I was sitting at home last evening and flipping through the channels to see what might be worth watching. I have been accused of surfing the television channels as much as I surf the Internet. I was moving along, at a very brisk pace, I stopped and watched a few minutes here and there of the usual suspects; National Geographic Channel, The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel.

No doubt, I enjoy learning about history, health and about other cultures around the globe. I caught the last ten minutes of the History of Rome and then continued to surf until I came upon a jewelry shopping channel. They were selling a Blue Topaz and White Sapphire Diamond Ring for $1499.00. I stopped dead in my tracks and watched this channel for the next two hours (a record, when you consider that my attention span is about 15 minutes).

Needless to say, the Topaz and White Sapphire Ring were selling like the proverbial hotcakes they must be! After all, you can pay for this beauty in monthly installments, pay no interest and get this goodie in the mail within three weeks.

I sat and listened to the hype, the selling points of this item and soon found myself on my feet and pacing in disbelief, as I watched the selling counter on the screen continue to rise - as fast as my blood pressure. 

The immediate question that came to mind was just how many of these rings do they have in stock and who's manufacturing them? Okay, I'll admit it was a nice ring but, definitely not worth $1499.00. In fact, just how special can an item be if a thousand of them can be sold? No doubt, every gemstone is different from the next one.

The sell point was good. They just kept affirming that the piece was beautiful, lovely, spectacular, gorgeous, astounding, an heirloom for future generations and a "must have" for the next formal outing.

The "buzz" words just kept piling up until the point that I myself - was ready to pick up the telephone and add another number to the selling counter on the screen.

What's even better is that those who were buying up this item, were calling in and selling the item by adding their own "two cents" to enhance the description even further.

What a great idea? Get yourself some cable time, dress in a nice suit and sell your stuff, in fact, allow potential buyers to sell it for you by letting them call in and "connect" with you and your audience (even though they have absolutely NO CLUE what it is they're buying) and just watch the sales go up, up up!

I could NOT believe that so many people simply believe what they're told by a television personality. No doubt, you have to have a "personality" to connect with your audience and it seems as though the "personality" of the seller (call them Barkers) bark out what they think will sell an item. Add a nice set to the background, a model wearing the item and some CGI graphics and you have one heck of a show!

These television personalities use a combination of "affirmation" and "disbelief" in their non-stop diatribe expounding on any item. I other words, they affirm the "buzz" words over and over again and then add their own "disbelief" that the item is just so darn cheap.

However, is it cheap? The resounding answer is NO! Buy the setting on eBay and the gems from Thailand on eBay and you can cut the price drastically! You can even find like (finished) jewelry items on eBay for 75% less! In fact, the majority of what may see being sold on these Gem Television Programs is sold less expensively on eBay.

After getting rather annoyed that a television show could "hawk" and "bark" an item to such an extreme, I surfed to the next channel and what do you know? Another jewelry selling channel however, this one came with a twist, they sold items with an appraisal of estimated retail value. The estimates were so far off the wall that I just sat there in absolute disbelief (and shock) as consumers were scooping up these goodies one right after the other.

It's no wonder eBay caught on so fast and no doubt, those at home, either don't own a computer or, just have so much disposable income that they just don't know what to do with it!

Here's a suggestion to those who have been hooked on those television shows, turn off your television, buy a computer and get on eBay to find deals that would allow you to buy high quality items (as you've seen on TV) and you'll find that you could have bought four pieces instead of just one for the same $1499.00 or less!


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