Shopping for Sterling Silver

Halstead, Rio Grande and FMG are the only places I've ever ordered sterling or goldfilled from. I've bought some things from bulk buy groups in the past too, but those didn't always suite my ordering style. Pat

Mary,

In the past, there were several places online that I ordered from. FMG, Halstead, Rio, Artbeads, Thunderbird supply, Brightling Beads, EEBeads, Best buy beads, etc but now I order my silver almost exclusively from FMG. Why? Because they ARE the cheapest. The price you see on the site is what you get - keeping in mind the "savings bracket" you are in. At Halstead, they show their prices to be lower, but they get you during checkout with a surcharge fee to bring it up to the current price of silver so when you do the math, you actually end up paying more.

Believe me, my last order from FMG was over $1000.00, and I did my shopping around. Like always, it takes me a month if not more to order because I am checking the prices of what I want at several different websites. When you factor in the tax, shipping & handling, and any surcharges, against the assortable discount that FMG gives you - I always save more money buying from FMG than breaking up my order between the other places. Perhaps the discounts at FMG are only a huge benefit to those who order a lot of stuff... all I can say is shop around, find what you want to buy at the different sites, then do the math and see which one gives you the better deal.

Sterling

.. well, I just put in a good size order ($400) from FMG last week. It never fails that as soon as I do, I remember something else I need. :-/.

I wasn't thinking about the surcharge at Halstead. Plus I know the shipping will be less at FMG.

When I only have a couple of things to buy, I'll get them from jewelrysupply.com. Their shipping is $4, and when I don't fit into FMG's discount categories, that works well. Also, FMG doesn't have a very good supply of hematite. I buy my hematite at Shipwreck beads.

I think I'll start filling a new shopping basket at FMG. It takes me about a month to checkout too!! I'm so glad I'm not the only one. :-)

-m.

< .. well, I just put in a good size order ($400) from FMG last week. It never fails that as soon as I do, I remember something else < I need. :-/.

YEP!! that me! Always happens - never fails!

< When I only have a couple of things to buy, I'll get them from jewelrysupply.com. ..... I think I'll start filling a new shopping basket at < FMG. It takes me about a month to checkout too!! I'm so glad I'm not the only one. :-)

Funny you say that cause I've had the stuff in my current FMG cart for about

3 months now. I keep adding, deleting, and adding some more. I like the way the cart stay with you and as long as you access FMG at least once a month, they wont delete it like all the other sites do. But, once I put my order thru, I know I'll be back on the site putting stuff in a new cart. hahahahahahaaa

There is another site I found by accident. Seems promising... gemshow-online.com I haven't ordered from them yet so I haven't looked into their shipping, etc., but their prices seem reasonable. They have a lot of those great toggles that I call "anchor toggles" where the bar looks kinda like the handle bars on a kids bike. They are more decorative than the standard straight bar toggles and FMG doesn't seem to have many of them to choose from. Check em' out.

Sterling

A quick look at

and I swear it says "Free shipping on orders over $25"!!!

-m.

Yes, it even has FREE shipping to Canada on orders over $25.00. I have used Beadaholique in LA a few times and I find their prices to be very good. Shipping to Canada is something I have to watch and theirs is not high.

Here in the Toronto area, I buy from BeadFX. Check them out because the US and Cdn dollars are at par. That is where I got most of my copper findings and beads......but also at Beadaholique.

Cheers....Heather

>

Being to some extent (you don't wear silver in an area that's full of sulphur in the air, honest, but if you have customers who do, well ...) in the same process, I looked at a few of the places mentioned in this thread but at this time I'm mostly looking to stock up on wire, and I found that Monsterslayer has got the ones I looked at beat. Another one that I found reasonbly good is beadwholesaler/ Eaglebeads (beadwholesaler is the new website which still doesn't have all the pictures on it, but the prices on the eaglebeads website aren't valid anymore). I still don't have a Rio Grande account (heck, I still don't have an Ebay account).

Maren HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry

I thoroughly enjoy ordering anything! And thumbing through Rio catalogs can take all day. But, IMHO, they are the wholesalers who retail to wholesale buyers.

FMG has the best prices on most things. Once in a while, a vendor at a show can beat their prices, for some reason or another, but not usually. I'm not crazy about their business practices, but I have a feeling that I wouldn't be crazy about the business practices of a lot of companies...

I wouldn't order anything from Fire Mountain. The quality of their beads absolutely sucks! Their "B" quality beads are more like everyone else's "D" quality. Monsterslayer is good for sterling. Good prices, quality and fast shipping. If you have a wholesale license and want good quality gemstone beads, Earthstone cannot be beat. I often order from GemORama

in Mass., they have good prices on Softflex, supplies like bags, tools, great gemstone shaped beads. Good quality earwires. Their website is somewhat limited, but you can call and get their shaped bead specials and prices. They usually will ship the same day. If you don't have a wholesale license, try ordering from Suzanne Hye (Hye on Beads) on Ebay. She has great prices on Softflex, tools, stringing materials, books.

Patti

I was (for the time being) only considering them for ziplock bags. The 1x1" ziplock bags are hard to come by at a decent price.

I'm about to bite the bullet (again) and get myself another wholesale account ... (having had a tax license for 15 years being a business isn't exactly new to me) Softflex this time, as nobody on my side of the island is carrying it anymore. I want 0.024" Softflex, and I can't believe I'm the only one in this area.

Maren HiloBeads: Beads - Beading Supplies - Hand-made Jewelry

Never thought of that. You'd have to use fine silver or PMC.

Tina