Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

I am beyond annoyed. 2 replacements of stones came cracked. 3 Shipments with damaged stones. Last one wrapped and placed in a box incase it was the post office doing the damage. No, they sent them to me cracked. I won’t order from them again.

I happened to stumble upon Fire Mountain Gems online. I was shopping on Etsy for some Swarovski Crystal Earrings and thought I could make them myself… and FMG made it possible and super easy with the «almost instant jewelry settings» I didn’t need any special tools. I just needed the stone, setting, and jewelry glue! Now I have custom earrings. With FMG’s very quick shipping I had my supplies in 2 days… and I live in NYC!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a very eclectic and wide range of hobbies. One of those hobbies is making jewelry (AKA: Jenny loves pretty shit and I can’t resist making her happy).
I came across FMG fairly easily – they’re a beading powerhouse – and quickly took advantage of one of their sales.
My first order cost me 62 bucks (5 dollar shipping included) and scored me 112 items ranging from gemstones, focals, chains, wire, pearls and specialty tools.
I’ve since been back on five different occasions and have yet to receive any broken or incorrect items.
That being said, here are some (minor or major, depending on how you look at it) quirks and other things I’ve noticed:
— Expect slight to heavy amounts of variation between ‘identical’ strands. Obviously, this is going to happen with natural materials, but this is true even for the manmade beads I’ve ordered.
For a recent example, I ordered three strands of porcelain flat rounds in a slate tone. The first strand had a very uniform slate color with only the occasional variation in surface tone. The second strand was deeply pitted in areas with huge, visible black flecks – sort of like a ‘burst’ type glaze was used instead – and the third one was a relatively even mixture of the two varieties. Now… I don’t give a fuck about it, but some people might. That’s the gamble of purchasing things online and not being able to fondle the hooker before paying.
— The 5 dollar flat rate shipping is a fucking bargain of mythical proportions because beads very quickly get heavy. The first box I ordered from this place was 30 pounds. How much did I pay?
FIE DOLLA.
Now, that being said, it’s not always lightning fast; it took four days for them to even process my first order. In a stark contrast, I received this last one within three days of hitting ‘goodbye second mortgage’. What I’m trying to convey is that you shouldn’t torture yourself by predicting a timeline and just be satisfied you’re not spending more than you spent on the whole damn order in shipping.
— They ALWAYS have some kind of deal going on. Some of them are BS and some of them are so fucking good you’ll triple check the prices. If you see a strand of pearls on sale for $ 1.50 that typically retail at 25 bucks a pop (and they legitimately do on this site, unlike Kohl’s where EVRYTHANGS A SALE ALWAYS EVER), don’t fucking hesitate. Hesitation is weakness.
Between the deals, shipping and quality, I’ll definitely remain a repeat customer.

My business partner and I own and operate a costume construction business. We were initially very happy to find Fire Mountain Gems because their prices were so reasonable. However, with every order we’ve placed (and we’ve bought over $ 2,000 worth of product for one gig), we’ve been sent the wrong beads EVERY time. We’ve called customer service each time and they are willing to exchange for the product we ordered, but we have to pay to ship the wrong beads back to them, and then pay additional shipping and handling to have the right beads (the ones they should have sent in the first place) sent to us. This delays the production of our costumes, all of which have a firm delivery date. Furthermore, they claim to have a 24-​hour customer service number, but when you call «after hours» you get an answering service and you are told that your message will be «passed on in the morning when they open.» Because of their extreme level of incompetence and severe lack of even adequate customer service, we will NEVER order from Fire Mountain Gems again!

I bought some beads online, but the colors are quite different than what I expected. Some of the stone beads were also broken.

some good deals but be aware that items may not look like the pictures or be adequately described. have bought from fmg for many years and have gotten items that were good but also some that were really garbage and/​or damaged. i avoid buying semiprecious gemstones from fire mountain bc i’ve had unhappy surprises with quality (luckily i live in a part of the country where we have good bead shows and i can look at things in person before buying) and stopped buying «assortments» too.
a big issue is fmg’s processing and shipping time. if you choose the $ 5 shipping, which is a good deal for a heavy order, it can take a loooooong time for them to process the order, and then up to 2 weeks in transit. they will tell you that it’s unusual, but in my experience it’s the norm rather than the exception. so it can be 3 weeks from order to receipt.
i wouldn’t mind so much if they would just be honest about it.
also: their 200+ pricing is usually 40−60% of the «1 – 15 items» price. so they can clearly make a profit at the lower price. why not just offer it? i go for really long times between orders, because i refuse to pay the inflated prices (honestly: if they can sell an item for $ 3, i just feel stupid if i pay $ 6 for it) and it takes me a long time to accumulate an order of 200+ items. they’d get a lot more business from me, even given their ridiculous delivery time, if they just used the low prices all the time.
one star bc of quality and delivery timing issues that i’ve experienced over many years, and the nonsense they told me today about why my order hasn’t been shipped yet, after being placed 5 days ago.
yes, it’s novemeber and fmg gets busy before the holidays, but this is a business, and they probably get busy every november, and i would think they would anticipate this problem and take steps to avoid it (like hire extra people for the pre-​hoiiday busy season). duh.

Amazing online service! I had ordered a shipment of cords, but somehow got lost in the mail or something, and so I went online to chat with someone about it to ask how I can at least get the insurance money back. Instead, they shipped me my shipment again along with getting a signature to make sure I get my package this time! Amazing service for sure!

Got super excited to find FMG off the 5fwy. Bummed they don’t have a show room to make purchases at here. The do give tours twice a day.

They have a huge selection at cheap prices and their customer service is great! I had to change my order twice and a real person heped me through it patiently. I also wrote an email about when it would be shipped and got an instant reply witha tracking number, The 4.99 priority shipping seems very economical on a bulk order. Thank you for such wonderful service and gemstones :)

I’ve ordered 100+ times from FMG, large and small orders. I’ve rarely had an issue, and when I have (missing item, wrong item, item broken in transit) it is always resolved quickly without hassle.
It does take longer for orders to ship if using the cheapest shipping method, or before a holiday such as Christmas, but it’s understandable and never unreasonable. If I need something quickly, I pay for upgraded shipping, as these are processed and packaged with priority to the cheapest shopping method, as they should be.
Many items I’ve ordered are even better than the photograph, which is difficult to imagine, as the photographs are very good at showing the actual item.
Customer service is helpful and friendly. I find the prices on most items to be far better than other bead stores, websites and local craft stores and the product superior. I also find shipping costs to be reasonable, and shipping to be quick.
I would highly recommend shopping via website or catalog with FMG!

Shame on this company! I received a 1322 page catalog from them, then tried to place an order a month after I received it. I was told that every one of the fifty items I wanted to purchase had prices higher than advertised sometimes 50% or more! They said that they knew e prices were inaccurate when I was sent the catalog that has this year’s date on e cover. And that on page seven HUNDRED and something there is a disclaimer that their prices fluctuate! They then all but told me their Lowest prices anywhere claim is completely false. I was told things such as «some people think our prices are low» and «our customers don’t complain much about our prices». Lol.
Well, I am complaining!!! It is horrible to trick people like this. You take orders based on prices you were just told in writing and then get told all the prices are a lie.
They kept saying that the prices are there for «reference». Referencing what? Wrong prices? I don’t need to reference inaccurate information.
They would not honor their advertised prices and they couldn’t have cared less.
Oh, and be super careful too… They tried to get my credit card information before the order was even placed! Do not do business with these cruel people.
Why would you lie to people about the prices in your catalog? That is just mean. Mean, and deceitful. Mean and deceitful people should not be allowed to thrive in business.

I love FMG! I have ordered from them twice, both times placing my order on a Friday night, and the beads were on my doorstep the next Monday afternoon. I have never seen such fast shipping at such an affordable rate ($ 5) with any other online bead retailer I’ve used. They do have wonderful prices for beads and findings as well, and the largest selection I’ve seen online! I will keep using them for my beading needs!

I was going to send this company a thank you letter, but decided to review them instead! Fire Mountain Gems has been my go-​to company at times, and other times I use different vendors, price being the main factor. What I want to review is their return policy — — it’s ironclad!
After a couple of years of having stock that I intended to open a business with — I ended up shipping a lot back when I went a different direction. Within a week I received a check for nearly $ 1,000 — no questions asked.
If you want to «check out» some of their amazing sales — go ahead! If you want to «hold stock» of some extra sterling chains, etc. — - feel free! These guys mean it when they say «if you’re not happy we’re not happy» and that’s pretty impressive to me!

Love this company. They are always having sales. I’ve never had a problem with anything. My orders always arrive quickly. Their prices are competitive even without the sales, as far as I can tell.

I LOVE this company! Prices are great and the time it takes to process my order and send it, takes only days!!! I will continue to shop Fire Mountain.

I love this company. They have an amazing selection, but the part that will always keep me coming back is the customer service. These are the nicest, most caring people you will ever find at a company. You can tell they are like a family. I respectfully disagree with the reviewer that felt the prices are high. I think they are very competitive; especially if you buy several items. The more you buy, the more of a price break you get. If anything goes wrong with your order, they will stand on their heads to fix it. Plus, you can return anything at any time for any reason. What more could you ask for? I will continue to shop online at this store. I am located in Southern CA, so I have never had a chance to go to the actual brick and mortar store.

Fire mountain gems is pretty good. They are somewhat expensive. But they do have lots of good sales. I have ordered from them once or twice, and I have never had a damaged product or package.
in my opinion is cheaper, but fire mountain has more of a selection. ^_^

Great selection, love the all-​assortable discounts. I recently returned a bunch of beads from several different orders that I had been meaning to return for years, but just hadn’t accumulated enough to go through the effort until this last order. Not only did they not mind that the returns effectively dropped me out of my all-​assortable tier on most of those orders (thanks!), but they also carefully made refunds to several credit cards I had used over the years, even issuing me a check for one that had since been closed.

Fire Mountain Gems sells beads, jewlery making supplies, metal craft supplies and semi precious stones via their catalogue and website to the public at wholesale prices. The only downside to ordering this way is that, if you’re ordering an item you’re not familiar with, you don’t get to see it and hold it ahead of time. FMG has terrific customer service; when you call, a real person picks up the phone, usually on the second or third ring… unheard of in this day and age. The customer support folks are super friendly, and the staff models their beadwork in the catalogue, so I feel very connected to them, even though I do all of my ordering on line. They have jewelry making tutorials by video on their Facebook page, and will post pictures of your work if you friend them. All in all, this is a great company, and I look forward to getting their catalogues in the mail each month.

My preferred place to shop online for beading supplies.
Essentially they sell at wholesale like prices to the retail market. It’s great! The selection is fairly large. They tend to have good pictures to help you figure out what you want, but they don’t always help. I tend to use gemstones, and my main complaint with using Fire Mountain (or any type of online bead store) is that *I* want to choose what variation in stone I get, not the online retailer.
They do tiered discounts, also: if you buy 1 – 14, you get it at one price, if you buy 15−30(?) units you get more of a discount, etc.