Importing jewellery - advice?

[pauljoels]

I'm interested in importing jewellery (I'm guessing from India and China) and was wondering if anyone else has done this and has any advice on it.

I also have a couple of concerns regarding quality of items, and authenticity, I mean, just how do you know if you buy from the other side of the world that what you are getting is sterling silver and not plated/not even silver at all?

I have a colleague who has bought a job lot of jewellery from China, and she intends to sell it on ebay, but I have had a look at it and am not certain that it is sterling - even though it has a 925 mark on it (it doesn't look convincing to me!). How do you know what to trust?

Also, has anyone any idea of what is realistic pricing for silver jewellery from the far east - some of what I have seen seems to be quite cheap, but I cannot work out whether it is because of economies of scale, or it not being sterling silver?

Finally if anyone has any contacts I would be most interested!

Apologies for all the questions - I have been googling and cannot come up with these answers - I just seem to keep turning up the odd useful page amongst all the wholesalers of rubbish jewellery, or tiffany/LoL copies!

[Lisa Quinn]

I'm sorry I can't help you, I'm afraid that I am a great admirer of artisans and artists and am of the opinion that the mass produced, exploitative, uninspired bilge that is imported into this country and is sold so cheaply means that real artisans are unable to flourish and prosper I believe that this is a terrible shame and I wouldn't wish to encourage it.

[Boo]

Nicely put Lisa. I typed an answer in myself earlier and decided that I couldn't really post it.

It's cheap imports of indeterminate quality that cause punters to look down their noses at the good stuff people like us make and they're unable to distinguish the difference in quality - and price. Ultimately, you'd be taking work and credibility away from us.

This perhaps isn't a good place to ask questions like this - especially with the new moon giving us all a hard time this week.

[Kalorlo]

just how do you know if you buy from the other side of the world that what you are getting is sterling silver and not plated/not even silver at all?

Short version: you don't.
Particularly if you're buying in bulk from eBay or the like, where there's no personal contact with the seller.

[ps_bond]

I know of a retailer of "cheap" silver who has been selling everything stamped "925" only. They've just had a visit from trading standards over that... And the fact that they don't display the Hallmarking Council card.

(yes, many of the items were >7.78g mass)

[Petal]

Nicely put Lisa. I typed an answer in myself earlier and decided that I couldn't really post it.

It's cheap imports of indeterminate quality that cause punters to look down their noses at the good stuff people like us make and they're unable to distinguish the difference in quality - and price. Ultimately, you'd be taking work and credibility away from us.

This perhaps isn't a good place to ask questions like this - especially with the new moon giving us all a hard time this week.

I agree with all of the above.!

nuff said
J x

[pauljoels]

I'm not actually sure all your comments are fair. I believe there is a place for both the common "bilge" and for the hand crafted. I would just like to know about some info - especially as someone has already commented on importing in another thread - See Ben B's comments here:. I'm not advocating what was said there - I'm trying to find out how you can guarantee the quality of the metal.

Also, I don't actually think it undermines what you guys do (and what I do as a hobby), because the types of people that buy that stuff will probably never buy your jewellery - either because they don't understand it, cannot afford it or other reasons. As sad as it is there will always be these divisions, and I think it a sad fact that people blame cheap mass produced jewellery for others lack of success (or the thought process of their potential customers) - you should really look at segmentation - it really isn't detracting from your customer base, since that part never really existed.

In simpler terms, it's like buying a Vettriano print and a Monet. There are always going to be people who buy the Vettriano prints, but there will always be fewer who would consider buying a real piece of art - and the people selling these things know this, and would not consider trying to sell to them - and more to the point they may not like the other stuff, or appreciate it, but in most cases they can appreciate that there is a place for it in society.

It's easy to do that of course, but I don't think I should be told to go elsewhere to ask the question - if I knew of elsewhere I would ask there (as well)...

I'll ignore the comment about Exploitation since most of the materials people on here that people are using involve exploitation at some point in their lifecycle. Mining for the metals hardly involves fairly paid staff - there was a series of articles on it in National Geographic a while back - fascinating encounters of where the none exploitative jewellery comes from...

If you do not want to answer my initial question that's fine, I don't mind - but I know people on here have all kinds of knowledge.

My main questions, were revolving around trying to ensure that one is sourcing decent, high quality pieces, not from fleabay, but from reputable sources, be they cheap, or fairer prices. I was not asking for advice on buying silver from ebay (or selling it for that matter) - I realise this is will probably end in disaster as you cannot tell anything.

[mizgeorge]

Paul, whilst I also prefer original pieces, I think there is a place for mass produced. I'd just rather buy (for example) an Italian chain, than a Chinese knock-off. In fact, I do so regularly, as I have neither the skill nor inclination (let alone the equipment) to make my own. I make it very clear that these have been bought in, though almost always from very reputable sources in the UK.

I think you need to be very careful about importing from the Far East. There are reputable manufacturers, but there's also a lot of crud being sold as sterling. Bearing in mind that pretty much all mass produced silver is plated to speed up the production process, you need to make sure that you have a good testing kit, and know how to use it. I can't help with how to find reliable sellers, as it's not something I've ever been interested in. I can tell you that I've helped a number of people get some fairly hefty refunds after buying what they thought were silver chains, especially bracelets, from various Hong Kong based sellers on ebay.

If I were thinking of doing anything like this, I think I might look at importing from Mexico (as Cookson's do) rather than the Far East. I know that's worked brilliantly for companies like HiHo, and at least the designs are likely to be original, and often made by skilled metalsmiths.

[caroleallen]

Yes, I was going to suggest Mexico, though I do agree with the other comments about cheap imports.

It's a bit of a bone of contention at the local fairs I do. I've been doing them for years and they've always been really successful, until, that is, a young chap turned up a couple of years ago with a massive stand full of imported jewellery. The quality of what he sells is good and of course he can undercut people like me who slog away in their workshops to make the stuff. It's now reached the point where I and other jewellers are seriously thinking about packing it in as our sales have plummeted.

If you do decide to go down this route, you won't find many friends in the jewellery world.

[Emerald]

but we all use a lot of there components ie chain ,earwires, stringing etc etc