The Encyclopedia of Arda writes that the Seven and the Nine themselves had the power of invisibility of the wearer but also a corrupting power of trapping the wearer in the "Wrait-world". Here's what Arda have to say about the Great Rings:

The nineteen powerful Rings forged in Eregion in the Second Age, mostly with the aid of Sauron, of which nine were given by him to Men, and seven to the Dwarves; three the Elves retained. The One Ring is also counted among the Great, but that was forged by Sauron alone in Orodruin.

Although the Elven-smiths of Eregion forged many rings in the mid-Second Age, only these nineteen are concerned Great. The nature and abilities of each of the Great Rings differed, but each shared two powers.

The first of these was the prolongation or 'stretching' of life - the bearer of a Great Ring did not age. This effect only applied to mortal bearers of the Rings; the Elves and Wizards were already 'immortal' by nature, and this power did not seem to affect them. This explains the peculiar longevity of Bilbo Baggins and especially Gollum (a creature of hobbit-kind, Gollum should have lived no more than 100 years or so, and yet under the influence of the One Ring, he survived for more than 500 years beneath the Misty Mountains).

The second power conferred by the Great Rings was that of invisibility. At first, this was a temporary effect, and only occurred when the bearer actually wore the ring. After a time, though, this invisibility would become permanent (hence the nine Ring-wraiths, though their Rings were held by Sauron, were always invisible). This invisibility seems to have been due to the wearer being transported to the 'wraith-world', a strange 'dimension' that co-exists with the real world.

Tolkien's various references to the Great Rings seem to make it clear that they all had the power of invisibility. However, the Three Rings of the Elves seemed to be exempt from this - although the Rings were normally invisible themselves, their bearers did not vanish (this is perhaps due to Sauron's having no part in their making).

The Seven Rings of the Dwarves, which were among the Great Rings, raise a question. We know that one of these Rings was held by the Kings of Durin's Folk, and yet through all the hundreds of years they bore it, there is no record of this Ring displaying any of its powers. Though the Dwarf-kings no doubt kept it secret and used it little, there are strong hints here that the Dwarves somehow had a greater immunity to the effects of the Great Rings than other mortal kinds.

I must say I'm a bit confused.

/Mjolnir

: : Hmm. I thought the same and posted this at the Ringbearer MB,
: : but I had to stand corrected because someone prove that the
: : Seven and the Nine indeed was made for the dwarwes and Men
: : respectively and distributed by Annatar to these peoples BEFORE
: : Ost-In-Edhil was sacked and Celebrimbor killed. It was only the
: : Three that was pure Elven rings.

: Sorry, but whoever "proved" the Seven and the Nine were made for Dwarves and Men was just plain wrong. Tolkien wrote out the history of the Rings in too many places too consistently for that information to have come from any real research into the subject.

: ALL the Rings of Power were made by the Gwaith-i-Mirdan for the Elves and the Elves alone. They never intended for Dwarves or Men to possess them. Celebrimbor is stated only to have made the Three by himself. We don't know who actually made the Seven and the Nine, although Sauron "had a hand in their making".

: Berembrog's history as derived from these archives is essentially correct. Tolkien provided information on the history of the Rings in one of the essays detailing the history of Galadriel and Celeborn (which was published in UNFINISHED TALES), in several letters (published in THE LETTERS OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN), in "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" published in THE SILMARILLION, and in the appendices to THE LORD OF THE RINGS (and some material which was excised from the appendices to save space -- such as the story of Ar-Pharazon and Sauron -- was published in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH).

: In all of these sources Tolkien states the Elves made the Rings for themselves. In none of them does Tolkien state that any of Rings were made for Dwarves or Men.