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“Turquoise Fever” Mining with Emily Otteson

“Turquoise Fever” Mining with Emily Otteson

Posted on by jordan

Turquoise miner and reality television personality, Emily Otteson, discusses American turquoise, variscite and White Buffalo mining, the impact their television show has had on the Otteson family business and the future of the turquoise market. 

Emily Otteson and her husband own multiple turquoise mines in Nevada and are featured on the hit television show, Turquoise Fever. 

Selected Links from the Episode

Connect with Emily: Shop | Instagram | Etsy

Turquoise Fever: Watch Now

Gemstones: Turquoise | White Buffalo | Poseidon (Variscite)

Full Show Notes

Mining in Nevada [4:16]

White Buffalo is Dolomite-Calcite; NOT Howlite and NOT “White Turquoise” [12:10]

“Turquoise Fever” the TV Show [14:25]

Connect with Jewels of the Trade

Newsletter | Website | Instagram | YouTube

Ruby and Sapphire Market Predictions with Jeremy of Color Source Gems

Ruby and Sapphire Market Predictions with Jeremy of Color Source Gems

Posted on by jordan

Colored gemstone expert Jeremy Chalchinsky joins Jordan to discuss his recent buying trip to Bangkok and his resultant insight regarding sapphire and ruby supply and demand for the near future. He also shares stories of his experiences as a traveling wholesale gem expert.

Jeremy Chalchinky works with his father as Color Source Gems to offer an array of wholesale colored gemstones to retailers in the United States. They are a member of AGS and AGTA.

Selected Links from the Episode

Connect with Jeremy: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Full Show Notes

Color Source Gems Info [3:49]

November Bangkok Buying Trip [11:56]

Ruby and Sapphire Market Predictions [23:38]

Connect with Jewels of the Trade

Newsletter | Website | Instagram | YouTube

Are jade bangles on Amazon made from REAL jade?

Are jade bangles on Amazon made from REAL jade?

Posted on by jordan

Products Featured

Is the Dentang Bangle on Amazon REAL Jade?
Is the MPH Jewellery Bangle on Amazon REAL Jade? Is the KaratGem Bangle on Amazon REAL Jade?

***Where to buy actual NATURAL jade***

https://www.masonkay.com/ For retail customers: https://www.mkjadejewelry.com/ For jewelry stores: https://masonkayshowroom.com/

***For More Info***

Are Jade Rollers Made From REAL Jade? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smcQW…

Learn more

Video Transcript

Authentic, guaranteed natural jade bangles in appealing colors and qualities sell appropriately for $600, $1,000, $2,000 and easily into the tens of thousands of dollars for fine quality with desirable color and translucence.

So why are so many “natural” jade bangles online $10, $50 and $100?

Why the price difference? Why are some so cheap and others so expensive?

The answer may be that some of these “affordable” bangles Aren’t. Really. Jade. 

Today, we’re going to get to the bottom of this and find out which of these bangles are and which are not actually natural jade as advertised.

Before we get started, thank you so much for watching. If you’re new here, this channel is dedicated to spreading accurate information about jewelry and gemstones so please consider subscribing to our channel. Give this video a “like” if it helps you, and before we get started, answer this question for me in the comments: Is having natural gemstones important to you or are you also interested in treated stones, lab-created gems and simulants? There is no wrong answer! I just want to hear what you have to say.

In this video, we’re going to show actual gemological testing of jade bangles from Jade Expert Jeff Mason of Mason-Kay Jade in Colorado. 

The types of tests typically used for determining the authenticity of jade are

Refractometry and Spectroscopy

Refractometry can help us determine if a stone is jade or another gemstone entirely, which I talk more about in my video “Are Jade Rollers Made from REAL Jade?”

And Spectroscopy can reveal if jade is natural and untreated or has been impregnated with polymer or resin.

Let’s start with the DNTENG bangle from Amazon labeled “Chinese Natural Jadeite Jade” for $22.49.

This “jade bangle” comes with a “cert,” which from experience I know means nothing. Only trust gem reports from reputable companies such as AGL, GIA, Mason-Kay Jade and other labs your local jeweler may recommend.

So looking at the bangle, this piece is gorgeous and very gummy/translucent. The #1 indicator that this isn’t natural jade is it’s appearance, as a natural jade bangle of this translucence would be much, much, MUCH more expensive than $20. But. We are gemologists, and we test to know best.

Here is Jeff Mason spot testing the DNTENG bangle using a refractometer.

Jeff: “Not jade. No question, a clear quartz reading.”

Quartz! 

This explains the low price point as quartz is quite abundant and inexpensive.

Lots of people turn to the Internet when trying to determine if jade is real or not. Unfortunately, almost all the advice I’ve seen pop up on a quick search is completely unreliable and sometimes downright wrong. I know I’m a random person on the Internet, but please believe me when I say not to trust random people on the Internet. As I’ve mentioned before in other videos, if you have any questions about natural jade you can always ask your local jeweler or the jade experts at Mason-Kay Jade.

Let’s talk about some of the “indicators” the Internet touts as reliable that actually aren’t reliable at all:

#1. The scratch test. It is true that if you take a steel knife to jade, the jade won’t scratch because the jade is harder or more resistant to scratching than the knife. However, many jade simulants are also harder than steel. Therefore, the resultant lack of a scratch is not a conclusive indicator. What if it’s jade and it scratches? That would bring into question the material it was scratched with, which may be another material harder than jade or even have quartz dust or some other dust of a gem harder than jade on it.

#2. The cold test. I’ve even heard some ignorant jewelry professionals say that if you pick up a stone in question and it’s cold, then it’s jade. This is moronic. Lots of gemstones are cold. “Cold” is relative. Just think about it for like two seconds.

#3. The break test. Interestingly enough, the Internet says if you drop your jade bangle or jade roller and it breaks, then it’s probably jade. And if it doesn’t break, then it probably isn’t jade. This is hilarious because nephrite and jadeite are the two toughest (meaning hardest to break) gemstones on the planet. I’m not saying they won’t break if you drop them, they totally can. But. Come on. I’m curious about this, so I am going to drop all 3 of our jade bangles in question today, just for fun.

We have to drop each bangle from the same height onto the same surface so I’m just going to drop them from chest height onto the sidewalk. 

Fake Jade Bangle from Amazon #1 broke upon hitting the sidewalk.

Moving on to bangle #2. This one looks almost the same as the first one. It is called “Jadeite Jade Bangle” on Amazon and sells for $99.99. Yes, it’s more expensive than the first one, but the price is still low enough for this type of translucent appearance that it’s probably a fake. Let’s find out what it is!

Here is Jeff testing this bangle with a refractometer.

Jeff: “Quartz.”

And here is Jeff testing that same bangle for the presence of a polymer with FTIR, or infrared spectroscopy.

Jeff: “We’re finding more impregnation in quartz.”

I wonder if this impregnated quartz bangle will survive the break test.

Fake Jade Bangle from Amazon #2 broke upon hitting the sidewalk.

On to the 3rd and final bangle. This bangle from KaratGem is called “Natural Jadeite Jade Round Bangle” and sells on Amazon for $94.99. This is opaque, it’s teeny tiny. What do you think? Do you think this is jade? It’s so small!

Jeff: “jadeite jade”

So I was a little surprised since it came from Amazon, but refractometry showed that it’s jadeite. Is it natural jadeite though? Some jade is acid-bleached and impregnated with polymer or resin which we call ‘B Jade’ which is often not disclosed. We test for this presence of polymer using Spectroscopy, and it’s very important to know because ‘B Jade’ is valued at about 5-10% the value of Natural ‘A Jade,’ which is not a quality grade, it just means it’s untreated. If jade is dyed, it’s value is EVEN LOWER. 

We test to see if jade is dyed first because regardless of polymer, dyed jade has little to no value. Here is Jeff Mason testing this jade bangle for dye. He’s shining a light through the stone to find a dye line.

Jeff: “Not a dye line.”

Next, Jeff is going to use his spectroscope to see if there is any polymer or resin in the jade.

Jeff “If I had to make a call, I’d say it’s natural.

WHAT?! Amazon sold a piece of jade that was actually jade? I am shocked.

Now let’s drop it and find out if it breaks!

Real jade bangle from Amazon did break upon hitting the sidewalk, possibly due to pre-existing internal fracturing.

There you have it! If you are interested in buying any of these bangles, I’m including links below. If you would like a natural jade bangle that is adult-sized and guaranteed untreated and beautiful, ask your local jeweler about Mason-Kay Jade. You can buy natural jade from your local, independent jewelry store or order it from Mason-Kay directly but be warned — choosing a bangle is tricky and getting the size right really warrants help from your local jewelry store so please go and see them! 

Thanks so much for watching my video, check out the links in the description and don’t forget to subscribe!

COPY AND PASTE: Instagram Stories (Jade)

COPY AND PASTE: Instagram Stories (Jade)

Posted on by jordan

Here it is! Copy-and-pasteable content for your Instagram Stories to educate your staff and customers on jade and increase engagement on your social media platforms.

A few tips before we get started:

  • Instagram likes when your followers interract with you, so ‘stories’ with polls, quizzes, and questions are a must.
  • It’s often recommended to post 1-10 stories per day, so don’t be afraid to “drag out” the content into multiple stories. For instance, you could start with a “Who wants to learn about jade” poll, then a quiz about a particular fact, and then follow up with 1 – 3 stories of photos or explanations.
  • Pick a certain day of the week to post about jade and drag the facts out over the course of weeks/months. Ideas for days on which to highlight jade: Minerology Monday, Translucent Tuesday, Whiskey Jade Wednesday (lol this really only works if you’re focusing on red jade…but the word “whiskey” definitely gets peoples attention!), Fei Cui Friday (pronounce fay choi), Jade Saturday. You get the gist!
  • Not included in this article: You can reach out to Jewels of the Trade for jade photos to share for “This or That” stories, the moveable rating bar, etc. (DM me on IG and I’ll hook you up with the link.

This is the list of Jade Facts I personally use for my own Instagram, @jewels_of_the_trade. You can copy and paste onto a Story or use the information for interactive content (recommended!)

  1. “Jade” is a term that refers to two different gemstones: Nephrite and Jadeite. Nephrite is the jade of Ancient China, and Jadeite hit the Chinese market in the 1700s and is considered the most valuable of the two (in jewelry) today.
  2. Almost all jadeite on the market comes from Burma. It has been found in other countries such as Japan, Russia, Guatemala, and the US, but not of significant quality or in notable quantity. This makes it very rare.
  3. Jadeite Jade actually comes in many colors! Green, red, yellow, lavender, white, black, and a colorless translucent variety called “Ice Jade.”
  4. Jadeite Jade is the 3rd toughest gemstone on the planet, behind Hematite and Nephrite Jade. Jadeite can be up to 24x tougher (harder to break) than diamond!
  5. Jadeite Jade can be treated with dye or polymer impregnation, which should ALWAYS be disclosed as it significantly compromises the durability/stability and value of the stone. Make sure that you buy natural, untreated jade or ‘A Jade.’
  6. Qing emperor, Qianlong, marched 100,000 soldiers on a campaign to find jadeite jade, or kingfisher jade (fei-ts’ui), in Burma in the 1700s because of it’s exceptional green hue and allure.
  7. Jade has had historical, religious, industrial, and economic significance to many cultures all over the world including the Mayan, New Zealand Maori, Swiss Lake Dwellers, Chinese, and more.
  8. Jade is not actually mined in China. As far as archaeologists can tell, it has always been imported. Jade is, however, cut in China as the cutters have learned how from their predecessors knowledge from thousands of years of cutting experience.
  9. While green is overall the most valuable color of all the jadeite jade colors, the value of jade is strongly determined by it’s translucence. So some ice jade pieces can be more valuable than some green jade pieces, depending on their translucence. 
  10. For some gemstones, treatment can improve the durability and stability of the stone. This is the opposite in the case of jade. Treated jade, when acid-bleached and then impregnated with polymer/resin, is much weaker than natural jade. So instead of having exceptional toughness, treated jade is brittle. If the jade has been dyed, it is less stable as the dye will fade.
  11. The only way to detect polymer/resin impregnation in jadeite is with a spectrometer, which most jewelry stores and appraisers do not have. To determine whether or not your jade has this treatment, it will have to be evaluated by a grading lab (for instance, GIA) or someone like Mason-Kay, a jade wholesaler who offers lab testing services. Your stone can (usually) remain mounted, and this is typically not expensive and doesn’t take very long.
  12. Because jade cabochons are often set with the aid of jewelers epoxy, extensive exposure to water is not recommended for jade jewelry. Therefore, it’s not advised to put jade in the ultrasonic or under the steamer, and it’s not recommended to wear in the shower or — as with all jewelry — in the pool or hot tub.
  13. The Chinese prized jade over all precious metals and would even award top medals in jade instead of gold. To pay homage to this, during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, jade was incorporated into the winning medals.
  14. Jade (especially in finer qualities) is not usually calibrated. In fact, it’s not unusual for it to be irregularly shaped to make the best use of the rough
  15. Jade is not priced per carat.
  16. Jade is the state gemstone of Alaska.

For more content to help your store promote jade in-store, on your website and social media, check out these links:

How to Use the Mason-Kay Showroom

How to Host a Successful Trunk Show

3 Tips for Selling Jade

Natural Vs. Treated Jade

How to Use the Mason-Kay Showroom

How to Use the Mason-Kay Showroom

Posted on by jordan

Hello, jewelry store friends!

The Mason-Kay Showroom is Mason-Kay Jade’s online portal for retailers to use in-store to find inventory and pricing on natural jade jewelry. Here is my advice on how to register, set up your account for customers to view, and use it for memos/orders.

If you already have a login, you can still use the same username and password that you had before. If you’re not sure what your store’s login credentials are, just email [email protected]masonkay.com.

How to Register

Go to masonkayshowroom.com and click “Not Registered”

Once approved, you’ll receive an email that says you’re good to go and can immediately start viewing the product.

The Showroom is pretty self-explanatory, with a search box for keywords like “estate,” categories, and filtering by price, color, et cetera.

Once you have a login, you can access your store account where the default markup is keystone. This can not be changed, so if you want to feature the Showroom with a different retail markup, you’ll want to add a “Customer,” which you can also designate for your store’s sales floor.

Setting up “customer” accounts for customer / sales floor viewing

Go to Manage Customers and click New Customer to create an account. This is still tethered to your Main Account, but this “Sales Floor” Customer won’t be able to control markup. 

Doing this means you will have more than one login. One for keystone, and the additional logins with your chosen markups.

You can tell which account you’re in by the “Welcome” in the top left-hand corner.

To test it, you can log out and re-login as your Sales Floor Customer Account.

Your Sales Floor Customer Account can view inventory, pricing with your designated markup, and they can build a “Request List” that gets emailed straight to your inbox. 

Managing Your Account and Setting Markup

If you’re logged into your Main Account, you can manage multiple customer accounts and control their markups individually. You can create a number of logins for your individual staff members and individual customers, and even view their request lists within your Showroom.

If you go to Account Info and select  Manage Retail Markup, this is for store owners to set a default markup so that their employees can establish Customer Accounts more easily.

Choosing Product to Memo / Order

In the Main Account of your Showroom, the “Request List” feature is called “Add to Tray.”
When you Add items to your Tray, you’ll have the option to send this list straight to Mason-Kay. This is a handy option when choosing items for an order, a memo, or for your upcoming trunk show. We recommend saving this list for yourself by clicking “Printer Friendly PDF” in the top left corner of your tray.

Once you’ve filled your tray and are ready to place an order, click “Email Tray to Mason-Kay” with your message. You will not receive an order confirmation until after you’ve spoken with a Mason-Kay Staff-member who will follow up to confirm your order. This is mainly because we update the Showroom once a week and therefore can’t guarantee that every single item is available at the time you’re viewing. During our follow-up conversation regarding your Tray, we’ll be able to tell you exactly what is available and discuss shipping, terms, et cetera. 

So there you have it! Mason-Kay Jade is the leading supplier in the US for natural, untreated jadeite jade.Our renowned brand is an asset to the industry and YOUR customers as each piece has been tested and guaranteed natural ‘A Jade.’ We also offer testing and valuation services as well as jadeite jade valuing for appraisers.

Upon registration for your Showroom login, you’ll receive an email with information on how to use the Showroom and of course you can always call the office if you have any questions.

We look forward to doing business with you! Visit masonkayshowroom.com to get started!

How to Host a Successful Trunk Show

How to Host a Successful Trunk Show

Posted on by jordan

Hello, jewelry store friends!

My husband Hun’r and I, the Jewels of the Trade sales team, offer vendor trunk shows as a service to our retail partners. This means that between our trunk show season and our years of retail experience, we frequently get to observe firsthand the “do’s and don’ts” of trunk shows.

Retailers invite us to host Mason-Kay Jade trunk shows as a way to train staff, introduce jade to their customers, and help sell through in-store interactions as well as online via Facebook Live, Instagram, etc.

Over the course of experiencing many trunk shows, we’ve found a few key things that seem to really drive sales and we want to share those suggestions with you. Try these out and let me know if they help you when hosting your next trunk show!

#1. Social Media. Social Media. Social Media.

You know how important social media is. Start posting about your event at least two weeks before, and don’t be afraid of “overposting” about the event; the key is to diversify your posts as not to “spam” the platform.

Just to simplify, I’ve made a checklist for you to start approx. 2 weeks before your event:

☐ 3 Engaging Instagram Stories per week. “Engaging” meaning “interactive.”


Start with a story that depicts the product you’ll be featuring in your trunk show. Add the sliding bar and ask followers “Do you want to see this/these piece(s) in our store?” On the next story, announce that they can see these pieces on the date of your event!

A couple days later, use multiple product photos from the jewelry line in a game of “This or That” (using the poll feature) and repeatedly remind people that they can view these pieces in-store on the date of your event.

Share stories throughout your advertising stage of employees/the owner talking about the event to the camera with captions.

☐ Create a Facebook Event and invite everyone. I mean everyone!

☐ Make at least 1 well-designed feed post per week on Facebook and Instagram about the event.

☐ Make at least 1 Reel promoting the event.
(If you book a Mason-Kay Jade Trunk Show with JOTT, we’ll send you video for Reel material. Just saying!)

☐ Create a blog post about the event for SEO and share it on all of your social media platforms, including Pinterest! This will help with search engines down the road so that customers looking for the will find your website.

☐ Send out the announcement in your email newsletter one week before and one day before.

☐ Host a Live on both Instagram and Facebook 1-2 days before, once you have your product in hand.

and this is the most important one….

☐ Schedule a Live (on both FB and IG) for the day of the event.
Set a time and advertise the heck out of that Live video 1-2 days before. Set a Story Countdown, mention it in your other Live, and tell everyone to tune in so that they can buy pieces straight off of Facebook and Instagram Live. We have seen tremendous success when retailers utilize Live Sales. The trick to it is scheduling the Live and telling everyone when it’s going to be and how they can buy. (i.e. do you want them to claim it in the comments, message you directly? Be very, very clear that they can buy and what the rules are.)

Most of our trunk shows result in sales after the event because of social media advertising.
Sometimes the store even sells more the day after than the day of because of customers coming in already knowing which piece they want!

#2. Host an evening event the night before the trunk show.

Almost every single one of these we have done was on a Friday night, with the show taking place all day Saturday. And it works! Schedule your kick-off event after your store closes and allow for about 3-4 hours of selling. Offer drinks, food, drinks, maybe some giveaways, and drinks. …Did I mention drinks?

Facebook and Instagram Live the heck out of it to get everyone excited for the main event the next day.

Invite all of your friends who work in influencing/blogging, marketing, and press.

Encourage all of your staff to come and socialize with customers.

Pro Tip: We recently worked a trunk show where the kickoff event was held at a location outside the jewelry store and the customers absolutely loved it. Get creative! A winery, a restaurant, a classy bar, somewhere that people want to go to drink. Did I mention you should offer them drinks?

#3. Contact your VIP customers.

You know who your top 20 customers are, but you want to get to know their friends too. So you need to pull out all the stocks to make sure they not only come, but that they are excited enough about the event to bring an entourage. Here’s what we’ve seen work:

Hand-written letters. Because your VIP customers really are that important to you and this is a great way to show it.

Personal phone calls to everyone on your Top 20 (at least) list. Once two weeks before, and once the day before.

If your sales staff has their own “store Instagram,” (which I highly recommend) ask them to add your VIP customers on IG and promote the event in their stories.

What do your VIP customers do for a living? What business do they own or work for? Maybe consider hiring their staff for the event. Use a customer’s restaurant or catering company, advertise with their influencer brand, or buy their product to offer as giveaways. Trunk shows are a great opportunity to support other local businesses and the people behind them.

So there you have it! Trunk shows are a very fun and lucrative form of marketing. Booking a Mason-Kay Jade trunk show with Jewels of the Trade means free labor, a lot of fun (you might not know this but we’re hilarious,) and will inspire confidence in your salespeople to sell the product at hand.

If you are interested in hosting a Mason-Kay Jade trunk show with Jewels of the Trade, don’t hesitate to reach out!

3 Reasons Every Jewelry Store Needs a Blog

3 Reasons Every Jewelry Store Needs a Blog

Posted on by jordan

If you sell jewelry to the public, you should have a blog.

I’ll skip past the “why you need a website” and “why you should be on social media” speech because it’s 2021 and if you haven’t hopped on that train, it’s either not right for your highly exclusive business model or it’s simply too late for you. If you have social media, you need a website. And if you have a website, you need a blog.

#1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

When a customer in your area is shopping for a particular type of jewelry, they’ll likely Google it first. For instance, if they are looking for spinel in Denver, they’ll google “spinel jewelry denver co.”

If you have (or can get) spinel jewelry, you must hope that you’ll appear in that Google search and welcome this customer into your store with open arms. But if your website doesn’t say “spinel,” “spinel jewelry,” or “spinel jewelry denver,” there’s a chance you won’t come up in the search. You might come up in the search, but not as high as your competitor who mentioned spinel jewelry on their website. Coming in 4th place on Google doesn’t bode well for businesses, so exhaust every free resource you can to try to rank at the top of as many searches as possible.

Posting to a blog gives Google a variety of gemstones and jewelry lines to be associated with your store and your area and helps you rank higher in specific searches for jewelry. Additionally, updating your website frequently with blog posts shows Google that you are committed to this newfangled interweb thing that the kids are doing these days, and you’ll perform better in searches because of your frequent activity.

I actually can’t stress the importance of SEO enough, which is why I created Pre-Written Blog Text Content for your jewelry store’s blog to help drive jade customers to your website and ultimately into your store.

#2. Content for Pinterest

If your store website has e-commerce and you’re not utilizing Pinterest, you are absolutely 100% guaranteed to be losing sales. But here’s the thing, it helps you to post more than just product listings to Pinterest.

Pinterest users search on Pinterest for information/education, inspiration/ideas, products to buy, and brands to buy from. You’re competing with every other jewelry store that has Pinterest, so offer something no one else is. Every single blog post you share with reliable, accurate advice on jewelry can be used to bring Pinterest users to your website. Informational blog posts will get repinned more than product pins because it’s useful to more people than just your immediate target market. I have thousands of pins on Pinterest, and my highest repinned content is educational, i.e. “Does Jade Change Color?,” etc.

Want to reach customers who are discerning enough to seek out independent jewelry stores? After you post your blog article to your website, pin a 1000 x 1500px graphic to my Support Your Local Jeweler board (in addition to your other boards of course.) Not only will this reach your target market, but I’ll personally see it and repin it to group boards with hundreds of thousands of followers to help increase traffic to your account and ultimately website.

Check out my article How to Use Pinterest for Your Jewelry Store and get to pinning all of your blog posts!

#3. Credibility for Your Store

Your first contact with many customers may be on your website, so show them why they should trust YOU.

Use your blog to explain your credentials, knowledge, experience, and trustworthiness. You want people to shop with you because you’re the best, so prove it. Use your blog (and social media of course) to tell your customers what sets you apart before they even walk into the store. Answer questions they may have in the pre-shopping “research” phase so that they’ll confidently enter your store as an educated customer with an established trust in your staff.

Here are some subjects you can write about to help your customers in the research phase and show them how much you know about jewelry:

Natural Vs. Lab-Created Diamonds

Should I Buy a Moissanite Engagement Ring?

Does Jade Change Color?

How Do I Know if My Pearls are Real?

The Best Diamond-Alternatives for Engagement Rings

Do I Need An Appraisal?

My Diamond Has A “Birthmark.” What Does That Mean?

How Do I Remove a Tight Ring?

And if you need any help with writing, take advantage of resources like Jewels of the Trade to help you!

Here is our FREE Pre-Written Blog Text Content for you to download, customize (instruction included in the PDF), and share to your store’s website. Additional ghostwriting services are available upon request.

Happy Blogging! DM me on Instagram if you have any questions.

How to Use Pinterest for Your Jewelry Store

How to Use Pinterest for Your Jewelry Store

Posted on by jordan

Does your jewelry store’s website feature e-commerce, allowing you to sell your product to customers far and wide?

If your jewelry store sells online, you should take advantage of Pinterest marketing to help sell your jewelry.

Why Pinterest?

When a couple first starts looking for an engagement ring, do they Google “Engagement Rings” or do they search for them on Pinterest?

Are they cutting photos of rings out of magazines or are they pinning them to a Pinterest board?

Where do your 25-35-year-old female employees, friends, or family members go when looking for trends, ideas, and products to buy?

Did you know that …

Pinterest users are shoppers.
They use the app because they specifically intend to buy.

Pinterest users are discerning.
They use the app to compare items, prices, and research products.

The self-shopping female is a Pinterest user.
Pinterest has over 478 million monthly active users with over 70% of those users being female.

And now is the time!
Pinterest conversions grew by 300% during 2020. As the social media platform with the highest number of in-app purchases in the US, Pinterest is as important for e-commerce sales as Facebook and Instagram. Maybe even more!

Think of Pinterest as a search engine.

When customers want to search “diamonds,” “sapphire engagement rings,” and “alternative bridal” on the Internet, they’re searching on Pinterest.

If you have an e-commerce website for your store, then your product is already available to be bought. Pinterest is the search engine that will drive traffic to your website, and it’s relatively low maintenance. It just requires volume, consistency, and strategy.

We won’t get into it in this article, but Pinterest even offers in-app product listing and transactions through Buyable Pins (if your Pinterest Business Account is approved for Buyable Pins.)

Thinking of Pinterest as a search engine is an important mindset for utilizing Pinterest analytics to assess keywords, photos, metadata, and more. Pinterest and your website can go hand-in-hand and you can use both to create an amazing e-commerce strategy.

Getting Started

Sign your jewelry store up for Pinterest and make sure that it’s a “Pinterest for Business.” This setting doesn’t cost anything extra, but it is a game-changer for scheduling and analytics.

You can share your product listings to Pinterest as well as blog posts to drive traffic to your site.

The best secret I learned for Pinterest reach was this: Join group boards!
This should be the first thing you do once you have your account all set up and before you post any pins.
Get on Fiverr and hire a freelancer for $5 or $10 to add you to 10 or so high-performing jewelry-themed boards. These boards already have multiple collaborators and thousands or tens of thousands of followers. Posting to these boards means that you can have thousands of impressions on your first day of pinning with 0 followers of your own. This can easily result in someone clicking through to your website and making a purchase. It sounds like a cheat, but it works. As always, use discretion and do your research when choosing a freelancer.

Volume and Consistency

Unfortunately, Pinterest doesn’t help you very much if you half-ass it. Luckily, there are efficient strategies to whole-ass your Pinterest account without having to devote time to it every day.

The best way to sell your product through Pinterest is to pin it on Pinterest.
All of it. Every single product listing.

You want to post every single day, multiple times a day.

Sounds like too much work? Of course! Who has the time?
Enter Tailwind.

Whatever amount you’re spending on Tailwind is worth it, I promise. Whether it’s $10/mo or $30/mo, it’s a small price to pay once the sales start rolling in.

Strategy

Tailwind allows you to create pins, batch them with their appropriate links and metadata, and schedule them out weeks ahead of time. This means you can do 2 months’ worth of Pinterest work in a couple of hours while drinking beer on a Sunday.

Use Tailwind to quickly and easily create thousands of pins that link to every single product listing, describe it with the appropriate keywords, and schedule it so that you have multiple pins posting a day to the group boards you joined.

Once you have your account set up, get added to group boards, and have scheduled a couple hundred pins with Tailwind, then you can start diving into Idea Pins (for engagement), Analytics for tracking Pinterest conversions on your website, and Pinterest Ads if you’re into that sort of thing. Fiverr actually has a lot of Pinterest professionals who can help by sharing pins to huge boards, promoting your Pinterest page, and even managing your Pinterest account for you.

So get to pinning!
…and sell all the things!

Indications of “B Jade”

Indications of “B Jade”

Posted on by jordan

Identifying jade (jadeite or nephrite) is not normally a difficult task for the experienced gemologist. Many jewelers and gemologists, however, are still very intimidated by jade when it comes to valuing it or buying off the street. Why is this?

This is actually a very educated and legitimate concern!

While identifying jadeite is not difficult with the right equipment, distinguishing “B Jade” (polymer/resin impregnated jadeite) from “A Jade” (natural, untreated jadeite) can be impossible without spectroscopy, an advanced form of gemological testing that is uncommon in jewelry stores and independent gem labs due to the expense of the machine.

So what if a customer comes into your store with jadeite, but needs to know if it is “A Jade” or “B Jade?” While it can be sent in to Mason-Kay Jade for proper testing, your customer may want to have an idea as to whether or not it is “real jade” before spending the money to have it tested.

Here are some indications of ‘B Jade’ you can look for in your store to determine if you think the piece should be sent in for advanced gemological testing:

#1. How much did it cost?

Natural jadeite is rare and valuable, so if a customer purchased what appears to be bright apple green / fine jade for a price that seems too good to be true…It probably is. 

But of course, the seller may not have valued it appropriately so the price of the item is obviously not a sure indicator. It can, however, help the customer determine if they think it is worth spending on testing. For instance, a customer may say “I only paid $20 for this piece, so it’s not really worth it to me to spend $100 on testing.”

#2. How is it cut and set?


Natural jade usually (but not always!) does not come in calibrated sizes, as the cutter will typically try to make the best use of the rough. Additionally, jadeite isn’t usually cut as a flat bottom cabochon, but may be rounded and even sometimes uneven on the bottom side. It’s also uncommon for jade to be backed or set in a mounting with metal behind the stone. Most natural jade is set in mountings where you can observe the bottom of the stone and see that it’s real. Don’t make a rash assumption though just because of the cut and setting, as there are exceptions to every rule.

#3. Is it a bangle? Does it “ping?”

Natural, unfractured jade bangles, if dangled from a string and struck with a metal rod, will sing out a beautiful resounding “ping.” “B Jade” sounds clunky and abrupt, having no ping due to the internal fracturing.
This is very telling but not a conclusive test for multiple reasons:

-If it’s a natural jade bangle that is fractured on the inside, it will not ping. However, you will probably be able to see these fractures. Nonetheless, the absence of a “ping” doesn’t always mean it isn’t jade.

-If it’s a dyed green quartz bangle, it will ping and sound very similar to natural jade. Therefore, the “ping” isn’t always an indicator.

The best way to know for sure whether your jade is natural is to send it to a reputable gem lab such as GIA or AGL, or a knowledgeable supplier such as Mason-Kay Jade who offers laboratory testing.

For more information, visit:

https://masonkay.com/jadeite-services-and-fees

https://masonkay.com/storage/app/media/Mason-Kay-Guide-to-Natural-vs-Treated-Jade.pdf