vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber" :
]The ones I am seeing on ebay are Czech pressed glass or firepolished. I ]have seen very few Czech lampwork like the ones you are talking about on ]ebay, in this category. For some reason many sellers don't know or don't ]care about the difference between Czech glass beads which are crystal or ]firepolish or pressed, and Czech lampwork beads. ]I also see a lot of silver in the lampwork category, as well as tools, large ]miscellaneous bead lots and other things that totally don't go there.
okay - just double checking. it really doesn't affect me, as i won't go to e-bay. but after seeing the film about the Czech lampworkers [thank you, Nicole!], i wanted to be clear what we were talking about.
that said, there are some big differences between Czech handmade, Chinese handmade, and India handmade, and US/Canada/Australia/English handmade [did i cover everyone?]. not only in quality sometimes, but also in technique and finish.
personally, i think e-bay's whole system needs major overhauling. it's just one number in a list of why i don't bother with them - give me an artist/wholesale/retail outlet online any day. [with the exception of Rio, and i understand why they don't have one - it's probably a good thing, for me.]