If you are thinking about giving someone, or yourself, a piece of jewelry as a gift, take the time to compare prices and the quality of the pieces you are considering.

Many jewelry pieces are an investment; so if you don’t know any trustworthy jewelers in your city, ask your family, friends, or colleagues for advice.  Other types, like wholesale jewelry, are much more inexpensive and there are a lot of options to choose from.

If you plan to buy a jewel on the web, make sure you check the seller’s reputation with the Better Business Bureau or with the state attorney general’s office, before making an order.  Print out the web pages that contain details about the transaction, including refund and return policies in case you are not happy with the purchase.

When you are looking around, ask the salesperson to write down any information that may be useful to you when making a decision, and check the store’s refund and return policy before buying any piece.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has provided a list of 5 things you have to pay attention to when buying gold, watches, gemstones, pearl, or diamond jewelry:

1.There is an important difference between 14-karat gold and gold-plated jewelry.

Fourteen-karat (14K) jewelry has 14 parts of gold merged with 10 parts of base metal.

Gold-plated jewelry has a layer of no less than 10K gold attached to a base metal.  This layer sooner or later will wear out, depending on how often the piece is worn and how thick the layer is.

2.When you buy a watch, define if you want one that runs on a battery or one that has to be wound every day.  Always ask if the piece has a warranty, how long it is for, and what parts and problems it covers.  Get information as to where and how to get service for the watch.

3.Learn the difference between gemstones created in a lab and the ones that are naturally mined.  Both types are identical visually, but their cost is completely different.

The ones created in a lab are less expensive, and they must be labeled as lab-created to differentiate them from the natural ones.

If you are shopping for a natural one, ask if it has been treated with heat, dye or bleach, since these treatments enhance the stone’s appearance or durability. Some are permanent, others may require special care, and in many cases affect the stone’s value.

4.Inquire if the pearls are real or an imitation.  Oysters or other mollusks produce real pearls, while man makes imitation pearls.  Mollusks produce cultured pearls but with man intervention, since these grow when an irritant is introduced in the shells.

Non-cultured real pearls are very rare and expensive; their cost will depend on the size and the coating.

5.When buying a diamond, you have to take into account 4 things: cut, color, clarity, and weight.  These are known as carats, and all of them influence the price.

Sometimes, color is graded on a scale, although it is not uniform.  A “D” may be the best on one scale, but not on another, thus, you have to know how colors are graded according to a specific scale.

A diamond is flawless when it has no visible surface cracks or other imperfections when an expert diamond grader observes it under 10-power magnification.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.paradisojewelry.com as the original source).

If you are looking for ways to increase your jewelry sales, gift certificates are a sure way to go.  Jewelry is a great gift for many occasions, but since it is a very personal one, a gift certificate will allow the person to choose a piece she really likes, and one that complements her personality.

A gift certificate is fairly simple to design, if you have a computer and a printer, you can do it yourself.  Simply choose an elegant template online and fill it out to fit your business, but you can let your imagination run wild and make them into an interesting and appealing thing.  It is great to use photos of your jewelry, ask your jewelry wholesalers for some great pictures or take them yourself, and never forget to put your business card inside the envelope.

Any gift certificate must contain your business name and contact information, a “To:” line and a “From:” line, an “Amount:” line, “Custom orders welcome” legend (in case the client wants to buy a special or customized piece by adding some extra money themselves), a unique certificate number, and a security sticker to ensure its authenticity (it should be accompanied by the legend: “This item has embedded security and is void if not present”.

For your personal records, it is important that you keep a log of the certificates you sell, in this way; you have a way to account for each one of them and to confirm the certificate is real and everything is correct (amount, dates, etc.).

You can allow the buyer to fill the “To:” and “From:” spaces in their own handwriting to make it more personal, but you should always write the dollar amount yourself.

Any gift certificate log must have, at least, the following information:  certificate’s number, purchaser’s name, recipient’s name, date sold, dollar amount, and date redeemed.

You will not sell any certificates if you do not let your customers know that you offer them.  Thus, wherever you show your pieces, always have a sign announcing that you have gift certificates available, and also tell everyone personally while they are looking at the jewelry.  In this way, you have the valuable opportunity of reminding them of the great advantages of buying a certificate for a loved one.

Once someone arrives to redeem the certificate, you will have the chance to sell her more than one piece, maybe something to combine with her chosen gift.

Gift certificates work by attracting clients as if by referral, this means, it can’t get any better!

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Every woman knows the perfect little black dress is the go to fashion item.  You can dress it up or dress it down depending on the occasion.  Most of the time, if we need to dress it up, it is because the occasion is of a more formal nature.  So how do we choose just the right piece of jewelry to take that little black dress from ordinary to extraordinary? Here are a few tips to help:

One of the first caveats of picking out jewels for an event is to do it well in advance.  Plan the jewelry shopping trip as part of the dress and shoe shopping day. Visit your favorite jewelry store or wholesale jewelry distributor and take the time to find exactly what really feels right to you.  There is nothing worse than scrambling to assemble your jewelry at the last minute, so be sure to buy, borrow or rent it well in advance.

Before shopping for your pieces, try to find out just how formal the occasion will be.  You can sometimes know from the invitation itself, from word of mouth, or even from the venue where it will be held.  Just as you wouldn’t want your dress to be to over or under done, the same applies to your jewelry.

If you are attending a very glitzy affair, you might want to dazzle everyone with white gold and diamonds…or cubic zirconia if you’re a really savvy shopper!  If it is a more subdued affair you may want to go with pearls or opals.  When attending a wedding, regardless of how formal it may be, always remember that the only diamond that should be shining that day belongs to the bride!

There is nothing wrong with mixing and matching styles of jewelry either.  Choose pieces that complement each other and you can’t go wrong.  A little vintage mixed with a bit of modern can have quite an impact.

You should also consider your personality when choosing jewelry to match your formal attire.  If you are a quiet, shy person, you will not only look uncomfortable in loud, glaring pieces, but you will feel uncomfortable too.  Likewise, you should consider size in the same way.  If you are very petite, pieces that are too large and chunky will look out of proportion and your attempts to dress up your ensemble will fail.

Just think of choosing the right jewelry to dress up an outfit as being equally important as choosing the outfit itself, and you’ll have no trouble at all taking that little black dress to the next level!

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