ordering wholesale jewelry samples, before the bulk buy

Order a sample of any style you plan to stock in depth, any style you'll put under your own brand, and any finish a customer will return if it's wrong. Skip it when you're re-ordering a piece you've already held. The sample is paid and non-creditable — treat it as the cost of settling one question before you commit volume.

what a sample is, here

Worth being precise, because the word "sample" carries habits from other trades. With us a sample is not a swatch, not a loaner, not a stripped-down version of the real thing. It is the actual piece, made the way the production run will be made, in solid gold — 10k, 14k, or 18k — set with the same natural or lab-grown diamonds you'd buy at volume.

Mechanically, ordering a sample is ordering one unit. Our minimum starts at 1 on most styles (a few carry a higher minimum), so there's no separate sample program to apply to — you order the style itself. The cost is paid up front and it is non-creditable: it does not come off a later bulk order. And like everything we ship, a sample is a final sale.

Because a sample order is usually a first order, it follows first-order terms — a 50% deposit, with pricing quoted to you per buyer rather than posted on the page.

which styles earn the sample cost

The sample is paid, so spend it where the risk is, not on reflex. Three cases earn it almost every time:

• Depth buys. Any style you're about to stock in quantity. One held piece tells you more about whether it sells than a screen ever will.
• Private-label and OEM. When we make to your spec — your metal, your stone, your finish, your packaging, or an existing design under your own brand — you're approving something no one has held yet. Sample the spec before you commit the run.
• Finish-dependent styles. Anything whose appeal lives in the hand: the weight of a band, the polish on a high-shine piece, the way a setting sits. Photographs flatter finish. Your counter will not.

Where a sample rarely earns its cost: a re-order of a piece you've already held, or a plain style you inspected in an earlier order. You already have the data a sample would buy you.

the tradeoff, stated plainly

A sample costs you the piece, the deposit terms, and the shipping time before you've sold anything. What it buys you is the one thing a line sheet can't: the piece in your hand, before the volume commitment is locked. For a depth buy or a branded run, that's a small, fixed cost set against a large, uncertain one — usually worth paying. For a single-unit add to an order you're already placing, it often isn't. The math is rarely close; the trouble is paying for the sample on styles where you already know the answer.

what to check when it lands

We run five-point QC on every piece before it leaves the floor. When the sample reaches you, run your own check — the same discipline, from the buyer's side:

• The metal. Find the karat stamp — 10k, 14k, or 18k — and confirm it against the invoice. Karat is a claim you can verify; a stamp beats an adjective.
• The weight. Solid gold carries heft that plate and fill can't fake. Note the gram weight; it's part of what you're paying for.
• The stone and its paper. Natural diamonds are GIA-certified, lab-grown are IGI-certified, and certificates come on request. Match the stone to its cert, and sell lab-grown as lab-grown — a different product, not a cheaper natural.
• The setting. Look at the seat and the prongs: whether the stone sits level, whether the metal grips it cleanly. This is where a piece survives or fails on the counter.
• The finish. Polish, plating, edges. Hold it to the light you actually sell under.

If something's off, that's the sample doing its job — you found it on one piece, not on a case.

how it fits the order flow

Our flow runs in order: sample, spec, deposit, production, ship. The sample is the first step by design, not a detour around it.

Starting it is fast — weekday quote requests are usually answered within about two hours, by WhatsApp or email — so the gap between deciding to sample and placing the order is short. You hold the piece, you check it, you decide. Then you spec the bulk order, place the deposit, and we produce and ship. At higher quantities, volume pricing applies and is quoted to you per buyer, so the sample also tells you which styles are worth pushing into a tier.

the call, by situation

your situation	sample first	go straight to volume
stocking a new style in depth	yes	—
private-label or OEM to your spec	yes	—
finish- or weight-dependent piece	yes	—
re-order of a piece you've held	—	yes
single unit, low commitment	—	usually

The rule under the table is simple: pay for a sample when it settles a question that volume would otherwise gamble on. A branded run you've never held, a deep buy on an unproven style — those are questions worth one paid piece. A piece you already know is not. And when you do sample, order the exact configuration you intend to buy — same metal, same stone, same finish — so the piece in your hand is the piece you're approving, not a near-version of it.