Silver Hills Gems

Definitely not a place for the individual buyer. more for the upmarket jewellery manufacturer. My group used to frequent the walk in shop to purchase a mountain of choice of findings and a variety of beads for the beader on a budget..sadly for the past few years, this supplier has disappointed, as they only cater in high priced gemstones, rocks and jewellery...they should stipulate that they do not cater for the budget beader. Many beading groups who used to support this supplier now has to give them a "miss" as even their basic findings are hardly ever available or replaced.... where this supplier was THE place to go to in the past, they are now the one to be avoided by the entrepreneur.

6 months later and nothing has changed. all they offer is some jewelry making findings,many been out of stock for more than a year but not replaced. And for the most part they keep listing high end jewelry items,semi precious stone beads,, and that is about it. Nothing for the entrepreneur looking for cost effective beads to make and sell jewelry items . No wonder staff had to be retrenched a couple times.

We used to go into the shop and buy and also do online orders,as we are a group making jewellery to sell, to make extra income, so needed these days. However, Silver Hills Gems, has not had much to get excited about for the budget beader as they used to have in the past. For the past few years, mainly gemstones and high end jewellery items have been on the website, some glass beads, but what is on offer are small sizes, it is a great place to shop if one has a business selling the gemstones, rocks and expensive jewellery, but for the entrepreneur, trying to boost their income,it is not a place to go to..not the way it used to be..Findings are few, many things have been out of stock for a few years, and not replaced,It is such a pity that South Africa has to be at the bottom of the line when it comes to online buying power. Whenever stock has been bought and arrived, all we see are expensive gemstones, expensive jewellery items and rocks. No more pretty normal jewellery glass beads like before Not many beaders can afford those items, and even if they could, many would have a problem selling their creations, because of the mark up in price. Sad!!!