True Color of Gemstone Beads and ?Fine Print in Ebay Auctions

Some foreign sellers of gemstone beads on Ebay have top-of-the-line cameras and the photos of beads in their auctions allow bidders to zoom in and look at the beads close-up.  Some sellers have cheaper cameras or take poor photos.  Lighting is important but some sellers beads look darker or lighter in photos than they actually are.  Some photos may give the beads a reddish, greenish or bluish hue.

 Here are some faceted moss agate beads for sale on Ebay. You can't even tell what real color they are.

Using free photo editing sofware I downloaded on my computer (IrfanView), I sharpened the photo and lightened it up.  The improved photo gives one a better idea what the beads will look like.

Thats the gamble you take when you bid on gemstone beads on Ebay.  You could help avoid receiving what you're bidding on by only bidding on auctions with superb close-up photos of beads.  However, I've won auctions where the beads were much better than the photo.

You can also ask the seller questions about a bead auction.
Before you bid, be certain you look at these things:

1)  Shipping - Free or Not?  If not free, what cost?
2)  Dimensions of beads.  If it is in centimeters rather than millimeters, or perhaps you don't know the metric system, you can google "convert millimeters to inches" or "convert centimeters to inches".  Instantly the first few search results on Google.com are calculators where you can enter the amounts and get inches.
3)  Amount of beads.  Sometimes the auction title might not say how many beads.  It might say how many inches in a strand of beads you're bidding on.  Sometimes you must scroll down in the auction to see if it states how many beeds, etc.  If you're bidding on 12 millimeter beads, which are fairly large, know that fewer beads will fit on a 15 inch strand of beads than if they were 6 millimeter (6mm) beads.
4)  The shipping time.  Some auctions state how long it might take for beads to arrive.  And your purchase history section on Ebay shows the estimated delivery date.
5)  Look at the description of material the beads are made of.  You might be biddong on Howlite beads, which can be dyed to look exactly like Turquoise.  Some sellers call Howlite "Turkey Turquoise".  Howlite is a stone that can be reconstituted and re-formed to resemble practically any type of gemstone.  And some of it is very attractive and makes for some gorgeous beads.  But Howlite is not Turquoise, nor is "Turkey Turquoise" real Turquoise.
6)  Look at the seller's return policy.  I've never had to return beads, but you should be familiar with it in case you wanted ever to return a bead purchase.
 5)  Look at the seller's feedback.  Select the negatives and read the remarks.  If the seller has sold say 5,000 bead auctions in a month and received one bad feedback, I would give the seller the benefit of doubt and figure he/she couldn't be that bad of a seller to have sold that many beads and only had a small amount of complaints.  But if say a seller sold 100 bead auctions in a week, and received 10 negative feedbacks in a month -- I'd say something isn't quite right with that seller -- and read the feedback remarks.  Ones that should make you leery of a seller are "no communication", "did not respond to my email",  "lied to me", "would not give me refund", "took 2 months to arrive". 

As soon as I receive beads, I give the seller good feedback.  I have rarely had any foreign Ebay sellers not willing to rectify a problem with a bead purchase.  I find that 99% of them are courteous, business saavy, willing to resolve issues and to work with a customer.