Hi

I've been buying and selling gemstones on ebay since 1996 and it's an art, let me tell you. Is it real, have I gotten a good description, how can I trust an unknown (having never bought from before) seller.

All these are good questions to ask yourself, for they form the basis of your buying experience.

What's the biggest mistake (and the secret sellers don't want you to know?) new buyer make? New buyers don't realize that just because they can bid, they do, and they will bid an item that starts at under $10 to enormous values because they are determined to win and then they loose to another new bidder at the last seconds who snipes the auction by putting in an even higher bid. While this is great for sellers and often, an item that would sell for $99 at any mall jewelers will go for $200 to $300. Folks, these people go to another online auction site and pay maybe 15-30 bucks for some of this stuff. They go to estate sales and pay an average of $10 each for stuff in large lots. They buy of the tv sales channels and mark the stuff up.
I've watched bidders with 0 feedback bid and bid and bid in $1 to $5 increments trying to be the top bidder for a week, only to loose the auction in the last 10 seconds. And you know what's the stupid thing? They thing they've got it won.

From a seller's point of view, Iove the new buyers. They make me money. They make those sellers with thousands of feedbacks lots and lots of money. Why? they don't read.
Why would someone buy a $10 plated ring with a simulated stone from Hong Kong and pay $89 shipping?
Stupidity and failure to read. Why would they pay hundreds for an item you can get at any pawn shop for $69? Stupidity and failure to read.

In order to buy any kind of gemstone online, you really need to know what your looking at. I recently had a ebay member ask if it was true what he had heard at a party that a meteorite had sold for a princely sum and it was from Mars. It wasn't that he wanted to buy one, but he did want to know if it was possible that someone would pay a sum of money not unlike what Richard would spend on Elizabeth for a diamond.

And the answer is yes! There are Martian and lunar meteorites, and they can bring a very high price.

And so it is with gemstones. But you have to fill that gap in your understanding if you aren't already well versed in gemstones and gemstone rough (collectively, "gemstones").

The only sure way to protect yourself from buying inexpensive and worthless stones is to check the seller out. Does the seller have a good feedback rating? Don't be misled by a not perfect feedback score here. Understand that no matter how honest and how much the seller works at providing a proper and complete description of what they are trying to sell, there will always be someone who isn't satisfied, wanted better quality or expected better quality, than was presented and thus they leave negative feedback, not because they were cheated, but because they expected the best, and that is a very rare thing to find online in gemstones and jewelry, But, I would give any seller a shot who had a 97% or better rating and I would check at least a few of their feedbacks just to see what type of people are buying from them. It only takes a few experienced buyers to make or break a seller, so reading a little feedback is one of your best guides.

Read the whole description for the item. Most sellers do try to give a good representation of the item they want to sell. Good pictures help here a whole lot. With a good picture you can see if an emerald if cloudy or poorly cut and polished. Rubies also show quality easily in a good picture. But then the catch comes in, both emeralds and rubies have been reproduced in the lab, and although chemically the same as the real thing, it show be made know that it is man made. Emeralds quite often are, for the one process which is the best for making a manmade stone actually brings a good price. Rubies on the other hand, often are passed off as natural when they are in fact manmade. Rubies of the best quality, no flaws what so ever, are made every day in the high end labs for industry. A natural ruby which can compete with these manmade, chemically perfect, stones, would cost more than any diamond of the same size they are so rare. It's almost impossible to find a perfect ruby or emerald (I say almost because anything is possible with gemstones), and if one were found, you can bet it wouldn't be on ebay!

But, reading well and understanding what the seller is saying, and what others have said about that seller will protect your buying experience more than anything else.

Good stones and good jewelry with mounted gemstones are listed every day. Knowing how to find them within the thousands of inexpensive gems and jewelry.

One of the types of listings that always makes me chuckle (to give an example) are the "Natural" and high priced gemstones mounted in plated sterling silver which retails for hundreds of dollars it's quoted in the listing. Why would someone mount a high priced stone in plated anything? And then list this precious stone at some way below wholesale opening price with no reserve. If you want costume jewelry, hey, your never going to find a better selection in any retail store. But understand it is costume and made to look fancy and expensive. It hasn't any real resale value and no respectable jeweler is going to give it a second look.

I hope this helps you find the stone or stones you want. And remember that you don't have to have the best if what you want is pretty or sparkly. Those gemstones you can find online at ebay and they should meet your needs then.

Good and Happy shopping to you.