I am in Mae Sai right now and I find the price of beads relatively pretty high. It is the same price as buying them online from China or via Ebay.

I will buy only a few strands so my visit to MS is not totally useless.

E.g.

Turquoise beads 0,8 cm- strand of 40 cm = 350 baht (and I think it is dyed howliet, almost sure)

Green " Jade" 1,5 cm- strand 140 cm= between 400 baht-600 baht (Is it really B-class Jade?)

1,5 cm multicoloured stone beads- 140 cm ("jade") = 250 baht

Pearls button 1cm x 0,5 -40 cm= 400 baht.

And of course I have to bargain, but that' ll be only 25 %.

I wanted to buy a bag full of beads, but maybe it is better to buy them in BKK?

Dear Soulwy,

Yes my dear, it is better for you to buy beads in BKK. BKK is about 1/2, sometimes 1/3 cheaper than in Mae Sai.

I am in BKK again and went to Chatuchak market. Large black pearls were 5x more expensive than in Mae Sai / Myanmar.

These were in BKK 2000 baht, in MyanMar 400 baht (and you can bargain for 200 if you buy more)

These particular pearls were not be found in Chinatown, but I think you can buy stones and peals cheaper in Chinatown. But be aware, they will say that dyed Howlite is Turquoise, but it's not. And Amethyst which are very even coloured are bad quality Amethyst, and for this reason dyed. The colour is nice though.

Hi Why don't you check in Silom, you will find the best prices in Bangkok for Beads... But if you are first time customer you should bargain at least 50%. Most people who work there and have shops there are professionals and will give you the right information. I don't think they will lie about the treatments.

Good luck.