New Rose Cut Sapphires Continue in Popularity!

Rose cut Sapphires continue to be one of the most popular items we carry in our Etsy Shop SilverFound we are working on new listings now and will have a lot of new beauties available any day.
We had so many requests for Rose Cut gems this last year and had to really had to step up production in the shop in Thailand. Part of the challenge was to find a source of Gem Rough that is just the right price and shape for this project. We decided this year to focus on Multi Colored Sapphire from Tanzania

Rose cut gems offer our designers a faceted stone that is as easy to set as a cabochon since most of them have a flat Bottom. Rose Cut Sapphires also have an attractive rustic charm to them, looking a bit primitive in their workmanship. These mixed rainbow lots pictured here are by far the most popular and the best thing is these are natural and untreated.

The Supply Side of Etsy: New Amethyst Crystal Points Offer Unlimited Design...

The Supply Side of Etsy: New Amethyst Crystal Points Offer Unlimited Design...: "These should be State side no later than July 14th! You can see more pictures of these beauties here Contact Me if you have interest or..."

The Supply Side of Etsy: Rose Cut Tourmalines Freeform and Calibrated Shape...

The Supply Side of Etsy: Rose Cut Tourmalines Freeform and Calibrated Shape...: "We Should see these in Florida no later than July 14Th. Be sure to convo me with any questions about pricing individual stones! We are wor..."

Rose Cut Tourmalines Freeform and Calibrated Shapes, Available July 14Th

We Should see these in Florida no later than July 14Th. Be sure to convo me with any questions about pricing individual stones! We are working on the listings now and will make them public when the stones arrive.
We have had so many requests for Rose Cut gems, You asked and we listened! After an exhaustive search for Gem Rough that is just the right price and shape we decided to start this project with Tourmalines from Mozambique.
Once we had sorted thru the rough we were ready to begin cutting,,,,To do that we had to retrain both of our cutters. It was a difficult transition to say the least! After much trial and costly error We turned to my friend Suresh over in India. Believe it or not we were able to get both of our cutters Lek and Tung on Skype with Suresh and the rest is history, you just have to love technology!
The Tourmalines will be multi color free forms in the 1.50 ct to 2.50 ct range and the Calibrated gems mostly 6mm rounds.

Prices will Start at $5.00 per Gem

You can see some more in my shop Rose Cut Tourmalines

Why Are Etsy and Ebay Customers so Different?

I have done fairly well with my new store on Etsy and I have also achieved the elusive status of power seller on Ebay. But It didn’t take very long before I began to realize that there was a huge difference in the clientel on the two sites. I stumbled across something that made sense. It's a little idea presented by Roy H. Williams (Wizard Academy in Austin TX) about 2 different types of customers known as Transactional and Relational. As you read the descriptions below maybe you can better understand which type of customer is most likely to buy from your shop on Ebay or Etsy.
Transactional

1. Transactional shoppers are focused only on todays transaction and give little thought to the possibility of future purchases from you.
2. Their only fear is of paying more than they had to pay. Transactional shoppers are looking for price and value.
3. They enjoy the process of comparing and negotiating and will likely shop at several stores before making their decision to purchase.
4. Transactional shoppers do their own research, so they won’t need the help of an expert. Consumer reports are primarily published for transactional shoppers.
5. Because they enjoy the process, transactional shoppers don’t consider their time spent shopping to be part of the purchase price.
6. Anxious to share the “good deal” they’ve found , transactional shoppers are excellent sources of word of mouth advertising. 

Relational

1. Relational shoppers consider today’s transaction to be one in a long series of many future purchases, they are looking less for a product than a store in which to buy it.
2. Their only fear is of making a poor choice. Relational shoppers will purchase as soon as they have confidence.
3. They don’t enjoy the process of comparative shopping and negotiating
4. Relational shoppers are looking for an expert they can trust.
5. They consider their time to be part of the purchase price.
6. Confident that they have found “The right place to buy” relational shoppers are very likely to become repeat customers

When I look at my Etsy guests it is clear that they are mostly Relational in their shopping habits, and my Ebay customers? for the most part they are about as Transactional as it gets.
Remember this! Each of us (including your customers) can be relational or transactional shoppers; we can be transactional in some product or service and relational in others. More about this in future posts

New Amethyst Crystal Points Offer Unlimited Design Potential for Jewelers

These should be State side no later than July 14th! You can see more pictures of these beauties here Contact Me if you have interest or questions.

This is the first time we have tried cutting these Amethyst Beauties. These are natural amethyst points from Zambia Africa. this 1st lot is perfect for rings and earrings and they are average 10mm at the base and average 13mm tall base to tip.

These are easy to set as we have cut and polished the base flat and also rounded and polished the base slightly to add a lot of glow! The rounded base makes is easier to bezel set without breaking the crystal.

We will be cutting these points in this size and up to 25 Carat range

Prices may vary slghtly but for the most part these will average $3.50 each

The last picture is Lek at the cutting wheel grinding the base of the crystals, That is a hand crank grinding wheel by the way! It takes some practice as you need to hold the gem with one hand and crank with the other!

New Tibetan Antique Turquoise Shipment

After a great deal of anticipation our shipment of Antique Tibetan turquoise finally arrived from Thailand!  These are Antique Tibetan Turquoise Beads. When we trade for them they are really very worn and rather beat up. They have been carefully repolished in Thailand to remove all the wear and tear while careful attention is paid to maintaining the original shape.
Please Note; These are Natural and untreated old stock Tibet Turquoise, Very Nice! The pictures are shot right out of the box. All are drilled lengthwise. This lot weighs 1,160 carats and as you can imagine it takes a little time to shoot pictures,weigh and measure the stones. A few have been listed for sale and can be seen at ,
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilverFound