Jewelry

[addiegal]

On 7/17/2014 VegasBusinessWoman said:

I've bought jewelry from the Q, HSN, Overstock, Amazon and JTV. Overall, I've probably bought more from the Q than anyone else, with Amazon coming in a close second. It seems to me that HSN used to have better quality jewelry years ago, but it's hard to remember. After my first husband passed away, I was incommunicado for a very long time. JTV is OK, but they don't have the same quality stuff they had years ago--lots of fashion jewelry, plate and bronze, none of which interest me. I dunno what is so great about ShopHQ. Everytime I check them out, the prices seem high and the gold settings skimpy. Also, they have a lot of plate, which doesn't interest me.

I've looked at LC, and you can't beat their variety of gemstones, but almost everything is in silver from what I can tell, and I'm not into silver much.

HSN was never as good as Value Vision/ShopNBC in it heyday. It is not very good now as none are what they were years ago. I bought a lot from HSN and I wish I hadn't as I would have had much nicer pieces if I'd found VV sooner!

[stevieb]

On 7/17/2014 VegasBusinessWoman said:

I've bought jewelry from the Q, HSN, Overstock, Amazon and JTV. Overall, I've probably bought more from the Q than anyone else, with Amazon coming in a close second. It seems to me that HSN used to have better quality jewelry years ago, but it's hard to remember. After my first husband passed away, I was incommunicado for a very long time. JTV is OK, but they don't have the same quality stuff they had years ago--lots of fashion jewelry, plate and bronze, none of which interest me. I dunno what is so great about ShopHQ. Everytime I check them out, the prices seem high and the gold settings skimpy. Also, they have a lot of plate, which doesn't interest me.

I've looked at LC, and you can't beat their variety of gemstones, but almost everything is in silver from what I can tell, and I'm not into silver much.

I agree about HSN. You can still get the occasional 'fun' piece, and occasional 'fine' piece too, but they have also diluted their offerings badly. Victoria Wieck used to bring some truly stunning pieces but now, not so much. I'm also tired of all the networks offering diamond simulants and feeling that virtually every gemstone piece simply HAS to be adorned with fake diamonds, either in the form of CZ (Diamonique), crystals, white topaz, whatever...

Don't know if it's a competition type thing or not, but a jeweler I frequent locally has said several times that the home shopping jewelry isn't up to snuff... I do recall having to take a ring purchased from HSN to him almost immediately because the center stone fell out... The ring was poorly designed and the prongs were not adequate to hold in the stone, which was an emerald (not a great emerald, but an emerald none-the-less), so he had to build up the prongs, and at quite a price. To their credit, HSN did send me a partial credit on the ring to help cover the cost of the repair. Likewise, several years ago, QVC carried a 'buckle' ring and there were lots of problems with a small piece of gold that formed part of the buckle coming off... This happened to me and QVC graciously replaced the ring... Still, I've been afraid to wear it ever since... Of course, anywhere mass produced goods are sold there are going to be occasional quality issues.

[stevieb]

I agree that 'in the day' Shop NBC had some truly amazing jewelry... I'm not as thrilled with most of what I see them offering now, but then I could say that about all three of them...

[chickenbutt]

There have been ebbs and flows, but I think QVC used to sell fairly good quality jewelry. In my experience, hsn has always had pretty poor quality jewelry. ValueVision was, by far, the best in their time and SHQ still sells some decent stuff.

Sadly, however, they've all gone to primarily costume jewelry and not-so-great quality gems or gold.

From what I've seen of JTV, it's been up and down but mostly down. Now when they sell gold it's usually 10k and they go on and on and on about 'IT'S REAL GOLD'. yikes.

I don't like costume at all and it's kind of creepy to see good gems going into silver or plated or any of that stuff, IMO. I've even seen diamonds put into silver and into plated. Seriously? I think the most egregious is when they put soft gems and organic gems in silver and other costume metals, plated, etc. How can you take care of those metals without destroying a soft or organic gem?

I have a couple of very nice pairs of gold hoop earrings I got at Overstock.com over the years. I still have a fair amount of quality stuff from the old days of QVC and even from back in the ValueVision days. Everything I bought from hsn was either total junk from the beginning and went back, or it fell apart not too far down the road (i.e. bad settings, poorly constructed prongs, really awful gemstones, etc). I came to notice that a lot of what they showed on tv at hsn was very different from what they sent out. I never bought jewelry from hsn again after those experiences.

[JavaQueen]

On 7/17/2014 chickenbutt said:

There have been ebbs and flows, but I think QVC used to sell fairly good quality jewelry. In my experience, hsn has always had pretty poor quality jewelry. ValueVision was, by far, the best in their time and SHQ still sells some decent stuff.

Sadly, however, they've all gone to primarily costume jewelry and not-so-great quality gems or gold.

From what I've seen of JTV, it's been up and down but mostly down. Now when they sell gold it's usually 10k and they go on and on and on about 'IT'S REAL GOLD'. yikes.

JTV has started to carry more 14K and 18K, actually. Their sales pitch is hard to take. For most people, the really good stuff is out of reach. Really good stuff.

Jewelers started get chintzy with materials and workmanship. It's all over. "Costume jewelry" can be hundreds of dollars in retail. I really think don't slver and gems is costume. anymore. Changes in the jewelry market have redefined it.

I don't know how anyone can seriously consider any of the shopping channels seriously when they combine real gemstone with CZs. Why bother?

[peggles]

I've stopped buying jewelry - I have everything I want and need to start wearing it (but no place to go!) - but I believe ShopHQ has the best quality but like QVC's is also overpriced. My favorite designer is Michael Valitutti. Chuck Clemency's quality has gone down, although I bought a chrome diopside line bracelet of his last year that is spectacular. I also have a number of quality pieces from HSN, and their current show of Xavier cz's is absolutely breathtaking and spectacular!!! I've never seen such original and distinctive designs!! As for QVC, their jewelry quality is mediocre.

[Squirrel Lover]

I would not buy from other shopping channels as I believe that QVC really sells what they say it is and not substandard items. I believe Peyton Kelly is a true connoisseur and I trust him. I also like and trust David Markstein, the gold buyer. I may not like every style QVC sells, but I know that whatever I buy from their jewelry stock is what they say it is.

[stevieb]

On 7/17/2014 dperry said:

I would not buy from other shopping channels as I believe that QVC really sells what they say it is and not substandard items. I believe Peyton Kelly is a true connoisseur and I trust him. I also like and trust David Markstein, the gold buyer. I may not like every style QVC sells, but I know that whatever I buy from their jewelry stock is what they say it is.

Probably true about Q's integrity...

I can see them using Peyton on-air, as he is likable. David, I'd personally keep behind the scenes. To me, he adds nothing to the on-air presentations and as far as what it appears David is buying these days, I'm not liking a good bit of it. It often seems he tends to rely a bit too much on sameness...

[CalminHeart]

I find Q's gems to be second rate most of the time. I have purchased some really nice pieces but the quality has gone down a lot the last few years.

I buy most of my gold/gem jewelry from ShopHQ. They carry more in gold and often a higher quality gemstone. They sometimes sneak in Michael's gold jewelry and it is snapped up very fast. I've found a number of real bargains in their sales too.

I'm a stickler for having enough gold in the setting to handle the stone, whether it's a ring or earrings or pendant.

Chuck carries a lot of low quality jewelry but he also offers some great stuff. I've also learned how to identify quality vs not in his line.

I really miss the old gold+gem jewelers that Shop used to offer but that's life, I guess.

And if you're looking for gems in gold earrings, try jewelsformedotcom!

[leafycritter]

I've bought jewelry from HSN, QVC and ShopHQ for years, and recently started buying from JTV. In the old days when gold was affordable, I bought most of my gold gemstone jewelry from HSN, really lovely pieces. I wore one of my old HSN rings today, a 14K ring with a gorgeous orange sunstone.

My nicest pieces came from the old ValueVison/ShopNBC, also from the affordable gold days. I treasure the plain gold Italian earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces I got from them in 14K and 18K. Their gemstones were and are still very good quality. I was fortunate enough to get a few Michael Valitutti gold gemstone rings back in the day, and I cherish them.

I used to buy Sincerely Southwest, Black Hills Gold and various sterling pieces from QVC but not so much lately; Carolyn Pollack has moved away from the traditional Southwestern designs I like, and I can find a better selection of Black Hills Gold on specialty BHG websites. I miss the substantial weight gold; I got several of my favorite basic gold link necklaces, heavy snake and wheat chains, from QVC in the old gold days. They don't have nearly the variety in jewelry that they used to. They seem to concentrate on Judith Ripka now, and her designs are not to my taste. But last year I did get two great rings from QVC, an ammolite ring and a rainbow moonstone ring, both in sterling. I am not going to buy any Bronzo or resin-filled gold, so I don't even watch those shows.

JTV was hit-or-miss for a long time, but for the past couple of years I've been very pleased with my purchases from them. For example, this year I bought some Ethiopian opal pieces from JTV (in plain sterling and gold-plated sterling) and the stones are outstanding. I've bought a few loose gemstones from them that are really nice too.