CREATING A “MADE TO ORDER” PIECE OF JEWELRY PLEASE READ ABOUT THE PROCESS OF CREATING EVERY "MADE TO ORDER" ITEM AND WHY I HAVE LIMITED MY RETURN POLICY ONLY TO INSTANCES WHERE A RETURN IS REQUESTED DUE A VALID REASON SUCH AS A DEFECT OR MY OWN MISTAKE.

▪️Every "MADE TO ORDER” item is tailored to specific customer’s needs and preferred variations selected via the drop down menu and can require specific choice of materials for instance a certain gemstone category, type of accent stones etc., added to any of the original designs listed in my shop.  ▪️ All items made with solid gold are considered “CUSTOM ORDERS”, and  require a firm financial commitment on your behalf. These orders are not eligible for a return unless of course there is a problem with your item, a defect is noted or any other visible imperfection that takes away from the value of the jewelry piece and is a result of my actions, forgetfulness, omission etc., (photo evidence is required to compare to the pre-shipment photos)

▪️Because each gemstone is unique your item is going to be unique as well and made especially for you including additional preferences you provided in the personalization section, which is really exciting especially considering that most of my inventory includes unique designs or original and not found anywhere else. 

▪️Creating each piece of jewelry especially with such a fragile gemstone as a natural black fire opal should never be rushed due to the extra effort and attention to every detail needed to be put into every step of the creation process to ensure that the piece I work on is going to show excellent craftsmanship by the time my work is completely finished. 

▪️I treat every order with as much care as I possibly can, so I inspect every gemstone for the subtle traces pointing to the presence of a significant defect that I might have missed earlier and exclude any possibility of making mistakes while setting a gemstone properly - all of that requires a lot of time being available to me even with the easiest of items - in case I have to start the entire process all over again should I notice anything 

done incorrectly at any phase of the production process. 

▪️ Even a seemingly easy task of working with one of the very first settings that I have been accustomed to work with, might turn into a lengthy project needing a lot of patience, twice as much time and effort as originally planned to be needed for that piece of jewelry. This can happen in so many situations such as a gemstone I selected being cut too deep and not fitting the setting since each one is cut by hand and therefore is different from one another, and needs to be re-cut by me to fit into that particular setting. 

▪️Setting a gemstone into a gold/rhodium plated setting involves using tools that leave no marks, and applying just enough pressure when bending the prongs to avoid cracking the stone or permanently damaging the setting is, in itself, a tricky job. It may easily result in damaging the stone or the setting, which is always a tremendous setback, plus a financial loss and  that can ONLY occur if I rush to finish something faster, but instead having to start from scratch whenever something like that happens...

▪️ Selecting the right gemstone, inspecting it for inclusions and making sure it fits the listing description and photos of a specific variation chosen by the buyer, or finding a ring setting in a very specific size, and occasionally having to stretch a ring setting to the desired size involves a lot of careful precision work and significant personalization even though an item might not be a “CUSTOM ORDER” but simply be “MADE TO ORDER” 

▪️ Finally, after successfully going through all these steps, the finished item has to be thoroughly cleaned and polished without getting any liquid or scratching the piece with its surface polished to a flawless look that would not take away from the beauty of the gemstone.

▪️Each piece of jewelry gets a Signature Tag (used to identify an unworn piece of jewelry, except for earrings, which fall under the category of "intimate items") attached to it and gets photographed to document the item's condition on the moment of shipping it to the buyer. 

▪️After that your order gets carefully packaged in a pretty gift box placed inside a cardboard box and wrapped in a protective plastic zip lock bag keeping it away from moisture while in transit. You will receive a Care Instructions reminder sheet, a polishing cloth, a store card and other additional material - I refer to it as a "Care Pack", and this envelope is included with every order.

________________________________________________________ This briefly describes how much time and effort is being put into making each individual item, so please try to place your order only for the items you intend to keep and understand that returning a "made to order" item should be the last resort measure, which would mean that my work and time put into creating this piece of jewelry especially for you and accordin to your specifications, will be wasted on a piece that is now unwanted.A returned item will wait for its buyer with exactly the same preferences as you, for many months or even years, so reselling it is not easy.   I urge you to think about these aspects of making each "made to order" item  and appreciate the time, energy and oftentimes extra materials that went into making this item especially FOR YOU:) 

__________________________________________________ RETURNING A "MADE TO ORDER" ITEM is not the same as returning your Amazon purchase, but it is often treated with the same attitude and disregard for a seller's time and effort which they put into creating each piece of jewelry