100% Lifetime Buy Back vs. 30-Day 100% Money Back

100% Lifetime Buy Back guarantee is one of the most prominent trade practices in the jewelry industry. This practice stands for an unwritten promise made by the Jeweler ascertaining that if at anytime you want to return your gold jewelry & diamond engagement rings, the Jeweler will buy it back from you at the rate of gold or diamond on the day of transaction. The benefit of this policy is that your gold jewelry can be considered as a form of investment and on any given day it is worth its price in weight! The fallout of this practice is that your final jewelry price constitutes: making charges and wastage in addition to the gold cost and as a customer you stand to loose 15-20% of your investment in the form of these charges.

In comparison, a 30-Day 100% Money Back guarantee is a relatively new and unheard concept in the nation. This practice promises you a “trial period” of 30 Days to decide if you are completely satisfied with your purchase or not. In the event of dissatisfaction or any confusion at all, you can return back the jewelry and get ALL of your money back. If instead, you decide to go ahead with the purchase, then beginning 31^st day, your jewelry is covered under the “Lifetime buy back guarantee”.

The benefits of 30-Day 100% Money Back guarantee are many:

1. You have an entire month to think over whether you would like to go ahead with your purchase or not.

2. You have the time to discuss with your family and friends in the comfort of your own home if you are satisfied with your purchase.

3. Finally, in the event of any doubt, this also gives you a fair chance to get the jewelry inspected for its quality and price by others.

What is Hallmark Jewellery?

As news of naive customers taken for ride by jewellers makes news headlines in prominent newspapers like this Gold not as pure as claimed, finds BIS survey, this Customers lose over rs.10000 Crore annually and this wonderful article by Shailendra Kakani Hallmarking to increase gold consumption in India point it becomes increasingly "smart" to learn a little more about hallmarking expecially if jewellery shopping is imminent.

Now coming to the title of this post.

According to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) "Hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportiante content of precious metal in jewellery. Hallmarks are thus official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of gold jewellery".

BIS is a regulatory body of the Govt. of India which has standardised various products consumed today.
It is very important to understand the benefits provided by ensuring Hallmark Jewellery. As pointed out on top , A BIS survery found 90% of the smaples below state dpurity. Some as low as 44%. Consumers lose more than Rs. 10,000 crore annually due to this fraud.

So how can one identify Hallmarked Jewellery?
There are 5 visible marks on the back of your jewellery which are mandated by BIS (more here).

1. BIS Hallmark Logo
2. Purity of Gold '916' -22ct, '875' - 21ct and so on.
3. The Hallmarking centre's Logo.
4. The jewellers' identification mark.
5. Year of Hallmarking 'A' -year 2000, 'B' -year 2001 .... 'H' - year 2007.

So armed with this knowledge and a magnifying lens( the marks are usually very small to be legible with naked eyes) you are ready to give your local jeweller a hard time:)
Related Posts:
Hallmark Mandatory from Jan 2008...Really?

Mandatory Hallmark from Jan 2008: The Fallout
Hallmarking Jewellery NOT mandatory after all
TrustMark : Is it better than Hallmark?
Diamond Engagement Rings

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Hallmarking: Need of the Hour