So, where do you source your stones?

I usually get mine locally, there's a shop that sells them near my home and I suppose I let the stones choose me... However I've seen some beautiful pieces on the internet...
Does anyone use the internet to buy stones?
Were they what you wanted when they came?

[stephaniejadeluna]

yes! i usually go on the internet to get my stones. all the stores by me are unfortunately HIGHLY overpriced... (NYC). i usually get mine from healingcrystals.com... they were all beautiful

[FairyCrystal]

I get most of mine from a shop that has really good and unusual crystals. They travel to the States and Germany to purchase them, often directly from miners.
They're very sweet people, very intuitive and know a lot about crystals. The vibe in the shop is so tranquil, most ppl spend hours there, me included, hihi. It's like a day out!

Apart from that I purchase from Ebay. Always got exactly what I wanted, always been a satisfied customer! I don't buy from sellers that only post generic pictures. I want pictures of the crystal I'm buying. And just use my intuition. I always manage to find really nice pieces!
I got crystals, skulls in from China, Hong-Kong. Once a skull got lost, somewhere customs of my country scr*wed up :S I got my money back nonetheless.
Sometimes buy from the US, but that can be expensive, as I will have to pay import duties if the value is over E25. Once bought a fluorite skull from a US seller, which wasn't cheap. Import duties were high, so it got to be a very expensive skull. I wasn't chuffed about that.
I did get some stunning Arkansas crystals in from Colliers Creek. As their value each wasn't over E25, I didn't have to pay import duties, so that was a really good buy! Absolute great quality!

I buy most of my stuff on the net anyway, varying from books, clothes, vacuum cleaners etc. and ... crystals :)

I don't like the idea of shopping on the internet for crystals, although I am lucky enough to have a couple of shops near me that sell a wide variety. I pickup the crystals in the store and open myself up to their energies. I'll stand there holding up a crystal for a bit, and might look weird to some, although I seem to be in good company at the places I go to. I don't like to approach crystals in an intellectual manner because I don't want my conscious or subconscious to have an extraneous effect (at least until I get to know the crystals for themselves), and that is what one would have to do in reading descriptions of them and purchasing them online (or you could do something like look at pictures and intuitively select them). Anyway, don't over think it.

[Sammy]

I have bought a few gems, but I prefer to search for my own rocks to display. I had gone to the north cascade range with the family, found some rose quartz, but also some other odd colors for quartz like orange and one was white mixed with red. I had also seen a hole like shape in a rock about the size of a potato, filled with a odd colored brown stuff. I chipped a small tip off the brown and saw clear inside. I took it home and cut all the gunk off it and its a gorgeous clear agate that ended up being the shape of a tear. It almost has a purple fluorescent to it.

We were way off the beaten path to get to the part of the river we were at, so it was perty easy picking. When we first got to the bank my wife set her coat down and saw a giant chunk of clear geode topped with white sparkly quartz. There was a lot of white quartz but we only found one clear piece but it still looks like ice, although pretty as well. Not sure how far we would have to venture to find any real prospects, and wild animals are a real danger. Especially with the family HAHA

[FairyCrystal]

Originally Posted by LittleWolf, the Contender

.... (or you could do something like look at pictures and intuitively select them).

Yeah, that's what I do. I never buy crystal because of their descriptions.
I don't even go on Ebay often, I can somehow sense when there's something there for me or not. So usually only go on Ebay for a crystal when I get that urge, and 9 out of 10 times find myself a crystal that makes my heart happy. Sometimes it takes a few days before I find it and when I have, the urge has gone.
As long as you tune in to your intuition, it doesn't really matter where you get your crystals. That's my experience anyways.

[Aki]

I usually buy what I can get, where I can find it. I have a beading store near where I live, but I also like going up to Humboldt, where there's a lot of fun hippy stores up there that I can find what I'm looking for.

I also like hitting up those roadside tourist traps that have the "pack a bag of mixed stones for $5". You can find some real gems (no pun intended...).

I got mine from local shop and internet

Mmm, see I wasn't sure about buying online ever since I bought my selenite ball... I saw it in the shop and picked it up and bonded with it for a few minutes but it made my head hurt, although I has highly attracted to it, I told myself ''If it's still there next week, I'll take it home'', I went back over a month later and it was still there waiting for me.
I've never had a bad experience buying online, I had my first clear quartz pendulum from the internet, somebody recommended it. I found I had less of a bond with it because I hadn't hand picked it myself :S
Along with a few other things I've had from the net.
Does that sound strange? :S

I have the distinct pleasure of living in an area that has a few rock shops within a 100 mile radius, as well as a small annual gem show. In addition, I know a few good places I like to stop at when I'm traveling in nearby states (one of them being in Tucson, and if I'm lucky I can catch that gem show too). It's nice having so many places to find them because you find all different kinds and some pretty decent prices too.

I've never bought online though. I mostly didn't need or want to, but if the right piece spoke to me I might try it out. I probably wouldn't unless I knew exactly what I wanted, and even then I'd want to feel it first.