So here are some Etsy stores I have chanced upon: 

1. BestinGems (Ohio, U.S)

Image: BestinGems

2. AiniGems (Jaipur, India)

 

 This is a Super 7 Stone. 

3. Gemsop (Athens, Greece)

Apart from the usual gemstones, they have interesting Mother of Pearl stones as well. For this shop, they didn't categorise their items like other shops so it might take awhile to browse through their listings. 

Some morganites. 

And spinel if you'd like.

4. Gems For Jewels (New Delhi, India)

I headed to the rough diamonds page immediately. Who else loves imperfections? For this particular image, you can find its listing here. 

5. jaz1507 (Thailand)

Cubic zirconia is perfect if you are looking for flashy stones without breaking the bank. These are lab created stones hence the selection of colors available is aplenty. This shop was recommended by one of our clients, so thank you Diona! 😊

They have synthetic Alexandrite which possesses the same color changing property like a natural Alexandrite. Genuine Alexandrites can be really expensive due to its rarity. 

Tips on Buying from Etsy:

1. Read the description

Take note of how many pieces you are purchasing as sometimes the titles are pretty misleading (probably due to translation or it is just a clickbait).

Take note of the dimensions — this has happened to me very often earlier when I tried buying from Etsy stores — it will always appear bigger on images.

Best to keep a ruler at hand so you can gauge roughly how big the gemstone will be on your finger (if you are intending to buy it for a ring).

2. Read the reviews

Etsy store owners take reviews seriously and count on these to get more customers. I do read them and review the purchases I made as well so that the next potential buyer can be more informed in their choices too. Some Etsy customers will upload actual photos of their purchase so you can compare between what was listed by the company vs what they actually got. 

3. Take note of shipping costs

Some listings may appear to be really dirt cheap but high shipping costs. I suggest for this kind of situation, you should purchase more at a go or rope a fellow gemaholic in to share the shipping costs hahaha.  If not, just hop onto another store since there are so many stores you can choose from.  

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Alright, so I hope this post helps you to kickstart some gem hunting on Etsy and if you are adventurous enough, you can consider buying firsthand from other websites or consider sourcing overseas in the future.

Thank you for reading and let us know in the comments if there are topics, questions you may have about our products and philosophy. Till next time!