I have been looking for sapphires and their pricing is great but
I’m not sure I i trust stone ratings like “mindblowing luster”
and “superb flawless” etc. I would be curious to see if anyone
here has dealt with them and what the experience was like. If you
have ANY feedback for me PLEASE email me at rob@ligeti.com
THANKS!
Rob
Rob, A couple of my studiomates regularly purchase from Thai Gem.
They seem to very happy with the service and the color of their
stones. However, we are not gemologists.
Don’t know if this helps, but hope it does.
-k
Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Accredited Jewelry Instruction
Amen Darcy!!!
Avoid Thaigem if you want to save money and time. I had good
experience with creativegem.com - Great offerings at great prices.
Mark
Hi Gang,
If you’re looking for anything in sapphire, natural or synthetic, in
any color, you might try US Jem, 24331 Muirlands Blvd #4-214, El Toro
CA 92630. Phone 800-932-5038. They’re good folks to do business with
& have well cut stones.
Usual disclaimers, just a very satisfied customer.
Dave
I have been looking for sapphires and their pricing is great but I'm not sure I i trust stone ratings like "mindblowing luster" and "superb flawless" etc. I would be curious to see if anyone here has dealt with them and what the experience was like. If you have ANY feedback for me PLEASE email me at rob@ligeti.com
Avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid.
Their FLAWLESS stones have major eye visible cracks in them.
Most of their stones have windows and fisheyes which are 50-60% of
what you see when it faces up.
The colors go from ok to terrible.
You will never get a good stone from these people. You get what you
pay for in the end.
Also, they include “appraisal” certificates which could only have
been obtained through bribery. They’re signed, and stamped, and pretty
clearly false. How else can a certified appraiser call a stone
internally flawless when it has a visible 2mm crack throughout it?
I’ve used several sites, of which I can highly recommend:
www.steveperrygems.com www.africagems.com www.acstones.com
They don’t have the huge selection that Thaigems has, but what good
is a huge selection when 99.9% of the selection is fit only for the
garbagebin?
Steve, Marc, and Barb (respectively) are all very honest and easy to
work with. Their sites have different specialties. The tourmalines
and aquamarines at Africagems are incredible. Barb at acstones.com
works with several small scale cutters, and tends to have a lot of
very interesting custom cuts. I got the nicest little Paraiba
tourmaline at steveperrygems.com, which was priced incredibly. He’s
the only vendor after about six months of searching where I could find
a Paraiba which was both (a) affordbale and (b) of good quality.
Usually you can only get one of the two (note also, if anyone wants a
“red emerald” bixbite, he’s got one and it’s very nicely priced…
it’s got some color zoning but for anyone who collects, this stone is
a steal).
www.inclusions.net is the site of some people I’ve bought from at a
gem show. I bought a set of 3mm rubies from them that were exquisite
and superbly priced, plus an incredible color change garnet of very
large size. Excellent product.
I have also purchased from Ebay. Of my ebay purchases I lucked out a
couple times, did reasonably half the time, and the other half the
time got less than commercial quality goods.
In general, I would go with the smaller vendors and avoid the large
ones like Thaigems.
Also note, Thaigems has registered over 30 domain names, which they
post from at ebay. This is a deceptive practice, and it against ebay
rules. I have been notifying ebay about it, and they claim to be doing
something about it, but nothing has been done for over 8 months.
Thaigems represents a LOT of income for ebay. Unfortunately, it is
scam related income, and ebay does not have the morality to turn it
down.
Hi Rob, Their prices are great, but… I bought a huge variety of
stones from them a year ago on ebay. The photos they used were
duplicates and the stones did not (obviously) match the photos. I
returned 95% of the order, which was promptly refunded. They charge
an escrow fee, though, that is not refundable. I won’t buy from them
again. Karen
Thaigem.com has over 31,000 feedbacks on Ebay, 9800 in just the past
6 months with 320 negative. Thaigem.com are well known in the
industry for sending illegal spam faxes. They get away with it
because they are based outside the US. Send unsolicited faxes in this
country and any after being warned it will cost them a $500. fine for
each one. They have over 250 people working for them doing nothing
but placing stones on Ebay, Yahoo and another auction site. At this
time they have over 3,000 items on Ebay running. I read a few months
ago in the New York Times that they post stones on Ebay at 5-10% over
their cost and do in excess of 10 million in Internet auction sells
per month. I wonder if someone would contact them after an auction
has ended, looking to buy the stone they saw on Ebay, if they would
offer it to them? This is a TOS violation on Ebay for avoidance of
paying fees and reason for suspension or not being permitted to sell
on the system again. I bet Fleabay would just give a warning or
ignore it. But I would say, for a company to have sold so many
stones, there has to be something they are doing right. I lost a
retail sale of a white sapphire to them. The customer bought from
them on Fleabay at less than my cost as a dealer. Cost me 65.00 for
the stone of which I asked 85.00, she bought theirs for around 40.00
Jim M.
All, Your experience with Thaigem or any of the cutting areas of
Brazil or Africa will be very similar. I am a gemstone cutter. I
spend 8-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week cutting faceted, concaved,
cabochon, and carved gemstones (for over 20 years commercially,
custom, wholesale, and retail). I buy rough and cut stones from all
of these locations. When you buy from these people you must realize
you are buying from the best experts at manufacturing and selling
massive amounts of stones in the world. They are trained in the most
hostile environment possible. They either succeed or die. It is a
true buyer beware market. My normal buys are in kilos of rough or
parcels of cut stones. You can, and I have lost all the profit in
the deal by not correctly analyzing what you are buying. You must
know quality, price, and cutting. If you do not, you will lose.
The individual buyer is much further ahead buying from a domestic
stone cutter (in any country in the World). You get better quality,
consistent marketing, and individual service. Custom stones are like
custom jewelry. You cannot sell your custom jewelry by the gram and
I cannot sell my custom stones by the carat. It is that simple.
When you step up in finish, quality of rough material, and customized
cuts (like concaved) you will pay much more. If you are a customer
that price is your only guideline then the mass produced gemstones
of these cutting centers are for you. For my cutting operation these
stones are preforms. They are the stones I purchase to cut into
custom stones. Mounting mass produced gemstones in custom jewelry is
like mounting a Ford hubcap on a Jaguar. Just my opinion.
Gerry Galarneau
http://www.galarneausgems.com
What’s going on here people?
I’ve done about three deals with them - all good stones - yet I hear
fm the list that others have had nasty experiences from them.
Now I’m worried!
Tony Konrath
Personally, I had to e-mail Thaigem several times to get them to stop
faxing unwanted multi page pricelists to me. A definite waste of my
fax paper… This made me decide not to spend money with them, ever. I
have, on the other hand, known the owner of Multcolour for over 20
years and bought great stones from them. I, however, like to hand pick
all my gemstones before purchase.
Rick Hamilton
Well, the only exposure I have had to ThaiGems was in pricing an
antique cut Amethyst. I noticed they had an “make offer” section.
So, I did after I noticed that the exact same stone also seemed to be
listed in their regular merchandise for $49. They counter offered at
$87 for the “make an offer”; I then asked them what is the
difference between the two. They curtly told me (after almost a week
of waiting for them to answer my ONE email) to either accept their
offer or not but to stop emailing them about it. I decided that
their attitude and failure to explain their own merchandise; that the
fact they list the exact same picture for multiple listings; was
enough to make me avoid them at all costs now and in the future. One
of my favorite vendors in NYC is a place called “Dikra”; they are
knowledgable and have exceptional stones, agates, etc., in an
astonishing assortment of cuts.
As for Ebay; while it is easy to “dis” them; the simple fact is that
the Ebay environment personafies “caveat emptor”. It is a very
simple thing to take a moment; ask the seller questions and set the
price you want to pay. The more reputable sellers on Ebay (who
specialize in certain areas like antiques or stones) will accept the
item back if their description was inaccurate.
Cte
offer it to them? This is a TOS violation on Ebay for avoidance of paying fees and reason for suspension or not being permitted to sell on the system again. I bet Fleabay would just give a warning or ignore it.
I have been back and forth with Ebay over several months about
Thaigem. They know all the dirty tricks that Thaigem has been using,
and are “working with Thaigem.com to fix things.”
Nothing has changed over this time. Each time the Ebay rep tells me
the same story.
How hard is it to take down your 30 or so deceptive false fronts?
Cherrygems.com, Riversmart.com, etc., are all Thaigem.com false
fronts.
But I would say, for a company to have sold so many stones, there has to be something they are doing right. I lost a retail sale of a white sapphire to them. The customer bought from them on Fleabay at less than my cost as a dealer. Cost me 65.00 for the stone of which I asked 85.00, she bought theirs for around 40.00
And it probably had a huge window, or color zoning, or huge
inclusions, etc.
They do a good job of getting people to buy stones with problems,
sight unseen, and thereby make it harder for people to sell decent
quality stuff because they overall drop the customer’s pricing
expectation.
They are a bad thing for the industry on all fronts.
Note: I buy stones, and materials, and give my stuff away, so I’m not
just a sore competitor complaining. It bothers me to no end that I
can’t go to ebay and easily find good products from reputable people
because every search returns 200 items from Thaigems and 20 items from
everyone else.