Short answer: before you pay, read the full description (metal, karat, plating, stone type, measurements), find the seller’s name, address and return policy, and check the order total line by line. Save the product page and your order confirmation. If no shipping time is stated, the FTC’s mail-order rule expects a seller to have a reasonable basis to ship within 30 days, and a seller that can’t ship on time has to offer you the choice of agreeing to a delay or cancelling for a prompt refund. When the parcel arrives, check it against the saved listing straight away and act inside the return window. If a seller won’t put right an order that never arrived or wasn’t delivered as agreed, and you paid by credit card, a written billing-error notice that reaches your card issuer within 60 days after it sent the first statement showing the charge is a further route.

If you’re about to order a piece you can’t see in person, the listing and the records you keep are all the evidence you have. When an order goes wrong, you can miss a return window, receive a piece that isn’t what the listing said, or wait with no clear way to cancel. This guide is general consumer information, not legal advice, and we don’t promise any outcome under the rules quoted.

Before you pay: read the listing like a contract

Read the full description, not just the title. NBC 7 San Diego reported in August 2026 that a San Diego jeweler, Arturo Carrera, recommends “carefully reading the item’s description and understanding jewelry terminology. For example, gold-plated and gold-filled jewelry are different products.” Our guide to solid, plated and filled gold explains those terms.
Treat photos as a guide only. The same report says: “Images can be altered, and the piece shown may not be the exact item ultimately delivered.”
Find out who the seller is. The Better Business Bureau, in a warning reported by National Jeweler in 2023, recommends “looking up the company’s website, physical address, and contact information”. Its advice on prices: “If a deal seems extraordinarily good, stay skeptical”.
Read the return policy before you buy, including what can’t be returned.
Check the total and every line item before you confirm, so nothing you didn’t choose has been added.

Paying: why a credit card gives you a backstop

The BBB’s advice, in the same report, is to “make payments with a credit card”, because “this makes it easier to deal with fraudulent charges and could help shoppers get their money back if they have been scammed.” The federal billing-error rules described below are written for credit cards and other open-end credit. If you pay another way, different rules apply, and we don’t cover them here.

What to save

Save the product page as a PDF or screenshot on the day you order, with the date visible, plus your order confirmation, your shipping confirmation and any emails with the seller. Listings can change after you buy. Our guide to appraisals, insurance and paperwork lists what to keep together.

How long shipping can take

The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, 16 CFR 435.2, says a seller must not solicit an order unless it “has a reasonable basis to expect that it will be able to ship any ordered merchandise to the buyer:” either “Within that time clearly and conspicuously stated in any such solicitation; or” “If no time is clearly and conspicuously stated, within thirty (30) days after receipt of a properly completed order from the buyer.”

If a seller can’t ship within that time, the rule requires it to offer you, “clearly and conspicuously and without prior demand, an option either to consent to a delay in shipping or to cancel” your order “and receive a prompt refund.” That offer “shall fully inform the buyer regarding the buyer’s right to cancel the order and to obtain a prompt refund and shall provide a definite revised shipping date”; if the seller has no reasonable basis for a date, the notice must say that it can’t tell you how long the delay will be. The notice also has to tell you what happens if you don’t reply, so read it carefully and answer in writing if you want to cancel.

When it arrives

Open it promptly and compare it with the listing you saved: metal, stamp, length or size, stones and clasp. Keep the packaging, and photograph anything that looks wrong. For chains, our guide to solid, semi-solid and hollow chains explains what to check on arrival. NBC’s report describes a buyer whose ring, “advertised as 14-karat white gold and bearing a 14K stamp”, was “mostly copper” when tested at a jewelry store; Amazon, where he bought it from a third-party vendor, told NBC: “In this case, we removed the product and are working with the customer to make this right.” If you doubt the metal, a jeweler’s test inside the return window leaves you with options.

If it’s wrong, faulty or missing

Contact the seller first, in writing, inside its return or claim window, with your order number and photos. Keep copies of everything you send.

If that doesn’t resolve it and you paid by credit card, Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.13, defines a billing error to include “A reflection on or with a periodic statement of an extension of credit for property or services not accepted by the consumer or the consumer’s designee, or not delivered to the consumer or the consumer’s designee as agreed.” A billing error notice is “a written notice from a consumer” that is received by the card issuer “no later than 60 days after the creditor transmitted the first periodic statement that reflects the alleged billing error”, that “Enables the creditor to identify the consumer’s name and account number”, and that “To the extent possible, indicates the consumer’s belief and the reasons for the belief that a billing error exists, and the type, date, and amount of the error.” Send it to the address your card issuer gives for billing errors. While it is being resolved, “The consumer need not pay (and the creditor may not try to collect) any portion of any required payment that the consumer believes is related to the disputed amount”. The issuer then investigates under the steps the rule sets out, and the rule doesn’t promise any particular result.

If you think a store was never genuine, you can report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the BBB.

Ordering from us

Our shipping policy says:

“Most pieces ship within 1–3 business days of payment confirmation, once availability is confirmed. Pieces whose product page says ‘This piece ships to U.S. addresses only’ are dispatched directly by a separate fulfillment partner, so no dispatch window is promised for them; your shipping confirmation email shows the ship date. Made-to-order pieces are produced before they ship and take longer. Business days are Monday through Friday, excluding United States federal holidays.

During peak periods — particularly mid-November through late December, and the two weeks preceding Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day — processing can take longer than usual.”

and: “If tracking has not updated for 7 consecutive business days, or if your parcel arrives damaged, contact us at Concierge@impervora.com and we will open a carrier investigation on your behalf.”

Our terms and conditions say: “Product availability is not guaranteed until your order is accepted. In the rare event that an item is unavailable after you order, we will notify you and refund you in full.” They also say: “A confirmation email acknowledges receipt of your order but does not constitute acceptance. The contract between us is formed only when we dispatch your order.”

Our return and refund policy says: “Your return window opens on the day your order is delivered, as recorded by the carrier, and closes 30 calendar days later. Returns must be postmarked within that window — not merely requested.” On refunds: “Refunds are issued to your original payment method within 5–7 business days of our receiving and inspecting your return. Your bank or card issuer may take an additional 3–10 business days to post the credit — this timing is controlled by them, not by us.” And under “Faulty or Incorrect Items”: “If your order arrives faulty, damaged, or incorrect, contact us within 30 days of delivery with photographs. We will arrange a replacement or full refund at no cost to you, including all shipping. This is in addition to, and does not limit, your statutory consumer rights.” The condition requirements and the items that cannot be returned are listed in full on that page; our paperwork guide also sets them out.

Next step: a short checklist before you pay

Have I read the whole description, including metal, karat or plating, and size?
Do I know the seller’s name, address and contact details?
Have I read the return policy and what it excludes?
Does the total match what I chose, line by line?
Have I saved the product page and will I keep the confirmation emails?

If you have a question about one of our listings or an order, email Concierge@impervora.com.