[Jewelry making - Article 00036] - Re: [Orchid] Customer selling their own stones

[Steve]

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Barb,

    Ebay is a flea market. Period. You get lots and lots of traffic
    there, but every single one is a tight fisted bargain hunter. Also,
    you are being compared with tens of thousands of other cut gemstones
    at any given time. An exceptional faceted stone might sell for 20
    percent of its appraised value, if you are lucky. 

    For most of us, the worldwide exposure of the internet is an
    unrealized potential, because there are so very many internet gem
    dealers out there. It is extremely difficult and rather expensive to
    bring one's web pages to the attention of a significant number of
    potential buyers. Believe it or not, in most cases you get better
    real exposure displaying the stones in a shop window on a reasonably
    busy street. 

    Finally, there is the eternal trust issue. A picture and text
    description can never compare to watching the stone sparkle in
    person, so there is always at least a small question of whether the
    stone really is as good as it looks. Add to that the rampant
    ignorance, overselling, deception and outright fraud in the online
    gem business, and you have quite a hill to climb just to get a decent
    price on 50 stones. 

    There are honest gem dealers doing business on the internet, and I do
    my best to be one of them. Unfortunately, I could not promise to sell
    your customer's stones under reasonable conditions. There are,
    however, gemstone brokers operating on the net that might be able to
    help you. Algemco (http://hassamventures.com) comes well recommended,
    as one example. I have never used them, so I do not know what terms
    they would offer. 

    If there is no friendly local jeweler who is willing to buy the
    stones at something close to wholesale, perhaps you can find someone
    who sells at gem shows who would be willing to sell your customer's
    stones on consignment. That would probably net the greatest return
    with the highest probability of selling at least a few of the gems
    quickly. 

Good luck!

Steve
Gems Evermore
http://gemsevermore.com
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