Real Swarovski Crystal Beads or Fake Glass? Part 2

• Know Your Supplier or Seller - This, to us, is the single most important aspect to understanding if you are receiving a real Swarovski crystal bead or an unknown bead.  Of course we would insist on this because we only sell real Swarovski crystals, purchased in unopened, sealed by Swarovski packages, but that is not the only reason.  If a supplier is selling fakes as Swarovski of course they are going to say they only sell the real thing but when you get to know the company and how they do business it should become apparent.  If they are rude, refuse to answer your questions, ignore your questions just keep that in mind.

                             

• Look at the Photos / Images - Look at the photos the supplier uses to sell their products.  This of course will not tell you exactly if the crystals are real Swarovski or not, but you can get some good information by examining their images.  The first thing to look at is, are they their images or have they used someone else's images to sell their products?  Look at the copyright on the image itself, is it theirs, is there one at all?  We spend countless hours and a lot of money producing our own images, and we can only do so if we have the real Swarovski crystals to use to take the photo.  The images above come from a library of images of Swarovski beads we have created over many years, and you can often find them cropped and in use on other sellers listings.  Besides the legal aspect of this, these other sellers either don't have the real crystals to take the photos or they are just to lazy to do the work themselves?
  

         

• Look at the Size - You might say what does the size have to do with it.  Well, Swarovski crystals are machine cut and very precise.  The size of a 10mm Round crystal bead as shown on the caliper above will be 10mm.  Crystals that vary in size are not Swarovski and although glass cut crystals are getting better they still don't have the exact quality cut that Swarovski crystals have and if you see a variation in size this might be just a glass bead.

• Look at the Price - How do the prices the supplier or seller is offering compare to other sellers?  Swarovski sets the price of their crystals, and it usually goes up each year.  They are not cheap to buy for the supplier or selling company, so they are not going to be cheap for the end user to buy either.  We set our prices are low as we possibly can.  As an example, a package may cost us $2.50 to buy from our importer and we might sell it for $3.50 but when another seller sells the same exact thing for $1.00 something is wrong.
  

There are always more ways to look at this issue and we will try to update some of the other ideas as we can write them down.  Hopefully some of these will aid in making sure you receive exactly what you are paying for, the highest quality crystals beads available.

**A Special Footnote** This guide is not to say that the sale of glass beads should not take place or the sellers of glass beads are not honest.  Glass beads are (and none Swarovski crystal) are a lagitimate product and certainly have their place in the beading world.  It is only when these are sold as Swarovski Crystal Beads and portrayed that way.  We want the customers to know what they are buying, and get what they are paying for, regardless of what product it is, beads, crystals, or lampwork.

A continuation of this guide can be found on Real Swarovski® Crystal Beads or Fake Glass? Part 1