crystal age or other online shops

i'm new to the world of crystals and gemstones and i'm looking to expand my small collection! i have found a local shop in my area, but they do not have a very large selection. i'm a little hesitant to buy online though, because i've always seen/felt my stones/crystals in person before making a purchase.

i came across a shop called crystal age (crystalage.com) it looks like they have a pretty large selection and a lot of things that i am looking for stone and cluster wise. their prices seem pretty decent along with their low shipping costs. has anyone ever used this site? is it too good to be true?

if you haven't used this site, are there any other online shops that you could recommend? your help is greatly appreciated!

looking forward to hearing from you!
ivorymoon

[Astral Explorer]

Personally I just research every stone before buying it and then buy it off of a reputable seller on eBay. Typically I will buy from someone who sells crystals and gemstones as a mineral dealer and not a New Age dealer. A reputable mineral dealer doesn't need to lie about what they are selling because of one stone having stronger metaphysical properties than others. When I have no choice but a New Age dealer I will go with them but I always make sure that I know everything possible about the stone I am buying so I know what to look for and don't buy a fake, and then I never buy anything from China. Most of the fakes being sold on eBay originate from China so buying from a Chinese dealer is a recipe for disaster. I will even pay more for a crystal or gemstone that naturally forms in China and just buy it from someone in a different country rather than risking a fake. With the cheaper stones you run much less of a risk of getting ripped off but there is always a risk. Odd as it sounds I have had people tell me they bought a regular piece of Quartz from a Chinese dealer and they ended up getting glass. With Quartz being practically the most abundant crystal on Earth and being extremely cheap you would think they wouldn't bother faking it. If you do enough searching on eBay there are a handful of very reputable crystal and gemstone dealers on there, each of them sell a boatload of different types and can usually provide whatever specific stone you desire.

thank you for the help! i'll take a look at ebay and i'll keep your tips in mind. you know the thought of dealers selling fake quartz had never even crossed my mind, it has me wondering about the few pieces that i have. do you have any ebay shops that you frequently buy from or recommend that i could check out?

I like to buy my Crystals from Healing Crystals.

http://www.healingcrystals.com/

[Astral Explorer]

Originally Posted by ivorymoon

thank you for the help! i'll take a look at ebay and i'll keep your tips in mind. you know the thought of dealers selling fake quartz had never even crossed my mind, it has me wondering about the few pieces that i have. do you have any ebay shops that you frequently buy from or recommend that i could check out?

http://stores.ebay.com/spiritcrystalcavern

http://stores.ebay.com/Throwin-Stones?_rdc=1

http://stores.ebay.com/Earths-Ancient-Gifts

Here are three reputable shops that I have personally bought from!

this information helped me a ton :) I was just about to ask the same question I dont have a way to get to a gem store in my area and was looking to buy online. It never occurred to me that people would fake sell these things. glad to know I have a few reputable options now

[amylou]

I just bought lots of crystals from Blue Water Crystals on Ebay. I usually go for imperfect or natural looking stones to be sure that they are real. You can usually tell from the photos posted if the stones looks a little bit too perfect. For meditation, you don't have to have a perfect, crystal clear stone and when you try to buy one that's like that online, it may end up being a fake.