Monday, March 23, 2009

BEST BEAD BUYS OR BUYER'S REMORSE?




When it comes to shopping online for beads, jewelry making and craft supplies, there are so many choices out there, it can often get confusing or just plain make your head spin. One place might have spectacular prices on gemstone beads, while another might have great deals on findings. Still, another place might offer discounts or free shipping that make the pricing on their stuff that much more attractive. And just when you think you’ve found the perfect place to purchase those hard to find Swarovski bicone beads, you stumble upon another site that causes you to rethink everything altogether (or get a serious case of buyer's remorse.)

I have found two outstanding places on the net that have been awfully hard to beat when it comes to price. Gem Mall and Gifts Joy. Both of these places offer wholesale type pricing to the public with no large minimum order needed. Gem Mall will even give you further discount pricing if you have a resale license. Simply upload a copy of your license to their website and when you log in, you will get even better pricing on their offerings. With Gifts Joy, I was able to email them my resale license to avoid paying California sales tax (a huge plus since our sales tax is going up and will be near 10% starting April 1st). These sites aren’t perfect, but price wise, they offer terrific bargains.

Where does everyone else shop for your beading and crafting needs? I’m looking for smaller places that offer spectacular deals, and aren’t the most obvious beading choices like Fire Mountain Gems or Aunties Beads. It’d be great, in this economy, to hear about places that are smaller outlets that can really use the business to get them through these tough times.

So—let’s hear it! Where do you get the best buys on beads?

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