Many people find buying on the internet quick, easy, and convenient. You don’t have to drive to the mall, park your car, or stand in line.  You are in the comfort of your own home or office with millions of stores at your fingertips.  Now you maybe thinking with online shopping, you can’t physically inspect the product before you buy.  The solution to this is simple. Make sure the company you do business has the customer’s best interest.   At Stacie’s Gifts we don’t just sell fine jewelry at good deals, we also offer advice on how to purchase it. Here are five things you need to know when purchasing jewelry online.

The Merchant’s Reputation

The most reputable online jewelers have links on their sites with customer ratings and reviews.  It will either be published on the front page or linked to a separate page on the website.  Merchant reviews can also show up on other websites such as shopwiki.com and resellerratings.com.   These sites serve primarily as a forum for product and website reviews.

Beware of unverifiable testimonials.  This includes reviews that don’t link back to the actual source of review.  If there are no reviews published or linked to the website, the search engines may have additional information.  If you type in the website address in Google or any of the major search engines, you will find a wealth of information on that site.  If large numbers of consumers have had good or bad experiences with a merchant, the odds are it published somewhere online.

Merchant-Customer Communication

The best way to converse with an online merchant is through email.  More often than not, this is found on the “Customer Service” page.  Some websites have a “Contact Us” link at the header or footer of the page.  Be sure there is an actual email address published somewhere on the site.  Avoid contact links with pop-up windows that prompt you to type in a message unless you can verify the destination. If you have to communicate with an online merchant by email, the turn around time for a response should be within 24 business hours.  If you are shopping around, send an email to the merchant about any of their promotions or products.  Check to see how long it takes for them to respond, and the content of their response.

Website’s Return Policy

So you receive your jewelry, and you are not satisfied with the purchase.  What do you do?  The answer should be clearly outlined in the store’s return policy.  Use caution when doing business with online merchants that have vague or no return policy.  Also beware of a return policy that reads like a legal contract, or is not easily accessible. This information should be easy to find, and written to be understood by the average consumer.  At a minimum, it should include the time frame in which the item can be returned, who is responsible for the shipping costs, a return mailing address, applicable restocking fees, and an approximate time frame on the refund.  To avoid surprises, you should read the policy prior to the purchase.

Clear Product Descriptions

Clear and detailed product descriptions are important.  It should contain details such as ring size, necklace length,  material composition (i.e. sterling silver, gold, titanium), and other relevant dimensions.   When shopping for gold or silver, the product description should clearly indicate the number of karats or silver content percentage.  If you have any questions, contact the merchant prior to the purchase.

Once your jewelry arrives, inspect it thoroughly.  If your purchase includes sterling silver or gold, there should be a small stamp visible on the item.  Sterling silver jewelry will have the “925″  generally located on the bracelet clasp, the inside band of a ring, or on the post of an earring.  Gold will bare a small stamp indicating the number of karats (i.e. 14k) in the same general locations as sterling silver stamps.

Trust Your Instincts

Once you have selected your item(s) and proceeded to checkout, take note on how you feel about the transaction.  If you are comfortable, chances are the transaction will flow smoothly.  However, if your stomach is turning somersaults, something is triggering this feeling.  Consider postponing the purchase, or shopping at a website where you feel more at ease.

StaciesGifts.com was formed as a family enterprise to provide quality jewelry and accessories at reasonable prices. Our blog is meant to be a free source of information on jewelry education, jewelry care, gift ideas, and an outlet of some entertainment. We feel product knowledge is important in order to empower consumers prior to the purchases made on the world wide web.

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Are you looking for a way to earn extra income? You really do not need to look any further than your closet, basement, or attic as you may already own quite a bit of old gold items that can fetch a nice price online. Yes, there are a number of excellent online buyers of used and old gold. These buyers may pay a fine price for your gold items provided, of course, the items are real gold and not weak imitations. But, how can you tell if the item is legitimate or a form of imitation gold? Telling real vs. fake gold apart is not as tough as some people believe.

Gold jewelry will often come with a stamp on it stating its legitimacy. That is, the item may sport an impression that states @18K Gold or something similar to it. However, you cannot always go by the stamp alone. Some fraudulent sellers will go the extra effort to stamp the faux gold with such an impression. That is why you will need to take the extra effort to determine its legitimacy as well.

Probably the easiest way to have gold jewelry identified as real or fake would be to ask a person who is knowledgeable. Simply taking the item to a local jewelry shop could answer the question for you. You would not be going in there to have an expensive appraisal performed. Just asking the jeweler if the product in question is legitimate gold is really all you need to do. The jeweler can tell within seconds as to whether or not it is real. Yes, if you really want something, all you need to do is ask.

If you do not have access to a jewelry profession or are unable to find one willing to lend a little help, you could make a determination of the legitimacy of the gold based on its source. The vendor in which you have purchased the jewelry will definitely play a role in determining whether or not the gold is of any value. If you have purchased the jewelry in the past from a reputable dealer, then the odds are strongly in your favor that the gold is legitimate.

Did you purchase “name brand” gold jewelry from a less than reputable source? Did you purchase it from Ebay? If so, you may have purchased inauthentic jewelry. Many of these dubious sources of purchasing are known for procuring costume jewelry from overseas. As a result, many of the items that they offer are completely fraudulent and not made from real gold. That means they will have no value in terms of their sale potential with a gold buyer.

Ultimately, you can still send off the gold jewelry to a buyer even if you are not completely sure if it is authentic. If the gold turns out to be fake the buyer will inform you of this and return it. So, do not get your hopes up but do not dismiss sending the item. It may very well turn out to be legitimate and worth a nice price.

Bud Blair founded Gold Tree Online, the leading site to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://” target=”_blank”>www.goldtreeonline.com/”> sell scrap gold online and exchange <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://” target=”_blank”>www.goldtreeonline.com/how.htm”> cash for gold . They help you <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://” target=”_blank”>www.goldtreeonline.com/what_we_pay.htm”> trade your old broken jewelry, rings and coins for cash in a safe and secure environment.

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If you are looking for gifts for your relationship then odds are you’ve run into some trouble with trying to find the right thing.  This is especially going to be true if you are looking for something for your boyfriend. Most women don’t remember that there are risks involved with getting a good gift for a loving relationship. There are some Valentine’s Day gifts for your boyfriend that you can surely use for your loved one.

If your relationship is new then you should not go overboard with something. Maybe a gift that could be used for any holiday would be better for this case. Something that has his interests in mind would be recommended.  For instance, if your boyfriend likes hockey maybe a subscription to the Hockey News or tickets to a local game would be great.

Books are popular gifts for all occasions.  This is one of the smart gifts for your relationship to use. It helps to go with the interests that your boyfriend has.  For instance, if your boyfriend likes the movies then maybe a book about movies would work so long as they are about movies that he is interested in.  Also, if he likes working around his house maybe a home remodeling book would be a good idea. Any time of the year is a good time for a book!

Jewelry is commonly used as a gift that men buy women for Valentine’s Day.  It can also be the other way around. A tie tack or cufflinks would be good gifts ideas for the relationship you are in.  A nice watch that is sophisticated could be a good option to use as well.  Of course, he may not dress up as often but he will be appreciative of the fact that he will have stuff to wear when he needs to go out for a special holiday.

Some say that to get to a man’s heart you must get through his stomach.  A good homemade meal would be a good choice to use in this case.  That’s especially good because most men who live on their own do not eat in as much let alone cook like they normally would.  Maybe making meals for him at home or cooking something that you and him don’t eat often would be a good option. Having a romantic setting in the eating area would be useful too.

These are all Valentine’s Day gifts for your boyfriend that you should definitely be looking into.  They are ideas that can be practical and show how much you care for him.  Don’t forget to look for what you are spending, as you don’t want to go overboard but not too lenient.

Checkout gift ideas at our shop at ThisValentine.com.