Tom's experiences more or less mirror my own.

Generally I have been happy with my orders. More often than not these
days I buy from nonUS dealers because they are more likely to have
what I want. European dealers can have insane prices, so I don't deal
with them much, but only one lot that I did order was poor (a
specimen of Tinia melanochilus, of which the image didn't include the
apex, turned out not to HAVE an apex... the upper spire was missing).

I have had a couple of disappointments from US dealers, and one lot,
from a very well-known one, I sent back in disgust. The others I have
not been unhappy with.

My biggest disappointment was one large lot maybe 2 years ago from a
SE Asian dealer who is known for bad packaging. Well, the packaging
was utterly inadequate and many shells were broken (the apex of one
Tutufa was protruding through the side of the box!). There was old
tape gum on several specimens... this stuff is a pain to get off. The
labels were separate from the specimens, and of one genus there were
several species, some of which were incorrectly identified by the
dealer (so which labels were supposed to go with which specimen??). I
told the dealer that I was unhappy and that I wanted to return the
parcel, but was not prepared to pay the return postage (which was
about $70). He refused to pay for that and offered the lot at half
price, which I didn't accept... I no longer wanted the stuff on
principle. So I still have this box sitting here, not knowing what to
do with it.

To date I haven't had a lot fail to arrive.

As to grading of shells, I would much rather see a good-quality image
of the specimen. Some dealers use the HSN scale, which frankly
doesn't mean much. Wolfgang Proestler has frank descriptions of
condition when not so good; he recently had a poor Cypraea leucodon
for $25.

When it comes down to it, dealers just have to be competitive. It's
like any other business.

As to coral and casts... coral should NOT be offered for sale. It is
illegal to import coral to New Zealand, which is a good thing.
Besides, serious shell collectors collect SHELLS. Not
curiosities/ornaments.

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