FAQs
Shipping Policies
:: All US orders are shipped through the U.S.P.S. Priority.
:: International orders are shipped via U.S.P.S. International First Class.
:: Any Duty and/or Import Tax is the responsibility of the customer.
:: No refund will be given for ‘lost’ packages, so, if you would like insurance, please let us know during checkout.
:: We will send an email to you at the time of the sale to verify the shipping address and are not responsible for items not received due to an incorrect address.
:: As required, we use the U.S.P.S. Customs Declaration Form when shipping outside the USA & will not ship your purchase as a “Gift”.
Refunds and Exchanges
:: If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason I offer returns & exchanges.
:: Item(s) must be returned & received within 14 days after you received your purchase, sent with Delivery Confirmation & must be received in its original condition.
:: Original Shipping Costs will be subtracted from your refund and/or exchange and you are responsible for return shipping.
Jewelry Policies
In the US:
I offer various levels of shipping on all of my packages. For items or orders less than $50, I will ship via First Class mail with Delivery Confirmation from the USPS . All other orders will ship via USPS Priority Mail. I ship with these methods so that you and I both know exactly where your package is at any one time. If you would prefer a shipping method other than USPS Priority, please let me know, and I will be happy to ship your purchase any way that you would like.
International Shipments:
I am now offering International Shipping. Please note that it may take up to 5 additional business days to fulfill my customs obligations before your item is mailed. I will use first class/registered mail unless a different shipment method is required by your country. Currently to my knowledge, Hungary, and Ireland require Priority or Express shipments, and I will have to charge accordingly.
Please contact me before making any purchase requiring extra shipping and I will adjust the listing for you, or send you an additional invoice.
Refunds and Exchanges
I stand behind all of my work. If you are unhappy or encounter a problem within 60 days I will happily work with you to ensure you are completely satisfied at no additional cost to you, my client. After 60 days, I will still work to ensure your satisfaction, but there may be additional minor repair or shipping fees associated with this process.
Additional Policies and FAQs
I will process orders at the end of the business day, which will then ship the following day. I will contact the buyer within 24 hours with shipping and tracking details from receipt of payment. Please note that orders received and paid for on Saturday won’t ship out until Monday.
Every jewelry item listed includes a lovely gift box with ribbon, optional gift tag, a Care of Your Art Jewelry pamphlet, and a business card. If you would like alternate gift wrapping options, please let me know, I will be glad to wrap to your specifications.
Stationery and Paper Goods Policies
TOP
Shipping:
Your order will be shipped within 1-5 Business days of purchase.
Please allow 7 – 14 business days from date of shipment for arrival as my items are shipped from Canada.
To keep costs low for you, the buyer, we do not purchase additional insurance unless otherwise specified.
Customs will be filled in with “stationery” or “napkins” please do not ask me to label it as a gift.
Refunds and Exchanges:
I will try to make everyone as happy as I can, within reason, whether that means refunds or return and exchange.
Returns must be received by me within 45 days of purchase to get an exchange.
Proof of damage for refunds must be in the form of a picture emailed to me within 30 days of purchase.
I will not refund shipping costs for refunds, returns or exchanges.
What do all these marks and grades mean on Jewelry?
What is the difference between silver/gold grades? TOP
I see lots of different people calling their jewelry silver- but they have all kinds of different prices! Why is that?
There are many different kinds of applications of silver and alloys that you might find being turned into jewelry. The most common types are: Silver Tone, Silver Plate, Sterling Silver, Fine Silver, Argentium Silver, and Palladium Silver.
Fine silver is as close as we can come to 100% pure silver. There are always trace amounts of something mixed in, no matter how hard we try to keep them out, so technically, it is 99.9% silver, but for practical purposes, it is called pure silver. You will find fine silver jewelry is very “soft” compared to other types of jewelry, and is whiter than any alloyed jewelry you might come across.
Speaking of alloys, or mixes of metals, we come now to Sterling Silver. In the USA, this metal alloy is legally required to have 925 parts per 1000 of pure silver, with the remaining balance of metal generally comprised of copper. The addition of copper makes it more stronger and more durable than fine, or pure silver. It is highly common in the jewelry industry, and is much admired for it’s strength and beauty, however, it is extremely prone to tarnishing.
In the last several years, new alloys have been brought to the metals market. The most popular of the new alloys is called “Argentium Silver”, which is an alloy of 980 parts silver, and 20 parts Germanium. You will note that the ratios of silver is actually higher than sterling, and so this alloy also costs more than sterling. However, it enjoys some of the same structural strengths that traditional sterling has, as well as a greatly increased tarnish resistance.
Another alloy that has been introduced is Palladium Silver. Palladium is a member of the Platinum family, durable, strong, and does not tarnish. It is highly expensive in comparison to Argentium and Sterling Silver, but has the added allure of being an affordable platinum family alloy, as well as featuring the gorgeous pure white that is so desirable in platinum.
The last silver that you may come across in art jewelry is reticulating silver. This particular material is designed to take advantage of a certain form of metal manipulation that requires the material to have more copper than traditional sterling silver. It is possible to accomplish this process with traditional sterling silver, so you may also find reticulated silver labeled “sterling”, but you are more likely to find it labeled 80/20. If you have questions about reticulated silver, you can find more in my article Reticulating Silver: Riding the Ragged Edge of Disaster.
What about Rhodium Silver? Is that an alloy too?
Rhodium silver is actually Rhodium plated sterling silver. Rhodium is another precious metal, but unlike silver it doesn’t tarnish. It is has a wonderful shine and luster, and when plated over silver, continues to give that wonderful shine for a very very long time. Please note that Rhodium is more expensive than silver, and adding this plating will actually increase the cost of the sterling silver as well as increasing it’s tarnish resistance.
What is Vermeil? It looks just like gold to me…
Vermeil- pronounced ver-MAY, is 14k, 18k, 22k, or 24k gold thickly plated over sterling silver. It is also known as Sheffield plate, internationally, and is actually quite durable considering the fact that it’s plated. For comparison’s sake, if gold plate is a 1, vermeil is a 30. Because gold is a nice soft metal, the gold layer on vermeil is most likely to dent instead of flake. A viable alternative to solid gold jewelry, it must legally be gold over 925 silver, and will be marked “vermeil”.
I just saw something that said it was Gold Bond- is that the same as Gold Filled?
No, actually, Gold Bond is a very new gold product that is a blend of Vermeil and Gold filled. The layer of 22 k gold in a gold bond material is very very thick, and is nearly 1/4 the total weight of the item. Similarly, the base material is anti-tarnish Argentium Silver, so that all materials in the piece are precious metals. This material is extremely new, and isn’t very wide spread yet, but it is likely to be quite a nice fully precious alternative to gold filled products.
If you enjoyed this article, you can find more of Kaelin’s writings (and the article in in complete form) on her blog, http://www.kaelindesign.com/blog.
Gift Certificate
We now offer gift certificates. Please contact us for denominations and special requests.
Gift Wrapping
Want to order the perfect gift? Simply purchase anything from our site, tell us it’s a gift, and we’ll take care of the rest.