At William May we’re committed to ensuring we do our best to help customers get the most for their money and want to share our near 200 years of experience in the industry.
Some of the most commonly asked questions we get are all about how to buy jewellery and where people are going wrong when investing in new items.
So with that in mind, here are the top 3 mistakes customers make when buying jewellery and how to avoid them.
3) Not Matching Personal Style
This applies more to gifts than self-purchases, but it’s still very important to get the right style.
Matching a new piece of jewellery to the person's taste is one of the top reasons we see for gift returns.
Ensure you take your time to consider the personal preferences of the receiver. You can also have a look at what they currently wear to use as a style guide of sorts.
If in doubt there are definitely items which are less risky in that they suit a wider range of styles, more specifically earrings, necklaces and bracelets.
2) Over Paying For The Item
Sometimes a piece of jewellery will justify the high prices you see in retail stores, but you should remember that there’s a huge market out there with plenty of opportunities to find better deals.
Most high street jewellers only use a select few manufacturers, which means more your item may be available elsewhere, both new and pre-owned.
Our customers regularly give us feedback about the great value we offer in our items, particularly after they’ve searched elsewhere and seen how expensive other jewellers can be. So you should definitely consider the pre-owned markets if you’re looking to save.
Pre-owned jewellery isn’t just friendlier on your wallet, you can also uncover and secure some unique items - as they are generally sourced from multiple smaller suppliers and aren’t always mass produced designs.
1) Getting The Wrong Size!
This has got to be the most common mistake we see, both in gifting and personal purchases.
Usually customers will have taken a rough estimate at the size needed and have come up with ever-more inventive ways of measuring a person's finger. We’ve seen it all from knotted string to even using playdough moulds!
The first thing you should know, and be grateful for, is that ring sizes in the UK are standardised, which makes your job a lot easier. You just need to find out one size and remember this when you’re shopping!
We appreciate that when gifting it can be tricky to get this information without letting the other person know, or when buying for yourself online it can be hard to get an accurate self-measurement.
Our top tips:
• When gifting ask to see or clean any rings they already have and take a measurement with our ring size guide.
• When buying for yourself check out our online ring size guide which can be used on a screen (with correct scaling as a guide) or printed out.
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