Hi,

Has anyone bought anything from the PremiumPearl.com? Please comment on their quality and service. Thanks.

I bought a necklace from them before last Christmas. Overall the experience was not too bad, but not the greatest either. The reason I chose that Site was because it was in my local area. I wanted to visit to choose the necklace myself, but I was told that this was not possible.
For the money the quality was ok I guess. But the claim that they are the best pearls available is a little farfetched I feel. The pearls were a little on the chalky side and all the pearls in the necklace had marks. My mom was happy though, and I guess that is what is most important.
I bought another strand on Valentine's for my g-friend from another online website and the quality was a lot better - or I should say I let my g-friend choose the website and necklace she wanted. I do not remember for sure what company it was, I will ask her and let you know. The value for the money was definitely better there.

One last thing. I bought a strand that was listed as AAA+ from premiumpearl and a strand that was only AA+ from the other website. I only know about pearls what I learned on this forum when I was looking to buy, but I think AAA+ is madeup because the AA+ was way better, but a grade lower. Go figure.

I perused the Site as I have not looked it over. I am not a customer of theirs but I do sell pearls online.
The things I noticed most importantly is in their guarantee section. They have a sentence that says they use a strict pearl grading system recommended by the GIA. This is big red flag because this is a lie. The GIA does not recommend any grading system, and there is no way they would recommend a AAA+ and especially not even call it perfect.
The GIA grading class gives value factors of pearls when assessing value. I guess the sentence that premiumpearl.com uses could be construed as assessing the value factors of a pearl, but they do not even use the actual value factors assigned by the GIA in their graph. I would really suggest you bring this up when considering a sale.

The name of the site was purepearls.com.

CJ

I bought a pair of earrings from them and I thought they were pretty nice for the price. I do wear them. They were supposed to be the AAA. But I bought a strand of pearls from pealparadise that were listed as AA+ and I actually thought they were nicer. I haven't checked out purepearls yet.

There is no standard grading system in the pearl industry. The closest thing to standard is the pearl description system using the seven value factors that GIA developed and teaches.

Some dealers may take their highest quality piece and assign an AAA+ to that piece, and grade the balance of their stock accordingly. Another dealer may have a higher quality piece and call that one AAA+. Consequently, the two AAA+ pieces are not the same quality.

Unscrupulous dealers may artificially inflate their grades.

All of this leads to confusion to the buyer.

We feel that a dealer should have a description of their grades so the buyer will know what the pearls are like from the description. Good close up detailed photos are definately a plus. It would help if each value factor has its own grade (and description) because some of the factors are more important to a buyer than others.

Luster is the most important and we believe shape is second. Someone on a budget may need to compromise, and take a pearl with a lower than top luster and less than perfectly round, but with minimum blemishes. The descriptions and grades of each value factor will help that buyer.

[purepearls]

This is true that there is no universally accepted standard for grading pearls but the most widely accepted grading system is A to AAA with AAA being a Gem quality pearl. AAA+ is a system some dealers have come up with so they can inflate their prices. An honest pearl dealer will clearly specify what their standards are and convey that in the delivery of their products.

I always tell consumers that they should choose quality over size. If a customer is on a budget, choose smaller pearls at a higher quality rather than choosing larger pearls at a lower quality. Roundness, luster, matching, color, nacre thickness and surface cleanliness are all important factors when choosing pearls. Each has a significant role in the value of a pearl.

[purepearls]

Thank you Craigster! I am glad to see that you were happy with our pearls

I first want to say thank you all for this great informative forum. I have really learned a lot over the last couple of weeks.

I had purchased a strand of akoya pearls that were graded AAA from Premium Pearl. I was told by Yan that they were top of grade Japanese akoya pearls. Not really being much of a pearl educated type I just took that at face value. But when I received the pearls I just did not think they were very good. They certainly did not look like pearls I had seen in some stores. They did not have the same *pow* factor, and there were alot of marks on them.

So I did a little bit of research online and it of course led me to this place. I found this thread and decided to order another akoya necklace from Pure Pearls. I know some of you will say I should have got a freshwater, and I do plan to get a freshdama to compare soon, but I really wanted to get an akoya.

I have to say that my experience was exactly as recounted here. I got the AA+ only because the AAA that I wanted was out of stock. The AA+ had the *pow* that I was looking for. There was no comparison at all between the two necklaces. Pure Pearls' piece made the Premium Pearl piece look grotesquely cheap, and Premium Pearl made a big deal about their pearls coming from Japan and not China so they were so much better. AND the Premium Pearl strand was AAA but Pure Pearls was AA+, yet so much better! I personally don't believe that Premium's pearls were from Japan even, especially because they were so inexpensive.

Anyhow, thanks again. I would have liked to put a picture of the two necklaces side by side to show you what a difference there was but the picture I took was pretty bad. I may try one more time but I have to get a refund for AAA strand (and I use the term AAA very loosely) so I will have to send it back.

[Kevin Canning]

thanks for posting your experience SciGuy, just goes to show you that a little research can make all the difference in the world.

[Origami-girl]

Hello internet pearl people.

I wish I had found this forum about two weeks ago. I was researching the net tonight to understand pearl grading to figure out why I was so disappointed with a necklace I got from Premium Pearl and I happen upon this website, of course.

The necklace is back in the mail as of tomorrow and Pure Pearls here I come.

As there is no official grading scale for the pearl industry, it is very easy for vendors to start adding + and ++ to their grading systems, and it is also very easy for customers to believe they're getting a superior product, when in fact, that is nowhere near the case.

Having an actual person on the other end of the phone describing the piece in detail helps; you can pick up on alot by listening to the hesitation in their voice when trying to be objective about their product. If there's nothing to hide, then the sales person will be very free and easy with you, and answer any question you might have.

Good Luck!

[Origami-girl]

Just came back to report that I did receive my pearls from Ashley at Pure Pearls and they are fantastic. What started out as a bad experience with premiumpearl.com (waiting for a refund now) has turned into a good experiece thanks to Ashley.

I have learned so much here in the last couple of weeks. I am starting to want! Want pearls that is.

[SpaceNeedle]

I am also another happy customer of Ashley at Pure Pearls. My first on-line purchase with Pearls By Angela Carol was a disaster but Ashley turned that around. My gorgeous SSP earrings from Ashley were appraised by a local and reputable GIA appraiser here in AZ for 3 times more than what I paid for. When I wanted to exchange them for larger size pearls (to fit better with my fat face ), not a single question was asked.

[brian]

I purchased a necklace and a pair of earings from PermiumPearl for my sister. I have to say that, while I'm no pearl expert, I was very impressed with the quality. All the pearls were lustrous with no visible defects.

The earings were perfectly matched and my sister really enjoys wearing them regularly. The strand of pearls on the necklace were perfectly matched for color and size (at least to my eyes) and look great.

Shipping was prompt and the prices very competitive.

Given my experience, I'm quite surprised by some of the less favorable reports from others on this thread.