Have you ever wanted to buy fine jewelry online, but hesitated because you weren’t sure if the shop was a legitimate business? It can be hard to know who to trust. Shopping online for jewelry isn’t for everyone, but for many, the convenience of shopping from home is too great an appeal to bypass. In addition to convenience, the rise of online shopping brings with it wider selection.
However, buying fine jewelry online requires both a keen eye and some due diligence to ensure that you're getting what you expect. When you’re buying a ring or a pair of earrings online, how can you know that what you see on your screen is what will arrive at your doorstep?
We’ve compiled a list of 10 useful tips to consider - and questions to ask - when assessing the integrity of online jewelers. To save you time, we’ll share insights for NIXIN Jewelry - but we encourage you to do your own research as well.
1. Longevity – When was the Company Established?
Find out how long the business has been around. Has it been at least a few years? Do they place an emphasis on their online presence? While an online jewelry business doesn’t have to be long-lived to be trustworthy, it can be a sign of repute. Endurance in the industry is often an indication of repeat clients, growth over time, and the ability to sustain the ups and downs of a volatile industry.
As for NIXIN, Owner and Designer, Nicki, acquired her first DBA for NIXIN Jewelry in 2007, and the company has been in operation ever since.
2. Can you Find the Business Across Multiple Platforms?
Most legitimate online jewelry businesses will have a presence on a range of social platforms. Large companies with big marketing departments are likely to be more active across them all, but even small businesses will usually have claimed their namesakes. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are often the best places for jewelry businesses to foster visuals and communication, but even Tik Tok, Pinterest or Twitter may be well suited to certain types of jewelry companies.
By referencing these platforms, not only can you see that the business exists beyond their own website, but you can scroll back in time to see how long they’ve been on the respective platform, and you can also observe how they engage with their audience.
NIXIN Jewelry: exists or has a presence on various platforms, including the following:
3. Does the Business Have a Good Reputation?
Jewelry Store Reviews
One of the easiest places to gauge the reputation of a business is by reading its reviews. You can sometimes find reviews in more than one place.
Most businesses have their own review system onsite, making it easy to see what their customers have to say. There are a few key things to look out for:
- Are their Clients happy? (an obvious, but important sign)
- Are Clients returning? This is a key sign the business is doing something right. You rarely frequent an establishment if you are not a happy customer.
Google is another good place to search for reviews for a business.
When reading the business’s reviews, pay attention to their focus. Are they exclusive to product quality or do they also reflect upon the customer’s experience? Both are important and another buyer’s personal experience can provide valuable insights into the seller’s reliability. Good customer service is often a hallmark of a trustworthy jewelry seller.
Social Media
Social Media is also a great platform to help assess the reputation of a jewelry business.
- Pay attention to how a business speaks to its audience. Do they reply to their engaged followers in an authentic voice and with sincere responses?
- If there is negativity in their feed, how do they react to it? Professionalism exhibited in the face of negativity can be very telling.
- Are they followed by others in their industry? This acknowledgement *may* signal credibility.
Email
If you’re still unsure, try sending the business an email and see what you receive back.
- Is the business responsive and professional?
- Do you hear back in a timely manner?
- Is the reply personal or a template?
- Is there continuity in the communication flow - or does a different person respond in each segment of the thread?
How you’re received and handled can be predictive of what you might expect from a purchasing experience.
Subscriber Email
Vet the company using their own subscriber emails. While you won’t be able to see how other customers respond to the business, this will allow you to be a passive observer to see how the business chooses to communicate with its most loyal audience. You can then assess its “authenticity essence.” By that we mean:
- Does the business seem to put careful thought into their communication?
- Did they devote time to crafting it?
- Is it just a sales pitch? Or is there any other value for their audience?
- In other words, if you see thoughtful effort applied here, it may be a good reflection of how they value their customers. You gave them special permission to your inbox - and they know it. How do they treat you now that they are there? If you would like to see how we engage with our audience, we invite you to join our INSIDERS and you can assess for yourself how we do.
At NIXIN
Here at NIXIN, our reputation is paramount — we are a small business grateful to have incredibly loyal Clients. It’s important to us that our Clients have a positive experience when shopping with us; that they want to return to us over and over again, and that they continue to refer their family and friends to NIXIN Jewelry to fulfill their jewelry dreams.
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Jewelry Reviews: We have a review system on site where you can read what our Clients have to say about their orders and their experiences with NIXIN. Though our Client base tends to be fairly private, we have a solid collection of reviews to sift through to help paint a picture of what you might expect if you were to place an order with us.
We receive most of our reviews directly on our site, but would love to hear from more of you on our Google Business Profile, so please consider leaving us a review there if you have shopped with us before and would like to share - it matters!
- Social Media: I (Nicki - Owner of and Designer for NIXIN) personally reply to all social media. Though I could contract this out, I feel it’s too important that I handle it myself. It’s a direct exchange between you (my audience and Clients) and me — I don’t want to hand that job over to someone else. I want to build that relationship directly with you. Anything you see posted on NIXIN Jewelry social comes from me, Founder, Designer and Flower Stem Curler (yes - if you’ve ordered from NIXIN, I do that too. 😊)
- Email: Feeling tentative? Go ahead and vet us; send an email — you can ask me a question or say hello. I’ll be the one to get back to you.
- Need more? We recently launched NIXIN PRIVATE CONNECT SESSIONS; it’s an opportunity to connect with me (Nicki) online, one on one, so you meet the artist behind the brand…a real human.
4. How do you Know You're Buying From a Reputable Jeweler?
There are some universal characteristics reputable jewelers tend to exhibit. Among them are the following:
- They listen to you.
- They are transparent about what they can and cannot do.
- They are knowledgeable about their craft; yet unafraid to indicate if they don’t know an answer.
- They follow through on their word.
- They are effective communicators.
- They do not pressure you into purchasing.
When buying jewelry online, you don’t have the opportunity - the way you would have in person - to size up the people you’re buying from. That intangible element that gives you a good feeling about who you’re purchasing from — it can be so valuable! But you can look for these traits above in your exchanges with your online jeweler as they are good indicators of a reputable one.
5. *Opal Lovers*: How do you Know You're Buying From a Reputable Opal Source?
To dive a little deeper on the last question, what about Opal jewelry in particular? How do you know that you’ve selected a trustworthy online jewelry store to purchase Opal jewelry from?
- Finding a site with a specialized focus in Opal Jewelry is a good sign the vendor is committed to and knowledgeable about Opals. (Okay, we are a little biased, but it’s also true!) It’s less likely a business will have niched themselves without having some expertise in the area.
- See if the online business offers any useful or authoritative information that teaches you about the gemstone and answers questions you may have. This can be a good indicator of legitimacy. As evidenced by your reading this now, you are already aware we at NIXIN Jewelry have a blog. We share predominantly opal information, but also incorporate other topics - such as this one - that we believe our Clients may find useful. We invite you to peruse our blog for useful information. We are always open to suggestions for new topics so please share ideas if you have them!
- Do other industry professionals differ to, professionally engage with, or link to their website? If so, this can be a sign that the business is well respected.
- Have other concerns? Reach out to the company and inquire. You may be surprised at how much you can tell about a seller’s credibility by the way they communicate with you.
6. Educate Yourself: Knowledge is Power
Do your research about the type of jewelry you plan to purchase. That doesn’t mean you have to become an expert - but at least educate yourself enough to understand what you don’t know (yes, know what you don’t know). And asking questions can be your most powerful tool.
For example, if shopping for Australian Opal Jewelry, understand the difference between a solid Opal and an Opal doublet or triplet.
While perfectly suitable material to use if disclosed, a trusted jeweler should never pass off a doublet or triplet as a solid. At NIXIN, we use only solid Australian Opals for our Opal Jewelry. Any other materials would be cited accordingly in our product specs of the description. If you can’t tell what it is, don’t be afraid to ask.
You can also differ to other vendors, friends and online professional resources to do your research. You’re likely to gather varied information, so a range of references can be helpful to make a fair assessment. Unbiased and respected industry resources - such as GIA (Gemological Institute of America) - are always prudent go-tos for information.
Most importantly, explore the information provided by the online jewelry store you are considering purchasing from. A legitimate vendor will present thoughtful and thorough information about the fine jewelry they sell. This should include:
- Product imagery
- Product description
- Materials (including metals & karat, gemstones and carat weight)
- Dimensions
The information provided by the seller *should* answer most of your questions. But if it doesn’t, ask. An honest vendor should welcome any reasonable questions.
At NIXIN Jewelry, we invite questions that support your confidence in our works of art and the artist behind them. We believe an open dialogue is important and that it paves the way to a confident exchange. You should feel informed about any purchase before you make it — so we’d rather you take your time and ask any necessary questions prior to purchasing. Have a simple product question? Ask Nicki here.
Need more than a simple Q & A over email? Perhaps a NIXIN Private Connect Session would better suit your needs and put you at ease. You can set up a zoom session with Nicki to speak live and truly connect so you can get to know the face behind the brand.
You’ll find each piece at NIXIN has a description section along with drop down specs providing all the relevant dimensions and materials. What you’ll find different from nearly all other online jewelers is that we provide at least 10 photos PLUS a video of each new piece we load to site. That’s a rare offering from a fine jewelry company.
We invest in this effort because it offers value to our Clients, allowing you to see each piece of our Opal jewelry from different angles and in different lights - even modeled for scale. The true essence of an Opal is difficult to capture in a single static shot, so we are committed to providing ample imagery to help paint a complete picture of each piece. We aim to avoid surprises when our jewelry arrives at your doorstep, making ourselves available for questions and showing a wide range of images to help you envision the piece prior to purchase.
Why do we do this? Because we believe transparency is vital, and trust from our Clients is everything.
7. How do they Ship Their Fine Jewelry?
As much as we’d like to pretend it doesn’t, loss, damage and even theft can happen when shipping jewelry through the mail. Which is why it’s important to know what to expect when receiving shipped jewelry from an online jewelry store. For safest shipping practices, online vendors selling fine jewelry should always send to you:
- Signature required
- With insurance
Bear in mind, insurers have very strict rules and limitations around their coverage, but having it is better than not. And capturing a signature for package delivery is usually a key criteria for coverage.
*Also, important to note: Most insurers require that you open and inspect the package upon receipt so you can report any damage or problems immediately. In the event of a claim, you may be asked for the product’s packaging (courier boxes included), so keeping it is recommended.
Here at NIXIN Jewelry, we ship all parcels valued over $400 via UPS, signature required. We can ship to either a business or residential address — in some cases where more convenient, we can arrange for shipment to a UPS Access Point “Hold for Pick-Up.” All of our packages ship insured, and we offer complimentary standard shipping on all US orders.
8. Should I Expect an Online Jewelry Shop to Take Returns and Exchanges?
Whether or not returns and exchanges are accepted by an online store will vary, and may depend on a range of factors.
- If the business is large or creates production work (repeatable jewelry pieces), there is a greater chance they will accept returns and or exchanges.
- However, if you are purchasing jewelry online from a small business, like an artisan jewelry store or from a jewelry designer that specializes in one of a kind jewelry, there’s a higher likelihood that they won’t accept returns or exchanges.
- Even in instances where stores do take jewelry back, you may be responsible for some associated costs, such as shipping or restocking fees, so it’s always advisable to review the store policies - prior to purchase - so you aren’t surprised by an unexpected charge later.
At NIXIN Jewelry we have an all sales final policy, given most of our pieces are either One of a Kind works of art, or are made to order just for you. It is important to us that you find the right piece so we encourage you to reach out with any questions prior to your purchase. We’re happy to help!
Need more than a quick email exchange? Set up a Private Connect Session - we can discuss the piece and show it to you over zoom. You can even apply the Session rate to your order. (*see details in the link above)
If you have reservations about a piece, sleep on it! We don’t want you to buy it if you aren’t sure - we would rather you wait until you feel comfortable and confident. After sleeping on it, you’ll likely either awaken having moved on (and having saved yourself an impulse purchase) or realizing you are ready to treat yourself. Either way, you will feel better than you would have placing an order with reservations.
9. Safeguard Your Financial Information
While this may sound intuitive, you might be surprised at the information we are sometimes offered. And while we are incredibly honored to know our Clients trust us - PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL NIXIN JEWELRY YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER. Keep your card number safe and sound. Should an online vendor ever ask you to email more than the last 4 or 5 digits of your card number, take pause before acting and be sure this is necessary in your scenario. It may be — just take a moment to be sure.
At NIXIN Jewelry, we are set up to accept a wide variety of payment options - including credit cards - but we are blinded to your full card number and only see the last four digits.
Should there be a security alert on our end, we might request further identification to confirm you are the owner of the card used — but that will not include sending us the entirety of your card number.
10. Trust Your Instincts
Ultimately, there is no perfect tool to select the right online jeweler for you. Even the best jewelry business can make a mistake and the worst one can have a great day. So sometimes you just have to use the tools available to you, and combine them with your innate tool - your instinct.
Happy Shopping!
Using whatever blend of tools you find most useful above, in conjunction with your gut feeling, you can best sift through the many options you have when shopping for fine jewelry online. We would love for NIXIN Jewelry to land among your choices — please reach out if we can help in any way. We welcome the opportunity to earn your trust.
