I love bidding on ebay for stones, choosing only those suppliers who have very high positive feedback and a large number of sales. I set my limit and only bid in the last few seconds so I do not get tempted to overbid. I have built up quite a nice collection of stones this way, and "touch wood" to date have not been disappointed. Of course they could all be glass and I would be none the wiser :0)

As to lab grown stones, I have bought a few and they have been very impressive, all round great value for money.