One of the biggest problems when purchasing beads online is getting a feel for the size of the bead.  More often than not people judge the size of a bead by what they see on their monitors.  I am so GUILTY of this.  "I thought it was bigger" or "it's bigger than I thought", when clearly the size of the bead was stated. I have the most trouble with the 2 mm to 5 mm range.  Two millimeter beads are very tiny.  I have a square piece of cardboard and I hot-glued every size bead I have and have the size written down under each bead.  I keep it by my computer so that when I order beads on-line I can quickly see what size the bead is.  


The number of beads per strand is a very close approximation.

Rondelle 

Other Shapes

Round

Metal