Customer FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)
 

About this FAQ:  I may have gone overboard by answering every possible question that I could think of, but I figure the more my customers know, the better.  If you have a question about the beads or this site, you are likely to find it here.

Your prices are not the best that I have seen.

My prices are competitive, but there are retailers with better prices.  The largest beadsellers generally import their own beads.  I am not an importer.  Rather, I buy from importers, so I have that additional mark-up to contend with.  Also, I haven't yet achieved a large volume of sales.  As my sales increase, I may be able to lower my prices.  I say "may" because wholesale prices are rising due to the weakness of the dollar, which is something I have no control over.

I price my items on a scale that's different from many other sellers.  Many sellers charge low prices for plain beads (basic single-color translucent beads in common shapes without any special coatings or other features), but then they'll charge a very high price for any bead which is in any way fancy.  I don't do that.  The fancy beads get the same markup as the plain beads on my site.  Consequently, if you buy a selection of plain and fancy beads, you'll get a good deal.  If you buy only fancy beads, then the deal is even better.

Just as an example, a competitor of mine sells 25 of my F261 beads (8mm aqua cathedral beads) for $7.00, whereas I sell them for $3.75.  That seller sells 50 of my F146 beads (6mm turquoise faceted beads) for $3.20, whereas I sell them for $3.50.  That seller also sells 100 of my F158 beads (4mm turquoise faceted beads) for $3.00, whereas I sell them for $3.80.  If you bought all three beads from both me and my competitor, you would pay less in my store.  But if you bought only the less-fancy beads, my competitor would have the better price.

So the question remains:  Why should you buy from me?  I carry some beads that I haven't seen elsewhere, and I think that I have good taste in selecting beads.  For the most part, my pictures are good and allow you to see what the beads really look like.  Unlike other sellers, I have what you might call a "full disclosure" policy:  I always tell you about defects, and I give my honest impressions of the beads.  My customer service and return policies are good.  And all you have to do to get 10% off is to buy $50 worth of beads.  U.S. customers buying $100 worth will get you 10% off plus free shipping, which is equivalent to about 15% off.

You say that you reduced the price of a bead, but the price doesn't look particularly low.

Let's say that, using my pricing formula, I conclude that a good price for a particular bead is $5.50 per 50 beads, but 10% of those beads are cracked.  10% off $5.50 is $4.95.  Since my prices must be in multiples of 10¢, I will make the price $4.90.  Right next to it, however, might be a similarly sized bead selling for $4.50 which has no defects at all.  The less-expensive bead simply had a lower wholesale price.  Since I can't tell you what my wholesale costs are, you need to trust that I'm being honest when I say that a price has been reduced.

Your selection of beads isn't very large.

You are absolutely right!  My business is new, only five years old.  Unfortunately, I started the business without much capital, so my selection was small right from the start.  Sales have been good but not great, so I haven't been able to build stock very quickly.  Nonetheless, I am adding new styles each month.  As of this writing (April, 2008), I have about 1,025 bead styles and/or sizes.  Carrying 300 bead styles was my original goal (how quickly I surpassed it!); my new goal is to carry 2000 styles.  I should point out that I don't try to carry everything – I only buy the beads that look good to me.

Why are so many of your items going out of stock?

I buy beads in small quantities, usually one mass (1200 beads).  Since I don't carry a large amount of any style, they tend to run out quickly.  Stocking small quantities of a large number of items increases the chance that my customers will find items they like (this is a common retail technique to keep sales high).  As time passes and my business becomes more profitable, I will stock larger quantities and they won't run out so quickly.  I frequently restock items, although sometimes they are no longer available.

Can you send me a catalogue?

I don't have a catalogue.  A printed catalogue would not be feasible because my stock changes so quickly.  By the time the catalogue arrived from the printers, at least ten percent of the beads would be out of stock!  Also, catalogues are expensive, and I am trying to keep my costs down.

Can you send me samples?

I have decided not to send samples.  I run my business on slim profits, and sending samples costs money.  Sending a few beads of a particular style ruins one lot of the beads, causing me to have to throw the remaining beads in the odds & ends jar.  My pictures are good enough, I think, to give you an accurate idea of what the beads look like.  If you buy beads from me that you feel were misrepresented by my pictures or descriptions, I will not only refund your money, I will refund all your shipping costs.

When you say that a certain number of beads are left, what exactly does that mean?

If an item says "100 beads left", that means that I have 100 beads in my possession.  That has nothing to do with whether the beads are still available from the supplier – sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.  If the beads sold well, and if I can still get them, I may restock them.  On the other hand, I may choose to spend that money on something new.  If you want me to restock a particular bead style, you need to tell me.

Some beads have descriptions such as 'red jasper', 'malachite', 'lapis', etc.  Are those beads actually made of stone?

The Czech manufacturers have some standard color combinations which they have named after semiprecious stones, and I have simply picked up on those names.  When I first started my business, I would describe them like this:

          6mm blue lapis glass beads

But now I do it like this:

          6mm blue 'lapis' beads

If you see quotes, that means the beads are not really semiprecious.

However, if I use the term in a descriptive way, then I may not use quotes, like this:

6mm amethyst purple beads
6mm peridot green opalescent beads, etc.

In those cases, the words "amethyst" and "peridot" are used descriptively, so I don't use quotes.  It can get confusing, I know.  You'll know if the beads you are buying are truly semiprecious if they are in the "Semiprecious" section of the page you are ordering from (although at this time I carry no semiprecious beads).

Why don't you carry more semiprecious beads?

Semiprecious beads are problematic for me because they are made under very bad working conditions in both China and India – the lapidary workers often become disabled and sometimes die prematurely from inhaling stone dust.  Also, the quality of semiprecious beads is variable, and that means that I must change my stock (and therefore my pictures) more often.  For example, I may find some good-quality sodalite on one shopping trip, but the next shopping trip the good sodalite will be gone, so I can't restock it.  Sometimes I will replace good stones with medium-quality stones, but then I feel that I'm selling substandard products.  In general, I find that buying glass beads is less of a hassle.

There is now one more reason why I don't buy semiprecious beads:  Because quality is such an issue, I must buy them in person, but since moving to Rhode Island I no longer live near any semiprecious-bead suppliers.

Why don't you carry more matte beads?

Matte beads come in a good quality and a poor quality, and I found that I was getting too many poor-quality beads.  For that reason, I stopped ordering them altogether.  However, I have started buying them again.  I decided that if I get some bad-quality matte beads, I can simply put them on the Discounted page.

Why don't you carry Swarovski crystal beads?

There are several reasons:

First, Swarovski beads are very expensive. When my business gets bigger and I have more money, I may add Swarovski beads (though it's not likely).

Second, Swarovski beads come in a huge assortment of styles and colors.  In order to build up a reasonable selection of styles and colors, I would have to devote my entire bead budget to them for at least half a year, and then the other areas of my stock would suffer.

Third, there is a great deal of competition among Swarovski beadsellers, and the mark-up that I could charge would be fairly small.  In other words, Swarovski beads are less profitable than Czech beads.  With Czech beads, the chances that I can find a bead style that no other internet supplier is selling is greater than with Swarovski beads. That means that I can mark up the beads a little more and make a reasonable income from the business.  This would seem to suggest that I am making unreasonable profits from Czech beads, but I am not.  My point is that the profit that I could make from Swarovski beads would be too small to support myself.

Why don't you carry more large beads?

Large beads are problematic.  First, they are usually very expensive.  The amount that I have to spend to buy a mass of 15mm to 20mm beads is enough to buy four to eight mass (masses?) of smaller beads.  Also, defects are more apparent on large beads.  For example, a small pit on the surface of a large bead is usually more noticeable than a pit on a small bead; that's because the larger surface area of the large bead makes the pit more obvious.  Cracking is also a problem.  Nonetheless, when I see good large beads that aren't outrageously expensive, I get them.  I just don't see that many that I like and can afford.  I should add that the manufacturers don't make nearly as many large beads as small beads.

Why don't you carry metal findings and Bali silver?

I recently decided to start carrying metal findings, but discovered that the supplier I had intended to use had moved out of the city.  As soon as I find a good supplier, and have a little extra money to spend, I will start carrying findings.

I'm looking for a certain bead.  Can you get it for me?

I will try to find it for you, but it's not likely that I'll succeed.  Many Czech beads are made in limited runs and are available for only a short period of time.  Even if the bead you are looking for is not a limited-run bead, my suppliers may not carry it.  However, you should feel free to ask, and I'll do what I can.

What are job-lot beads?

The term "job lot" is fairly well known, but I'll define it anyway.  Job-lot goods are goods which could not be sold through regular retail channels, either because the manufacturer made more than it could sell, the goods had defects, or the goods simply didn't sell well.  Job-lot goods can also come from retailers or wholesalers who are going out of business.  By definition, job-lot goods are not the most desirable items.  Job-lot beads are usually plain, unattractive or defective.  However, I have found some gems among job-lot beads, and in late 2004 I started to carry them.

The savings that I get from buying job-lot beads are not huge, somewhere between 30% to 50% off the normal wholesale price.  Because of the weak dollar, the cost of Czech beads is going up, and this is true for job-lot beads also.  I am able to pass some of the savings on to my customers, but I still have to count them and package them like other beads, so the discounts aren't dramatic.  As a matter of fact, whereas normal wholesale beads usually come pre-strung in quantities of 25, 50 or 100 (so that I don't have to count them), job-lot beads almost always come loose and must be counted.  Between counting them and picking out the defective beads, job-lot beads can be a lot of trouble.

Why do your pictures load so slowly?

I use large, minimally compressed pictures because I think it is important for my customers to get a good look at what they are buying.  Pictures that are heavily compressed (so that they will load quickly) always look blurry.

Do you edit imperfections out of your pictures?

Sometimes I do, but it isn't because I want to deceive my customers.  I am a perfectionist and I hate to produce a picture that looks imperfect.  Whether or not I edit defects out of the pictures, I always give an accurate description of defects on the site.  However, I am aware that if I didn't edit out the defects, it would give my customers an idea of what the defects look like.  But it is very hard to ignore my perfectionist nature when I am fixing up a picture.  I edit out defects on some pictures, but on others I don't bother.  Usually I don't.

Most of the fixing up that I do to a picture – cropping, brightening, adding contrast, etc. – is to make the pictures look more accurate.  The pictures that come right out of the camera are often too dark and dull.

Can you sell me beads in smaller quantities, such as 5 beads of each style?

No.  I wouldn't be able to make a profit selling such small quantities.  Also, If you purchased just 5 beads of a particular style, that would leave me with an odd lot which I would have difficulty selling.  Fifty is the minimum quantity for beads 6mm and above, except for very large or expensive beads, which are sold in lots of 20 or 25.  Very small beads are sold in lots of 100.

However, I do have a jar of "odds & ends" beads which I periodically post on the site and sell.  That jar contains small quantities of many kinds of beads – but you can't select which beads you get, and you may not like them all.

Is my credit-card information safe on your site?

Your credit-card information never gets stored on my site or on the server where my site exists.  PayPal handles all my credit-card transactions, and the information is stored on their servers.  I don't even have access to it.  PayPal is very security-conscious, and I'm sure your information is safe.  (Note:  Although PayPal provides my credit-card processing services, you don't have to have a PayPal account to use your credit card on my site.)

My credit card (or debit card) wouldn't work on your site, but I know it's good.

PayPal, the company that processes my credit-card transactions, gave these possible reasons:

- One-time-use cards and gift cards are not accepted by their system.

- PayPal debit cards do not work.

- Some credit-card issuers will block transactions over a certain amount and require the customer to get prior approval before making the purchase.  In such cases, all internet purchases over that amount will be declined without explanation.

- If you have a card provided by your employer, you should know that some companies do not allow their employees to make purchases on the internet.  The logic here is that the company-provided card is meant to be used for travel, etc., not for purchasing merchandise from the internet.

If you were not able to use your card on my site, please consider if any of these explanations are possible, and then call your credit-card issuer.

I have been ordering from you for a long time.  Will you let me buy on credit?

I started giving credit to long-time customers in the spring of 2005, but the second person I extended credit to started having financial problems and never paid me the $80 she owed, so I've decided not to extend credit any more.  $80 is a lot of money to me, and I still resent her.

Why don't you give a permanent discount to customers who buy a lot of beads?

That's not a bad idea.  However, my shopping cart cannot be programmed to recognize certain customers and give them an extra discount, so it isn't practical.  In order to give high-volume customers an extra discount, I would have to charge their credit cards separately (after I had calculated the discount) and that would add to the total volume of my work.

I have a RI tax ID number.  How do I avoid paying tax?

If you are in Rhode Island and have a state tax ID number, select "RI with Tax no." as your shipping zone, and then insert your tax ID number in the field that says "Send me a message here" (but don't type in the message until you are ready to go to Checkout; otherwise, the message will be erased).

You use "private shipping insurance".  What is that?

I use a private insurance company – DSI – to insure all my larger shipments.  Private insurance is less expensive and less troublesome than postal insurance.

Very small shipments are self-insured, meaning that I guarantee that your beads will be replaced if they don't arrive.  I charge a small fee to my customers for self-insured shipments, but that fee is substantially less than what the post office charges.

How fast do you ship?

My answer to this question used to be "within two days", but that has changed!  The volume of my sales has increased substantially and I am now behind much of the time.  About two-thirds of my total sales come in after a mailing, so I get swamped and may fall behind by several days, up to a full week.  You may then wonder, why don't I hire an assistant?  If I did, I would have to raise my prices substantially.  My prices are set just high enough to support one person.

To make matters worse, I am not a "high energy" person.  I am overweight and have diabetes and I work slowly, and thus I rarely work more than about 7 hours a day (although I usually work every day of the week).

You charged me $6.10 for shipping but the package had only $4.60 postage on it.

The postage amount does not include the cost of insurance.  Also, I add a small amount for the cost of the packing materials, such as bubble mailers, and a small amount for the cost of the postage meter.  If the shopping cart overcharges you more than a dollar, I will give you a refund.  You should always feel free to contact me if you are concerned about the shipping charge (or anything else, for that matter).

My shipment hasn't arrived!  What will you do about it?

Web site orders less than $30:  For web site orders less than $30, I simply replace the beads.  If the beads you ordered have gone out of stock, I will ask you to pick other beads of equal value.  Please note that I do not give cash refunds for orders less than $30.  If I did, all a customer would have to do to get free beads would be to claim that she didn't get them.

Web site orders more than $30:  First we need to wait 30 days to make sure the shipment is really lost.  At that point I will send you an insurance form to fill out.  When I receive the form, I will either send you a refund or I will ship you new beads.  The insurance form is necessary so that I can receive reimbursement from my shipping insurer.  Although this is a long process, there is really no alternative.  Customers who refuse to wait for reimbursement and who initiate a credit-card chargeback will not be able to purchase from Purebeads again.

Auction customers:  If you are an auction customer and didn't pay for shipping insurance, there is really nothing I can do.  If the order is small, I will replace it for half price (which covers my wholesale cost).

Why didn't you send me the tracking number for my package?

The tracking number won't usually tell you anything.  It won't tell you when the package will be delivered, and it won't usually tell you where the package is in the delivery system.  I mail my packages via the post office, and their Delivery Confirmation service is very unsophisticated.  The only thing it will tell you is when the package was finally delivered – but by then, you should already have the package.  The tracking number is really for my use; it allows me to verify that the customer received the order.

Why wasn't there a packing slip in my package?  There was nothing but a business card!

I don't have a very automated order system, and printing a packing slip is a lot of work and would add about 10% to the time it takes me to pack all orders.  Since I am doing all the work, I need to get the orders out as quickly as possible.  To print a packing slip, I have to remove the sheet labels that are loaded in the printer and insert a sheet of paper.  It's a lot of work!  Also, an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper folded up would be hard to fit in my smallest bubble mailers.  Another reason is that I am an avid conservationist and I like to save on paper whenever possible.

For orders under $70, the customer must print out the receipt that the shopping cart sent her via email when she placed her order.  That receipt can be used both as a packing slip and as a receipt for tax purposes.

Why don't you ship by UPS, since it's cheaper?

UPS is for packages 1 lb. and over.  Furthermore, UPS is no longer cheaper than the post office.  I did a comparison of a 1-lb. package going to California, and the post office was cheaper.  Also, there is no UPS office near me.

I paid for100 beads and got 98.

That was either a mistake on my part or a mistake on the part of the manufacturer.  Let me explain:

If the beads you bought came loose in a bag from the supplier, then the mistake was mine (I counted the beads wrong).  But if the beads you bought came from the supplier on hanks (strings tied together), then the mistake was the manufacturer's.  When beads come on hanks, the strings of beads usually have 25, 50 or 100 beads on them, depending on the bead size and style.  In order to save myself time, I do not count the beads; I simply cut them off the strings.  If the manufacturer put the wrong number of beads on a string, you will get the wrong number of beads in your order.  Recently, for example, I got a hank of 6mm beads that had 45 beads per strand instead of 50.

If you ever find that I have shorted you on beads, just let me know and I'll send the extra beads or give you a partial refund.

Sometimes beads come strung on individual 16" strands – that is particularly true of semiprecious beads.  I pass those beads along just as they are and don't count them.  Such strands are supposed to be 16" long, but sometimes they are shorter.

You describe a bead as being 8mm, but which dimension do you mean?

If I mention only one dimension, that will be the longest dimension, regardless of how the hole runs through the bead.  However, if I mention two dimensions – such as 6mm x 8mm – I do that because the hole runs through the shorter dimension, which is not usually the case.  When the hole runs through the longest dimension, I don't mention the other dimensions because I feel that you can see from the picture how the bead is shaped; therefore, giving the other dimension isn't important.

The beads you sent me are much smaller than they look on the site.

I post close-up photographs of the beads I sell, and that naturally makes them look larger than they are.  The details that you can see in a close-up photograph may not be evident in actuality.  It is like looking at the weave of a cloth:  Close up, you can see all the different colored threads, but from a distance they all blur into one color.  I believe, however, that showing close-up pictures is important so that the customer can see the condition of the beads.

I give the sizes of all the beads that I post.  The dimension given is the hole-to-hole dimension (if a bead is wider than it is long, I give both the length and the width).  I expect my customers to know how big the various dimensions are – e.g., to know how big "6mm" is.  It would be meaningless for me to post a scale on my site because the dimensions of the scale would change depending on the size and resolution of your monitor.

Why don't you put a coin in your pictures so I can better see what size the beads are?

It might be helpful to put a coin in each picture, but personally I think that is unattractive.  It would also make it harder for me to compose my photographs.  You simply need to learn what the various sizes are, and take note of the sizes of beads before you order them.  There is no substitute for experience.

The beads that I got aren't as bright and rich-looking as the beads in the picture.

That's probably because I did a poor job of fixing up the picture.  All of the digital cameras that I've owned have tended to produce dark pictures.  In the process of lightening the pictures, the colors in the beads tend to become very bright-looking, brighter than they actually are.  It is possible to tone down the brightness by reducing the "color saturation", but it wasn't until mid-2005 that I figured out how to do that.  If the bead colors in a picture are unrealistically bright, please be assured that I didn't make them that way on purpose – the last thing I want to do is to deceive my customers.

Here is an example of what I mean:

It is also possible that your monitor is calibrated differently from mine.  I have a very good monitor, but the picture may not be set as brightly as yours.  Thus, beads that look correct on my monitor may look too bright on yours.

If you feel strongly that one of my pictures does not accurately represent the beads, please contact me to let me know.  Furthermore, do not hesitate to return the beads for a refund.

Some of the beads you sent me were defective.

Defective beads are unavoidable, and how to handle defects is an ongoing problem for me.  Beads are non-critical items, so they aren't made to exacting standards.  I do my best to select beads which don't have defects, but sometimes I end up with defective beads anyway.  It is not possible for me to examine every bead that I sell.  Thus, I handle defective beads in various ways, depending on the bead:

* If the percentage of defects appears to be small (5% or less), or if the defects are minor enough that many customers might use the beads anyway, and if the beads are strung on hanks, I don't make any effort to weed them out.  (This is not true for large beads, however – I examine all beads 14mm and over before shipping, and I eliminate the defective ones.  I also examine all expensive beads, such as window beads.)  You might think that this is an unfair policy, since you will get some defective beads.  However, if I took the time to eliminate all defective beads from every order, I would have to raise most of my prices.

* If the percentage of defects is high (e.g., 10% to 50%), I may choose to put the beads on sale at a reduced price.  In such instances, I pass the defective beads along to the customer, who must eliminate them.

* If the percentage of defects is high (e.g., 10% to 50%), I may choose instead to sell the beads at a normal price and then include 10% to 50% extra beads with each order.  In such instances, it is up to the customer to eliminate the defective beads.

Please note that sometimes it is a "judgement call" as to whether a bead is defective or not.  I consider chips, scratches, cracks, large pits, black spots, and deformations to be serious defects.  But I may not consider small pits, small nicks, small flat spots or color anomalies to be serious.

Having said all this, please don't forget that you are always free to return beads for a full refund.  On returns, I refund your original shipping charge and pay for your return shipping.

There is one defect that I don't like but which I can do nothing about:  rough, frosty holes.  Here are some examples:

I purchased 100 of a certain bead, and you sent me "100 + 15".

This relates to what I said above about defective beads.  If I sent you 15 extra beads, that means that in my estimate 15% of the beads were defective, and I was including the extra beads so that you would end up with 100 good beads.  In such cases, you should examine each bead individually and eliminate the defective ones before making them into jewelry.

The beads you sent me were dirty, and some had fingerprints.

Alas, I don't have the time to clean dirty beads before I send them to customers.  Some beads pick up dirt and dust from the Czech factory to here (although most of them don't, since most of them are sealed in plastic); and in some instances, the dust might have gotten onto the beads before they were packed.  As for fingerprints, you are most likely to find those on beads that have polished windows on both sides.  The Czech workmen actually hold each bead up to a polishing machine, so a fingerprint is sometimes left on one side of the bead; and since the business of polishing beads is dirty work, the fingerprints sometimes look dirty.  In addition to this, I sometimes put hand cream on my hands while packing the orders, and that may cause me to leave my own slightly greasy fingerprints.  (I won't tell you about the times I've eaten fried chicken while packing the orders!)

There was a hair in my order – that's gross!

Yup, it happens.  My apartment is full of cats and a hairy human (me), and once in a while a hair gets into an order.  However, hairs also get into the beads in the Czech Republic, where the beads are made.  More than once I have found a small clump of hair in a hank of beads (a hank is a bunch of beads strung together).  Apparently, hair gets into the bead-stringing equipment, and the hair end up in knots or clumps among the beads.  When I am removing beads from a hank, I don't always notice the clumps, and they end up going to the customer.  However, this rarely happens.  I estimate that one bag of beads out of 300 or more may have a clump of hair in it.

Do you ever put your beads on sale?

The only times I put my beads on sale are when I really need the money.  In other words, I have no schedule for holding sales.  Having said that, however, it is true that I usually hold a sale during the summer, and also in early December.  I never have a sale more than once every two months – if I were to have sales more often, my customers would start waiting for them, and that would be disastrous for my business.  Don't forget that you can always get a 10% discount by ordering $50 worth of beads, and that I eliminate the shipping charge for larger orders.

You say you are concerned about the environment, but you use bubble mailers.

It is true that the plastic in bubble mailers is not good for the environment.  However, it is impossible to avoid plastic altogether.  Even if I used small boxes, the packing tape is made of plastic.  Furthermore, destroying trees to make boxes isn't necessarily better for the environment than using plastic.  The mailers that are best for the environment are mailers with shredded paper padding, but they are so heavy that they would increase the shipping cost for every order.

My theory is this:  The thin plastic used in bubble mailers takes a decade or two to biodegrade.  As a person who cares about the environment, I am more concerned about the large amounts of plastic used in products such as furniture, rugs, electronic equipment, automobiles, food containers, etc.  Thick plastic items can take hundreds or thousands of years to biodegrade.  For example, the thin plastic bag that most candy bars come in may take 10 years to biodegrade, but the hard plastic container that Tic Tacs come in may take hundreds of years to biodegrade (hint: don't buy Tic Tacs).

Will you always carry the same styles of beads?

Some bead styles will always be available.  This is especially true of round beads in certain standard colors, in particular:  plain colors, plain colors with AB coatings, and the imitation stone colors ("tiger eye", "red jasper", blue "lapis", green "malachite", brown "agate", etc.).  Other beads, such as givre beads (clear beads with a cloud of color in them) will probably be available indefinitely, although the bead shapes may change.  Also, there are some coatings that will probably be used for many years, if not indefinitely, such as luster coatings, AB coatings and vitrail coatings.  However, some fancy beads are manufactured in limited runs, and the manufacturer may not make that bead again for months or years.  In fact, some beads may never be made more than once.  That is especially true of beads which have a mixture of colors in them, since the manufacturer may not be able to duplicate that color mixture again.

Many of the styles I am selling now are in limited stock at the supplier, and I expect them to run out within a year.

Why haven't you given me feedback for my auction purchase?

I made a decision not to give feedback until the entire transaction is complete, meaning that the beads have been shipped and received and the customer has told me whether she is happy with them or not.  Some eBay customers have a casual attitude towards feedback and will leave neutral or negative feedback for the slightest reason, even before trying to resolve a problem.  Since feedback is the only leverage I have against such people, I now wait about 3 weeks before leaving feedback.

In what circumstances do you give negative feedback?

I rarely give negative feedback to auction customers.  If the auction customer doesn't pay, I just request a refund of fees from eBay.

I sent you an email and you never answered me.

I believe that a small percentage of emails sent to me don't get through, either because of spam filters, internet disconnects, or other problems.  I am very good at answering my mail.  If I didn't answer your message, either I didn't get it, or you didn't get my reply.  However, I do occasionally forget.

If your message was a friendly, chatty message that didn't require an immediate response, I might have made a mental note to answer your message when I wasn't busy, but then forgot.  You should never hesitate to send me a reminder if I haven't written back.  I don't want anyone's feelings to be hurt.

You are very nice.  I am thinking of sending you a little gift.

Unless the gift is very little, it would be better if you didn't.  I am making less than $30,000 as of this writing, and I can't afford to send gifts in return.  That being the case, accepting gifts from my customers makes me feel uneasy.  If anything, I should be giving gifts, not the other way around!

A customer once sent me a gift of fruit preserves along with her check.  I found out that the box was from her before I knew what was in it.  I sent her a message saying, "Why did you send your check in a box?  The line at the post office is very long!  It will take me 30-40 minutes to pick up the box!"  Then, when I opened the box and found the gift, I was mortified that I had said those things to her.  After that, nothing I said was enough to heal her hurt feelings.  For this reason and others, I would prefer to keep things on a professional level with my customers.

Also, please do not send me e-cards.  I detest web site animations, so I do not have Flash Player installed on my computer, and I cannot view any e-cards that are sent to me.

NOTE:  A large section of the FAQ page was removed from this spot and turned into its own article, "Bead Types".

How many beads are in a rosary?

Here is a graphic, courtesy of Rosarycard.com, which shows the beads in a rosary:

There are 59 beads altogether, 6 large beads and 53 small beads (all the beads can be the same size, if you wish).  It is not necessary to have the connecting medal, but it's a nice touch; nor does the connecting medal have to have Mary on it, though it often does.  Not all rosary necklaces have this configuration, although my understanding is that this is the most common arrangement.

Each large bead is for one recitation of Our Father, and each small bead is for one recitation of Hail Mary.  If you wish, you can say the Glory Be prayer at the end of every ten Hail Marys.

Are your beads "vintage"?

That depends on how you define "vintage".  If "vintage" means "out of production", then many of my beads are vintage.  However, if "vintage" means "decades old", then the answer is no, my beads are not vintage.  I buy a lot of beads out of old, dusty boxes, but I doubt that any of them are more than five years old.

Some sellers use the term "vintage" for any bead which is out of production.  However, many Czech beads are made in limited runs, so many of the Czech beads on the market at any given time are no longer being made.  But that doesn't make them vintage.

If you are paying a premium for "vintage" Czech beads, you should stop immediately.  You should buy beads based on their appearance and quality only.  Don't be fooled by stories of "forgotten" Rhode Island warehouses that sat for decades full of beads.  It's possible, I suppose, that some stocks of beads went unsold for various reasons, but the likelihood is that such stories are false.  There is a well-known Rhode Island supplier (Wolf E. Myrow) which many people think is such a place, but it isn't.  They are just a normal business specializing in job-lot beads.

How durable are beads?

That depends on the bead, although you should know that glass, as hard as it is, can be scratched and worn with use.  A bracelet which is constantly knocking against objects will not wear as well as a necklace which rests against your blouse.  The quality of the glass, as well as the addition of metallic pigments and other ingredients, can make the surface more or less resistant to damage.

The most durable beads are those which have all the color and other effects inside the glass.  Beads with colors and affects applied to the surface are less durable.  That includes:

- plastic-coated or painted beads (even if they are fire-polished after being coated)

- beads with sprayed on AB coatings

- beads with colored or metallic linings (i.e., colored paint or silver in the holes)

However, please note that some coatings are heat-sealed to the bead, and such beads should be very durable.

I am opening a bead shop and I would like to use Purebeads as a supplier.

It is important that you understand that Purebeads is a retail business.  That means that my prices are at least double (and often more) what you would pay to a wholesaler for the same beads.  Of course, you would have to buy larger quantities from a wholesaler.  Nonetheless, if you are starting a bead business, I urge you to find some wholesalers to purchase your beads from.

Where can I get beads for less money?

If you live in a town or small city, there may not be a wholesaler which sells beads at lower-than-retail prices.  If there are no wholesalers in your town, using Google or Yahoo to search for wholesalers may turn up a few sites with good prices.  As an example, if you want dalmatian jasper beads, search for "dalmatian jasper beads" and you'll find plenty of sites that sell them – and some of those sites will have good prices.  Please note that to get beads at the lowest prices, you have to buy large quantities.  I suggest you read my article on bead prices, which discusses wholesalers extensively.

Having said that, there are a few large retailers on the internet which have good prices.  They include Shipwreck Beads (www.shipwreck.com), Fire Mountain Gems (www.firemountaingems.com), and the Northern Bead Company (www.northernbead.com).  You can be sure that it is painful for me to list the names of my competitors here, but I don't think my customers come to me because they don't know about those other companies.  I have an interesting selection of beads, and I provide good customer service.

As for wholesalers, I just feel that I can't divulge the names of my suppliers.  However, if you search the internet extensively, you will probably find them.

What kind of thread and needles should I use?

There are so many kinds of strings and wires that can be used for beading.  The sources that I trust say that these are good for beading:

- nylon thread (mainly for seed beads)
- polyester thread (for seed beads)
- gel spun polyethylene (GSP) fishing line (for seed beads and larger beads)
- 49-strand stainless steel jewelry cable (for larger beads)

When buying thread or wire, be sure to match it to the size and weight of the beads you are using.  Also, there are different kinds of nylon and polyester threads – you should read the article mentioned below to find out which ones are best.

Do not use:

- cotton thread
- silk thread (except for knotting pearls)
- nylon fishing line
- monofilament (clear) nylon thread (use fluorinated carbon thread instead)
- tiger tail (wire)
- Kevlar thread

A jewelry designer name Sylvia Sur has published her own article on this issue.  Go to her site at http://home.att.net/~ssur/ and click on "About Threads".  Since I have gotten much of my information from that article, you should read it yourself.

Nylon beading thread is sold in packets with a beading needle attached, but the packets are expensive.  Since beading needles can be gotten separately, there is no need to use the packets.

Two new products have come on the market since I designed jewelry 18 years ago:  (1) multi-strand stainless-steel wire coated with nylon (sometimes the wire is plated with silver or gold), and (2) gel spun polyethylene fishing line.  The multi-strand wires are made by Beadalon and Soft Flex (there may be other manufacturers I'm not aware of).  Different people have different opinions about which is better.  The fishing line is available at – you guessed it – sporting goods stores.

According to Sylvia Sur, gel spun polyethylene thread is flexible and fantastically strong.  It has made quite a stir among beaders.  It comes in small enough sizes to use for seed beads.  Larger sizes are available for use with larger beads.  Judging from what I have read on Jewelry bulletin boards, FireLine seems to be the brand of choice, at least for seed beading.

Note:  If you use a super-strong stringing material, be sure that you build a weak spot into your jewelry so the jewelry will break if it gets caught.  You don't want your customer to be strangled or dismembered if the jewelry gets caught on something (see my article on the home page).

You should use beading needles – they are made of thin wire and have a flexible eye which compresses when it is pulled through a bead hole.  They can be gotten at jewelry supply stores.  Sewing needles are completely unsuitable for beading.

Should I use gold-plated, gold-filled, or solid gold findings?

The term "findings" refers to clasps, earring hooks, metal filler beads, and other metal components in a piece of jewelry.

You should never used gold-plated beads, as the gold plating is extremely thin and will chip off sooner or later.  If the plating doesn't chip off, the base metal underneath will tarnish through the plating.  Not all "gold-plated" beads are plated with real gold.  There is a gold-colored substitute in use, referred to as "gilt", which tarnishes quickly.  I should add that gold-plated silver vermeil beads are a plated type of bead that I think is acceptable (gold plating on silver).  When the gold wears off, you still have a precious metal bead left.  However, I have heard that the silver can tarnish through the gold plating.  Presumably, dipping the item in silver-tarnish-remover will fix that.

If your customers aren't too snobby, I recommend gold-filled beads.  Those are molded beads with gold on the outside and a base metal on the inside, which gives them strength.  The gold surface, being molded, is thicker than gold-plating, so it lasts and doesn't allow any tarnish to come through (at least, not for many years).  Also, the bond between the gold and the base metal is stronger, so the gold won't peel off.  Twenty years ago I used them exclusively and they never tarnished or showed any signs of wear.  I was recently told that their life is about 20 years.

If your customers are snobby, or if you are charging high prices for your jewelry, you should use solid gold.  Solid gold beads can be bought in 14 karat and 18 karat and possibly other karats.  I never used either, but my impression is that 18 karat beads are softer than 14 karat and are more prone to damage.  Neither of them is as strong as gold-filled beads.

How are glass beads made?

Pressed beads.  To be honest, I'm not sure how pressed beads are made.  I believe that the molten glass is drawn into strips and then a stamper stamps out the beads (thus the term "pressed" beads).  After a bead is made, it may be faceted (cut by machine) and then fire-polished (drawn through high heat to make the surface shiny).  I believe that non-faceted beads are also fire-polished, but I'm not sure.  If the bead is coated, the coating may be fire-polished to bond it to the glass.  As for the holes, I believe they are part of the mold (the holes in Czech beads are clearly not drilled, so they must be part of the mold).  Possibly there is a a mandrel (a metal rod) running through the strip of molten glass before it is stamped, and the space that the mandrel occupies becomes the hole – but that is just a guess on my part.

Lampwork beads.  Lampwork beads are made individually.  The artisan creates a bead over an open flame (such as a propane torch) by melting rods of colored glass onto a mandrel (a thin metal rod).  Once the basic bead is created, it can be decorated with glass of different colors, which are melted onto the surface.  The bead must then be annealed (baked in a kiln) to remove any residual tension so it won't crack.  When the mandrel is removed, the space that it occupied becomes the hole.