Minerals photograph larger and brighter than they are, and most complaints in this category begin there.
No scale in the frame
A specimen photographed alone looks twice its size. Put something ordinary beside it and weigh it on camera.
Shooting under a show lamp
Colour under a lamp is not colour. Daylight, turned slowly, and say if it looks different indoors.
Not declaring treatment
Dyeing, heating, stabilising, coating and reconstitution are all normal in this trade. Declared, they sell. Undeclared, they are a dispute. Describing minerals.
Naming a species you were told
Pass on what you were told, name your source, and say it is unconfirmed. That is honest and it protects you.
Omitting the locality
To collectors it often matters more than size. If you do not know it, say so rather than inventing somewhere plausible.
Making claims about health
That a stone treats, calms, protects or heals is a claim nobody can support, and it does not belong in a listing.
Listing something restricted
Coral, ivory and the shells of protected species are wildlife products, and much of what people call a fossil can fall under antiquities rules. Ask before listing. Prohibited items.
The one that costs most
Packing without padding the points. Terminations chip, a chipped point is most of the value gone, and it happens in the last metre. Packing minerals.
Questions people ask
Is polishing a treatment?
It is a process worth declaring, especially where it changes how a specimen reads.
Should I clean a specimen?
Only if you know how. Some minerals should never meet water.
Are tumbled stones worth listing?
In lots, by type.
More: selling minerals, what one is worth.