Switching Stones: The Two Biggest Myths About the Jewelry Business

Two things you don’t need to worry about

Have you ever had a really shady jewelry experience? Maybe you went into a store and didn’t get the right feeling, felt like someone was being deceptive over the phone, or just not telling you something straight up? The jewelry industry isn’t known for it’s transparency, and there’s confusion between the quality you’re receiving, and the price you’re paying.

It’s difficult sometimes, to know the difference between a rumor and the truth. Every industry has it’s false claims, ideologies and myths, and the jewelry business has more than most. So we’re here dispel the most common false claims about the jewelry industry, so you can purchase with clarity and confidence—knowing exactly what you’re getting.

MYTH #1: SWITCHING STONES
People are always worried about switching stones on them, Jeffrey says. But all the years that he’s been in the business, he’s never encountered that anywhere.

“There’s no money in it,” he said. “I hear these stories all the time. But the reality it, it was just dirty and now it looks different.”

MYTH #2: BOX STORES ARE LESS EXPENSIVE
People think they’re going to get a better price if they go to a place like Costco or a big box store, but that’s not the case, says Jeffrey.

“A local guy like me will give people a consistently better price and better service than the big guys.”

The reason for this varies. In same cases, a box store wants to sell you only whats in the case. They’re not interested in your unique needs or wants—and are more focused on making the sale, based on what they have in stock. In other cases, like with repairs, the shop may not be able to do the actual repair needed. Meaning, if a certain piece on a necklace is broken, they can’t isolate the problem and only fix what’s necessary. Since they can’t fix it, they’ll replace the whole thing, or a big part of it. Then, you’re paying for a whole piece to get replaced, vs. a small repair. Plus, you’ll pay way more overhead—they’re charge for the overhead of sending it out to a repair shop, and whatever price they put on top of that. In these instances, a simple $20 repair can escalate to $500. This happens when the people at the store aren’t able to perform the repair, so they do and charge way more than necessary. This is when things get complicated.

BOTTOM LINE
Next time you’re worried about a stone getting swapped in one of your pieces, there’s no need to worry. And when considering going to a big box store for a better price, know that bigger doesn’t mean less expensive. The reality is you’ll get better service, quality and price going to a small jewelry shop like ours.

This is because we have the tools (like a laser welder, allowing us to do a more accurate job in a fraction of time), the experience of Jeffrey, a master goldsmith, pioneer in laser welding and gemologist, and expertise of knowing how to isolate and fix a problem. We don’t have the markup like most jewelry chains and put our customers needs first, always.

What are other misconceptions you’ve heard about the jewelry industry? Any fears or questions? We’d love to hear—leave them in the comments below.