Jewelry from China

Use Kitco to Check the Value Per Gram of Sterling then ask the weight of the necklace if the necklace weight is for instance 7 grams and the cost is less then $4 then you have a fake even if the cost matches exactly then you have a problem.

A small part of the importing business I ran for 22 years before retirement involved the importing of sterling silver items. Some people will not buy sterling silver unless it is hallmarked and you won't find any hallmarked silver in China.

The grade of silver sold in China as sterling silver does meet the specifications defining sterling silver, i.e., a minimum of 92.5% silver together with 7.5% of other metals and you should specify 925 silver when you order. If anyone tries to sell you "pure" silver jewellery you should be doubtful about it because silver at 99.9% purity is too soft for practical purposes, but is used for medical and some technical applications.

If you can't be sure about the legitimacy of your supplier, you are probably looking in the wrong place. Jewellery is very easy to source direct from genuine manufacturers. It may pay you to consider Taiwan as an alternative place to look, although Hong Kong has a large jewellery industry. Both there and in Taipei many good manufacturers are quite small family businesses, who will be easier to deal with than the big businesses.

You need to search for suppliers using a safe sourcing site. If you go to some of the B2B sites casually suggested on forums you may or may not be lucky enough to find real manufacturers. Some of those popular B2B portals have big lists of suppliers claiming to be manufacturers, but they are not.

Regarding your question about price, without knowing the size, weight, etc., I could not be sure if it is a reasonable price, but I would not be surprised if it is. If you are dealing with a trader claiming to be a manufacturer, you should be able to buy the same style, weight etc., even cheaper provided you deal direct with the factory.

Having imported and sold solid sterling silver items I know what massive margins are possible even for small quantities. I think from memory the best deal I did on silver items was when I imported a couple of hundred pieces at a landed cost of $3.50 each and sold them for $28.00 each.

Just check out retail prices, even on eBay for charms. Compare the size and weight of those with the size and weight of your necklace and you will get the idea.

I am not a jewellery specialist. My specialty is safe sourcing and easy importing, but I have been to numerous jewellery factories in Asia. I know another country where you can buy even cheaper, but I warn my book readers to avoid that one. If I publish the country's name online I will be in trouble. I mention this in case in your searching you find other countries where they offer cheap Sterling Silver products. Stick to Taiwan, Hong Kong, or even mainland China.

I should add that buying any product direct from the factory can give profit margins that people buying from dropshippers and wholesalers could not even dream of. Well, maybe they do dream of it but they never find it.

The jewelry is actually from Korea and it's supposed to be stamped 925. I'll checkout Taiwan and hong kong as well. I know the jewelry from china won't be real from experience as well. I was just curious if 8-12 sounded right and I guess it does compared to the cost of silver

you have to consider metal price as well..it is $28 per ounce for silver now so go figure..

What about a business trip?