Rock and Mineral Buyers Guide - Not For Sale - Read & Learn - Natural Specimen

Description

Buy ANY 5 or More Rocks
Kidz Rocks Store
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We have created this Buyers Guide to serve our valued customers by helping you to make educated purchasing decisions that maximize your enjoyment in your rock and mineral purchases from online sellers.
Of course, online purchasing by seeing photographs and descriptions of mineral specimens isn’t the same as buying in person, so here are some of the important considerations to be aware of when buying from an online seller:
SIZE MATTERS
When it comes to your enjoyment of mineral specimens, size does matter! There is a huge difference in how much more enjoyable a 3 inch specimen is than a 1 inch specimen.
There is nothing more disappointing than seeing a nice rock online and then when you get it in the mail it is a tiny little specimen .. AND you paid good money for it.
To be sure that you’ll be getting what you really want, buy only from sellers that have several visual reference points, showing clearly the actual size and overall appearance of the specimen in the photos, with a ruler shown in the photo and the detailed measurements written in the listing description. Showing the specimen being held in someone’s hand is one of the best references to show its true size.
Also, while lowest price shopping is always smart, making sure you’ll be getting a nice sized specimen at a fair price is the best way to ensure your enjoyment of your purchases. What is the age old saying? "Don't be penny wise and pound foolish", especially when it comes to investing in your cherished mineral collection.
The hand in our photos is 6 inches
OUR SIZES
Kidz Rocks brand is known for generous sized specimens and at prices well below the competition.
We are able to do that with a combination of being active miners ourselves, and also by sourcing products either directly from the mines or as close to the mine as possible, cutting out the usual "middle men".
Most people like a larger specimen and I do my very best to deliver larger than expected specimens and at prices below the competition.
WEIGHT DOES NOT REALLY MATTER
Weight does not actually matter when buying mineral specimens because you would also need to know the density of the type of mineral for the weight to actually be a meaningful reference of size. An 8 ounce common green opal is a 5 inch specimen while a 8 ounce galena is about 1 1/2 inches.
Where weight DOES matter is when you see a seller listing mineral specimens by "Carat" weight. DON'T be fooled and then disappointed when you receive a tiny. Carat weight is typically only used for faceted gemstones such as diamonds, emeralds and pearls, not for mineral specimens. If, for example, a seller lists Lapis Lazuli as "100 CARATS AAAA++ Lapis Lazuli" for .95, though that might seem like a bargain price, remember that “100 carats” is really less than 1 ounce, which would mean you’ll be getting a lapis specimen about 1/2 inch in size! Pretty small! At Kidz Rocks, even our free surprise specimens we include in every order are 100 carats, minimum, or even much larger.
If you don't want to be disappointed go with size and do not place much weight on weight! Go with sellers that provide good measurement information both in their photos and listing descriptions. Avoid sellers listing mineral specimens by carat or gram weight, it is a deceptive practice just to make the specimen sound bigger.
COLOR MATTERS
When buying mineral specimens color matters as much if not more than size and price. The more vibrant the mineral color as well as the color contrast of specimens with combined minerals, the higher value the specimen.
Did you ever buy a rock online and when you get it in the mail it looks very different than what you saw in the photographs? On the other hand, have you ever bought a Kidz Rocks specimen and it looked exactly like it does in the photographs?
So here's why: Photographing mineral specimens properly is quite complicated and a lot of sellers online do not know how to do it correctly. Using the right camera and using proper lighting for the specimen isn’t something, it’s everything. We feel that few, if any other, sellers do it right - the way we do.
Not to get too technical, but we at Kidz Rocks not only use 4500 degree color temperature bulbs with the camera color temperature set to match the bulbs, we also use the only bulbs available on the market rated 100 CRI, made by Solux. CRI - Color Rendering Index - is a measure of the ability of a light source to reveal the colors of various objects faithfully, when compared with a natural light source. This method of photographing specimens does not change the colors of the specimens when seen onscreen, so color correction, or any other editing to the image, is unnecessary.
When you buy from Kidz Rocks, what you see IS what you get!
So to ensure you are not wasting your money only buy from sellers that obviously have extremely high quality photographs.
FEEDBACK MATTERS
Ebay has been an eye opening new experience for me as a businessman. People will actually write negative feedback instead of simply calling or messaging the seller when something goes wrong with their order!
Until Ebay fixes their feedback system to require buyers to send at least 1 message and wait 24 hours before they can leave negative feedback, the Ebay feedback scores will continue to be difficult to tell if it is a true reflection of a sellers commitment to satisfying customers or a reflection of buyers that use feedback as a method to contact the seller.
If you only buy from sellers that have 100% positive feedback you will always get great products and great service each and every time. Sellers not consistently delivering quality products and service will NEVER have 100% positive feedback.
Please always contact a seller before you damage a sellers ability to earn an honest living by leaving negative feedback. On Ebay, even 1 negative in a sea of thousands of positive feedbacks and the sellers sales grinds to a halt. This happens on Ebay because buyers are so afraid of being cheated that many will not buy if they see even 1 negative feedback. By contacting the seller and giving them the opportunity to make it right, you will be doing your part to help fellow shoppers by ensuring sellers feedback ratings are a true reflection of their commitment to satisfied customers rather than a reflection of buyers that use feedback as a method to contact the seller.
If you only shop from sellers with 100% positive feedback ratings, you will always be a satisfied customer.
POLICIES MATTER
Best advice on policies? Again, only buy from sellers that have 100% positive feedback ratings. Whatever their policies are they are obviously policies that serve their customers first before everything else!
Our policies are simple .. the customer is ALWAYS right!
Thank you for visiting this buyers guide.