Custom Cubic Zirconia (CZ) Jewelry FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

A: Maybe you have a jewelry design you've imagined, seen in a picture, or admired someone wearing but the design only comes with diamonds or other gemstones, or you haven’t found anything exactly like it to purchase on-line or in stores at a price you feel comfortable paying. You could be looking to create a perfectly-fitting "stackable" wedding band or anniversary ring to complement an existing engagement ring. Or maybe you're among a growing group of customers that hire our company to create a custom cubic zirconia replica of their already-owned diamond bridal set or other expensive "heirloom" diamond ring or other jewelry for safety from theft while traveling and/or "daily wear" purposes that keep the more expensive original diamond jewelry safely stored away. If you've been unable to find what you want as a pre-manufactured jewelry piece from "in-stock" retailers, want diamond-quality jewelry without paying the price of diamonds, are seeking jewelry features you've imagined but not found combined together in one piece ready to purchase, or are one of those customers seeking a replica CZ jewelry piece...custom jewelry may be a good idea, and you're in the right place at CubicZirconia.com! We love to work with custom jewelry seekers to help take the fruits of your imagination and turn them into well-crafted, quality-workmanship you'll be proud to wear for a lifetime!

A: We do our very best to respond to price quotes within 48 hours. So once you submit your quote request, you will soon know exactly how much money it will take to create your custom design with no worry of surprises later in unanticipated extra expenses (for a more detailed explanation of pricing see FAQs questions below "What variables make up your price for a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?" and "How accurate is the price quote you’ll give me?".
Sometimes a price quote requires additional research, or your answers to clarifying questions we may have to fully understand your desires, and those delays are to ensure we’re providing an accurate price.

A: When pricing your custom creation, there are three factors we consider: design, cost of materials, and cost of labor. The latter two factors are essentially fixed whether a jeweler is hand-making a piece of non-mass-manufactured jewelry for the first time or the hundredth time. The first factor, however, is a cost only incurred one time no matter how many times a piece of jewelry may be manufactured in the future. This explains why even a fairly simple custom design will have a price that is generally higher than a similarly-designed stock item the CubicZirconia.com website. For a more detailed explanation, see the answers to FAQ questions "How much can I expect to spend on a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?" and "What variables make up your price for a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?" below.

A: We do our best to manage your expectations with an accurate quote for your custom piece as quickly as possible after we receive your initial request, and from there it's our policy to ensure that we won't surprise you with price increases once we begin working together. If you have a set amount of money you're looking to spend no more than, you should absolutely share that figure with us early on so we can make suggestions that are appropriate to conservatively modify the quote and finished design planned to meet those needs (if possible). That said, you should know that creating custom jewelry from scratch has certain hard costs that will translate into a final cost for purchase that is more expensive than similar pre-manufactured styles you will see already for sale on our website. For example, if you are looking to spend less than $500 (U.S.) for the final product, custom jewelry probably is not right for you. 

On average, custom cubic zirconia rings created for previous customers have been in the following U.S. dollar price ranges: 

a)    Sterling Silver: between $500 and $1,250

b)    Gold and Palladium: between $800 and $2,000 

c)    Platinum: between $1,200 and $3,000

With few exceptions above and below, your quoted price if you request our help crafting a custom cubic zirconia ring is likely going to be the within these ranges.

For a more detailed explanation of costs with a full, line-item breakdown of what factors influence the cost of custom cubic zirconia jewelry versus pre-manufactured styles, see the FAQ below "What variables make up your price for a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?".

Note: We provide the ring example price ranges mostly because a majority of our custom design requests are for rings, engagement rings, or multi-ring wedding sets. Earrings, necklaces, and pendants produced through our custom CZ jewelry program of course have a different range of pricing based on other factors, and you can contact us to discuss your piece for more details...or just submit the free quote and get a fast, accurate answer for our price to create your custom CZ jewelry piece.

A: The pricing for any custom jewelry is based on these 3 factors:

1. The number of stones; the more total stones, the more setting work needs to be done to complete a jewelry piece, so this number will influence the price of your custom CZ jewelry piece purchased from CubicZirconia.com. Professional craftsmen stone-setters on our team will hand set each stone in your custom-designed jewelry piece.  Yes, skilled artisan labor from experienced jewelers is needed to achieve a consistent high quality for stone-setting in the custom "from scratch" non-mass-manufactured jewelry pieces created by CubicZirconia.com in order for your purchase to be backed by our Lifetime Warranty. Designs that call for only one or a few stones such as solitaire, three-stone, five-stone, seven-stone-- and similar designs with zero or a small number of accent stones-- are significantly less labor-intensive than designs with more accent stones. Therefore, you can thus expect to pay less for simple custom cubic zirconia jewelry designs that have fewer stones.

The more costly designs in custom jewelry are those with many stones such as eternity bands, pavé and micropavé rings, or halo jewelry and rings, which are all popular jewelry styles containing dozens or even hundreds of individual accent stones requiring precision setting by hand.

Little Known Jewelry Shopper's Tip: Unlike with natural diamond accents that when marked up by the seller can add thousands of dollars to the retail price of your finished diamond jewelry piece, our actual cost for making cubic zirconia stones is inexpensive and we pass those savings along to our customers. Even the highest-grade 5A cubic zirconia, visually indistinguishable from diamond, is cheap for us to make in the volume needed for our CubicZirconia.com business. Therefore, actual cubic zirconia stone "hard costs" add very little to the overall price you'll pay for a finished piece of our CZ jewelry. In fact, we shake our heads that we have competitors that charge TEN (10) to FIFTY (50) times the price we do for 5A loose cubic zirconia stones. The real thing to be aware of in your custom jewelry piece is the number of stones, because the labor cost of setting gemstones into jewelry is the same for any custom jeweler-- regardless of what kind of stone is being set (diamond, cubic zirconia, sapphire, or other).

2. The precious metal and its weight; the heavier your jewelry piece, the more material we’ll need and therefore, the more costly it will be to make for you. Both the precious metal chosen for manufacturing and the expected thickness of the jewelry piece, as well as its resulting metal weight, will influence the price of your custom CZ jewelry piece purchased from CubicZirconia.com.

Here are the precious metals we use to manufacture our high-quality cubic zirconia jewelry: .925 Sterling Silver, 10 karat Gold, 14 karat Gold, 18 karat Gold, Palladium, and pure 950 Platinum. On the budget Sterling Silver end of the precious metals spectrum, metal weight affects the price you'll pay much less than on the premium Platinum end of the spectrum. Why? Some customers of ours that research the jewelry industry before purchasing may have learned that the wholesale metal market prices paid by volume purchasers like our company for silver, gold, palladium and platinum metals change regularly--even on a daily basis. However, the periodic fluctuations are smaller for sterling silver than platinum because the base cost for silver is significantly smaller (for example as of this writing in August 2015, platinum costs 65 times as much money per troy ounce as sterling silver!).

If you've done that kind of research, then you're among these savvy customers we hope will recognize integrity when they see it! That's because at our company we strive to take those metal cost fluctuations into account, passing along our "hard cost savings" to customers on the retail prices we ask them to pay when appropriate-- especially if our metals costs change significantly from the time we provide you a custom jewelry price quote and the future date of your actual purchase of that quoted piece.

We don't feel it's fair for jewelry retailers to take advantage of customers by charging too much for gold (which for example as of this writing August 2015 has fallen in wholesale cost from $1600 to $1100 U.S. dollars per troy ounce in less than a year, a difference of 31 percent!) or other precious metal jewelry by basing the retailer's prices off of out-dated wholesale costs. In fact, we have invested in e-commerce technology so that many of the prices on our website for pre-manufactured, non-custom jewelry styles can change daily a few pennies or dollars up or down reflecting those changes in our costs accounted for by swings in the metal markets. To our knowledge, very few (if any) of our on-line competitors provide this courtesy to their customers, which can account in instances where we know customers of other on-line jewelry companies ultimately paid 20-30% higher 2014 metal-cost-based-prices for jewelry purchased in 2015. That just isn't fair to the customer, is it?

 Little Known Jewelry Shopper's Tip: If you're making an expensive jewelry purchase in gold, palladium, or platinum...check the retailer's website a few times over the course of a month or so and see if the price changes regularly. If it doesn't, and metal market prices have fallen, in our opinion you're being asked to pay too much! While all purchase prices transacted on our website are final, if you are trying to time your purchase with falling metal markets rates and notice a product on our website over the course of a few weeks that isn't getting cheaper for some reason, please let us know. We do have some products that don't change prices on-line automatically with our technology; simply call us toll-free at U.S. 1-888-355-2484 for an updated price on your custom item and we'll change the price manually, reflecting savings from any reduction in our metal markets costs, and get the item ready for you to purchase at the lower price. Fair enough?

3. The complexity of the design; the more complex and intricate your jewelry piece, the more specialized expertise and labor we’ll need to employ to create it and therefore, the more costly it will be to make for you. Whether the design is more simple or complex will greatly influence the price of your custom CZ jewelry piece purchased from CubicZirconia.com. The most complex designs are more intricate and as a result more time consuming for our computer jewelry design team to create the initial 3-D digital CAD image that is the first step in any modern jewelry manufacturing process. This CAD design is the 3D digital image rendering we provide our custom jewelry customers when we ask for feedback and final approval prior to our manufacturing the piece within precious metal.

Even with a relatively simple design, the CAD design and cost to make the first jewelry mold is the main factor that will differentiate a custom replica designed for the very first time "from scratch" from even a very similar pre-manufactured style that may have already been duplicated many times. Examples of common jewelry features that increase the complexity of a design (and thus are likely to increase the price) include-- but are not limited to-- these features:

1. over-sized or 'ultra-wide' bands
2. hand-engraving
3. detailed filigree
4. non-traditional split bands such as 'criss-cross' style bands
5. asymmetrical "free-form" and/or unique artisan-style jewelry pieces
6. twisted and braided bands
7. "lattice-style" engagement rings
8. most class rings
9. antique-style jewelry meant to give the vintage feel
10. pieces of jewelry with detailed custom artwork stylized into the piece

 

If you receive a quote for custom cubic zirconia jewelry from us and want to know more about which factors most increase the price you were quoted, just ask! There's usually a way to modify designs conservatively to reduce the complexity and therefore make it less costly to manufacture.

Now that you understand the 3 factors that most closely correlate with the price quote you'll receive when submitting your custom CZ jewelry design request, it should be easy to see which designs will cost in the lower of our published price ranges and which in the higher.

For example, a solitaire (i.e. one-stone) ring made of .925 sterling silver that has no complex design elements as listed above would fit that lower range of published pricing for sure! At the other end of the spectrum you'd expect to pay significantly more for a custom engagement ring made of pure 950 platinum-- the most expensive precious metal in which we manufacture jewelry-- featuring complex design elements like detailed hand-engraving and vintage-style filigree, a thick "ultra-wide" split band in a "criss-cross" style, and a large number of accent stones making up a double-halo with two encircling rows of accent stones around the center stone as well as a pavé band that may have 50, 100, 150, or even more small individually-set accent stones. And pretty much every custom ring request we receive will be between those two extremes!

A: Each of our custom design product pages (rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces) includes a submission form that asks for some different information specific to that type of jewelry, but here's the gist of the process:

• You provide images of your desired design -- hand-drawn, CAD, digital, etc. No images? See the answer to "What if I don’t have any images of the jewelry at all?" FAQ question below.
• Let us know your desired specifications for stone(s) shapes and sizes. You can learn more about our 5A cubic zirconia stone shapes and sizes here, just know that we most commonly manufacture jewelry using these stone shapes of cubic zirconia: Asscher Cut, Baguette Cut (Straight), Baguette Cut (Tapered), Cushion Cut, Emerald Cut, Half-Moon Cut, Heart Cut, Marquise Cut, Oval Cut, Pear Cut, Princess/Square Cut, Radiant Cut, Round Cut, Trapezoid Cut, Triangle Cut, and Trillion Cut.
• Choose your desired metal type: .925 Sterling Silver, 10K White Gold, 10K Yellow Gold, 10K Rose Gold, 14K White Gold, 14K Yellow Gold, 14K Rose Gold, Palladium, 18K White Gold, 18K Yellow Gold, 18K Rose Gold, or pure 950 Platinum are the metals we most commonly work with to manufacture jewelry.
  
  
• Make any selection specific to that product type (finger size for rings, clasp type for necklaces, backing type for earrings, etc).
  
  
• Add any notes by writing in the "Optional Special Design Note" text box that you think are necessary for us to better understand your request. 
  
  
• Then submit!

We'll use your input and instructions to develop a full price quote and get back to you with the details, typically via email as we find that's both least intrusive and provides our customers an opportunity to evaluate the price quote provided without feeling pressured.  Plus, it helps our customers making a purchase of custom-designed cubic zirconia jewelry as a gift maintain the important "surprise" factor when they can communicate with our company securely via email instead of our needing to call your home or business and risk letting the 'cat out of the bag'!

Start the custom design process here.

A: The more images you can provide of the design you’re looking for, or pictures of different design features you like from different rings you want us to combine together, the better we’ll be able to match both the overall look of the ring or other jewelry piece. This helps as well with the all-important structural details that secure any quality-made piece of jewelry and gives us a great chance of wowing you in our first round of 3D image design CAD renderings supplied for your feedback and approval prior to manufacturing. If you can't provide images, we will still be able to provide you with a price quote by making some assumptions about the structure of the piece (assumptions we will mention and ask to verify in the email you receive with the resulting price quote), and we can get closer to matching what you want more exactly through multiple CAD revision rounds as we seek your feedback each time. 

If you do have images of what you're looking for in a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece, we ask for two views specifically: "Top View" and "Side View".

Here are some examples of a "Top View" for a ring image, which allows us to see how wide the band is and how the center stone relates to the band:

Here are some examples of a "Side View" for a ring image, which allows us to see how the center stone is held, and how the side accent stones are set:

 

A: It’s always easier for our design team if we can start with a visual of the design, even if it's not an actual picture of what you want us to make exactly. You can also provide us a series of different jewelry pictures that incorporate some of the features you're looking for alongside your written description of which feature(s) you want from each piece, how you want them combined, and what you think your final custom jewelry piece should look like. Yes, we can take multiple images and combine the elements that you love from each: the type of setting (channel, prong, pavé, burnish), the style of band, the size and/or shape of the stones, the design of peekaboo, halo or prong accents and more.

We can even work initially from a hand-drawn image, like that supplied recently by one of our customers shown to the left!

Give us a chance to get a better idea of how you see the completed custom jewelry through any of these methods, and you'll find our team has almost infinite patience in working with you to refine your ideas-- even before you've laid down a single dollar. It's no exaggeration to say that many of our custom jewelry customers exchange 20, 30, even 50 or more emails over days or weeks with our company asking questions, exploring options, and making refinements to their original request before fully deciding what they want and telling us they're ready to make a purchase and hire CubicZirconia.com to create their custom cubic zirconia jewelry.  Try that with some of our competitors. You'll be lucky to get 20 words out of them if you haven't yet given them money!

A: Unlike many jewelry designers, we do not charge money for a consultation or an accurate professional estimate for the expected price of a custom jewelry design. It takes our team about 2-5 "man hours" of work for each free custom quote we provide and we’re happy to provide that service to customers looking to create something special.

As you go through the checkout process you will reach a page that has a button that says "Pay now".  You'll see at the top of that page that it says "Your order is free. No payment is required." You can confidently click the Pay now button knowing that we do not have any of your payment information and will hold no obligation for you to continue with your custom ring design after requesting a free custom price quote.

A: No, none at all.  When you make your selections from one of our custom request product pages for design-your-own-ring, design-your-own-necklace, design-your-own-earrings, or design-your-own-pendant, and click "Add to Cart" then "Checkout", you'll see a message before you click Complete Order that states "Your order is free. No payment required."

The confusing part is that our checkout system doesn't have a way to use a different call to action button to go from the Information page to the Payment page.  After you input your contact information (used to help calculate the costs of shipping and other costs related to your design), you will need to click the button that says "Continue to payment".  This is a bit confusing; after you click that button, you will be taken to a page that says "Your order is free. No payment is required."  There is not even any place that you could put in payment information if you wanted to. So you can proceed confidently knowing that your order is completely free, completely without obligation. 

A: Account registration simply allows us to keep all the information relating to your price quote organized in our CRM system, and associates your free custom quote request with a single "order number". We'll store your images, product information, and the details relating to your price quote within this account. That means that when you're ready to purchase or need additional information, within days or even a year or more later, we can respond quickly and accurately via email, website chat, or phone if you provide us your email address or free custom jewelry quote order number.

A: Having information about your shipping location allows us to provide you with your price quote.  Specifically, we can inform you about any applicable taxes, shipping charges, or customs duties/fees. You may be excited to surprise someone with the gift of high-quality custom cubic zirconia jewelry, but we feel you yourself shouldn't be surprised with any extra fees if it's within our power to be thorough and help you get an accurate estimate of all associated out-of-pocket expenses before purchase. This is especially true for our customers outside North America, with whom we're happy to work so long as we're all on the same page about expected customs duties being the customer's responsibility.

A: No, not at all. There's no obligation to purchase once you receive your quote. We’ll provide a price for you with no obligation to purchase your custom design (or any other product for that matter).In fact, we don't even ask for any of your payment information during the checkout process!  See FAQ Question "Do you require me to input any billing or payment information during the custom quote request?" for details about the checkout process.

There's no obligation to purchase, yet in a recent month a full 31.6% of potential customers who asked us for a free quote turned into actual customers who trusted us enough to hire our company to create their custom cubic zirconia jewelry. If that were the batting average of a major league baseball player, the head of our custom design program would probably be an All-Star commanding millions of dollars per year, beloved by fans all over the world, and have her own bobblehead doll! Yet we make our prices as affordable as possible considering the high quality of jewelry we design and manufacture-- and our greatest thrill is working together with you to take your ideas and "hit it out of the park". Still, we wouldn't say 'no' if you wanted to make us into a bobblehead doll, because that would be awesome.

However, if and when you do purchase your custom jewelry design we already have a head-start because our company already completed a thorough process to determine our own costs to produce the custom CZ jewelry you want in order to give you a fast and accurate quote. That means that as soon as your order for the custom jewelry piece comes in, whether it's in a few days or as much as a year later, we can immediately begin the process of bringing your custom design to life starting with the 3D computer drafted CAD image renderings for your feedback and approval.

A: When calculating the cost to bring your design to reality, the designers on our team use your drawings/images and/or written description and spend some time creating a "rough" preliminary computer-aided drafting (CAD) of your design-- for internal purposes only-- such as the example provided below.  Please note that the rough images below bear no resemblance to the much prettier 3D digital design CAD renderings we provide paying custom jewelry clients for their feedback and approval prior to manufacturing their design. This rough computer model, however, is well worth the effort required for our team to complete one on your behalf because this important step allows us to get a pretty accurate metal weight and stone count for the intended piece of jewelry, making our price quotes as accurate as possible. 

We don't like "hidden charges" as consumers ourselves when we're shopping for an important purchase, and we don't play that game as a business either.

Our quotes for custom jewelry have a high degree of accuracy because we take our time and do it right.

Unlike other companies who will often send you a 10 word or less email with a dollar figure and no explanation in response to your custom jewelry price quote request, we are thorough and happy to provide additional information, answering any of your questions and refining our understanding of your desired result. After all, with over 2/3 of our custom jewelry business in the design and manufacture of engagement rings, bridal sets and matching bands, we know that the biggest and most important purchase of a young man's relationship may be planned based on our efforts...and we take that responsibility very seriously.

If our price quote for CubicZirconia.com custom CZ jewelry changes after you first receive it, you can be sure it's because we received new information from you about modifications to the intended custom design that weren't originally communicated to us when you submitted your request for a quote. It could also change because of the passage of time (decreasing or  increasing) based on the changes in wholesale costs for gold, palladium, or platinum (see FAQ question below "How long is the custom CZ jewelry price quote you’ll give me good for?").

A: The cost of precious metals is one of the biggest “hard costs” in creating jewelry, and the cost variable that most commonly fluctuates. We most commonly manufacture jewelry with .925 Sterling Silver, 10K Gold, 14K Gold, Palladium, 18K Gold, and pure 950 Platinum. Some customers of ours that research the jewelry industry before purchasing may have already learned that the wholesale metal market costs paid by volume purchasers like our company for these precious metals change regularly-- even on a daily basis. However, rather than changing our retail prices daily on custom jewelry, to keep things simple and help our customers plan for their purchase, we guarantee the price quote you receive for your custom cubic zirconia jewelry request is going to remain the same for at least two months (60 days) so long as the precious metals markets remain relatively stable.

What wouldn’t be “relatively stable”? An exception would be if during that two months (60 days) there is a 20% or more increase-- or decrease-- of the wholesale buying cost of gold, palladium, or platinum (or 100% or more change for sterling silver) from the costs on the date when we created your price quote. In this instance, we’d reserve the right to increase (or decrease) your custom quote price so long as you haven’t already made your purchase.

After two months (60 days), the price for your custom quote may and likely will change a little bit to account for increases or decreases in our wholesale precious metal costs in the same way most of our jewelry prices for existing products on-line also change according to our pricing formula. (See FAQ question "What variables make up your price for a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?" above for a more detailed explanation).

Yes, while we don’t have any obligation to do so and to our knowledge none of our competitor jewelers do so, we believe it’s fair to reduce the price you were quoted if our cost to produce the jewelry for you goes down significantly between your quote and your later purchase.

Just to be clear, though, all purchase prices transacted on our website are final. However, if you’re reading this FAQ a few months after receiving your custom CZ jewelry's free price quote and are trying to time your purchase by tracking falling wholesale precious metal market rates…here are a few things to help you:

• We do have some products that don't change prices on-line automatically with our website pricing technology, and this includes custom jewelry products put on-line for you or another requester to purchase.
• If you know that the wholesale precious metal (gold, palladium, or platinum) to be used for your custom jewelry piece has reduced in cost since you requested your quote, it’s likely we can do a little bit better on the price for your custom jewelry piece, even if the price has yet to be updated on-line.
• In that case, don’t be shy about asking us to re-calculate your price when you’re ready to purchase, reflecting savings from any reduction in our metal markets costs. 
• When you're ready to buy just give us a call toll-free at U.S.  888-355-2484 or let us know via email and we can create an individualized promotion code that will discount your purchase of custom jewelry based on a “pass through” of our own gold/palladium/platinum metal market savings for that week we'd have if you were to order at that time as opposed to what our hard costs would have been when you originally requested your price quote and we gave you the estimated price to purchase.
• However, please keep in mind manufacturing time for custom pieces is seldom less than 23 to 28 days, and order accordingly if you have a special date coming up by which you want delivery. The savings you may get timing a falling metal market price isn’t likely going to make up for a disappointment on delivery date if you have an important day coming up!
  

A: From a technical proficiency standpoint, yes our design and manufacture team is talented and experienced enough that we can make a replica of almost any jewelry piece any other name-brand or celebrity jewelry designer has ever created. From a business standpoint, however, it is our policy to respect the intellectual property of others. We cannot and will not infringe on trademarked designs by creating an exact replica of a protected piece, once we're made aware that any customer-supplied images represent a trademarked design or see special recognizable designer-etched markings on the jewelry piece pictured itself.

However, jewelry-making has a thousands-of-years-old tradition of taking inspiration from its own. We're happy to discuss with you certain modifications to a trademarked style you like and share pictures of with us, changes to the original trademarked designer style that will protect that designer's intellectual property. Our collaboration together with you will result in a custom jewelry design uniquely all your own: inspired by the designer piece you loved, re-imagined to your exact specifications with our guidance, and a product we'd be proud to manufacture the very first of just for you.

A: Once you feel that your questions are answered, you can complete the custom design request submission for the product type you're looking for using these links:

• Custom Cubic Zirconia ring
• Custom Cubic Zirconia earrings
• Custom Cubic Zirconia pendant
• Custom Cubic Zirconia necklace

 

Thank you again for considering the one and only CubicZirconia.com.

A: After we receive your quote request, we will review the details and make sure we have enough information to provide you with an accurate price estimate.  We do our very best to respond to price quotes within 48 hours. Sometimes we need to ask for more details or do more research on the structure of the design to ensure we’re providing an accurate price, and therefore your price quote may take a bit longer.  But don’t worry -- if we need additional information we’ll reach out to you and ask (typically via email). Please be sure to check the email account for the email address you gave us when submitting your quote request in the following day or two in case we need to ask any clarifying questions!

Note: Now is also a good time to figure out your ring size if you requested a custom ring quote and don't already know your ring size. See FAQ question "What if I don't know my ring size?" below.

A: We do our very best to respond to price quotes within 48 hours. Sometimes a price quote requires additional research, or your answers to clarifying questions we may have to fully understand your desires, and those delays are simply a necessary inconvenience to ensure we’re providing an accurate price. Depending on how many custom jewelry requests our custom design team is working on at the time, we can also develop a queue and it may take longer to respond. So if it's been 48 hours and you still haven't received a price quote, don't worry! 

A firm estimate can take a bit longer at times, though we'll be communicating with you during that 48 hour period for sure. That means if you haven't seen any email from us AT ALL, that’s a problem! Make sure to check your SPAM folder, because we’ve probably emailed you once or twice already and it just slipped through somehow. You can also call us at 888-355-2484 or use the live chat on our website between the hours of 10am and 8pm EST so we can get our communication on the same page.

When you do get your price quote, you can make your purchase planning decision with a firm and accurate price we've put real time, thought, and effort into providing so you'll have all the information you need to feel confident moving forward.

A: Sure, nothing about your requested custom CZ jewelry design is "locked in" until after money has changed hands, we've drafted the CAD computer design rendering, shared it with you and received your written approval. Only then do we move forward with actual metal manufacturing of your custom jewelry, which means that you'll be getting what you ordered and approved. Please keep in mind, however, that changes in the design you request before then may change the price quote we previously provided you-- especially if the changes you want will require significantly more precious metal weight, a much greater number of accent stones, or an increased overall complexity of the design. We can update the new price once we fully understand the changes you're looking for. We can also work with you to reduce the price of the design by making suggestions that would be less costly.

A: Yes, this is a fundamental part of our custom jewelry program. You’ll have full approval of the design before we start manufacturing.  We start by creating a 360 degree CAD digital image rendering of your design.  This where our computer design team takes the images and/or sketches you provide, as well as your specific instructions, and creates a 3-D digital design of your piece.  After it's complete, you'll get to see the digital design for approval and provide us with your feedback so we can make any changes necessary to make sure you're sure we've got it right.

This step is so important because the digital design rendering's computer file is what we feed into the machine to build the first wax mold of your jewelry, a wax mold that our experienced jewelry craftsmen use as the model for hand-manufacturing the finished piece.  This is frankly the most time-consuming part of the custom jewelry design process-- taking sometimes as much as 10 days, especially if multiple rounds of feedback from you and subsequent revisions by our CAD team are needed to get it right-- but after we have the CAD done you'll get an opportunity to see the design from different angles to make sure the ring or other custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece you've ordered will come out exactly like you want it.  Learn more about the CAD deposit here.

We don't begin manufacturing until you're fully satisfied we understand what you want and have told us so by approving the CAD in writing.

Here's an example of the CAD design images you'll receive during the CAD design phase of manufacturing:

After it's complete, you'll get to see the digital design for approval and provide us with your feedback so we can make any changes necessary to make sure you're sure we've got it right. We do not set a limit on revisions -- we will do as many rounds of revisions as it takes to get it right, as long as the requested changes are within the scope of the original design these revisions are done with no additional charge.

 

A: Every product on our website is hand-made to order based on the exact specifications of our customers.  That said, custom designs will almost always be more expensive than similar pre-manufactured designs in our collection because of the costs associated with creating a new jewelry design and manufacturing it for the first time.  Even with a relatively simple ring, our computer design team must create a 3-D digital design of your ring and this process has real costs.  The more complex the design, the more time intensive this process becomes and therefore the more expensive.  The average cost for custom design CAD work is $300. For a more detailed explanation see answers to FAQ questions "Is custom jewelry more costly than a pre-manufactured design?" and "What variables make up your price for a custom cubic zirconia jewelry piece?" outlined above.    

If the custom design costs are prohibitive to your custom design, we’d be happy to help you find other designs in our existing collection that are similar to your design requirements but might save you some money. Contact us through the website, or call us U.S. toll-free 1-888-355-2484 and we’ll talk over your needs and promise to share some less expensive options if we can find them in our unpublished catalog.

A: You’ll have full approval of the design before we start manufacturing.  We start by creating a CAD digital rendering of your design.  This where our jewelry computer design team takes the images and/or sketches you provide, as well as your specific instructions, and creates a 3-D digital design of your ring.  After it's complete, you'll get to see the digital design for approval and provide us with your feedback so we can make any changes necessary to make sure you're sure we've got it right.

This digital design rendering's computer file is what we feed into the machine to build the first wax mold of your jewelry, a wax mold that our experienced jewelry craftsmen use as the model for hand-manufacturing the finished piece.  With small exceptions such as the size of the prongs—which we’ll point out to you in the email when we provide your CAD images for approval— the CAD rendering and the resulting custom jewelry piece will be a “what you saw approved is what you’ll get” type of thing. Learn more about the CAD deposit here.

 

Remember, we don't begin manufacturing your custom jewelry until you're fully satisfied we understand what you want and have told us so by approving the CAD in writing.

Here's an example of the CAD design images you'll receive during the CAD design phase of manufacturing:

A: The way we do business is not standard in the jewelry industry, even among companies that claim to offer a free custom jewelry quote. Go ahead and use a Google.com to do a search for "custom CZ jewelry" or “custom CZ rings” and navigate those search results to request a price quote from a handful of other companies that create custom CZ jewelry. Honestly, as a smart consumer you really should see what your options are, right? Here's why we have no fear to tell you that!

The truth is, we've studied the custom cubic zirconia jewelry competition out there and we know that we produce a better quality product at a better price, with better service and support as well as a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and Lifetime Warranty that's simply unmatched.

You'll be lucky with some of these competitors to get any response at all to your initial query! Others won't respond for a week (we do our best to respond with a firm price, or questions that will help us get closer to providing that firm price, within 48 hours). Most companies in this arena will simply send you an email with a few words and a dollar figure, with no surety they understand exactly what you want and no guarantee that the price is fixed once you begin working with them and they finally seem to understand what you want created. You'll know these companies from the disclaimers they use that the price quote they give you is subject to change for any reason, which in our opinion includes their having not bothered to understand your request fully in the first place!

Honestly, we encourage you to submit your quote for custom cubic zirconia jewelry to other companies and see if you, too, don't feel like our customers have told us they feel when they first looked into doing business with some of these other jewelers. Unless you like being brushed off, talked down to, or having your questions ignored...we're confident you'll prefer our way of communicating and doing business!

So go ahead, shop your custom design request around while you’re waiting to hear back from us. It’ll become pretty clear to you pretty quickly that CubicZirconia.com is exactly what we say the company is: The Clear Choice™ for Cubic Zirconia.

A: Quality craftsmanship, unique design and original “made from scratch” manufacturing aren’t something you want to rush! We recommend that you allow plenty of time for us to make and ship your custom CZ jewelry. 

The time it takes to bring your custom design from concept into reality can vary, but our average minimum manufacturing time is between 23 and 28 days. This gives us time to create the CAD 360 degree digital image renderings for your review and make any changes based on your specific feedback until you are ready to approve the design for manufacturing. 

We have 5 phases for custom design jewelry:

1.   CAD/digital rendering
2.   Wax mold
3.   Metal mounting
4.   Stone setting
5.   Polishing/finishing

Each phase is essential and takes time to make sure we get it right; we hope you’ll be the next of many customers over the years who agree that the quality and savings are worth the wait.  Since manufacturing time for our custom jewelry pieces is seldom less than 23 to 28 days, we encourage you to order accordingly if you have a special date coming up by which you hope for delivery. If you have an important day coming up, please contact us before purchase and let’s talk realistically about whether we can expedite manufacturing.

Sometimes it’s possible for rush manufacturing to create your custom ring, bridal set, earrings, pendant or other cubic zirconia jewelry piece from scratch in 14-18 days, but if so additional costs will apply and the availability of rush manufacturing is not guaranteed. Please note: this doesn’t mean we “rush” the actual manufacturing or change our process to risk poor results. Instead, we’d simply arrange for your order to be fulfilled ahead of some other products in our manufacturing queue whose customers do not need fast delivery, and we’ll be much more on top of timing during the CAD feedback and approval process to complete it faster, and we’ll also ship with guaranteed overnight delivery. In no case are we going to promise custom jewelry delivered in fewer than 14 days, so please plan accordingly!

 

A: As soon as we have confirmed purchase of your custom ring, we’ll happily send you a set of ring sizers to try on at home and let us know your actual ring size.  Or if you’re making the custom ring as a surprise for a loved one, we can get his/her ring size by measuring another ring that fits.  And of course, sizing a ring up or down after it has shipped is always possible, but additional fees will apply.  Why not get it right the first time? Give us a call and we’ll help (as you can imagine, we’ve done this a few times!). We’ve got some creative ways to help our gift-giving customers maintain their surprise and be “sneaky” if needed to get the ring size without your loved one knowing.

A: We accept full payment through VISA, Mastercard, Discover and American Express credit/debit cards; Paypal, Dwolla, or Google Wallet — all of which can be used for payment through our secure online e-commerce store. Our online shopping cart is secured and certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1, the most stringent level of certification by third-party merchant provider company Stripe.

It is also possible to spread your purchase across multiple forms of payment. We can help you with this over the phone! If needed, call us to arrange multi-method payment at U.S. toll-free 1-888-355-2484 during our business hours.

Are you seeking financing? We have several different "pay-over-time" options that you can learn more about on our Payment Options page.

A: Sure, of course!  A deferred-manufacture payment plan can be set up with a $10 setup fee via Paypal through our layaway program (no credit approval required). We can’t ship your finished jewelry piece until full payment has been made, but we are able to work with you on payment arrangements if you’d like to use our layaway program to pay for your custom jewelry over time rather than in one payment.
 
Additionally, once $300 US is paid on layaway plans, you can optionally apply the monies towards a non-refundable CAD deposit, This will allow us to provide you with the CAD renderings of your design so you can see the 3-D digital images of your jewelry from different angles before you pay the remaining balance on your own time schedule and we manufacture the final piece.  These renderings give you the opportunity to see the design, as well as collaborate with us to offer feedback so we can make any changes, and ensure that you personally have full approval of the design.  We don’t begin manufacturing until you’re fully satisfied and approve the CAD renderings, as well as make the remaining payment. However, this program gives our layaway custom jewelry customers an “intermediary” step to enjoy our design process before they’re able to pay for the full purchase.

A: Over the years, we’ve been told by a number of our first-time customers that they would have trusted us to design and manufacture their custom cubic zirconia jewelry much earlier if they didn’t have to pay the full cost “up-front” for their order. That sounded fair to us, and we wanted to remove any obstacles from future customers who might feel the same way. We completely understand if you’d like to step into the custom jewelry process a bit more cautiously.

As a first step in the payment process, we can accept a non-refundable CAD deposit and provide you with the CAD renderings of your design. This way you can see the 3-D digital images of your jewelry from different angles before you make any additional payment.  These renderings give you the opportunity to see the design, collaborate with us to offer feedback we can use to make any changes you desire, and ensure that you personally have full approval of the design before we manufacture.  We don’t begin manufacturing until you’re fully satisfied and approve the CAD renderings.  Once you approve of the CAD design, we can work with you on the remaining payment due (the CAD deposit counts as payment toward the total amount due).  

This is a sample CAD design we created for a custom jewelry buyer like you:

After it's complete, you'll get to see the digital design for approval and provide us with your feedback so we can make any changes necessary to make sure you're sure we've got it right.

We allow free revisions to the CAD design based on your detailed feedback and will work closely with you to make sure that all your ideas are brought to life exactly the way you imagine. We do not set a limit on revisions -- we will do as many rounds of revisions as it takes to get it right, as long as the requested changes are within the scope of the original design these revisions are done with no additional charge.

If you decide after receiving your CAD design that you no longer wish to proceed with the full design manufacturing, you’re not required to pay any additional amount after the initial deposit.  At this point you only committed to what you already paid for the CAD design, which is non-refundable.    

A: Yes to the first part, no to the second. We cannot cast your old gold, palladium or platinum into new jewelry directly; doing so could cause severe quality problems in the new piece and we would not be able to guarantee the manufacturing. We also would not be sure about the quality of the gold, palladium, or platinum (meaning we could not stamp the jewelry with our standard jewelry quality stamps like 10k, 14k, 18k, or 950 Platinum.  However, we can help you recycle your old precious metal materials by selling them to our metals refinery partner in exchange for giving you a credit towards your custom jewelry.  In fact, this is what we ourselves do with the “scraps” of shaved-off metal left over from re-sizing rings so it’s not a bad deal for recycling precious metal.

The exact amount you'd receive would be based on a few factors (current gold, palladium or platinum metal markets trading prices, as well as the precious metal’s quality, content, and weight). While this is not a profit center for us, we'd be happy to help you determine the exact recycled value of your existing gold, palladium or platinum precious metals if this is an option you'd like to pursue. We can help you with this over the phone! If needed, call us to arrange custom jewelry program credit for your recycled precious metals at U.S. toll-free 1-888-355-2484 during our business hours, or contact us through the website to let us know you need help with this process. Please note that because this service can be labor and contact-intensive for some customers, we reserve the right to charge a $100 Metal Scrap facilitation fee for successful exchanges of scrap precious metal for credit towards custom jewelry. We're not kidding when we say that around the shop this is called the "pain in the butt tax" and we don't have to charge it often because we try our best to provide clear expectations and instructions for customers to follow when recycling their gold with our refinery partner in exchange for credit towards their custom jewelry with CubicZirconia.com.

A: Our Custom Design process revolves around making you happy as a customer and ensuring you receive a piece that you love and are proud to wear.  Starting with the digital CAD creation you'll have full control of the design.  Our team of specialized custom CAD designers will work with you to make your jewelry perfect in every way and you'll have full approval of the design before it is manufactured and shipped to make sure that it's exactly what you want.  We don't limit the CAD revisions and encourage you to ask questions and be vocal during the CAD design process.

And we don't start manufacturing until we receive your consent and approval on the design.

But even then, we understand that there could be a situation where you simply aren't happy and need our help to fix it.  We are here for you!  In addition to a FREE Lifetime Warranty, we stand 100% behind our work with a satisfaction guarantee on all custom orders, and we’ll work hard to make your jewelry right for you.  Learn more about our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

If you have further questions after reviewing the hopefully-thorough Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) above...then feel free to contact us.

Ready to submit your free quote request for custom cubic zirconia jewelry designed and manufactured by the one and only CubicZircoia.com?

Once you feel that your questions are answered, you can complete the custom design request submission for the product type you're looking for using these links:

custom cubic zirconia rings, engagement rings, and bridal sets

custom cubic zirconia earrings

custom cubic zirconia pendant

custom cubic zirconia necklace