We just spent the last 2 hours looking at eBay for Thai amulets. Wow… it’s frightening what has happened there. We don’t usually sell anything on eBay – we have tried in the past, but we don’t understand so much how to sell there. I think we’re better just to have our own pendant site and sell Thai Buddhas and other sacred pendants on our own here and at our other sites – AllBuddhas.com, ThaiAmuletStore.com.
What we found was really quite sad. Amulets we sell here for $30 to $90 USD are being sold on eBay for $150 to $400 USD. These are exactly the same pendants as we have… we know this because we have been selling pendants for 4 years and there are no secrets in the industry. Every pendant seller knows where to get the pendants from.
We saw ebay sellers calling their gold colored pendants – PURE 22K gold poured and crafted. Unbelievable really, when the price of gold these days is at $1,600 USD per ounce… the pendants at the size they were, would have been selling for far less than the current price of gold. Does that make sense?
No, of course not. The pendants are not pure gold and we are 100% on that… do you know why?
There ARE NO pure gold pendants of that type made in Thailand. Really, there aren’t any made.
The only pure gold pendant you will see in Thailand is shaped like a coin – it can be big or small, but usually no bigger than a 10 THB coin or so. Sometimes bigger – yes.
But, there are no solid gold figurines of Buddha being sold in Thailand that we have EVER seen. They just don’t exist.
Likewise, there are VERY few silver Thai pendants – meaning, made of pure silver… the reason is… Buddha pendants are supposed to be made of gold – gold plating, gold paint, whatever, but the color of Buddha is always supposed to be gold. So, when you see solid silver Buddha anything – it is likely not made at a temple.
We sell only a couple of silver colored Buddhas and we were surprised to find them. I don’t know why they were made, but westerners love the silver Buddhas and we can never find enough of them.
The Ebay seller that was selling “Solid Gold Poured BUDDHAS” had 12,000+ perfect feedbacks… now, how can that possibly be?
It’s because nobody cracks open their pendant to look. If they did, what would they find?
Usually the pendants that are made in Thailand are made of a metal like bronze, brass, copper, tin, pewter, or iron. They are then either gold plated, or painted gold.
Again, there are no solid gold Buddha figurine pendants in Thailand – that we have seen.
Likewise the cases of pendants are almost never solid gold.
WHY?
The case is to protect the amulet. Gold is very weak… it is like lead. It dings and scratches VERY easily. It does not make a good case.
There ARE solid silver cases though – which are a little bit harder, and can be quite beautiful. We have some.
Typically the cases are gold plated or dipped. We have both.
If you are buying pendants at eBay – please stop. I was going to say, “Be careful” – but, there is no way to be careful. I am sure the pendants we looked at today were almost entirely – fakes. They were not bought at the temple. They were not worth anything near what they were listed for sale as.
Much better for you to come to Thailand yourself and choose pendants from a temple… Or, find a seller that gets pendants from the temple – like we do.
There is no other way to guarantee you have authentic pendants that are worth what you paid. Truly… I wish it was different, but there are scammers on ebay like we cannot believe… and it’s sad to see such a thing because Buddhism is a such a great way of life.
Sad to see people take advantage of others – in the name of Buddha, and Buddhism.
Good luck to you, metta, and good karma!
JB
Click one of the below Buddhist figures to learn more and find amulets:
The Buddha – Happy Buddha – Jinaraj Buddha – Somdej Buddha