Do you sell loose beads?
- No, we don't sell loose beads. All the beads we sell are temporarily strung and sold by the strand.
- If you are looking for just a few loose beads, please contact your local bead shop for help.
Do you have print catalog and price list?
- No, we don't. We no longer publish any new print catalog and price list. Please browse through this website for all information.
Is the quality of merchandise pictures in this web site accurate and reliable?
- No, there is unfortunately no 100% accurate and reliable picture that can show the actual quality of merchandise without certain degree of distortion. We are therefore technically not able to guarantee the accuracy of picture quality presented in this web site.
- However, you still can use our pictures as a reference to do your purchase. Even with unavoidable distortion, a picture still can convey a lot of useful information if you know the limit of a picture can show. After all, a picture online is always better than a thousand words over the phone.
- Tip: Give yourself a try with a small test order. You never know if you don't try.
- Tip: If you really need 100% guarantee on the accuracy of picture quality, we suggest you not shopping online. Instead, go to a gem show near you, so you can see and touch before you buy.
- Copyrights: We produce all pictures in our own office and own the copyrights. Since we have done a superior job on picture production, many other companies have tried to copy from ours. If you see identical picture on other company's web site, that is definitely copied from ours. Please let us know and help us to protect our copyrights. Your help will also encourage us to do the right thing, working hard.
Could you tell where your stones come from?
- We are not able to tell the origin of every single item. We may disclose the origin of some stones based on information provided by our sources. However, we are not responsible for the accuracy of those information.
Do you always carry the same items as shown in the web site?
- Yes & No. It really depends on the market demand and material supply. We'll try to carry popular and regular items all the time. However, we can not and never guarantee the availability of any particular item at any time.
- If you are working on a new design for a large quantity project, it is always good to check the availability of the items you are planning to use before finalizing the design with your client. When working with your client, always reserve the right to use substitute item because the status of the availability may be changed at any time.
Why I can't find an item that I had seen before in your web site?
- If you can't find a particular item that you had seen before in this web site, that means it is either temporarily out of stock or discontinued. Please try to find a substitute that match the best.
How long is a typical strand? And how many pieces in a strand?
- How long? A typical strand of beads, pearls, or corals is approximately 16" long. Please be aware that our strands may not be exactly 16" long, the actual length could be shorter or longer.
- All prices are based on a single strand as it is, NOT on any specific length or any specific number of pieces in a strand.
- How many pieces? The portion of beads, pearls, and corals shown in a typical box in this website is approximately 4" long, or 1/4 of a 16" strand. To figure out how many pieces in a strand, you may count what you see in the box and times 4 for a typical 16" strand, or times 2 for a typical 8" strand, etc.
- Example: The
Malachite beads shown below is 8mm. There are about 12.5 pieces in the
box. 12.5 times 4 is 50. So, there are approximate 50 pieces in
a typical 16" strand of 8mm round beads.
- Tip: Please always keep in mind that the actual count always varies due to various lengths, shapes, and sizes. In addition, in a typical strand of beads or pearls, there are always some pieces not suitable for your use for various reasons. Therefore, after you figure out the quantity you need, you may add extra 5% - 10% allowances, depending on your own quality requirements, and then convert it into strands.
What is 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 10x-12x, etc.? (About the dimension.)
- All dimensions are approximate: No matter how we describe the dimension, please always keep in mind that all dimensions are approximate. We'll try our best to provide dimension information as precise as possible, however, it is just impossible to be exact without variations.
- Uniform Size: When the size of an item is relatively uniform through the entire strand, we'll describe the dimension as precise as possible, such as 8mm Round, 4x13 (4mm by 13mm) Tube, etc.
- Size varies: When the size of an item varies through the entire strand, we'll describe the major dimension that is common to most of pieces. For example, 4x (4 by) Tube is tube of 4mm in diameter with the length of every piece varies.
- Size graduated: There are also items with major dimension varies through the entire strand. For example, 10x-12x (10 by to 12 by) means the average size is in the range of 10mm to 12mm.
- In general, when it is difficult to give a precise dimension, we'll use the 4x and 10x-12x system to describe the average size.
Do you issue credit for unusable beads?
- As mentioned above, it is common to have some beads or pearls in a strand not suitable for your use for various reasons. We do NOT issue credit for those beads or pearls because the wholesale price always reflects the general quality of the entire strand, not every single piece. Therefore, if the overall quality of the entire strand doesn't meet your requirements, you can return the whole strand in its original condition for a full refund. We do not issue refunds for returns of partial strands or used strands.
- Tip: If you need every single bead or pearl to be perfect for your use, your local retail bead shops can supply what you need because retail bead shops usually allow you to select a few perfect pieces from a lot of loose ones.
What is your policy on quantity discounts?
- Quantity discounts are based on our list price and good for items in stock only.
- No quantity discount for special sale or special order items.
- Out of stock or discontinued item is not qualified for the quantity discount calculation. (It might happened that the item you want is out of stock or discontinued when you re-order from a previous invoice or even from a current web page. If that happened and affected the level of quantity discount, we will call you and suggest a substitute. We will do our best to keep our website current and accurate, however, we still can not guarantee the availability of every single item shown on our website at this moment. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.)
- Returned item is not qualified for the quantity discount calculation. We will revise the level of quantity discount on a delivered and paid invoice if the returned amount is too large and affected the original discount level. The discount difference will then be deducted from the refund to the returned items.
- Quantity Discount Rates:
- over $100 assorted, 10% off;
- over $250 assorted, 15% off;
- over $500 assorted, 20% off.
We do not have any pre-set discount for orders over $500. We'll review your order and try to give you the best discount on case-by-case basis. In general, an order with large quantity (minimum 10 strands) per item may get better discount than that with single strand for each different item.
For example, if you order 1 strand each for 100 different items, you may get our standard pre-set discount up to 25% off. However, if you order 100 strands for just one single item and can accept wider range of color and size variations, you may get discount better than the standard pre-set one.
(7/18/05)
What kind of payment you accept?
- We accept Visa ,MasterCard and American Express. Sorry, we do not accept other credit cards.
- Sorry, we don't accept personal, company, or COD checks.
How do you ship and how do you charge for shipping?
- Standard Delivery: If not specified, the default method of shipping is by USPS Ground.
- Rush Delivery: You
may specify Next Day,
Second Day,
or Third Day
by USPS, UPS
or FedEx.
Tip: The way any shipping carrier count Next Day, Second Day, and Third Day is based on business day, not calendar day. Saturday, Sunday, and national holidays is not considered as a business day. The next business day of Friday is Monday, not Saturday. If you placed an order on Friday and wish to receive your order on Saturday, you need to specify Next Day delivery plus special Saturday delivery. - Delivery Delay:
Although not a problem happened every day, it might happened to your
shipment due to various reasons. We cannot guarantee the shipping
carriers' actual delivery time because we have no control over their
operation. We are not responsible or liable for any problem or loss caused by shipping
carriers' delivery delay.
Tip: Always allow sufficient time for delivery. - Freight charges, including shipping, handling and insurance, will be added to every shipment based on shipping carriers' rate schedule.
-
Estimate Shipping Charges:
You may check the shipping charge and other
charges on the carriers' web site. Please use Zip Code 91711 as the place
of origin for checking the shipping charge.
To estimate the shipping charge, you need to know the weight of package. Unfortunately, there is no way to know the weight of package unless we pull all your order together. And, unfortunately again, we won't be able to pull every thing you want together just to figure out the shipping cost. However, our sales may give you a rough estimate based on their experience. The actual charge may be different from their estimate. For your information, 12 strands of 8mm round Black Onyx weighs roughly 1 pound. - Third Party Charge: If you have an UPS or FedEx account and want to charge all freight, insurance, and duties to your account, please provide us your account number.
-
Surcharges: The
shipping carrier may apply additional surcharge to shipment with wrong
address that need correction or address change requested by the recipient.
Sometimes the carrier may charge for incomplete address, such as missing East, West, South and North in front of the street name, misspelling of the street name, missing Ave., Street, and Blvd., or missing unit number, etc. It is rare for that kind of surcharge, however, it happened if you have a square driver in your area. - Back order shipment is considered a separate shipment from original order. Freight charges will be added to every back order shipment.
- Exchange is considered a return of shipped order followed by a separate new order. Customer need to pay both return freight and new order's outgoing freight.
Do you ship to destinations outside the USA?
- Yes, we do. By UPS or FedEx.
-
Duties: All
duties to be paid by customer.
Usually the shipping carrier will pay the duties on behalf of you and collect duties from you upon delivery. However, if the shipping carrier has difficulties to collect duties from you and turn back to us for duties after delivery made, we will pay the duties on behalf of you first and charge to your credit card all applicable duties and fees plus 6% surcharge.
Please make sure how to pay duties in your country before placing an order with us. Please call your local UPS and FedEx offices for details. - We DO NOT ship via US Postal Services or other carriers not mentioned above.
What is your return policy?
- Return within 10 calendar days: We refund the
actual paid cost of
any merchandise returned to us within 10 calendar days after you receive it. Freight and insurance
are not refundable.
Tip: Inspect your order right after you receive it, so you have 10 calendar days to decide whether to keep it or not. - Return within 30 calendar days: There is a 10% re-stocking fee if the merchandise returned to us after 10 calendar days, but within 30 calendar days after you receive it.
- Return within 60 calendar days: There is a 25% re-stocking fee if the merchandise returned to us after 30 calendar days, but within 60 calendar days after you receive it.
- Return after 60 calendar days: No return will be accepted.
- Return Authorization: Please email return@earthstone.com, fax (909-949-7618), or call (909-949-7616) for Return Authorization Number before sending any merchandise back. Please provide the original invoice number, the item you want to return and tell us why you want to return (so that we can improve our services in the future), we'll issue a Return Authorization Number via email, fax, or phone call.
- Return in Original Conditions: All returned merchandise must be in its original condition. Partial strand, loosen strand, or used strand is not acceptable.
-
Return Carrier: We recommend that you return
merchandise in a carton box
via a carrier
with a reliable package tracking system,
such as USPS, UPS
and FedEx.
Never return merchandise in a regular business letter envelope via Post Office in order to save return shipping cost. Quite often what we got is just an empty damaged envelope. We do not issue refunds if your return package is lost in the mail or damaged when arriving at our office. -
Return Freight: It is customers' responsibility to pay the
return shipping cost and insurance.
We do not reimburse return freight as well as the original outgoing freight even if customer think the merchandise received "looks different" from what shown on the web site or the quality does not meet their requirements. Please see more information on Picture Quality. - Refund Method: We will mail you a refund check or credit directly to your original credit card account right after we receive your authorized and qualified return package.
- Quantity Discount Adjustment:
If the returned amount affected the level of
quantity discount on the original invoice, we will
revise it accordingly and deduct the quantity discount difference from the
refund.
For example: A $500 order received 15% off discount. A $100 return would bring the total amount down to $400 and, therefore, the discount level down to 10% off. The refund to the $100 return with the original 15% off is $85, and the discount adjustment, 5% in this example, for the remaining $400 order is $20. Therefore, the actual refund will be $85 minus $20, or $65, unless a new order of the equal value were placed at the same time. - Tip: To avoid any possible mistakes, we strongly recommend you placing your order online or by fax, instead of phone call. For fax order, please write down item number, description, and price. Yes, it is absolutely all right to call us for questions and placing orders.
- Exchange is
considered a return followed by a separate new order.
All Return Policy apply to Exchange Request.
Shipping
charges will be added to every outgoing
"exchange" shipment.
We keep a quite consistent quality for every item. That means every strand of beads or pearls from the same item has same quality. If you are not satisfied with the quality of a particular strand of beads or pearls, we are not able to send you another one to replace it.
The List of Birthstones
Miscellaneous glossaries and clarifications
- C.D.: Center-drilled.
- CTQ: Chinese Turquoise
- FWP: Freshwater Pearls.
- Graduated: The size of each single piece in a strand varies and the strand is temporarily strung from the smaller one to the larger one, usually with the largest one in the middle of the strand.
- IR.: Irradiated.
- Matte finish: Frosted looking, not shining like the polished one. Example: Matte Lapis.
- S.D.: Side-drilled.
- Size varies: The size of each single piece in a strand varies without a specific order.
- Syn.: Synthetic.
- T.D.: Top-drilled; offset-drilled.
- For merchandises, please email sales@earthstone.com
- For return authorization, please email return@earthstone.com
- For general questions, please email info@earthstone.com
- About this website, please email webmaster@earthstone.com