Frequently Asked Questions: Manufacturing Time, Shipping, Taxes and Product Delivery

A: Manufacturing times vary depending on the product. Shipping occurs once payment is approved, the address is verified, and the item is prepared/manufactured. If an item is not in stock, you'll be notified by phone & email. If a jewelry item needs manufacturing time, you'll receive an email that your order is processed, giving you an estimated shipping date based on the current order queue and the exact time estimated to manufacture your order to your specifications.

While some orders begin the shipping process immediately (e.g. many in-stock loose stones in small batches or one stone), please expect a 24 to 48 hour period for order processing.

When you see a "manufacturing time" listed on the product page for your item, that means this is not a product we keep in-stock ready to ship. These items are made-to-order prior to shipping. That means your delivery time will be different from the “shipping” time alone. We first must make the product for you before we can ship it! For an explanation of the expected manufacturing time for any given product, please see question “What is contract manufacturing? Why does it take that long for my jewelry order to be shipped?”.

Note: There may be some unforeseen circumstances that affect our ability to manufacture and ship a product within published times. Such circumstances as increased work queue, the breakdown of necessary equipment and machinery, reduced manpower availability, quality-control-failing issues with jewelry casting, and even inclement weather may negatively affect our ability to produce the heirloom-quality precious metal plus 5A cubic zirconia jewelry we’ve promised you in the time estimated before your purchase. Nevertheless, please know that we will always do our best to meet and even exceed the published manufacturing time and estimated shipping date for our items. If there is any possibility of delay, we strive to inform the customer as soon as we know.

Note: Orders with multiple items will be charged one flat shipping rate based on the total cart cost, although items may be shipped separately depending on availability and/or any delays in manufacturing for one item versus another.

For additional details specific to your order, see the answers to FAQ questions:
Q: "I ordered a loose stone. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?" or
Q: "I ordered a ring/earrings/pendant. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?" or
Q: “I ordered a custom ‘design my own jewelry’ piece. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?”

A: We have millions of loose stones in stock ready for shipment, so all clear, non-color loose stones orders are typically shipped within 24-48 hours from the moment they are ordered. We typically ship 2 day ground shipping with USPS, Fedex or UPS within the domestic United States, and often use DHL Worldwide 2-day for international shipping of loose stones. That means from the time you place your order for a loose stone or loose stones package, you can expect your order to arrive at your doorstep within 3-5 days under normal circumstances.

Please note that the answer above applies to clear, diamond-simulant cubic zirconia stones. Colored cubic zirconia stones aren’t always in stock in every color/size combination and may often take longer to ship. See question “Do you sell colored cubic zirconia stones? What colors are available?” for a more thorough answer on colored stones.

A: Once finished jewelry is manufactured, we typically ship USPS Priority which is a 2 day shipping service to most US locations. For international orders, we typically ship DHL Express which is a 2-day average to most worldwide locations.

However, please understand that unlike loose stones or clearance items, your ring/earrings/pendant order is not sitting on a shelf ready to be shipped to you. As a contract jewelry manufacturer, all non-clearance finished jewelry items you order from our company are made from scratch. That means before we can ship your order, first we must make it!

Our #1 goal is to provide realistic delivery expectations, and then stick as closely to that estimate as we possibly can (so as not to overpromise and underdeliver).

Very rarely is any customer ever upset or disappointed with our high-quality cubic zirconia plus precious metals jewelry! Despite our best efforts to provide manufacturing time estimates prior to purchase, however, some purchasers miss that and are disappointed when we are unable to manufacture and deliver their order requiring 22-25 days in a week or less.

Unless you ordered something from our clearance cubic zirconia jewelry collection-- which are already-made products ready to put into a gift box and ship immediately (rings need to be sized first)-- or a custom “design your own cubic zirconia jewelry” piece (see “I ordered a custom “design my own jewelry” piece. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?” question), your ring/earrings/pendant order would typically take between 2-4 weeks to be manufactured before then being shipped.

Now let’s take that “2-4 weeks estimate” and give you a more accurate answer on a product-by-product basis. Expected Manufacturing Times are clearly stated on the product page for every finished jewelry product we sell (e.g. rings, wedding sets, bands, earrings, pendants etc).

See example screenshot below. There under the clickable “details” tab is some technical specifications pertaining to each product. That “Manufacturing Time” is our best estimate pre-order of when after your purchase your order will be done and ready to put into a box and ship.

Understand, however, that all manufacturing times listed on the website are estimates based on the average time for making that piece of jewelry plus 48 hours we wait on manufacturing for initial payment verification.

Note: As of writing in July 2018, these numbers are ‘static’ and do not change. We are working to make these dates on the product page website visitors see ‘dynamic’ so they can be changed as needed based on our current order queue. Our goal is to complete that within the next 24 months so new purchasers will get the absolute most accurate delivery date estimate we can give them-- before purchase-- taking into account not only the jewelry’s specs (which don’t change) but also our month-by-month fluctuating current order and manufacturing flow .

These manufacturing time estimates are conservative, including a few extra days to account for our often-changing queue of what needs to be made and for whom. That means that sometimes there is a chance to expedite manufacturing (see “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? Do you charge extra for it?” question). Please know that we manufacture orders in the shortest possible time regardless of the order queue so you can rest assured no one involved in the production of your order just sits around!

Note: There may be some unforeseen circumstances that affect our ability to manufacture and ship a product within published times. Such circumstances as increased work queue, the breakdown of necessary equipment and machinery, reduced manpower availability, quality-control-failing issues with jewelry casting, and even inclement weather may negatively affect our ability to produce the heirloom-quality precious metal plus 5A cubic zirconia jewelry we’ve promised you in the time estimated before your purchase. Nevertheless, please know that we will always do our best to meet and even exceed the published manufacturing time and estimated shipping date for our items. If there is any possibility of delay, we strive to inform the customer as soon as we know.

As soon as your order is manufactured we ship it to you immediately and provide you with a tracking number so you can track the movement of your package from our facility to your doorstep.

A: Once custom cubic zirconia jewelry is manufactured, we typically ship 2 day ground shipping with USPS (USPS Priority), Fedex or UPS within the domestic United States and we often use DHL Worldwide Express shipping internationally.

However, please understand that unlike loose stones or clearance items, your custom cubic zirconia order is not sitting on a shelf ready to be shipped to you. It will be made from scratch in a process that can and often does take as many as 28 days from purchase. That means before we can ship your order, first we must make it! And the first step in making it is the CAD approval process, so we ask all customers to be as quick as they can getting back to our calls and emails asking for feedback, revision ideas, final approval, and final payment.

After CAD approval, custom jewelry designs may take up to 18-25 days of manufacturing time before they will be ready to ship. Our #1 goal is to provide realistic delivery expectations, and then stick as closely to that estimate as we possibly can (so as not to overpromise and underdeliver). So your best reference for expected delivery date on a custom CZ jewelry order from CubicZirconia.com will always be the representative at our company you’ve been communicating with via phone/email.

Please let us know sooner rather than later if you expect that you may need expedited manufacturing to receive your custom order sooner. See “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? Do you charge extra for it?” question for more details.

Note: There may be some unforeseen circumstances that affect our ability to manufacture and ship a product within published times. Such circumstances as increased work queue, the breakdown of necessary equipment and machinery, reduced manpower availability, quality-control-failing issues with jewelry casting, and even inclement weather may negatively affect our ability to produce the heirloom-quality precious metal plus 5A cubic zirconia jewelry we’ve promised you in the time estimated before your purchase. Nevertheless, please know that we will always do our best to meet and even exceed the published manufacturing time and estimated shipping date for our items. If there is any possibility of delay, we strive to inform the customer as soon as we know.

A: We’ve been online since 1999. We’ve also been fortunate for our products to be a part of thousands of ‘wow’ moments for jewelry customers and their gift recipients. That said, our estimated manufacturing times on product pages for finished jewelry are usually spot on. We meet our manufacturing estimates 90+% of the time. That means the vast majority of our customers have a good idea before purchase of when we’ll be shipping their ring/earrings/pendant...and we hit that mark.

But to be honest with you, there is always a chance manufacturing of your order will run into some sort of a delay. After all, we are a contract manufacturer; we don’t stock ready-made jewelry that we just pack and ship whenever someone orders, but make each piece to customer specifications only after they order it (see “What is contract manufacturing? Why does it take that long for my jewelry order to be shipped?” for a more complete answer) .

As you can imagine, speed of manufacturing will be dependent on several factors: the size of the manufacturing queue of orders currently being made, the level of detail in the jewelry item, the number of stones to be set in the jewelry item, the casting schedule for each metal type, and the day of the week the order came in (e.g. an order that comes in on a Friday afternoon, will automatically have at least 1 day added to its manufacturing time because our shop has shortened weekend hours).

That accounts for the < 10% of times when the manufacturing time and shipping date estimate we give to new orders is not accurate. That’s especially true with custom jewelry orders through our custom “design your own” cubic zirconia jewelry program. Sometimes our manufacturing team will need to troubleshoot an unexpected design issue when manufacturing a new custom jewelry piece for the first time. That’s when our quality control department says “we can’t ship that imperfect product to the customer, make it again!”. In the end, we hope and believe that those customers are better served with perfect jewelry later than expected than an imperfect jewelry order that was on time.

The point here is that when we say your ordered item has an estimated manufacturing time of 21-23 days-- or whatever it says on the product page for a pre-manufactured style on our website, or whatever estimate you are provided by your custom jewelry representative via email-- you can reasonably expect us to finish your item within that period.

If we can’t, we’ll notify you as soon as we know and discuss what your options are if the late -delivered piece will cause a problem. Fair enough?

A: We use a variety of carriers and will choose the most appropriate and secure delivery method for your desired shipping address. Each shipment is securely packaged, fully insured, and shipped using only the most reputable and reliable courier services.

Carriers include the United States Postal Service (USPS), UPS, FedEx, DHL and Freight. It is not possible to specify a preferred carrier when placing your order.

For orders shipping within the domestic United States, we typically ship 2 day shipping with USPS Priority Mail (average 2-day shipping service to most US locations), Fedex or UPS.

Carriers chosen may vary by country, though most international orders typically ship through DHL Express Worldwide (average 2-3 day shipping service to many worldwide locations). For additional details on non-U.S. international orders, please see our International Orders FAQ.

A: Unfortunately, you can’t. But don’t worry. We have a good standing relationship with most of the shipping companies we use so your package is safe.

A: All orders over US$300 ship for FREE to most worldwide locations Including North America, Australia, and more than 50 countries in Europe.

For orders under US$300, shipping rates are based on the total cost of items in your online shopping cart and the country of delivery.

United States (all 50 states and official territories including Armed Forces bases worldwide)

• For orders less than US$50, shipping is a flat fee US$7 per order.
• For orders US$50-299, shipping is a flat fee US$6 per order.
• For orders US$300 and more, we offer FREE SHIPPING anywhere within the United States and Territories

For additional details on shipping costs for non-U.S. international orders, please see our International Orders FAQ.

A: Yes. We understand that jewelry is often bought as a surprise and we often get requests to mail to alternate addresses other than your home, such as work, a friend’s home, a Fedex or UPS store in your local area...or even a vacation destination. Keep in mind, though, that we do a pretty good job helping our customers maintain a surprise even when ordering for delivery to a home shared with the gift recipient (see FAQ question “I’m ordering from you as a surprise gift for someone with whom I share the same shipping address. How can I be sure you won’t ruin the surprise?” for details).

To protect you from fraud, if you request delivery to an address other than your billing address we reserve the right to a) require that alternate address be on file with your credit card company (this can usually be done with a call to the company with a request to add an “alternative confirmed address” on your account), and/or b) request that you complete a $2.00 card-verification charge (which will be refunded) using the correct address

A: We sure do! If you have a PO Box for your delivery address we'll ship your package via USPS at no extra cost.

However, please understand that there may be a slight delay (1 day) in the receipt of packages delivered to PO boxes as compared to those delivered to residential addresses.

A: Yes, we do ship to Armed Forces Bases, APO and FPO addresses. We do require signature confirmation on delivery. Customers are responsible for paying any and all duties, customs, and local/state/federal taxes associated with each order as applicable.

United States-official military addresses even abroad are treated as United States addresses for shipping costs purposes:

• For orders less than US$50, shipping is a flat fee US$7 per order.
• For orders US$50-299, shipping is a flat fee US$6 per order.
• For orders US$300 and more, we offer FREE SHIPPING anywhere within the United States and Territories-- including Armed Forces Bases, APO and FPO addresses.

If for whatever reason our website isn’t allowing you to check-out with the reduced or free shipping rates to U.S. Armed Force Base, APO or FPO address, please contact us.

Oh by the way, you may want to see the answer to our FAQ question “Do you offer any discounts for military, firefighters or police officers?” :).

A: Yes, we offer FREE Insured Shipping on all products shipped to the U.S or to approved international locations. To protect the security of your shipment, we require an adult signature at the time of delivery for all package values over $100, regardless of any waivers you may have with the courier. Mail theft, unfortunately, has become all too common -- we do not wish for you to be in a situation where a valuable CubicZirconia.com order is stolen before you can receive it. That is why we require signature: so your package will not be left in your mailbox or doorstep for someone other than the intended recipient to receive. Our double-boxed packages are fully insured until delivery at the shipping address. Additionally, to ensure that someone will be available to sign for your package, an e-mail message will be sent notifying you that it has been shipped allowing you to track your package from our doorstep to yours. We also provide SMS alerts for delivery attempts and notifications if you provide a cell phone number when placing your order.

If you are unavailable for signature at the time of delivery, the carrier will leave a delivery attempt notice with details on how you can schedule redelivery or pick up your package directly at the carrier facility. Please use the tracking number for your order directly on the carrier’s website for more details about re-delivery options.

A: Our shippers know they’re delivering something that requires a signature so they won’t do this. We actually can’t even remember a single customer to whom this has happened. If we get any customer grumbles, it’s actually the opposite: that we have given our carriers such rigid instructions not to leave a package from us without an adult signing for it.

Yes, that can sometimes be a hassle since we all have such busy lives...but that’s why we confirm an address before shipping, provide an estimated ship date and email our customer tracking information on or before the day of shipment. It’s also one of the reasons our high-quality gold, palladium and platinum cubic zirconia jewelry is so inexpensive compared to precious metals jewelry of similar size/weight from other jewelers (we minimize losses to theft and the resulting insurance costs).

If the courier goes to deliver your package at the expected day and no adult is there to sign for it, they will leave you with instructions to either schedule redelivery or pick up your package directly at the carrier facility. Please use the tracking number for your order directly on the carrier’s website for more details about re-delivery options.

A: Believe it or not, the reason we require signatures for all packages being delivered is actually to protect you as the customer. For all packages valued over US$100 we require a signature for delivery. This practice helps reduce the risk of mail theft and package loss for our customers. Additionally, the package insurance we pay for to cover the replacement value of a lost order is contingent upon a rigid delivery process with signature confirmation of delivery; our prices could not be as inexpensive as they are without this insurance and that precaution.

We know from experience that it's really disappointing to receive a delivery notification and then find out that the package was taken from your mailbox/front porch and then having to deal with a police report and insurance to get a replacement. To prevent this from happening to customers, we've found that this one extra step to require signature confirmation for delivered packages -- while it can and sometimes unfortunately does delay delivery-- ensures a safer delivery of your valuable items. We hope you understand.

A: The tracking number we provide is the information you'll need, not only to track your package, but also to communicate with the shipping company for a redelivery. When the shipping company attempted delivery, they should have left an "attempted delivery notice" that would contain instructions for either scheduling redelivery or picking up your package from their local carrier office.

Most of the time, rescheduling delivery is also available online directly on the carrier’s website, since most shipping companies already maintain their respective online portals. If you are unavailable for signature at the time of delivery, please use the tracking number for your order directly on the carrier’s website for more details about re-delivery options for your package.

A: For the outer covering, we ship all purchases in plain packaging, with no recognizable company name on the return label (this is to help reduce the chance for mail theft on your insured package, but also to assist our customers sharing an address with their gift recipient to ensure the purchase remains a surprise). We use two boxes/containers to secure your purchase: a smaller inner box to hold the jewelry securely (or a padded gem container for loose stones), and a larger outer shipping box to take the brunt of the travel.

Larger loose stones will be shipped to you in a secure, velvet-lined gemstone case like this one.

All rings, ring sets, earrings and pendants purchased from our store will include a free premium gift box: either a wooden box or a black leatherette box, depending on availability. A single ring purchase will have a ring box made to hold a single ring. A wedding set or bridal set of two rings meant to be made and worn together will be featured in a double ring box.

Single ring box, dark cherry wood style*

Double ring box (e.g. wedding set of two matching rings), dark cherry wood style*

Pendant or earrings box, dark cherry wood style*

Single ring box, black leatherette style*

Pendant or earrings box, black leatherette style*

This will be a jewelry box to store the gift, and many customers will use it to present the gift. It’s not, however, a “box for the box” (i.e. external gift-wrapped box). If you want to do that, we trust you can manage it on your own! Gift wrapping is not a service we are prepared to offer. However, based on our experience and that of our customers...these jewelry boxes are “gift ready”. This means that after the package arrives at your doorstep, you can just rip off the mail packaging and the jewelry inside the elegant ring/earrings/pendant box will make a giftworthy statement on its own.

*As of writing in October 2019 our jewelry comes packaged in a beautiful wooden jewelry box, such as the cherrywood boxes pictured. As mentioned, we have used black artificial leather boxes at times in the past and we do reserve the right to change our boxes at need without updating this answer. You can rest assured that any box chosen to deliver CubicZirconia.com jewelry will be high quality.

A: As of this writing in March 2019, the CubicZirconia.com website / your account is not a good source of information for this question. Instead, the best way to get your order status before we let you know the order is done and send you the emailed tracking information from the shipping carrier is just to ask us. Give us a call at 1-888-355-2484, chat with us through our live chat application or get in touch with us through our Contact Us page. We can look this up for you and get an answer pretty quickly, either in real-time or later that day. Of course, after we ship and you receive the tracking you can track the package from our facility to your doorstep.

So we advise you to please ignore the online CubicZirconia.com customer account order status saying “not updated” or “unfulfilled”. That is, unless you just enjoy becoming angry by logging in every day and seeing that the status apparently never changes! If you care to know why that’s so and what we’re doing to fix it, by all means…read below.

About the unhelpful CubicZirconia.com “order status” account verbiage:

We never wanted our site/your account to say what it does for order status. The very unhelpful statuses shown as “Paid / Unfulfilled” or “Paid / Fulfilled” or “Not Updated” was a legacy of a web development team we no longer hire. Indeed, your order status may show one of these stupid phrases right up to the moment the order ships to you and we email you a tracking number for the carrier’s package delivery. Of course, for some of our rings, jewelry and custom cut stones that have manufacturing times of numerous weeks…that level of provided “status” detail is pretty useless…isn’t it? We’re genuinely sorry about that, but we don’t have the in-house web skills to fix it! Automation and the internet giveth…and sometimes it driveth you crazy. Just FYI, if anyone is still reading this, perhaps morbidly curious about how a small company tries to implement a “better every day” philosophy over time…we’re going to make this process better in our next website and database update (online since 1999, the site we provide for customers to learn and shop has evolved continuously and we’re always making what we hope will be improvements!).

The next planned website update will let us provide additional information customers will be able to see right in their account as the order progresses from stage to stage like:

• Payment verification
• CAD design / digital rendering
• In production: wax mold
• In production: mounting casting
• In production: stone cutting / shaping
• In production: stone setting
• In production: quality control
• Polish & finish - Packaging
• Shipped (en route)
• Delivered (tracking confirmed)
• Returned for repair

If we’re feeling especially ambitious, we’ll try to see if the programming team can add in the pictures we take of many of our jewelry pieces as they go through the process. They aren’t really customer-quality, because the pictures are more taken for security and insurance purposes but we think it might be cool and a way to use something we’re already doing to improve our customers’ understanding of how high-quality jewelry gets made from end-to-end. When this next site update happens, we’ll remove this question because frankly it’s embarrassing. Instead you’ll just see “How can I check my order status?” and an answer to input your order # and email address in a form and BOOM, technology to the rescue. Until then…we’re happy to talk so please reach out and let us look into your order for you!

A: The best way to get your order status before we let you know the order is done and send you the emailed tracking information from the shipping carrier is just to ask us. Give us a call at 1-888-355-2484, chat with us through our live chat application or get in touch with us through our Contact Us page. We can look this up for you and get an answer pretty quickly, either in real-time or later that day. Of course, after we ship and you receive the tracking you can track the package from our facility to your doorstep.

So we advise you to please ignore the online CubicZirconia.com customer account order status saying “not updated” or “unfulfilled” (neither of which is very helpful and we apologize for that). For an in-depth explanation of why “order status” isn’t yet checkable on our website through your account, please see “I checked my “order status” on CubicZirconia.com / my online account and don’t understand what’s going on! Can you help me?”.

A: First off, we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. And to ease your anxiety, please know that all customer packages are insured and we aren’t going to let this issue go until you get a successful resolution (see FAQ question “How do you ensure delivery? How does package/order shipping insurance work?” for more details).

Now let’s try to work together and see if this is just a communication/notification problem or an actual lost order problem! Has a specific person on our team been communicating with you recently via phone or email and let you know about a change in delivery date? If so, it could just be that an automated email or text message got sent to you prematurely by our system (the internet and computers are awesome, but hey mistakes do happen).

In the case that the package WAS actually delivered, and now you can’t find it…this is exactly the reason why we insure our shipments AND ask the package carriers to always require signature confirmation upon receipt, and for the most part they go along with this request. When they do, we have a way to trace the item in case it gets delivered to the wrong address etc. When they don’t, having specifically requested that service, we have grounds for additional insurance from the carrier for any loss.

If you feel sure that your package was delivered and it’s now missing, here’s what we’ll do:

1.    The first step will be to verify your shipping address as entered into our system when you placed your order. This is to make sure you did not key in a wrong shipping address by accident. Can you take a look at your emailed receipt and let us know? Or you can also log in to your CubicZirconia.com account and check the address or ask us to check if you aren’t sure how to do it.
2.    If your shipping address is correct, the next step is to contact the relevant authorities and get the ball rolling to find out what’s going on. e.g. If we shipped USPS, then you’d contact your local Post Office in charge of package delivery. The Postmaster there will be able to do more research to determine where/who it was delivered to and what, if anything, can be done to recover the package, order a more thorough physical search, update any online tracking that isn’t accurate etc.
3.    Hopefully the package gets found by the carrier and we’re good to go. If not, it may happen that the package was signed for and taken by a neighbor or someone else impersonating you.

If so, we ask that you report the mail theft to the authorities and we can help you replace the package. From our end, we will request a proof of delivery notification from the carrier which will provide the signature sheet of the person who signed for the package. E.g. If shipped by USPS, mail theft is charged as a federal offense because the USPS is a federal agency. Conviction of any federal crime like mail theft can result in a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years in federal prison. Please help us report this crime to the Postal Inspection Service online by clicking the link to "Mail Theft" on this page.

To make the report, you will need your tracking number (which we can provide, if you’ve misplaced the one we sent) and any evidence you have about the location and the theft-- including the signature sheet we’ll provide you if/when we get it from the carrier. If the package was indeed delivered, the Postal Service will have a record of the delivery at a specific time so it would be beneficial for your case to document if any other mail or packages are suspected missing for that time period. The Sender's address for the mail theft report should be: UTMBS Inc, PO Box 93, Pendleton, KY 40055. Once the report is complete you will receive a case number; please share that case number with us so we can take the next steps in replacing your package.

We know this can be an anxious time, but we’re here to help as best we can. For more information, you can give us a call at 1-888-355-2484, chat with us through our live chat application or get in touch with us through our Contact Us page, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.

A: Haha! If he/she opened the package, that could ruin the surprise all right! Don’t worry. We always do discreet packaging and discreet shipping. We ship all purchases in plain packaging, with no recognizable company name on the return label, and provide package delivery tracking from our doorstep to yours, so we try hard to never ruin your surprise gift!

We do not put a company name on our packages to help customers buying a gift to preserve the surprise in case he/she shares a home with the expected gift recipient. The practice of anonymous packages also helps to keep our mailing insurance costs down by discouraging theft that is common with other jewelers that insist on putting “ABC Jewelry” on their packages.

If requested, we can also ship your order to your office or place of work, a relative’s address, a specific USPS location to be held for pick up, or wherever you indicate. We can even ship for Saturday delivery if needed (see FAQ question “Can you deliver on Saturdays? Does USPS, FedEx, UPS and/or DHL deliver on weekends or on Federal Holidays?” for instructions to request).

To understand how we also protect your surprise from the moment of purchase for those that share banking/credit card accounts with their intended gift recipient, see FAQ question “What will your company name appear as for a charge on my credit card or banking statement?”.

A: You can take advantage of expedited shipping (overnight shipping) for a flat rate of US$25.00 for orders shipped within the domestic United States. Please contact us prior to purchase or as close to after purchase as possible if expedited shipping is needed and we will try to accommodate your request.

We cannot guarantee a delivery date at the time of purchase, but we've been known to move heaven and earth to get a piece of jewelry in your hands at a certain date if you'll communicate with us how important it is!

Please note: “expedited shipping” only refers to the shipping duration once your product is manufactured (if applicable) and ready to ship. It does not speed up the manufacturing process for any non-in-stock product (See “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? Do you charge extra for it?” question for more details).

Orders to addresses outside the domestic United States, including U.S. orders to non-continental states and territories, U.S. Armed Forces and FPO/APO addresses abroad, or other countries are eligible for international expedited shipping at an increased rate (see “Can I have expedited international shipping?” question for details).

A: If you're ordering loose stones and specified you need them the following day, as long as you placed the order before 12:00 PM EST, we can ship it via Expedited Shipping ($25.00 expedited shipping fee) the same day the order is placed so it can be delivered to you the following day. That is instead of our normal 24 hours from order to shipment and normal 2-day delivery shipping options. Please note that the answer above applies to in stock, clear, diamond-simulant cubic zirconia stones. Non-standard shapes and sizes aren’t always in stock (even with clear stones). And colored cubic zirconia stones aren’t always in stock in every color/size combination and may often take longer to ship. See question “Do you sell colored cubic zirconia stones? What colors are available?” for a more thorough answer on colored stones.

With respect to jewelry...Yes, we can fast-track the manufacturing of your finished-jewelry order and get it into the front of the queue. There’s a US$50 expedited manufacturing fee you can pay to fast-track your order, which must be ordered alongside a $25 expedited shipping upgrade cost (a total of $75 extra). In order to request expedited manufacturing, we need a specific date that you need to receive the package so that we can give an accurate response. Contact us for instructions to purchase.

Take note: we will not rush the manufacturing of your order. Instead, we will push it ahead in our order queue in front of other orders who do not need faster manufacturing times. You’ll receive a new estimated date for shipping after confirmed purchase of an expedited manufacturing upgrade.

Even with a purchase of expedited manufacturing, there’s no guarantee your order will be manufactured and shipped faster. We cannot guarantee a delivery date at the time of purchase or upgrade to expedited manufacturing, but we’ll do our best. Important: If we process your expedited manufacturing request and confirm that this date is approved, we will refund your US$50 expedited manufacturing fee if we miss the expedited manufacturing promised date. In that case we will ship the item to you the soonest we can. Just know that we've been known to move heaven and earth to get a piece of jewelry in your hands at a certain date if you'll communicate with us how important it is!

A: If you request expedited manufacturing, your order will automatically be upgraded to overnight shipping (with an additional US$25 overnight shipping fee). That means your upgrade will be an extra US$75 on top of your total price (US$50 expedited manufacturing fee plus US$25 shipping fee).

A: No. Expedited manufacturing is different from expedited shipping, and neither is going to allow us to make and ship a finished jewelry product requiring a manufacturing time of 10+ days so you get it tomorrow.

If you're ordering loose stones and specified you need them the following day, as long as you placed the order before 12:00 PM EST, we can ship it via Expedited Shipping ($25.00 expedited shipping fee) the same day the order is placed so it can be delivered to you the following day. Please note that the answer above applies to in stock, clear, diamond-simulant cubic zirconia stones. Nonstandard shapes and sizes aren’t always in stock (even with clear stones). And colored cubic zirconia stones aren’t always in stock in every color/size combination and may often take longer to ship. See question “Do you sell colored cubic zirconia stones? What colors are available?” for a more thorough answer on colored stones.

Under no circumstances, however, can we process a finished jewelry, ring/earrings/pendant order today requiring 10+ days for expected manufacturing time and have it shipped and delivered the following day. That’s just not possible with the way we do things as a contract manufacturer (see “What is contract manufacturing? Why does it take that long for my jewelry order to be shipped?”question for additional details). If you need your ring or jewelry piece tomorrow, we are not the right company for you, and we’re sorry!

Expedited manufacturing means we’ll get your order manufactured faster than normal. You can optionally pay an expedited manufacturing fee of US$50 for this service, which must be ordered alongside a $25 expedited shipping upgrade cost (a total of $75 extra). See FAQ question “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? How much extra will that be?” for additional details. In order to process your expedited manufacturing request, we do need to know from you what your required delivery date should be.

Expedited shipping means we’ll ship your order to you overnight AFTER YOUR ORDER IS MANUFACTURED and ready to ship. For this, you can optionally pay an expedited shipping fee of US$25 (see “Can I have expedited shipping?” question for additional details).

A: While we have an inventory of millions of loose cubic zirconia stones, we don’t stock ready-made finished jewelry items we can readily pack and ship. Instead, we manufacture each piece of finished jewelry (ring, wedding set, band, earrings, pendant etc) as they are ordered, from scratch, and according to your specification (ie: carat size and stone shape dimensions, finger ring size, earring backing etc). This is called “contract manufacturing”.

The only finished jewelry pieces we have on hand and in stock are those from our clearance collection - and even those don’t necessarily ship right away (see “What are Clearance Items?” question). This may seem like a bad thing, but believe it or not, it’s for your benefit.

You actually save money buying made-to-order contract-manufactured finished jewelry from our company, as opposed to ordering something that is "in stock" to be shipped out to you the same week or day from another jeweler. That’s because, unlike many jewelers, we have zero inventory carrying costs-- and have relatively smaller overhead costs. What we save as a result of doing business this way, we pass on to you, our customer. Sure, our manufacturing time may be a couple of weeks or three (see the product details page for the piece you're interested in for exact estimates), but the quality and savings are worth the wait, don’t you agree?

The expected manufacturing time for made-to-order contract manufacturing products will always be listed on the product page prior to your purchase. See “I ordered a ring/earrings/pendant. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?” question for a more thorough answer with screenshot examples.

A: Clearance Items are CubicZirconia.com jewelry items (ie: rings, earrings etc) that have been previously ordered, manufactured and shipped to customers, but were returned to us mostly unworn within the money-back guarantee for various reasons. For example, a change in carat size was desired so we made the customer a different ring, the engagement was called off and so he couldn’t bear to keep the ring, the intended wearer has a metal allergy, or the customer just didn’t like it as much as he/she thought they would.

We only accept returns that are still in excellent, unworn condition, which we then sell at discounted prices of 25-50% off to recoup our hard costs in making them. All clearance jewelry is fully inspected, cleaned, and polished before getting placed in our Clearance inventory collection.

If you’re not a jeweler with industry credentials to buy jewelry supplies at wholesale costs, our clearance collection is in our opinion the cheapest precious metal gold, palladium and platinum fine jewelry available anywhere outside a pawn shop. We don’t have any interest in carrying inventory, and that’s why we price these few returned items to sell fast in our clearance section...and they do.

Clearance earrings or pendants orders can be shipped as-is immediately.

However, for clearance rings, bands and wedding sets, allow us a few extra days to resize the ring(s) to fit you, unless they already do (the details tab on the product description page clearly indicates the “as is” size of the clearance ring).

You can check out our clearance collection here. Please pay special attention to the product details to find out the exact specifications of these items.

A: Sure we do accept international orders. We are a United States based firm, but are happy to ship worldwide to our customers. We ship most often outside the U.S. to Australia, Canada, Mexico, China, Europe, India, and the UK but we are able to ship internationally to the countries listed at the link provided for FAQ question “Which countries do you ship to? How much do you typically charge for international shipping” for a full list of countries and shipping costs. We’ve divided the countries we ship to in 2 Groups, and charge shipping accordingly. For full details on non-U.S. international orders, including shipping costs, logistics, customs and taxes expectations, countries we ship to with no trouble, and all related services please see our International Orders FAQ.

A: Orders shipped outside the United States are subject to all customs, duties, and taxes imposed by the country of import. When your shipment arrives at your country's customs office, there may be taxes, fees, and import duties charged in addition to your order total. Customs charges will vary per item and per country. You can contact your local customs office for details on international import policies and fee structures.

If there are customs duties levied for your international order (there may not be), the recipient will be responsible to pay any customs duties or country specific taxes. The recipient of an International shipment may be subject to a value-added tax (VAT) or import taxes, customs duties and fees levied by the destination country. Additionally, the shipping service may charge a Collect On Delivery, Cash On Delivery, or Cash Receipt On Delivery fee (COD) as payment for these charges. These charges must be fulfilled by the recipient. CubicZirconia.com has no control over these charges, nor can we predict what they may be. The total price you pay for your CubicZirconia.com order does not include any customs duties the destination country may charge, the settlement of which is entirely your responsibility.

Please see FAQ “How much customs duties will I need to pay?” for additional details, if you’re unfamiliar with ordering abroad to be delivered to your country. And if you haven’t yet checked out our dedicated International Orders FAQ is a much better source of information for you than this page which is focused on answers for our United States customers.

A: For international orders, we do the best we can on a country-to-country basis, but we typically ship via DHL Express Worldwide. Although, from time to time, we also use FedEx or UPS or one of those three in combination with a local carrier for “last miles” delivery.

International orders will be manufactured in the same timeframe, and shipped in the same time as orders from our United States customers. The time it takes for the order to reach your door is dependent on a number of factors, some of which are out of our control. For additional details on non-U.S. international shipments, including all the good stuff for shipping and logistics...please see our dedicated International Orders FAQ.

A: This is best answered on our dedicated International Orders FAQ.

If you live in a country outside those listed by name on the page linked to above and wish to make a purchase, PLEASE contact us before your purchase so we can work out shipping arrangements. It may end up costing the same as "International Group 2" rates, but we are unfamiliar with shipping to your country and we want to make sure we can do it right, and on time for your needs! For your convenience, our toll-free U.S. telephone number 1-(888) 355-2484 is configured to accept calls from all countries where we currently ship regularly, and you're welcome to call us (or email!) if desired before or after your purchase to discuss delivery logistics (English and Spanish language speakers available).

A: Yes, for an additional fee, it may be possible. Please see our dedicated International Orders FAQ for instructions to request this optional upgraded service.

A: With the exception of loose stones and clearance items, we do not stock pre-made jewelry items-- including earrings. We have a small collection of our most popular earring sizes and metals you can shop in our “Last Minute Gifts: Ships Less than 3 Days” Collection, but if you’re looking for a different center stone size or metal type you should prepare for a longer manufacturing time.

Notice that when you order earrings, you’re asked to choose the stone’s shape and size, the precious metal to be used, and even the backing for the earring. Imagine the size of inventory we’d have if we stock even just 1 pair from each of the possible configurations from all our available earring designs.

There would literally be millions of earrings sitting in a warehouse. We’d then have to charge you an arm, a leg, half your spleen and a quarter of your liver for a pair of earrings just to cover for inventory holding costs! If it’s any consolation, manufacturing time for earrings is significantly less than that of rings. So there you go. All product pages will have a pretty accurate “estimated manufacturing time” you can see before you order!

A: With the exception of loose stones and clearance items, we do not stock pre-made jewelry items-- including pendants.

Notice that when you order a pendant, you’re asked to choose the stone’s shape and size, the precious metal to be used, and even the chain to go along with the pendant. Imagine the size of inventory we’d have if we stock even just 1 piece from each of the possible configurations from all our available pendant designs.

There would literally be millions of pendants and chains sitting in a warehouse. We’d then have to charge you an arm, a leg, half your spleen and a quarter of your liver for a pendant plus chain just to cover for inventory holding costs! If it’s any consolation, manufacturing time for pendants is significantly less than that of rings. So there you go. All product pages will have a pretty accurate “estimated manufacturing time” you can see before you order!

A: You want to read the answers for these four relevant frequently asked questions:

1. You’ve gotten your estimated order shipping date after manufacturing the jewelry and aren’t sure it’s fast enough. See FAQ question “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? Do you charge extra for it?
2. Will changing the shipping from regular 2-day to overnight help? See FAQ question“Can I get expedited shipping?” And even if both expedited manufacturing and expedited shipping isn’t enough to get your ring in your hands before your trip, you can give us the address where you’re going on a trip, and we can have the ring shipped to that location instead (or to a local Fedex or UPS store for pickup). This even applies to international destinations. And don’t forget that many airports have a UPS, DHL and/or Fedex pickup point.
3. Is Saturday delivery an option? “Can you deliver on Saturdays? Does USPS, FedEx, UPS and/or DHL deliver on weekends or on Federal Holidays?”
4. When all else fails, we may still have a good way to complete your engagement proposal even if it’s not with “THE RING” so to speak. See FAQ question “What’s the Proposal Loaner Ring Program? Can I propose with a temporary engagement ring setting if my choice ring isn’t made yet? Or even let her pick the ring she’ll actually wear for the long-term?”

A: About getting your ring manufactured and delivered in under 7 days, we just can’t do it. We’re not going to risk our reputation to create something haphazardly, and that’s what it would take to circumvent our contract manufacturing process (see “What is contract manufacturing? Why does it take that long for my jewelry order to be shipped?” question for an explanation of the benefits of our business model).

Yes, we CAN expedite the manufacturing and get it to you faster than normal, but under no circumstances can we finish and ship a ring order requiring 15+ days for expected manufacturing time and have it shipped and delivered in less than a week. We’re sorry but that’s just not possible with the way we do things.

Expedited manufacturing means we’ll get your order manufactured faster than normal. You can choose to pay an expedited manufacturing fee of US$50 for this service, which must be ordered alongside a $25 expedited shipping upgrade cost (a total of $75 extra). For additional details on expedite options, see our answer to FAQ question “Can I request expedited manufacturing for my order? How much extra will that be?” question for additional details).

If you want to get an idea of the fastest we can possibly manufacture a given product -- again with no guarantees-- we would advise that before purchase you a) review our FAQ answer to the "I ordered a ring/earrings/pendant. How long does it take for my order to be shipped?” question, b) see the “estimated manufacturing time” listed on the product page for the ring/product you want to buy, c) deduct 7-10 days and see if that works for you, before d) contacting us to discuss and arrange the expedited manufacturing payment requested for a specific delivery date.

It really pains us to tell someone they should have planned a proposal better and ordered the ring earlier. But that does not mean we’re going to leave you high and dry. Of course not! We can send you a “temporary ring” under our “Loaner Ring program”, and that has helped many a guy who was convinced he wanted our jewelry for his sweetheart...but waited too long to order. If you’re needing help to save your proposal from procrastination, please see the “What’s the Proposal Loaner Ring Program? Can I propose with a temporary engagement ring setting if my choice ring isn’t made yet? Or even let her pick the ring she’ll actually wear for the long-term?” question.

A: Basically, you go ahead and pay for the ring you want so we can get it to manufacturing right away, and as soon as you make payment, we'll loan you a ring we have on hand from our clearance inventory which we'll resize and send to you ASAP (usually within 3-6 days to account for ring sizing). We can usually provide a couple options at least semi-similar to the one you want us to make for you, and send you pictures of the available “proposal loaner rings” via email to choose one.

This means, during the proposal, you'll be able to give your girlfriend an actual engagement ring - a “proposal loaner ring” - while the permanent ring is being manufactured. We’ll ship you your permanent ring as soon as a) it’s manufactured and ready to ship, and b) you send us back the “loaner ring”.

Contact us to find out more details about the Proposal Loaner Ring Program.

A: Sales tax will be assessed at the time of purchase only for orders shipped to Kentucky, United States. All other locations in the United States and worldwide do not have sales tax assessed.

For orders shipped internationally to non U.S. customers, we do not assess any taxes at the time of order;

however, please see FAQ question “Will I need to pay customs duties for my international order?” since your location may require you to pay something to those local authorities (we do not collect nor receive those funds, that is managed directly with the customs authority in the recipient country). CubicZirconia.com considers these fees to international locations, countries, territories or other governmental bodies to be the responsibility of the receiving party (customer).

Please note; The recipient of an International shipment may be subject to a value-added tax (VAT) or import taxes, customs duties and fees levied by the destination country. Additionally, the shipping service may charge a Collect On Delivery, Cash On Delivery, or Cash Receipt On Delivery fee (COD) as payment for these charges. These charges must be fulfilled by the recipient. CubicZirconia.com has no control over these charges, nor can we predict what they may be.

A: Yes. We can offer Saturday Delivery service through USPS, FedEx, and UPS with advance warning and request. Saturday delivery is available in most U.S. cities for a surcharge (not applicable for USPS which delivers on Saturday for no charge). If Saturday delivery is not available in your area, we can arrange for you to pick up your package at the nearest FedEx location or UPS store. If you would like Saturday delivery, please contact us.

USPS delivers everyday except Sundays and Federal Holidays for regular shipping. However, they can deliver during Sundays and holidays if you've paid for Priority Express Shipping.

FedEx delivers Monday through Friday except Federal Holidays for regular shipping. They only deliver on Saturdays for an extra fee, and Sundays for Same Day Delivery service packages. As for Holiday deliveries, FedEx posts their Open or Closed Status for Holidays on their website.

UPS delivers Monday through Friday except Federal Holidays for regular shipping. They only deliver on Saturdays for an extra fee. Like FedEx, UPS posts their Open or Closed Status for Holidays on their website.

DHL delivers from Monday to Friday. They only deliver on Saturdays if the package is specified for Saturday delivery. Otherwise, the package is delivered the following Monday. They do not deliver on Sundays and Federal Holidays.

Additionally, shipping delays may be caused by force majeure or forces of nature such as hurricanes, blizzards or other natural calamities and disasters. I’m pretty sure, you know that already.

That being said, please plan accordingly when ordering and having them delivered on certain dates, because as much as we want to do everything to make a happy customer out of you, there are just some things that are out of our hands.