Customs delays cost more than duty. A shipment held for documentation typically adds a week, plus storage and broker fees, and can miss a selling season entirely.

Documents that must agree with each other

Commercial invoice: seller and buyer legal names, description of goods, quantity, unit value, total value, currency, incoterm and country of origin.
Packing list: carton count, weights, and per-line contents with SKU and certificate numbers where applicable.
Certificate copies: matching the lines that carry certified stones.
Material declaration: metal content and compliance statements for the destination market.
Freight documents: air waybill or bill of lading consistent with the invoice value and incoterm.

The most common cause of a hold is a mismatch between invoice value, packing list quantity and the declared freight value. Customs systems flag inconsistency automatically.

Classification and duty

Jewellery classification depends on metal type, whether stones are set, and whether the item is precious metal or base metal. Imitation jewellery and precious-metal jewellery sit in different chapters with materially different duty rates, so a mis-classified line is not merely a paperwork problem. Ask your supplier for the HS code they normally use and confirm it with your broker before the first shipment, not after.

Why undervaluation is a bad trade

Declaring a lower value reduces duty in the short term and creates three larger problems: it caps the value you can insure, it undermines your ability to claim a loss, and it exposes you to penalties and audit risk. For a wholesale business buying repeatedly, consistent accurate valuation is cheaper than the alternative.

Choosing a shipping method

Method	Typical transit	Best for
Express courier (DHL/FedEx/UPS)	3–7 days	First orders, samples, high-value parcels
Air freight	5–12 days	Consolidated orders above courier limits
Sea freight	25–45 days	Bulk silver and packaging, never tarnish-sensitive goods
Consolidated express	7–14 days	Cost-sensitive mid-size orders

A first-shipment checklist

Confirm the HS code and duty rate with your broker before production finishes.
Check the invoice matches the packing list line for line.
Verify that certificate numbers appear on the invoice for certified lines.
Make sure insurance covers the full declared value.
Give the courier a contact who can respond to a customs query within hours, not days.

Next step

If you want a factory quotation rather than a retail estimate, send us your stone list, target quantities and market. Our trade desk replies within 12 working hours with tiered pricing, lead times and shipping options, and you can browse the wholesale collection or OEM/ODM service in the meantime.

What to put in your purchase specification

Before you place a wholesale order, write the specification down and make the factory confirm it in writing. Every dispute we see between a buyer and a supplier traces back to a vague or missing specification sheet. The following items are the ones that actually cause problems when they are left open:

Item	What to state
Stone grade	Colour and clarity range, plus the tolerance you will accept against the approved master sample (±1 grade is standard)
Metal and purity	Exact karat or silver fineness, alloy type, and whether white gold is nickel-free
Plating	Type (rhodium, 18K gold) and thickness in microns — a thin flash plating wears through in months
Dimensions	Band width, stone measurement, chain length, and the weight tolerance per piece
Setting method	Prong, bezel, channel or pavé — this single choice can double labour cost
Packing	Poly bag, box, pouch, tag, barcode label, and how many pieces per carton
Documents	Which certificates, and whether you need a material declaration or assay report

MOQ, lead time and payment terms

Our standard terms across the catalogue are straightforward, and they are the same terms we quote in writing rather than adjusting per enquiry:

MOQ — 10 pieces per design for stock specifications, 50 pieces for mixed-design lots. Custom development starts from 30 pieces per style in 925 silver and 10 pieces in gold.
Tiered pricing — list price to 49 pieces, about 8% off from 50 pieces, about 14% off from 200 pieces, and negotiated pricing above 500 pieces with reserved production capacity.
Lead time — 7–15 days for stock designs, 10–20 days for custom or certified production runs. Add 3–7 days for express transit to Europe and North America.
Payment — 30% deposit with the balance before shipment, by T/T, PayPal, Western Union or Alibaba Trade Assurance.
Samples — single samples ship at list price and the cost is credited against your first order above 200 pieces.
Quality guarantee — 30-day return window on stock items, and a written remanufacture-or-credit commitment if a parcel falls outside the approved tolerances.

Quality control: what happens before your parcel leaves

Buyers who have been burned before usually want to know exactly what inspection was performed. This is our standard sequence on every wholesale order, whether it is 20 pieces or 2,000:

Incoming stone grading. Every parcel is checked for colour, clarity and measurement against the order sheet before it enters the setting line. Rejected stones are pulled, not downgraded and used anyway.
In-process inspection. Setters check prong security, stone alignment and surface finish at each station rather than at the end of the line.
Final QC under 10× magnification. Polish, plating thickness, clasp and hinge function, and hallmark accuracy are verified piece by piece.
Cleaning, photographing, packing. Pieces are cleaned, photographed against your PO number, and packed in individual poly bags inside export cartons.
Document preparation. Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate copies and — where required — a material declaration stating that the stones are laboratory-grown.

You receive the photographs and the packing list before the parcel ships, so you can flag anything before it leaves rather than after it arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Can I mix metals and stone grades in one order?

Yes. You can combine 925 sterling silver, 10K, 14K and 18K gold in the same production run, and specify different colour and clarity grades per line. Every combination is confirmed on a single approval sheet before production starts, so there is no ambiguity about which line is which.

How consistent is grading across repeat orders?

Repeat orders are graded against the master sample kept on file under your account, which is why buyers who reorder regularly see far less variation than buyers who switch suppliers each season. Tolerances are written into the approval sheet, so a reorder cannot drift without your written agreement.

Do you provide photography for my online store?

Every catalogued design has front, three-quarter and macro imagery in sRGB at print resolution, named to match the SKU so the assets map straight into your product database. For orders above 200 pieces we photograph your private-label version at no additional cost.

What happens if the goods do not match the sample?

Send photographs and the SKU list within 14 days of delivery. If the deviation exceeds the tolerances on your approval sheet, we remake the affected pieces or issue a credit — this is covered by our written quality guarantee and applies to every order, not only the first one.

Related wholesale collections

Custom Jewelry Manufacturer — 129 ready designs, MOQ from 10 pcs.

925 Sterling Silver Jewelry Import Guide for Wholesale Buyers

Authoritative References

For buyers who need to verify the technical and regulatory basis of this guide, the following independent institutions publish authoritative reference data:

eCFR Title 19 - U.S. Customs regulations for tariff classification and import documentation.
European Commission - EU customs, tariffs and trade compliance resources.