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Do you sell loose beads?
- No, we don't sell loose
beads. All beads we sell are temporarily strung and sold by strand.
- Pendants are sold by piece or pair.
- If you are looking for just a
few loose beads, please contact your local bead shop
for help.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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What is your policy on quantity
discounts?
- Quantity discounts
are based on our list price and good for items in stock only.
- Items on Promo are good
for additional quantity discount based on reduced prices.
- No quantity discount for
special order items.
- Quantity Discount
Tiers:
- over $100 assorted, 10% off;
- over $300 assorted, 15% off;
- over $600 assorted, 20% off.
- over $1,000 assorted, 25% off.
- over
$2,000
assorted, 30%
off and up.
- 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.
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What kind of
payment you accept?
- We
accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Sorry,
we do not accept other credit cards.
- Sorry, we
don't accept personal, company, or COD checks.
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How do you ship and
how do you charge for shipping?
- Standard Delivery: If
not specified, the default method of shipping is by
USPS
Priority.
- Rush Delivery: You may
specify Next
Day, Second Day, or Third Day by
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.
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Do you ship to destinations
outside the USA?
- Yes, we do. By UPS or FedEx.
- Duties:
All duties to be
paid by customer.
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.
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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 and Handling charge 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 unaltered condition. Partial strand, restrung, 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 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.
- 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.
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The List of
Birthstones
- January: Garnet
- February: Amethyst
- March: Bloodstone, Aquamarine
- April: Diamond
- May: Emerald
- June: Pearl, Moonstone
- July: Ruby
- August: Sardonyx, Peridot
- September: Sapphire
- October: Opal, Tourmaline
- November: Topaz
- December: Turquoise,
Zircon
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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.
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Any other questions not listed above?
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