Opal Auctions Reviews 

I've been buying from Opal Auctions for many years, and ArtGems has always been my favourite store. The quality of the opals is consistently excellent, the descriptions are accurate, and the service has always been first class.

His auctions are also great fun to take part in, with some fantastic material available every week. There is always a good variety of opals on offer, and I have picked up many beautiful pieces over the years.

Every purchase has been smooth, with reliable shipping and stones that meet or exceed my expectations. I highly recommend ArtGems to anyone looking for genuine, high-quality opals. After many years of buying from him, ArtGems remains my first choice.

Artgems is such an amazing seller. He and his crew own an operate and they produce and auction amazing, high-quality, top of the line opals in Australia. I have been working with opals for the past 20 years and I have rarely been as impressed with any as I have with Artgems. After having several purchases, I can verify that the consistency is first class.
If anyone is looking for a beautiful and worthy opal to procure for the latest project, regardless of clientele, I would highly suggest Artgems as a top source. There is also an option to request whatever specifications you may need and I promise there will be no disappointment.
Thank you much.

I have taken the time to read the negative reviews here as well as some positive ones and I would like to make some much needed observations.
First an example: I live in Washington in a small town. A local fair in my area costs HUNDREDS of dollars for genuine gemstone material. I have consistently been buying gems from one of the vendors (they are named Artgems for any interested) for MUCH cheaper than I could ever hope to find locally. And their shipping is better/faster than if I were to order a product from halfway across the states.
Notes on opal sheriff program; I have used this for some stones on the site, and have seen very solid results. I feel allot of people have misconceptions about this system so I feel it deserves a note here.
My only "issues" I have experienced were during the shipping process and was fully the fault of mail carriers alone.
Every vendor I have personally communicated with for any business has been very kind and very honest.
The vendor Artgems that i mentioned above is very honest in their listings.
My experience is; if you are having issues with a specific vendor or if you got a product you were unhappy with, 1 of 2 things has happened. 1; you failed to compare vendors recent negative reviews with their recent positive reviews. Or 2; you failed to compare the stones photos to the stones description provided by the vendors.
It is my experience that only a very select few of the vendors overly doctor their listings with lighting being the main culprit.
All vendors use good lighting to help the color in their stones, you should always make a purchase assuming this unless specified otherwise in the listing!!

I would like to take this time at the bottom to extend a special thanks actually to Artgems for their exemplary business, they have been an absolute pleasure to conduct business with. They have been extremely courteous, and I have been extremely lucky to have bought some top quality product from them. :) Tops gems, tops shipping, and tops communication!
My kindest regards to the owners of opalauctions as well, it has been an absolute blessing. Keep up the great work!

Without putting my hands on the stones I am satisfied with my experience on Opal Auctions.

Received them stones earlier than was told they would arrived. And was packaged so they would not get damaged. Very happy with the experience I had.

Good communication
Very informative and efficient

Overall it seems like a good source of rock, but there are reservations I have found.
The carat weight can be deceptive, postage fees for an envelope size package up to au$37 is extreme and obviously includes a heap of handling fees and profit, but at least it is openly advertised.
Could be far worse.

3 Sellers have been great so far as has been opal auction's customer support.

From the outset it was easy to deal with the company. Daniel kept me fully informed. The opal was posted from Australia immediately on payment and arrived swiftly. The stone itself looks wonderful. Shows that the photographs did justice to the real item.

Happy with my experience so far. Much easier transactions and better Admin support compared to Ebay or Etsy opal stores. Some stores are pretty consistent and very helpful with great customer service and I have had lovely experiences with them such as Seda, Artgems, Vkhatana, 53Frogs and few more. For Coober material I definitely go with Vkhatana and for dearer black opals I choose Artgems. Love the high volume and consistent auctions by Riley. In summary, I will give a high rating to opalauctions.

Do not buy from this scam site i bid on a pink rough opal from a seller called redvelvetgems said it was pink dominant and photo showed it pink when it arrived it was just gray potch no color paid 500 nzd and he wont refund me and the site is no hope

Thank you team, wide range of opals and trusted sellers. Sheriff program is good and helpful also.

I have been buying from Opal Auctions for over 5 years now. The sellers are all very helpful and some real bargains can be found in the No Reserve auction section

Opal auctions is full of scammers. If you’re new to Opal collecting or Opal cutting then I’d suggest doing a lot of research before you start buying from Opal auctions. Direct from miners is the best way to begin as they are generally a lot more honest with their photos and descriptions.
The “Sheriff program” is an absolute joke. The protections are for the vendors and not the buyers. Vendors who flagrantly lie in the descriptions of their opals are not held accountable. You will be offered “100% refunds” but this is after paying for shipping both ways and a service fee on top. You could be out of pocket more than the value of the opal - which is how they get you.
Opal auctions allows vendors to delete negative feedback by cancelling an order before they’ve refunded you. This allows them to continue trading with a perfect feedback score with no obligation to refund your money in a reasonable time.
It’s an absolute joke of a company. I’m reporting them to fair trading - buyers beware.

A Sheriff who doesn't know stayish opal which is between black and brown. When it is black he says that it is not black. After having questioned him on the publication with an article from the GIA laboratory resulting that the black stayish opal is black, he deleted my seller account. An incompetent person who thinks he is right when it comes to a crime. In short, you can also get scammed because some sellers do not send the items and are banned (normal) but you will never get your money back!!! Costs also high considering the service!!

Un Shérif qui ne connait pas l'opale stayish qui est entre noire et marron. Lorsque celle ci est noire il dit que c'est pas noire. Après l'avoir interpellé sur la publication avec un article du laboratoire GIA expliquant que l'opale noire de stayish est noire celui ci à supprimé mon compte vendeur. Un incompétent qui pense avoir raison lorsqu il a tort. Bref vous pouvez aussi vous faire arnaquer car certains vendeur n'envoie pas les articles et sont banni ( normal ) mais jamais vous ne récupérerez votre argent !!! Des frais bien élevés également au vu du service !!

What a bunch of scammers, same seller with multiple shops, blocks you for no reason when betting on stones. Won't reply to messages or even give reason. ZERO support from "support". Buyers BEWARE. Rather use Facebook or a shop.

UPDATE: 2 years later and now you trying to give excuses and give explanations, 2 years too late, when I needed support I got ignored. Your platform is still a scam if you allow scammers to use it, your vetting system for dealers is flawed then. Your refused to assist me back then, nothing will change. People even complain about the so called "sheriff" scheme. Blocking real buyers is no excuse for "non payers" so that means everyone is a non payer when they bid because you say dealers can block anyone they like. The fact that the dealers was seeing that the bids aren't going up and about too lose and would rather block a buyer than loose money. So dealers not playing by the rules. I stand by my original review,