Any tips on where to buy black pearls in Moorea?

Any tips about dealing with customs, etc? I've heard you have to pay customs on jewelry but not on an unmounted pearl.. true?

I don't know much about black pearls, but my wife thought that the prices were reasonable (for black pearls in French Polynesia!) at the Black Pearl Gem Company and Sibani Perles in Haapiti. We bought ours on Rangiroa.

I bought my pearls at Tico Pearls in Moorea. We went all over the island and I like her pearls, her service and prices the best. I purchased a ring and a necklace.

She fills out all the papers for you and when you get to the airport you show it to customs. They stamped it and I dropped it in the post right there at the airport. As long as she gets the papers back with in a year there is no tax.

Both my pearls are mounted.

I got mine at the Black Peral Company as well (on Moorea)...and they also took care of the tax, after we went through U.S. customs, we sent them the info. and they took care of the tax. I love my ring!

When we left FP, my husband and I were upset that we didn't buy anything. Primarily that's b/c we found everything to be so expensive. We went to Maui 5 months later and the same stuff was 1/2 the price. Considering Hawaii is in the U.S... maybe it's cheaper to buy online?!