Most of our customers really love our flat fee shipping & handling options. It’s a very good value if you are a retailer and place wholesale jewelry orders over $100.

In addition to the outstanding rates we’ve negotiated with FedEx for U.S. addresses, we’ve also leveraged our shipping volume to secure outstanding rates to addresses outside the United States. So it’s no surprise that we ship a lot of international orders every day.

If you are new to importing jewelry to your country, please rest assured that Teeda.com ships dozens of wholesale jewelry every week to over 40 countries around the world. We have very robust automated international shipping procedures in place, which really helps our international customers receive their orders as quickly and efficiently as possible.

One common question we receive is about using carriers other than FedEx for international shipments. FedEx definitely offers the most robust tracking system, which is important for importing silver jewelry. However, from time to time some customers prefer that we use their national mail carrier for various reasons. We are happy to accommodate such requests when it’s practical and deemed sufficiently safe. Here are the options we recommend:

1) US Postal Service Global Priority Mail, which has tracking capability within the U.S., but not internationally (except to Canada and Australia, where they are trackable to the final destination).

2) EMS Service (US Postal Service Global Express Mail). This has full tracking capability all the way to the destination, although often not as detailed as FedEx.

3) Air Letter Post, which is regular air mail service that most people are familiar with. This method is often good for smaller packages. For orders over $200, we usually recommend one of the higher priority shipping methods.

There are, as always, a few disclaimers:

1) Please note that we do not know whether the above shipping methods will incur customs and processing fees that are different from FedEx shipments to your destination country, and you would still have to be responsible for any customs duties and processing fees.

2) For all packages, we must accurately declare the description and value of the goods we are shipping, as we ship a lot of international packages every week and need to retain our company’s good standing with the various customs offices.

3) For some destinations and orders we may require that your wholesale silver jewelry order be shipped via a trackable method such as FedEx or EMS- it depends on the destination and order size.

If you would like to order using one of the above alternate shipping methods, please place your order online and select “International Air Mail” in the shipping selection box. If your order is less than $200, we will choose the most efficient and cost-effective shipping method for the order. For orders that are greater than $200, please indicate the shipping method you prefer (EMS, Global Priority, etc.) in the comments section at checkout. We’ll then ship the order using the specified method. The S&H rate in the shopping cart will be accurate at the time you place the order.

Silver Can Get Dirty and Tarnished from Handling and Everyday Wear
Silver jewelry gets dirty from wear and tear, or even from transport and handling when you’re displaying it to customers. Silver also gets tarnished when it is constantly in contact with oxygen and sulfur in the air. A tarnished appearance occurs when sulfur becomes bound to the surface of silver.

Preventing and Limiting Tarnishing and Staining is the Best Approach
The best way to prevent tarnishing and maintain a piece’s lustrous appearance is to keep silver jewelry in a sealed bag when it isn’t in use or being displayed. When placed in the sealed bag, silver jewelry must also be completely dry, because water causes tarnishing as well.

Always Clean Silver Jewelry with a Polishing Cloth
The best option for cleaning silver jewelry is to use a jewelry cleaning cloth, which has two sheets of cotton: the outer layer is cotton for buffing, and the inside layer contains special chemicals that will whiten silver jewelry and make it look like new. Each cloth lasts for dozens of uses Hand polishing silver is a great way to keep silver shiny, and will not damage its patina.

A Trade Secret: Windex (yes, Windex)
Another easy way to clean jewelry if the piece doesn’t have any cubic zirconia, glued stones, or other precious stones, is to use Windex. Dipping the jewelry in Windex and then in clean water can make jewelry shiny again. It is not as effective as a jewelry cloth cleaner, but it can be used in a pinch when you’re at a show and a jewelry cleaning cloth is not available (just find the janitor and ask to borrow a quarter bottle of Windex!)

Don’t Do Anything That Will Scratch or Damage Your Jewelry
It is highly recommended that you avoid using toothbrushes or any object with bristles to clean your silver jewelry. Silver is a very soft metal, and this will result in permanent scratches which will devalue your jewelry. It is also a bad idea to wash sterling silver jewelry with stainless steel jewelry. Washing them together will result in chemical reactions, resulting in sterling silver jewelry with black marks. Also, using soap that contains phosphate can turn your sterling silver jewelry brown.

Do you have any jewelry cleaning tips? If so, please share by leaving a comment!

There’s no better time to stock up on birthstones than the start of the year!

There is a birthstone associated with every month. Giving birthstones as gifts for good luck has been a tradition since the first century AD. There have been many different sets of birthstones throughout history and around the world. The commonly accepted birthstone colors today can be found on the chart below.

Birthstone jewelry makes a great birthday present for people of all ages. Teeda.com offers a great selection of stud earrings in every birthstone color.

We understand that as a business owner, you need to purchase your stock wisely. This can be especially important when choosing ring sizes, as you don’t want to be left with a large number of rings in uncommon sizes. In our experience, the following approximations are the best way to determine the sizes you will need, and should help to make sure that you do not accidentally overstock.

Women’s Rings:
Size 7 - 35% of your stock
Sizes 6 & 8 - 20% of your stock each
Sizes 5 & 9 - 10% of your stock each
Size 10 - 5% of your stock

Men’s Rings:
Size 9 - 25% of your stock
Size 10 - 25% of your stock
Size 11 - 25% of your stock
Size 12 - 15% of your stock
Size 13 - 10% of your stock

Teeda.com offers a wide selection of beautiful cubic zirconia, sterling silver and marcasite rings. All of our rings are made using only genuine .925 sterling silver and top quality cubic zirconia and marcasite.

To start your jewelry store, there are a variety of basic items that you will need to have available to your customers. These include necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and toe rings, all of which can be sold throughout the year.

A jewelry store that features sterling silver pieces should always have box chains and snake chains as well, sizes 16”, 18”, and 20”. Chains are easy to sell if you also sell pendants and charms, either as an add-on or as a set. We recommend starting with small silver charms and clear cubic zirconia (C.Z.) charms. Heart pendants or religious pendants also sell especially well.

Earrings should include both sterling silver and C.Z. earrings. If you are on a tight budget or are just starting your jewelry business, start with clear C.Z. Those are very popular, and it would be wise to invest in a couple different sizes. Plain silver rings, or those with no stone or design, are also fast movers. Rings with C.Z. all around are referred to as eternity rings, and as the name suggests, they’ll be in demand for a long time!

Toe Rings are always great for the summer, and we recommend that you start stocking up on them in the spring, as the summer fashions start to appear in stores.

Do you want jewelry with an antique look? Check out sterling silver jewelry with marcasite. Marcasite is a mineral sometimes called white iron pyrite. It is most often confused with a gemstone called pyrite. Both are crystalized in a different way and therefore a marcasite can never be a gemstone. It is formed in rocks in places such as Dover, Kent, and England. It is at first pale yellow to almost white with a metallic luster until it tarnishes and turns brownish. There is no way to prevent the tarnishing of marcasite - it’s natural and gives the jewelry an antique look! The picture to the right illustrates what marcasite jewelry looks like. You can check out more marcasite jewelry here.

Cubic Zirconia, also known as C.Z., is a rare mineral that has the appearance of diamonds. Jewelry made from C.Z. is being produce regularly because of its low cost, durability, and beauty. It is found in most sterling silver jewelry and can come in many different cuts and colors. Some famous cuts are the round cut, princess cut, and oval cut. Its color is produced by the addition of certain metal oxides. The addition of cerium produces the red, orange, and yellow colors. Adding chromium makes it green, and adding neodymium makes it purple. C.Z. is pink when erbium is added and golden brown when titanium oxide is added. Cubic Zirconias remain popular in jewelry because it is the closest substitue for diamonds. They are indistinguishable from diaminds to an untrained eye, which is why C.Z. jewelry is so popular.

Our rhodium plated jewelry is made of sterling silver, then plated with rhodium to give each piece an expensive look that is nearly identical to platinum jewelry, but at a fraction of the cost. Additionally, the rhodium plating is very effective in preventing the effects of oxidation, or tarnishing, and it does not need to be cleaned. Choose from rings, earrings, pendants and more at Teeda.com.

Pure 100% silver looks bright white and is extremely soft. To enhance its beauty and durability, the vast majority of fine silver jewelry is made of sterling silver, which is composed of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper alloy.

Our customers’ pricing policies vary widely based on their target market, the overhead and the marketing costs associated with their individual businesses. High end jewelry retailers mark many of our products up as much as 5-10x their cost. However, many of our customers use a lower markup/higher volume strategy, especially those who sell over the internet, at jewelry parties in their homes, at mall kiosks, or at arts & crafts fairs. These retailers usually set a 2-5x markup on our products and generate very strong sales and profits every month. The markup also depends on the weight and cost basis of each item: heavy necklaces, for example, will require a smaller percentage markup to drive sales but will still generate decent profits because they are expensive pieces to begin with. As a rule of thumb, most of the merchandise that you purchase from us should retail for 2-5x the wholesale price, which are terrific margins relative to many retail categories.