Today we’re sharing a brief roundup of some of the more common scams, deceptions, manipulations and money-grabbing tactics used by unethical jewelers that give our industry a bad rap.
We wanna arm you with the knowledge that each of these common scams and unethical business practices exist...because, once you see it, you can’t UNSEE IT.
In some cases, police and governments have gotten involved. But in most cases, it’s up to ethical jewelry companies to call out the bad actors in our industry.
We hope this 5 minute read can give you the info to spot these shenanigans, and we can rest assured that our friends and customers won’t be deceived (again).
Take a look at the Google Trends for “cubic zirconia” (what we make and sell) versus “fake diamond”, “man made diamond” and “artificial diamond”.
What's more popular?
Fake diamonds
Artificial diamonds
Man made diamonds
Cubic zirconiaHere's what the Google search research says...
Since the founding of our website-- check out our top, most-read 17 blog posts to date! Topics include diamond deprogramming, relationship tips, engagement proposal ideas and stories, product care and cleaning, picking the right engagement ring, gift ideas and what factors make our 5A diamond-quality cubic zirconia stones the best!
Bad news. www.Emitations.com as a company appears to be out of business (as of writing). Good news: the owners of CubicZirconia.com are offering a special, first-purchase discount to new customers that previously did business with Emitations.com.
Mass retailers that sell jewelry are always getting caught red-handed selling items manufactured with materials that are suspect. The result? Toxic jewelry.
Please take a look at today's article. It’s no fun to read, and it was no fun to write. But reading this may save the life of someone you care about (or his/her brain, kidneys, bones, or reproductive function)
It's not really because he doesn't want to buy you jewelry. He does. He really does. It's just that there's quite a number of things that also go with that decision. Understanding these questions will lead to you helping him buy you that ring you've been secretly eyeing forever.
Not yet decided on the right shape of the center stone of your engagement ring? No problem! Let’s see if we can talk through it together.
Did you know a piece of finished jewelry that is complete except for setting stones – example: earrings, ring or pendant – is called a "mounting"? Every single one of our pieces of jewelry can be purchased as a “mounting” without stones. And of course, you can do so less expensively than the piece fully-set with our CZ stones. You don’t need to be a jeweler/jewelry company for a B2B purchase, either; anyone can buy the mountings we manufacture with a few conditions.
In this post, we fully explained what rhodium is, why rhodium-plating is popular with fine jewelry (and fine jewelry customers!) and provide more rhodium-related info than you’ll probably ever want to know. We even cover the drawbacks to rhodium-plating -- mainly the ongoing maintenance cost and effort-- to help our customers wanting white precious metal jewelry to make the best possible decision.
Please note that rhodium-plating for extra protection and shine comes standard on all fine sterling silver and white gold jewelry created by CubicZirconia.com. Replating white gold and sterling silver jewelry with new rhodium is a service we offer at a low cost.
If you prefer the softer, warm tones of white gold that has not been rhodium-plated, please contact us before purchase so that we can make that modification when you place your order.
The Moh's Scale of Hardness ranks minerals, gemstones, metals and other materials based on what material scratches what other materials, and what materials are scratched by it in return. Basically, a material can be scratched by anything ranked above it and can scratch anything ranked below it. This is important because you're going to learn how to mostly prevent the #1 reason fine precious metal jewelry becomes damaged and doesn't last the lifetime you expect it to last!
Journalists have known for decades what anyone who tries to do so finds out pretty quickly: it’s hard to sell a diamond for anywhere close to what you paid for it. But if you need cash and fast...what’s to do?
Enter CubicZirconia.com's "Diamond Downgrade" program, which allows you to keep your jewelry, just sell the diamond for fast cash at a fair price, have it replaced with our 5A/AAAAA cubic zirconia...and be assured that no one will ever know the difference.
Yes, we can custom cut cubic zirconia stones for you in practically any shape or size you want. It will take a bit more time and cost more than a popular shape and size combination such as those we always have in stock ready to ship within 48 hours...but it is possible. Check out this blog post for details and instructions to purchase this custom stone cutting service. Buy one or wholesale lots in bulk with volume discount.
Our average markup for gold, palladium, and platinum is 20-40% less than the industry standard for precious metals jewelry.
We invite you to compare our precious metals jewelry prices with other jewelers and you’ll see that, gram for gram in gold, palladium and platinum cubic zirconia jewelry, we offer the best prices for the highest-quality cubic zirconia jewelry manufactured anywhere.
Why can we say that with 100% confidence?
Part of it is because of the difference in precious metals markup, but it’s also that we have designed our shopping experience to be fair.
Permit us a short explanation, please?
Anyone who says they can tell the difference with the naked eye (i.e. looking unaided, with no special tools or props) between a perfect mined diamond and the top-quality 5A Cubic Zirconia such as that we make and use in our jewelry is:
lying
only giving anecdotal evidence based on a flawed experiment set-up
comparing diamonds to poor-quality CZ manufactured by companies trying to save money on quality.(i.e. not CubicZirconia.com cubic zirconia)
trying to sell you diamond jewelry
or some combination of the above.
Allow me to explain...
Customers hoping/expecting to replace an inexpensive but flawless and colorless 5A CubicZirconia.com CZ center stone with diamond at some point in the future commonly ask us if it is possible for us to make our jewelry with a only the largest stone being cubic zirconia while natural diamond accent stones (also known as 'side stones' or 'melee stones) are used in the remainder of the piece. Yes, this is possible. Here's the details.
Have you ever heard of the "wedding tax"? It basically means that once a service provider, venue, product seller or renter hears the word "wedding", they charge more. Much more.Almost every product and service provider does this...but here's three places where something for your wedding will actually be cheaper in 2018 than it was 5 years ago in 2013.
