Help! Second opinion about quartz sphere purchase on etsy

[jupo88]

Hello!

I'm very new to the crystal and gemstone world. I randomly felt that it would be nice to have a crystal sphere sitting on my desk at work, so that I could stare at it while I solve problems. I have a tendency to stare at things when I'm deep in thought, and I figured it would be nice to stare at something beautiful like a crystal sphere.

I didn't know anything about crystals or gemstones, so I bought a cheap 20€ glass ball from Amazon. I've been enjoying the sphere very much, and have been admiring it more than I thought I would.

I'd like to upgrade to a real natural quartz sphere with rainbows and inclusions.

I heard that ebay and amazon are full of fakes, and that I should be careful. I found one particular sphere on etsy that looks especially nice, but I'd just like a second opinion about it from people who are more knowledgeable in the subject:

etsy.com/listing/487421572/rainbows-60mm-clear-quartz-crystal (sorry, I cant post links yet.)

60mm clear quartz sphere, price is €117.03, with €30 shipping and handling.


Does it look real? Does the price seem right for the size and apparent quality?

Thanks!

[Crystal canuck]

I buy stuff on ebay all the time and I haven't been ripped off once. You just have to look at pictures carefully and stuff with flaws is usually a good sign it's real, if it looks like a clear piece of glass for only 10 bucks it probably is actually glass not crystal.

Most of the sellers on ebay are honest, even the Chinese and overseas sellers. If you are in doubt just ask them if it's is natural with no treatments. If you ask that way you will probably get the answer you seek. Just keep your questions simple and to the point because many of these sellers don't have English as their first language.

I have bought thousands of dollars worth of both cut and polished pieces and also large raw specimens and I feel I can honestly say all of my collection is natural.

I actually have one or two Chinese suppliers I use regularly and they have always been top notch.

Ebay also has a buyer protection program where if the item comes damaged, fake, or doesn't arrive at all you can get all your money back. I have only had to use this a couple times, maybe 3 out of 50 purchases. I have never received fakes but one or two small items never arrived in the mail, but ebay refunded me no problem.

I once had a large and beautiful 25 LBS yellow quartz cluster shipped from china. It obviously wasn't packaged correctly and it came damaged, in fact broken in half. I guess he was a new seller and wasn't used to shipping large items. I worked out a deal with him because it was still really large and beautiful, and the two pieces connect together still, you wouldn't even know it was broken. I didn't even have to get ebay involved, the seller asked me what I wanted, I said half my money back would be fair and it was no issue.

I guess maybe I could have got my whole money back if I asked ebay to step in, but I was content with what the seller offered. I got a really good deal on it to begin with ( $ 300 ) and it was still a great piece, I find natural yellow quartz that's untreated really hard to find.

So in the end you could say I got a 25 LBS damaged cluster for $ 150, or you could look at it like I got a 16 LBS and a 9 LBS cluster for $ 150. It's on a shelf right now in one giant piece and nobody would ever know it's 2 pieces.

To answer your question about the sphere, yes I would be willing to bet money that it's real. It's actually quite a nice specimen but the price does seem slightly higher than I would expect. I would search on ebay if I were you.

[jupo88]

Originally Posted by Crystal canuck

I buy stuff on ebay all the time and I haven't been ripped off once. You just have to look at pictures carefully and stuff with flaws is usually a good sign it's real, if it looks like a clear piece of glass for only 10 bucks it probably is actually glass not crystal.

Most of the sellers on ebay are honest, even the Chinese and overseas sellers. If you are in doubt just ask them if it's is natural with no treatments. If you ask that way you will probably get the answer you seek. Just keep your questions simple and to the point because many of these sellers don't have English as their first language.

I have bought thousands of dollars worth of both cut and polished pieces and also large raw specimens and I feel I can honestly say all of my collection is natural.

I actually have one or two Chinese suppliers I use regularly and they have always been top notch.

Ebay also has a buyer protection program where if the item comes damaged, fake, or doesn't arrive at all you can get all your money back. I have only had to use this a couple times, maybe 3 out of 50 purchases. I have never received fakes but one or two small items never arrived in the mail, but ebay refunded me no problem.

I once had a large and beautiful 25 LBS yellow quartz cluster shipped from china. It obviously wasn't packaged correctly and it came damaged, in fact broken in half. I guess he was a new seller and wasn't used to shipping large items. I worked out a deal with him because it was still really large and beautiful, and the two pieces connect together still, you wouldn't even know it was broken. I didn't even have to get ebay involved, the seller asked me what I wanted, I said half my money back would be fair and it was no issue.

I guess maybe I could have got my whole money back if I asked ebay to step in, but I was content with what the seller offered. I got a really good deal on it to begin with ( $ 300 ) and it was still a great piece, I find natural yellow quartz that's untreated really hard to find.

So in the end you could say I got a 25 LBS damaged cluster for $ 150, or you could look at it like I got a 16 LBS and a 9 LBS cluster for $ 150. It's on a shelf right now in one giant piece and nobody would ever know it's 2 pieces.

To answer your question about the sphere, yes I would be willing to bet money that it's real. It's actually quite a nice specimen but the price does seem slightly higher than I would expect. I would search on ebay if I were you.

Thanks for the reply Crystal canuck! I'm glad that you've had positive experiences buying from ebay. It restores my faith in the sellers. I agree, ebay is a huge mixed bag of sellers, and it would be wrong to generalize them all. I think it's important to find reliable and reputable sellers. I'll give ebay a try as well as etsy.

Do you happen to know any good crystal sellers based in Europe? I live in Finland, so i suppose shipping will be cheaper and faster if I buy from sellers who are relatively close by.

[FairyCrystal]

It is a beautiful sphere, but I would not pay E117 for it, and E30 on top of that.
The shipment often can't be helped, but for a sphere only 6 cm diameter I think that price is way too steep.

I have often bought on Ebay too. If ever you have a problem, you contact the seller, and 9 out of 10 times you get your money back right away. They do not want negative feedback. If they don't give your money back, you contact Ebay and they'll look into it and refund.
Ebay is very safe. Because of this most sellers don't rip you off either. Ebay will permanently remove them from the site, meaning they'll lose a good source of income.

Over the years, and many purchases on Ebay, it happened 2x that a stone/crystal wasn't what it was supposed to be. In all three cases I got my money back without a problem. No hassle at all. Once it was slightly tricky when a crystal skull got lost. It arrived in my country but got lost somewhere during customs processing. In the end the seller offered to refund or send me another skull.

[jupo88]

Thanks for the advice FairyCrystal.

I've been browsing ebay all day today, and found several very nice spheres! It seems that ebay is generally cheaper than etsy, in terms of price per millimeter.

Buying that sphere I linked in the original post, I would spend about €150 total. I found one sphere on ebay that's larger (72mm), clearer, and has more vibrant rainbows for €140 total. awesome!

But now I'm deciding between this €140 and one €200. The €200 is out of this world! but a little more than I was planning on spending.

[Silver]

If you find what you're looking for on ebay, you can take a look at where the item is coming from so you can choose to order the item from the seller that's closest to you, if there are more than one or two sellers with that similar item. fwiw