LA and NY would be a different matter.

 

[PGDesign]

Ok, a practice quote. Plus, I'd just like to point out that for the last five years, I have never passed a jewelry store without at least stopping in to look at the Tahitians and other exotic pearls they might have. It absolutely amazes me how little the average jeweler knows about pearls...especially Tahitians (and this includes many serious stores in Philly where I used to live). I am sure LA and NY would be a different matter.

That is so true. The number of times I have called into a top end jewellery store to see the pearls, only to be met with a complete lack of the most basic pearl knowledge. I only know one jeweller who is experienced (and qualified) in pearl dealing, he's the chap I mentioned, but he's in a tiny minority which is a great shame. With pearls becoming more popular and more accessible, I'm hoping this will change.

 

[PGDesign]

I've got a new designation! I'm a crossover girl through and through!

I wear pearls almost every day (like many/most of us) - some very expensive ones, some SS's that I've had for 15 years, some ebay finds, many bought overseas and even (gasp!) some fake ones!

My customers, like me, are often women in my age group (mid 40's) with fabulous pearls looking for "extras" - cheaper pearls for ropes, torsades, funky high impact pieces etc. They also are often shopping for fabulous pearls for daughter's 21sts, graduation gifts, wedding gifts etc etc. I (like many on this forum) need to cater to all tastes, and also all budgets - Apex's pearls suit this well, and my intent on recommending them is as a good, reliable seller of mid quality pearls and budget prices whom people who need/want this option can tap into.

I think most of us are crossovers, there just isn't enough money for all the pearls we lust and crave over....still working on my multicolored Tahitian strand plans...

A perfect summary.

 

[ksrizz]

Nerida, you are a well balanced woman.

PGDesign. My other opinion is that you have an exceptional talent photographing pearls (which is very hard to do).


Kelli

 

[jiazzi]

Hi PGDesign,

Lovely pearls!!! I love your lavender pearls especially! Which seller did you purchase these from? I searched Apex and their lavender pearls seemed a lot lighter/softer than the ones depicted in your photos.

 

[laurenb]

Read back into the thread, checked out Apex and wow. If wysiwyg, that seems to be a great deal.

 

[lionlaw]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but just want to say I just got my pearls from APEX that I ordered based on recs here and I couldn't be more disappointed. They looked nothing like the pictures, what was described as "perfect round" is potato shaped and what was described as "near flawless" has huge blemishes on every pearl. Really poor quality imo.

Nothing against the original poster or anyone who had luck with them, but maybe the quality has gone down recently?

 

[pattye]

Did you email them about the items and the discrepancies? I have never ordered from them. Always a risk ordering from China, but more so when stock photos are used. Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

 

[jshepherd]

Very sorry to hear about that. Is there an option for return? Does the return and original shipping add up to more than the cost of the pearls?

 

[Hanaleimom]

Sorry to hear about that. It's hit or miss sometimes. Like Pattye said, it's a risk ordering from China, especially if you have to return. I have bought from China and US sellers. There were one really nice find (Tahitian), a couple so-so FW purchases (objects IRL were not as good as the photos but not exactly too much off, and the cost of returning and hassle were not worth it), and two purchases that were pricey but awful despite good feedback here. The last horrible item, seller agreed to pay for return shipping cost if I give good feedback; which I did stating only positive feedback on communication and shipment, nothing about the item itself.

And after every single purchase that I was not happy with (only really happy with the Tahitian), my husband would tell me that I should not purchase from ebay anymore. Whenever he sees the ebay screen on the monitor, he'd ask "Why are you looking at ebay again?" . I just smile "Just looking!"

 

[Pearlcat]

I ordered once from Apex and that was enough for me. I wasn't disappointed enough to return what I bought but I wouldn't purchase again. I've been pleased with what I have bought from Pearllunar and Leifamily (LILEI1971) although the strands from Pearllunar are often smaller than described.