Cathaygems Shipping and Payments

Cathaygems is a division of C.D. Plus, Inc., incorporated in the State of California and headquartered in the east section of San Diego County in a suburb called Santee. We supply freshwater pearls and pearl jewelry made to order from our own freshwater pearl farms in Shanghai, China. We ship products both domestically and internationally to any location a courier is willing to go.

Shipping Policy

We ship anywhere in the world and work based on a flat rate shipping policy. It won't matter what you buy you can pick one flat rate based on the speed and options associated with it. Some restrictions may apply.

Below are our guidelines and shipping policies.

Sending a gift to a different address

If your shipping address is different from your billing address it may delay your order slightly for verification. Whenever someone ships to a different country or very distant address we're required to verify with the card holder via phone or email that this is the correct shipping address. So please, when placing any order always put down full contact information in the appropriate fields in case we need to reach you. Your order will be in stasis until we manage to verify the shipping address. We reserve the right to hold or cancel any and all orders where we cannot verify the consent of the cardholder within one week's time from the date of the order being placed.

We ship worldwide to almost every country on the planet. However, due to the growing use of fraudulently obtained credit card numbers in several countries additional restrictions may apply. If you're placing an order from or to a country such as Indonesia, Romania, Russia, Nepal, Turkmenistan, The Philippines, Nigeria, along with several other African and European countries we'll only be able to accept payment for orders from a verified Paypal account.

Order Processing:

As all items at Cathay Gems are made to order they are generally unable to be overnighted to a destination. They must first be assembled at our factory in Shanghai, China. This process can take anywhere from three days for simple orders or a whole month if they're making a custom design. After your order is assembled at our factory, if your shipping address is outside the United States, and/or you've chosen an international shipping method, your package will be sent to you as asked direct from our factory.

However if you are in the USA and choose a domestic shipping option, your order will be put in a queue of packages and then assembled into one large shipment that will be expressed to our California offices for repackaging and final shipment to your location. Average total lead times therefore on orders placed with domestic shipping such as priority mail can take around ten to fourteen days to arrive, much longer if the slower airmail shipping option is chosen.

This means that all orders will come only direct from our factory and therefore if any shipping aside from the provided options is desired then the shipping rates charged will be based on the actual prices to express it from our factory in Shanghai. This generally means that due to location it's not usually possible (or if it is prohibitively expensive) to have next day overnight shipping on any order.

All express orders are automatically assigned rush processing and will be assembled as soon as possible.

Rush Processing:

If any other orders are placed on an urgent deadline but you haven't chosen express shipping then rush processing can be added onto your order. If you need rush processing please call us at 1-619-405-2879 or email us at support@cathaygems.com after placing your order to authorize the charges. Please keep in mind however that even if your order is rush processed it will still need to wait in a queue to be sent to our California headquarters if you've chosen a domestic shipping option. Only Internationally mailed items may be sent by themselves from our factory.

Shipping within the United States

 1.      US First Class Airmail, without insurance and tracking: $4.99. 
Airmail offers no insurance or tracking, we can only provide you with proof of shipping and cannot therefore take responsibility for any lost or damaged orders after the package is handed off to the post office. This shipping method is limited to orders weighing in at less than 13 ounces and only recommended to those whose orders have little to no time constraints. Once shipped, airmail can take five to ten business days to arrive at its destination; the actual E.T.A. may be shorter or longer however depending on the speed of the post offices between us and you. Airmail orders are also processed last in our queue, after priority and express. This means that during holidays your order may take significantly longer than expected.

2.      USPS Priority Mail Service: $6.97.  
Priority mail is the most recommended option to those without severe time constraints. We insure all packages sent priority and also provide every customer with a tracking number for their package. Priority mail orders almost always take around two to three business days to arrive once shipped (typically no more than two days.)

1.      Worldwide First Class Airmail: $7.97. 
Depending on your country's location in relation to our factory, customs clearing time, and the speed of your local post office this usually takes ten to twenty business days to arrive.

2.      Insured Air Parcel: $14.97.
This is the most secure way to ship internationally without breaking the bank for global express. All orders are fully insured, with an estimated average delivery time of seven to thirteen business days. This again will depend on customs clearance and the relative location of your country to our factory.

3.      Global Express: $29.95. 
The fastest way to ship orders for a flat rate. Orders are sent via the best express courier we can find to that specific location direct from our factory. This is also the only method of international shipping that comes with a tracking number as well, so if you need to have one this is your best option. Delivery estimates range from 3-7 business days.

If you need special arrangements for a rush or bulk order beyond this please call us at 1-619-405-2879 or email us at support@cathaygems.com to make arrangements.

Limitations of Insurance Coverage

Any insurance given to orders via their shipping policies is intended to add another layer of protection for your package from when it leaves our hands and enters that of the post office or express courier and extended only until such a time as the confirmed delivery of the package.

If for any reason an item we do not have listed as backordered does not ship with your order, and is reported during the same time frame as that for reporting damaged items then we will begin an investigation into the status of your items. If your package was determined to have been tampered with during shipping or that we forgot to include the item it will be considered a backorder and be re-sent to you in accordance with our backorder policy. If the missing item is not reported during the necessary time frame or we cannot reliably determine that your package was either tampered with or that we or the post office were at fault for not including the item then we will be unable to send a new item or reimburse you for its cost. If your order was sent via a shipping method that does not include insurance however then we can only offer to re-send or reimburse you for items determined to have been mistakenly not sent by our office, as we cannot take responsibility for any packages that have been vandalized or tampered with during shipping if they are not covered by insurance.

If your package has not been received within five business days after the upper limit on your ETA for the shipping method that you've chosen then an investigation can be launched by us on request and the related postal or express companies. An investigation will only be launched by us after such a time and if any information is required beforehand it is the customer's responsibility to initiate it until such a time. If it can be determined that we or the post office were at fault then your order will be re-sent as soon as that is determined. If the postal or express company's investigation turns up that they did successfully deliver the package or parcel to the correct address then your order will be ineligible for being covered by insurance if it cannot be found after that time. No order can be re-sent until an official conclusion is reported by the post office or express company in regards to any packages or parcels.

Payment Methods

We accept a wide variety of payment methods for purchasing our products. Your options for paying for your order include:

Sales tax will only be calculated for all orders where either the billing or shipping address is located within the state of California. This is due to the fact that our corporate office is located just outside of San Diego, California. All other states and nations are tax exempt.

1) If you just need custom coloration of an item, need a lengthening or shortening of a necklace or bracelet, or would like to switch out the clasp on any necklace/bracelet for another then you can simply place your order directly online for the items in question and write the customizations you'd like down into the comments field during checkout and we'll handle the rest. Custom coloration is free of charge, as is shortening any item. Lengthening and clasp substitution however will cost an extra fee. We'll let you know what the fee is once we receive your order and as soon as we receive authorization we can re-bill your credit card for that amount.

2) If you need a fully custom design for either a necklace or any other item, please send a detailed email to support@cathaygems.com containing a text description and if applicable a photograph of the design. Our factory will review your design and let you know the price or if they need more information. Once a final price and design is agreed upon we can make a paypal or google checkout invoice for your order and send that to you for payment. Alternatively you can skip the extra step and send us the money for the order directly over paypal. Or if you have neither then you can call us at 1-619-405-2879 and place your order with us over the phone via credit card.

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