Jewelry buying is not something that is done on an impulse. There is a lot of thought, research, and planning that goes behind investing in a piece of jewelry. Indians love gold and there is no shying away from it. We look for occasions to buy jewelry, whether it is during a festival or during a wedding. Because of this growing obsession with gold, there are a lot of sellers that have cropped up all over the country, both online and offline. We may think that after all these years of buying gold we would have become experts at it, but sadly that is not the case. There are a lot of cases reported on a daily basis where someone has been duped while buying jewelry.
To tackle this problem and ensure that your money is being invested in the right place, this article has certain tips that should help you during the process. Reading this will give you a basic idea of the things that you need to keep an eye out for and safeguard yourself from falling into any kind of trap.
- Checking of the purity of the gold – checking the purity of gold is of utmost importance during the buying process. Jewelers often used a device called caratometer to check the amount of gold in a particular item of jewelry, however, most experts say that this is a faulty way of doing so. This is because this particular device is not authenticated by the Bureau of Indian Standards and the device caters to only the surface testing which may difafer based on the thickness of the jewelry. The globally accepted method as well as by BIS is called fire assay. In this, a part of the jewelry is melted and tested. Only a gram of jewelry that has 91.6% gold can be called as 22-carat gold. If you are unsure of what the final price is going to be, then check out gold ring designs in one gram to get a fair idea.
- Hallmark is important – another indicator of the purity of gold is the stamp of hallmark on it. A hallmark basically consists of a portion of that gold that has been used to make that particular piece of jewelry. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certifies this hallmark and gives it the required certification. Next time, ensure that you only buy gold that has been certified by BIS and nothing else. Even when you are buying something as small as lightweight diamond stud earrings, always check for the purity of the gold and the diamond before making the purchase.
- Cross-check the price you are paying – the next most important thing after checking for the hallmark is, making sure that you are paying the best possible rate for the gold and nothing more. The price that you pay is determined by the purity of the gold. This price changes on a daily basis depending on the rate that is ongoing in the market. Every jewelry store has a display unit that shows the current market rate of gold so that customers are aware of how much they are being charged and do not end up paying extra in any way.
- The bill is your right – never make any jewelry purchase if you are presented with a bill against that purchase. There is a huge amount of money involved at the time of buying jewelry and not asking for a bill will pose to be a big problem if ever in the future you want to exchange or resell the jewelry. If your seller refuses to present a bill then it is better to not make a purchase from them.
Now that you have a fair idea of how to buy jewelry, share this with your friends and family and help them out for this too!
