Why You Don’t buy Mala Beads on Amazon
With so many Buddhist Mala Beads Necklaces available online you might wonder Why you don’t buy Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon?. It is because almost all the Buddhist Mala Bead Necklaces and Meditation Prayer Beads you can buy online at Amazon or Etsy are low quality fakes.
Sadly, most of the Buddhist Prayer Beads you can buy on Ebay or Amazon; are mass produced in Chinese factories for 7-10 cents and then resold on Amazon or Ebay for $20-$70 by people who are selling on commission on behalf of the factories.
The Best place to buy mala beads online is NOT on Amazon because …
Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon are usually Fake
1) The Buddhist Mala Beads at Amazon websites are usually cheap, machined mass produced Chinese Prayer Beads. It is common practice to make fake beads from painted glass and sell the Amazon Mala Beads Necklaces as real stone.
If you want Real and Authentic Buddhist Mala Beads for Meditation, then finding Fake Chinese mass made Amazon Mala being resold to you as genuine will not provide you with the immense emotional satisfaction of having Real Buddhist Mala Beads
Amazon Mala Bead Sellers are Resellers
2) Amazon Sellers looking to buy Mala Beads Online, will often not find or use the best place to buy Mala Beads. Rather they limited themselves to finding the cheapest Buddhist Mala Beads (or complete Prayer Bead Necklaces) they can source. Then they sell the cheap items for maximum profit. Amazon Mala beads come from Resellers and not the actual manufacturers
Chinese Prayer Bead Mala are made and sold by factories for 5-15 cents each. Amazon (and Ebay or Etsy) Mala Bead Sellers will buy the cheapest items they can and then sell them to you for up to 100 times the real value of the Prayer Beads. There is no concern for providing Authentic Mala Beads, only those items that won’t cost them too much if the buyer decides to request their money back after receiving them.
Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon are usually sold by Drop Shippers
3) Amazon shops selling Mala Beads prefer not to have any skin in the game, and never attempt to become best place to buy mala beads. Rather they engage in Drop Shipping, where they only advertise the items on behalf of a larger manufacturer for commission.
If you were wanting to buy Buddhist Mala Beads online on Ebay or Amazon – you would expect the store you are buying them from actually has the items in stock. Most do not, rather they advertise other peoples products and have the manufacturer send you the Prayer Beads, without them ever having to do any work. Almost all the Amazon Mala Bead sellers just advertise other peoples products and charge you 100 times more than they pay for them. If there are ever any problems with your purchase the extent of assistance comes at refunding your purchase – as anything else is too time consuming.
Why you don’t buy Buddhist Mala Beads on Ebay
When you are looking for where to buy Buddhist Prayer beads or Mala Beads Online, the large websites like Amazon and Ebay will often be at the top of search results. This is however a reflection of the search engine algorithm and not so much a realistic representation of the best place to buy Buddhist Prayer Mala Beads Necklaces and Bracelets online.
When you look to buy Buddhist Prayer Beads or Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon, they usually look great in the photo’s. Some sellers even have a high price, implying quality. Buddhist Prayer Beads on Amazon often include words like “blessed” as a marketing keyword and not a factual statement. Sadly however, more often than not, you are not getting a realistic representation of what you are seeing in the Photos.
The Main issues with Buying Buddhist Prayer Beads on Amazon is they are mostly Chinese mass produced Mala Beads. Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon are almost always fakes which lack Authenticity and Quality.
How to Quality Check your Amazon Mala Beads
It is important to remember that as in any wood working task; be it your home furniture, outside patio deck or Prayer beads – the methods used to make something look good, to compensate for cheap materials … soon fade away. Leaving you to look at or use what you really paid for in the first place.
In the photo above, you can see the great looking photos of what the product will look like when it arrives at your door. Then over time, a close up of how the beads begin to look as waxy coating, filler and shine is removed. The end result often very disappointing after you have already left your glowing review.
Quality checks on an Amazon Mala Bead Necklace is a difficult task to achieve when you can not physically feel and examine the product. However there are a few tell tale signs that will help you determine a product that is likely to be from a seller who is genuine about what they do, and someone after a quick commission selling a 10 cent item for $20 plus shipping.
The Tassel
When making a Mala, the addition of a Tassel is a time consuming process compared to leaving the loose strings or a machine that adds a few beads and a knot. Sometimes an Asian looking disk or ornament is added to make the Mala appear more exotic.
If the Mala Bead has a Tassel that is somewhat lacking … it is a clue that time and cost of making the Mala was taking preference over care and effort. It is likely that this is a knockoff product. Monks do not use Chinese knots in their Mala – they are something added to appeal to western customers.
The Beads of A Buddhist Mala Bead Necklace
Real Buddhist Necklace Mala’s are made from simple and local materials, usually wood, seeds, stone and sometimes gemstones. Bracelets on the other hand are purely jewelry (they have only a decoration use and serve no spiritual purpose). If the Buddhist Mala Beads has many different colored precious stones, or gems included in the design – they were probably assembled to appeal to fashion rather than serving a genuine spiritual purpose.
Sellers who have a range of colorful mala, with pieces of jewelry hanging from them – are probably selling fashion items that is derived from their collective spiritual concepts (or whatever the factory sells them) rather than a genuine Buddhist Prayer Bead. For the spiritual person looking at what is available, it is very easy to conclude that these items are real and used because of the vast amount of sellers providing them. They are not real Buddhist Prayer Bead Mala Necklaces and should be brought for what they are, pretty glass jewelry worn for fashion.
The Mala Bead Necklace Thread
Buddhist Prayer Beads traditionally used rolled animal wool, but now days special bead making cotton is used. Cheap knockoffs are made with elastic bands (to stretch to fit the wrist of the person) or sometimes with fishing line. If the Buddhist Mala is made with these cheaper threads, they will very quickly stretch and break during wear or use.
The Website and Amazon Mala Bead Reviews
When looking for a genuine Buddhist mala bead you should look at the website of the seller. It should be pretty easy to spot if the seller has a real interest in what they are providing for the consumer; or just has a shop selling as many items as possible.
There are a few websites (including Monk Mala) that have photos and articles showing the real people who make the product range on offer for sale. Other online stores maybe sincere yoga practitioners who are making and selling what they refer to as “Inspired Jewelry”. Yoga Inspired Jewelry also serves a specific need, where a whole range of spiritual beliefs can be incorporated into the Mala, rather than just Buddhism by itself.
The Buddhist Mala Bead Necklace Reviews Amazon
Are the reviews real? Read them and see
Reviews are a very helpful way of determining if both the seller and product is of high standard. It is also one of the most time consuming elements of Amazon business practice – trying to determine and delete fake reviews.
The average person who makes a purchase online, does not take the time to go back once an item has been received to write a review. If a website or private seller on an auction website has just a few products but dozens of reviews – they are probably fake ones that where brought to create credibility. Just be aware as you read a few reviews if the actual items is mentioned or if the review is specific to the item. Most reviews are mass written and applied to multiply items.
The lack of a Physical Address
If you have a drop shipping store you can operate your business as you travel the world. In deed this is one of the major attractions for people who dropship. So it makes it difficult to have a registered address where you can be contacted in person should the need be required.
Real sellers of Buddhist Mala Bead Necklaces, will have a physical location as well as a website. They are available and responsible for any problems or issues that might arise. After sales service is difficult if you brought your items that only exists on a laptop that is traveling the world. See if the seller is able to be found, is always a good idea no matter what you are buying.
How do Amazon sell bad Buddhist Mala Beads?
How does this Happen?
The short answer to why you don’t buy Buddhist Mala beads on Amazon answer is a system called Drop Shipping, which is encouraged on these large websites. Today, anyone can make a website, fill it with products and fake reviews and sell items they have never seen let alone touched or have any real interest in.
There are thousands of courses online selling the idea of getting rich fast and easy without any effort by finding a product and selling it on Ebay, Amazon, Etsy or from a website.
This proclaimed easy way to riches without having to spend any of your own money or do any work is called Drop shipping.
Drop Shipping
Drop shipping is touted as a get rich fast and easily system, while never having to actually see or purchase the item you are going to sell.
If you are not aware of what drop shipping is, once you Google it (to find out), Google Ad’s will start to appear promising you too can get rich fast, with no money down by just buying this online course. Drop shippers get customers by advertising on Google, (and they advertise big time!) so once Google knows you have searched the term – Google will display these ad’s trying to sell you a course
If you are wise, you may decide you don’t buy Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon solely because of Drop Shipping. Drop shipping has become such a large part of selling products online, teaching it to people is one of the largest scams promoted by fake gurus online.
Today for just over $100 you can buy computer programs that ask you for a product and then will create a whole website for you. Programs that automatically scraping (searching the internet and copying) products from several different sites such as Amazon and Ebay who offer commissioned reselling. This is one of the reasons what when you search to buy a Mala Bead on Amazon – hundreds of different sellers will come up. Sadly almost zero of these sellers have ever seen the Buddhist Mala Bead Necklace or Bracelet they have for sale.
The wonderful thing about Drop shipping (for those who do it) is that they never have to see the product, or even pay for it. a large majority of Buddhist Mala on Amazon is purely a commissioned based reseller advert. The seller has probably never had any interest in selling Buddhist Mala Beads on Amazon- it was just something the computer program built for them.
Not only do Drop Shippers primarily only care about selling products that receive the highest commission, the whole purpose is to have no ‘skin in the game’. This means if they find out they are selling bad products (from customer complaints, product returns, or real reviews) they simply close their accounts and find a new product to sell. All adding to the many reasons you don’t buy Mala Beads on Amazon.
Finding the best place to buy Buddhist Mala Beads online
Things to look out for when deciding where to buy you Buddhist Mala Beads Necklace. More reasons to be concerned when thinking about buying Buddhist Prayer Beads from sellers on sites like Amazon and Ebay.
1) When you buy Buddhist Prayer Beads on Amazon they are usually made from unknown types of wood. Usually the cheapest wood available to the manufacturer at the time and do not have any spiritual value.
2) Buddhist Mala Beads Necklaces brought on Amazon are usually strung with elastic thread or fishing line. This will stretch over a few weeks making the Buddha Mala useless for Japa Meditation or to be worn as jewelry. They will often break after a few uses.
3) If you buy Mala Beads on Amazon, often times the unknown wood is dyed for color. Cheap dye or stain is used that leaks over a short period of time and will stain clothing
4) When you buy Mala from Amazon, they often use colorful gemstones (or glass beads) to appeal to the fashion minded. Real Buddhist Meditation Mala come in simple and basic wood of religious or spiritual purpose.
Even Asian Street Markets are Flooded with Cheap Chinese Mala Beads
Sadly, even if you don’t buy Mala Beads on Amazon and decide to get them from a Asian Street Market; there can be problems. Even the street markets in many Asian countries are now selling Buddhist Prayer Mala knockoffs to the unaware tourists, customers buying from these markets generally only find out the quality once returning from holiday.
We found this out first hand when we visited many markets around Thailand, Nepal and Burma trying to source our Buddhist Mala. They ALL sold the same item imported from China in Bulk.
In the end, after talking with several Buddhist Monks about their Mala Beads, we at Monk Mala had to visit many remote villages where family generations where skilled at, and hand manufactured Buddhist Mala in small quantities as the local Monks and Village people wanted them.
This is not to say that all Mala made in China, or all Mala Beads found in markets or online are of questionable quality. BUT it is difficult to tell the difference just looking at photos online when you buy a Buddhist mala beads on amazon. This is one of the benefits of buying from Monk Mala – We are trusted enough by Monks to have them blessed for you, and the Monks have no objection to us sharing images of this in our social media.
Find your Perfect Buddhist Mala
