CS vendor on Etsy

[mochiko42]

Hi all,

When browsing Etsy during my lunch break (a terrible, terrible habit for my wallet ) I noticed this vendor who seems to have been around since 2011. She seems to have some very nice CS available, but the prices are not cheap. I wonder if anyone has purchased from her before and whether they felt it was good value for the price? There appear to be some very blingtastic pieces on there.


https://www.etsy.com/shop/GurlGems

 

[chrono]

Wow, what a pleasure to see lots of coloured stones there....until I saw the price! They are more than "not cheap", they are overpriced. A 2.3 ct light grayish blue spinel for $2300 is crazy. Some have horrible windows but some aren't as badly faceted. On the positive side, SSEF paperwork for some of the more usually heavily treated stones and proof of the stone being as advertised is a good thing.

 

[JewelFreak]

I see windows the size of my head & jaw-dropping prices for them. When a vendor has this many poorly-cut stones, I discount the ones that look ok too, since I wouldn't trust her to know a good stone when she saw one.

--- Laurie

 

[movie zombie]

those aren't windows.....they're doors!
wow. overpriced is an understatement.

 

[minousbijoux]

I want to copy and quote the three previous posters, as they are all spot on. Cutting is terrible and prices are ridiculous. Amazing to me that they do business at all.

 

[GregS]

My guess is this person is a private collector that buys and sells stones in order to buy more stones. Whether they sell any or not is of little importance to them.

 

[T L]

Extremely overpriced.

 

[T L]

Did you read the response to one "one star review"

Also, why is this vendor not posting the gemological report for this particular stone, but just the SSEF certificate that indicates that someone name "Paula" completed her courses (see link).

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/47861141?ref=shop_review

 

[OreoRosies86]

I absolutely blacklist sellers who do this. If you can't handle criticism with grace, you aren't getting my business.

Also $7,000 for a brownish pink tormaline gave me the lulz big time.

 

[mochiko42]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm still new to buying stones and jewelry, so I wasn't sure if it was just poor photography that was the problem. I've only bought a few things off Etsy before (non-jewelry or gems) but had pretty good experiences, so I was a little confused at the item descriptions & prices in this store plus the mostly positive feedback, and the fact that it wasn't a new store. (I wasn't planning to buy anything off that store anyway, but the mixed messages I was getting in the pricing/feedback/descriptions etc there had me a little confused!)

 

[T L]

Are "anonymous" reviews normal on Etsy???

What I also don't get is why there are a ton of five star reviews by "Anonymous" and the one negative review is by someone who chose to reveal themselves? I'm just curious? It could be kosher, but I find that odd. I never buy on Etsy (one day maybe), so it's just something I noticed, but I'm not sure if that's normal.

 

[MollyMalone]

Yep, it does seem weird. But all reviews predating Etsy's implementation, several months ago, of a new feedback system now appear as Anonymous:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/12901515/

 

[chrono]

TL,
Good catch on the SSEF issue; I had automatically presumed that all the stones come with verification and paperwork from SSEF itself but from your link, it appears that is not the case. "Certificate: SSEF" is highly misleading because the "certificate" is issued by the owner herself (who has presumably taken classes offered by SSEF), which poses a strong conflict of interest.