Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 12:14 am Posts: 57 Location: Canberra / Siem Reap
i sold a rough specimen piece of seam opal 128 ct described as ROUGH for cutting.
the guy gave me a neutral fb saying more of the hst rock could have been removed.
hehe!
ok this one begs a question how many of us expect to get any information along with the stones we buy
this ebayer obviously thought he should
"beautiful, but no info with gem. I have ordered many gems so need info on each" *shaking of head ensues * *chuckle*
_________________ A Chinese proverb says "Gold is valuable, Jade is Priceless."
Joined: Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:15 pm Posts: 746 Location: South Africa
I can see where this might have come from. Some sellers send their stones completely unlabeled which means buyers who aren't up to testing the stones themselves and rely on the sellers that get a lot have to trawl through their recent purchases trying to "identify" what they've received. Still, they aren't paying for lessons... lol
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:19 pm Posts: 914 Location: California, USA
Hi,
Maybe this eBayer simply did not know Citrine is a yellow/orange variety of quartz.
Up until in my 20s, I did not know Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz. I thought quartz is a crystal-clear mineral from which people make optical stuff like lenses and prisms, and Amethyst is an unrelated gemstone. Then I read some article about Korea producing purple quartz a.k.a. Amethyst. Honestly I was shocked. It was not that Korea produces Amethyst, but that Amethyst is a quartz.
This eBayer’s comment sounds funny to us who are familiar with gemstones and minerals. But he might have really believed the seller sent a wrong stone, when he received the stone labeled as quartz and advertised as Citrine. I cannot laugh at him. I see those people without much knowledge on gemstones often.
I feel sorry for the seller for the negative feedback, though.
Mitch
_________________ Best regards, Mitch
I am a slave to cutting a stone completely free of chips and very much enjoying it.
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:12 am Posts: 484 Location: Chiang Rai Thailand
I got a neutral that said the stone was smaller than the picture and she was not familiar with carats.
Did she really think the stone was the size of a baseball like the pics?
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
While I can sympathize that not everyone may be informed about the details of gemology, one would imagine that a responsible and moral person would at least do some MINIMAL research before harming another person's reputation with negative feedback. Ignorance of gemology is no excuse for ignorance of manners.
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:24 am Posts: 4997 Location: McDonough GA
gem-n00b wrote:
While I can sympathize that not everyone may be informed about the details of gemology, one would imagine that a responsible and moral person would at least do some MINIMAL research before harming another person's reputation with negative feedback. Ignorance of gemology is no excuse for ignorance of manners.
Karim I heartily agree. That is in fact the very motivation I had in starting this thread. No matter how ignorant one is, with the ready and free access to information today there is no excuse for bad manners and informing oneself of the most basic principles of any discipline.
the funniest one for me are "the stone is so small (2 mm x 2mm) its not as big as the picture" .... (DOH whats a millimeter )
but.... I can sympathize .. lol .. bought a trillion, have to admit I wasn't paying attention ... when it got here I took one look at it and the first thought that crossed my mind was ,, but its so big!! yup it may sound funny but I can see where it could happen
_________________ A Chinese proverb says "Gold is valuable, Jade is Priceless."
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:12 am Posts: 484 Location: Chiang Rai Thailand
Strange to me that people that have not a clue about even quartz or gem measurements are interested enough to buy gemstones on line. Must be the attraction to shiny things, I suppose a crow would bid if it had a chance.
i am waiting for an article on the psychological disorders manifested on ebay.
buyers often don't ask before and don't communicate after they receive their "unsatisfactory" merchandise. or they get into a tiff and leave bad feedback as revenge.
as for "teeny little stones", most sellers state (tho not always clearly) that they enlarge their pictures. since many people have no idea what a millimetre is they then are thoroughly shocked to discover they have spent $100 on a pink flyspeck.
conversely, many sellers react badly to corrections that could save a lot of grief, interpreting them as a personal affront.
one seller specializing in slides often misidentifies her merchandise. recently we sent her one question and two corrections - separately, over the space of an hour. she threatened to report us for "harrassment".
another seller responded well but i didn't buy his item at that point. a few weeks later it was on sale again and i decided to buy it after all: he had blocked me!
this is what sets someone off:
1 - bad pictures
2 - not enough info
3- way too much info
4 - "cutesy" mangled english that circumvents questions; i'm not sure i want to do a lot of business with people who claim they cannot understand english - the language of e-commerce.
5 - sloppiness. this can be a critical factor when the seller misidentifies carat size, hardness etc.
these factors will always limit e-commerce. it just is not the same experience as walking into a store, discovering things, handling them (because handling merchandise can tell one so much) . . .
even the satisfaction of telling off the seller in person, when warranted.
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