AfricaGems General Information

*If you have any questions just call Marc Sarosi at 888-566-9346
or email him at sales@africagems.com, he will happily assist you.

Table of contents

Shipping Policy-Domestic USA
Most gemstones and jewelry items are in stock and will ship within one business day by the following methods depending on the value of the shipment. If an item has a value of $500 of more, it is shipped by FREE FedEx or UPS 3 Day Service. If it is less than $500 it is shipped by FedEx Ground, USPS Priority Mail or USPS First Class Mail with delivery confirmation. Overnight FedEx or UPS service is available on all orders for an additional $20.00 charge. All gemstones and jewelry items are shipped FREE of charge and fully insured by AfricaGems.com at NO cost to you. On occasion, we procure gemstones and jewelry items from other reputable, wholesale gemstone dealers and jewelry manufactures. When an item is not in our inventory, then a delay in shipping can be expected of up to 2 to 5 business days. If a jewelry item is a custom made piece, you will be contacted and informed of the status of the custom made item. When your gemstone or jewelry item is shipped, you will be emailed a tracking number (except for USPS First Class Mail). Please remember that you MUST BE be present to receive delivery of your gemstone/jewelry item. UPS/FedEx is instructed to deliver only when you are present to sign for the package, and they will ask for positive identification. *Gemstones/jewelry item with a value of over $25,000 are sent by UPS/FedEx Next Day service and incur a special handling charge of $50.00. *More valuable gemstones/jewelry items have to be shipped by special arrangement. Additional charges apply.

Shipping Policy-International Destinations
We ship gemstones and gemstone jewelry to ALL international destinations outside of the USA. For foreign orders paid for by credit card, the bank contact number that issued the credit card will be required, we will contact you for this information. Most items shipped internationally outside the USA are charged a flat $25 to $45 fee, depending on destination.
Please be aware that you will be liable for any duty, customs, taxes or other special charges incurred upon receiving your gemstone or jewelry item. In case of a return, International clients must arrange their own return shipping. We cannot provide free return shipping for international cleints.

Guarantee Policy
Our only goal is for you to be COMPLETELY SATISFIED with your purchase. That means you will receive a quality gemstone or jewelry item, professionally and accurately described for a competitive low price, in a timely manner, and with excellent customer service.
We stand behind our gemstones and jewelry 100%. If you are not FULLY satisfied with any aspect of your gemstone/jewelry item(s), service or shopping experience, you are entitled to a 100% refund of your purchase price. We DO NOT charge a restocking fee, shipping costs or credit card fees.
Your inspection or evaluation period is from 15 to 30 days, depending on the gemstone or jewelry item, from the time you receive your gemstone. Should you decide to get a 2nd professional opinion, this should allow you enough time to do so. If you need a bit more time, just inform us to accomodate your request
All sales are considered FINAL after the stated inspection period.

Return Procedure
In the exceptional case when a gemstone/jewelry item must be returned, the return process is very simple. We will handle most aspects of your return transaction, including emailing you a FedEx shipping label that includes insurance coverage(**Domestic USA Shipping Only - International Clients Must Arrange Shipping). You MUST contact us to authorize your return. We CANNOT accept unauthorized returns under any circumstances. Contact us by email (sales@africagems.com) for a return authorization number and return instructions. The return authorization number must be clearly visible on your return package. DO NOT put any markings on the package that refer to gemstone(s) in anyway or form. AfricaGems.com takes NO responsibility for return shipments. It is your responsibility to properly package your return shipment per instructions that we send you. After the returned gemstone(s) is received, it will be inspected. Gemstones and jewelry items must be in ORIGINAL condition in order to qualify for a refund. If any gemstone/jewelry item(s) is shipped with a certificate, the certificate must be returned in original condition. Any damaged or missing certificate will be charged a $200.00 replacement fee.
If no damage or abuse of any kind has occurred, you will receive a refund within 3 business days. Damage or abuse is defined as worn jewelry, gems that have been set, chipped gemstones etc..
Refunds can only be processed to the credit card that made the purchase.

Payments-Details of Payment Policy
You can also contact us by telephone (888-566-9436) to arrange payment by VISA, MASTERCARD or AMERICAN EXPRESS, check, wire transfer or other means.
AfricaGems.com accepts PayPal, Personal or Business checks, Wire Transfers, Cashiers Check, Money Orders and plain old cash. We offer a courtesy 2.5% discount when payment is by wire transfer.
Checks must clear our bank before merchandise is shipped. Please note that we ONLY SHIP TO CONFIRMED shipping addresses. That means we can only ship to the billing address of record or to another CONFIRMED shipping address that the credit card company has on record. You order can be severly delayed if the address is not confirmed. To confirm another shipping address besides your billing address, call your credit card company and they can quickly assist you in. Positive ID is required by FedEx/UPS before package is released.

Privacy
When you purchase a product from AfricaGems.com, we will ask you to provide certain information about yourself, such as your name, shipping/billing address, telephone number, email address, credit card information. We will also maintain a record of your product purchases. In addition, we may need to contact you via phone or email to address questions or issues specific to your order. AfricaGems.com will use the personal information you provide for internal purposes only, and not rent, sell or subscribe your information to any other entity. We will use your information to confirm and track your order, subscription or registration, analyzing trends and statistics, and informing you of our new products, services and offers.

Packaging & Certifications
Gemstones are carefully packaged in attractive, high quality plastic gemstone boxes with foam and cotton padding with glass tops. The tops are secured with tape that can easily be removed for you to inspect the gem closely. A gemological certificate issued by such reputable gem laboratories as GIA, AGTA, EGL, ECERT, and AGS accompanies some gemstones. If the gemstone has one of these certificates, they are shipped with the gemstone at no additional charge. If the gemstone does not have a third party certification and one is desired, arrangements can be made to get one issued. The cost of these certificates is an additional charge.

Gemstone Measurements
Gemstone/jewelry images are not to scale. All gemstones are weighed in carats. 5 carats equal one gram, 28.37 grams equals one ounce. All gemstones/jewelry items are measured by millimeters. 10 millimeters equal one centimeter and one centimeter is approximately 0.4 inches. A gemstone is measured first by the length, width and then depth.

Gemstone Photography
All gemstone/jewelry images are of the actual item with the exception of calibrated-standard gems. We do not use stocked imagery. All gemstones/jewelry are photographed in a specially designed setup utilizing the latest in lighting and digital camera techniques. Incandescent lighting is sometimes used to supplement the fluorescent lighting to show certain types of gems (emeralds, rubies, amethyst) more accurately. We do not Photoshop our gems to alter colors, hues or to hide flaws. We only use Photoshop to size, crop and optimize (to load faster) images for online viewing. Please note that all monitors are calibrated differently and those images will look different on different monitors.

Advantages of Buying at AfricaGems.com
AfricaGems.com was created by Marc Sarosi in 1997, as one of the very first gemstone websites. We have flourished ever since because of a few simple things ;
Honesty-Every gemstone/jewelry item we sell is 100% guaranteed and with full treatment disclosure.
Reliability-Being in the gemstone business since 1984, we know our gems and sources. We have a vast array of resources in the gemstone world. Just ask.
Accuracy-We accurately describe and photograph our gemstones and jewelry-nothing is hidden.
Evaluation-With our new GemRate gemstone evaluation tool , we've made gem buying simple, easy and accurate.
Security & Privacy-Shopping on our site is 100% secure and your privacy is assured.
Selection-With thousands of high quality gems to choose from, very few online sites or jewelry stores can offer a similar selection with our low prices.
Pricing-We will never be undersold on any gemstone or jewelry item.
Layaway Program-Our Layaway program makes buying gemstones/jewelry more affordable with no interest payment options for up to 6 months.

Shopping Security
AfricaGems.com is built on a Yahoo store platform. Yahoo monitors its systems 24 hours per day and devotes significant resources to maintaining highly reliable facilitates for hosting and security. Yahoo utilizes the latest SSL security standards. Your shopping information and credit card information are never compromised or used by third parties.

Taxes
Sales tax is only charged for sales within the state of California. If you are a resident of California, we must charge a sales tax of 9.25% of the product price. If you are located anywhere outside the state of California, no sales tax applies.

Pricing Policy
AfricaGems reserves the right to cancel any order due to pricing or stocking issues. 3rd party Vendors on occasion have supplied us with incorrect prices on items or have indicated an item is in stock when in fact it is not. AfricaGems will contact you right away to notify you of this error and will issue a discount coupon towards the purchase of another item.