Ordering jewellery wholesale means navigating a vocabulary designed to be flattering rather than precise. Several of the most common terms have real definitions that most products described with them do not meet.

This guide gives you the definitions and the four decisions that actually determine whether a customer buys from you twice.

Solid metal versus plated base

Solid sterling is 92.5 percent silver throughout. It can be polished back after years, it will not wear through to something else, and it is what ‘silver jewellery’ means to a customer.

Silver-plated base metal is brass or zinc with a thin silver layer. It looks identical on day one and wears through at the contact points. Both are legitimate products at different price points; the mistake is describing one as the other.

Vermeil has a specification, and most vermeil is not

Vermeil requires gold of at least 10 karat, at least 2.5 microns thick, over a solid sterling silver base. All three conditions.

Gold over brass is gold plate however thick. Flash plating at half a micron over sterling is gold plate too. If you are going to print the word on a card, get the plating thickness in microns stated on your quote.

The finding is the part touching skin

A sterling earring on a plated steel post is not a nickel-safe pair, and the post is the only part actually inside the piercing. This is the single most common corner cut in the trade.

For a hypoallergenic claim you need the whole finding — post, clutch and any connecting components — in implant-grade titanium or 316L steel. Ask specifically about the clutch; that is where it usually falls down.

When acrylic is the right answer

For a mascot, a museum motif, a state outline or anything with a distinctive silhouette, laser-cut acrylic gives you shapes metal cannot at a price that moves at a stall. Mirrored sheet reads metallic at a fraction of the cost.

It is not a downgrade, it is a different product. Trying to make metal hit an acrylic price point is how you end up with thin plating over brass.

Enamel: soft versus hard

Soft enamel leaves the raised metal lines standing above the colour — textured, traditional, slightly cheaper. Hard enamel is polished flat to a smooth glassy face and reads as the premium option.

Both hold colour permanently because it sits in recessed metal cells rather than on the surface. Tooling is a one-time cost, so plan a range rather than one design at a time.

Packaging is not optional if you are selling retail

A pair in a bag is a component. On a printed card with a barcode, a care line and a metal statement, in a sealed poly bag, it is a product a shop can hang on a hook.

Have them assembled and sealed at the factory. Receiving loose pairs and a box of cards means somebody spends a week with a hole punch, which is where the saving disappears.

What to send us

Your design or a sketch, the metal you want, roughly how many, and whether you need retail packaging. If you are making a nickel-free claim, say so up front so we specify the whole finding rather than just the post.