Shopping For Jewelry – Then and Now
Let’s face it, the way we shop for almost everything in this world has changed in the past 10 years. The way we shop for Jewelry has changed drastically as well. Not so long ago it was almost unheard of to buy a piece of jewelry without first seeing it, holding it, and comparing pieces in person. I remember the time when I actually made a whole day of shopping for jewelry. It wasn’t uncommon for me to spend up to 6 hours travelling around to various jewelers to compare prices, quality, and of course reputation.
That was then and this is now, seemingly out of nowhere the online jewelry revolution took over! I am not going to sit here and say that the offline jewelry shopping practitioners are gone completely, but let’s face it – going online can quite often be easier AND more affordable!
It is now quite possible to do ALL of your jewelry shopping from the comfort of your own home. That’s right, as many of you likely already know shopping for jewelry online can be quite an enlightening and time saving experience.
I am here to give you some guidance as to how to evaluate the jewelry you find online and of course how to evaluate the person who is selling it in this virtual fashion. The first question that always comes to mind is: “How can I trust the websites who sell jewelry? Are they reputable? Safe and Secure?” Ah yes, these are quite important and I will address them all briefly in this article.
First comes the “Trust Factor” for shopping for jewelry online. Make sure to see if they look like a legitimate business. Do they display the phone number of their business clearly? This is often and indication that you can trust the website. Make sure to call the number and double check that it appears to be a legitimate business. Next comes the “Reputation Factor”. I recommend typing into Google the name of the business. See if any negative reviews come up. If not, I would feel safe to continue shopping on this site.
Finally there is the all important security factor. Is this site secure? You will likely be entering your credit card information on this site, so its important to verify that is it indeed a secure website! The easiest way to tell is to look at the websites address bar. If this site has https:// before the websites domain name, then it is often secured by an SSL certificate. In plain English, this means that all transactions on this site are encrypted and that your information will not be easily compromised.
As you can see shopping for Jewelry online can save you a lot of time, effort, and money! The fact that the online jewelry stores usually don’t have physical storefronts allow them to pass the rent and maintenance savings on to you! So make sure to follow the guidelines above and have a great time shopping online for jewelry!
