What is the difference between buying jewellery from the internet as opposed to buying jewellery from shops? I'm talking about high quality costume jewellery that imitates real diamond but lower in cost and of course, I'm writing based on my own experience.
It has been almost a year now since the day I was preparing for my wedding. One of the frustration I found during this whole supposedly exciting time was to find the right piece of jewellery for my special day! Every bride wants the best on their special day and so do I. Being the picky bridezilia I was, I went from shop to shop to find the perfect piece of bling to match my beautiful wedding gown, asking questions from the smallest detail like what is this piece of earrings make of, the kind of stones, to where was it manufactured. I know, sounds a bit too detailed I guest, as most of the store couldn't answer most of the questions that I asked or if they answered, they were always unsure and use the words "I believe...or I think...". Anyway, how can I blame them, as most people wouldn't care about the technical side of the jewellery but what they could see in front of their eyes.
So in the end, two months before my big day, I bought the perfect piece of necklace...or so I thought. What could I say about the necklace, love it, love it and love it... Went around looking for matching earrings, etc - not easy but I did it. But to my dismay, 2 weeks before the big day, I found my 'perfect' piece of necklace just got tarnished and there were some black stains on it when I only took out to look at once as I was trying it on with my wedding gown. I went back to the store to get an exchange but they told me that, that was the last piece and they will try their best to get me a replacement but of course, even in the shop, I knew I would never hear from them again. And I never did. Why should I? They know I won't go back after this anyway...To cut the story short, I wore the necklace anyway. Most people told me they won't show up in the photos and given the desperation and shortage of time, I didn't have a choice but to wear it. No, it's no longer a big deal now. A happy marriage is more important. Still love the photos and everything.
Then I remembered my experience of purchasing some jewellery online - came nicely wrapped and great customer service. So based on this experience and having such a great passion on jewellery (otherwise, I don't think I would ask so many questions before buying any piece of jewellery), I started up my own online store selling jewellery at www.AmesSecret.com. It's called Ame's Secret. I have to admit that this is not an easy process as I vowed to myself, each piece of jewellery that I put in my store has to have great quality and I have to like it. And of course, selling jewellery online has far greater competition given that anyone could just sit in front of the computer and compare designs and prices in just a few clicks rather than driving around town wasting a few hours in traffic to get to a shop, not to mention parking scarcity nowadays.
In addition, picture quality is an important factor for an online store as even when a product is great, sometimes it's so difficult to capture it in a photo especially highly reflective items like jewellery. So at this moment, I am still learning the 'how to take good quality photos of highly reflective items like jewellery' technique. I'm proud to say that I am improving with each passing day but I still have lots to learn. To keep up with the competition, I am also trying to built up more traffic to my website, won't take any slack in ensuring only good quality items are offered and adding more items to my website and hopefully one day, I will get there. In fact, competition from the internet has make it impossible to cut any slack in offering great customer service. I didn't get a box to protect my jewellery when I bought the necklace from the shop last time. So now I make sure a jewellery gift box is provided. It's important to know my items too! Technical or not, it is essential to provide every piece of information to my customers to gain their trust, whether they are sterling silver, rhodium plated, etc. An "I don't know" answer is usually unacceptable as customers will be gone before you even know, they have clicked to another site.
Well, I guess this the story of my experience which until today, I'm wondering if it is this incident that has change the direction of my life. However, I'm glad to say it's the best decision I've ever made and I'm definitely going to stick to it and make this dream a success.
If you are interested in costume jewellery, visit www.AmesSecret.com for a huge range of top quality designer inspired costume jewellery at very affordable prices. They are great for yourself and just as perfect to be made as gifts!
First Published on Qassia
