21 Years of Customer Reviews

       Q&A   Answers

In my view and after many years of experience, I find the solid core chains and those chains that have solid core linkage to be the most durable.

Anchor, Rolo, Double Rolo, Franco, Bar link, Barrel link, Flat Oval link are the ones that come to mind. Generally, the multi-link or more elaborate link style are the weakest and have a greater potential of breakage especially when wearing 24/7. If durability is a priority you should stay away from hollow core chains called "Puff" gold since these are not made for everyday wear.

When shipping to Canada, UK, Australia

 We discount the total purchase price by 5% to suplement the higher import fees in these countries, however, the customer must pay for any additional customs charges on their side.

In addition, we can only accept a bank transfer when items are purchased from any other country than the United States.

When shipping high value items, like gold shipments from Thailand, the documents exposed to the public are described as “18k gold” on the commercial invoice and the declared value is reduced as an anti-theft measure meant to discourage theft during transit. This procedure is requested by the insurance carrier at UPS-Capital. FedEx itself does not insure gold shipments of this purity so a 3^rd party insurer is always required.

A revised invoice which accurately describes the purity of 96.5% gold and the amount of the payment for the item is sent to the customer shortly after delivery and should be kept for insurance purposes.

The chain is stamped with the proper purity, the maker’s mark and the gold factory stamp as required by law in Thailand. This is important to note in case you want to sell the item in the future.

96.5% gold jewelry purchased from Thailand and exported to the US has a variety of costs attributed to the acquisition of the jewelry which spot gold pricing does not reflect. The price of gold in Thailand is also impacted by the US Dollar/Thai Baht exchange rate that can cause the gold jewelry to rise in price, even when the spot price remains the same.

Example;

Cost of metal per Baht (15.16 grams): 41,000.00 Baht = $1171.14 USD. Exchnage rate at 35 Baht to 1 USD.

Cost of metal per Baht (15.16 grams): 41,000.00 Baht = $1242.42 USD. Exchnage rate at 33 Baht to 1 USD.

Other cost that affect the price,

Labor; typical labor for a 1 Baht gold chain in 96.5% purity can range from $16.00 USD per Baht to $70.00 USD per Baht depending on where it's purchased and the labor required for making the specific piece. Often there are additional premiums paid for a 1 Baht chains since goldsmiths prefer to make heavier, more profitable items. The labor cost on the making of a 99.99% gold chain can be 2-3 times the cost of the lesser purity chain.

US Customs Duty: 5.7%

Value added tax in Thailand: 2% is the average on gold purchases.

Transaction fees,e.g. PayPal 2.9%

Bank transfer fee from the US to Bangkok, e.g. Wise 1.2%

Procurement expense and profit: 10% -12%

Supplemental Shipping: All items are shipped via FedEx Priority to the US mainland and usually sent in double boxed 1 KG boxes for security purposes as requested by our insurer (UPSC). Our cost is about $125.00 and includes insurance. Prices are higher to other outlying areas considered US territories and serviced by FedEx. Example; Guam, Saipan,Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands etc.

We typically charge our customers a Flat Rate of $95.00 FedEx Priority Shipping as value incentive pricing. The actual cost of shipping from Thailand is about 20% more than this amount. Currently shipping price includes enhanced cost for a fuel surcharge and several other costs from FedEx.

 We use to do this but we don't now. The fees for return gold to a gold shop in Thailand have increased making it more expensive to exchange gold as in the past. This occurred during the Covid19 crisis when the gold prices significantly increased and gold shop sales plummeted. This 5% charge of a lower window price creates a much higher "Gap" fee and dissuades Thai's from returning there gold ien mass when the gold prices increase further.

In addition, the higher cost of shipping the item back to Thailand and any insurance placed on the shipment sent is charged at 7.2% as import fees in the form of a value added tax upon arrival. Even though we never charged a fee for the actual exchange service, since the customer intends on purchasing a larger chain from us, it is now cost prohibitive to trade the value of your old jewelry in this way. We now refer our customers to Manhattan Gold & Silver in NYC for this service. This way the customer receives a payout that is better than what we can offer here and a check is sent to them within 24 hours. If the customer then chooses to purchase a chain from us they will just pay the current jewelry pricing and avoid all of the costs of sending it back to us.

No, as of April 29, 2020 we pre-pay all US Customs duty charges, and FedEx MPF (Merchandise process fees) so there are no additional costs involved in purchasing our gold jewelry when shipped to the United States.

We sell on-line only, obviously reducing our cost of doing business from Bangkok. We do not manage a physical shop and our business license does not support selling within Thailand. We are a registered Thai company for selling our product abroad. If visiting Thailand you have the opportunity to visit dozens of gold shops in the China town area and find very beautiful jewelry items. If you are not too specific in what you want, you will be able to find something exciting to buy in 96.5% gold. I suggest visiting Hua Seng Heng gold shops in Chinatown and stay away from the malls!

Gold prices are the same anywhere in the world. What makes the Thai gold jewelry product less expensive than anywhere in the world is the low cost of high quality Thai labor considered by many to be the best in world in goldsmithing, silversmithing and gemstone cutting.

Customizing has a limit with us due to the available products and specialized skills of the makers in Thailand. We are able offer a customized item in a Thai classic design pertaining to exact purity, Baht weight and  length. Any variations of this to include addition of stones, non Asian designed links, copies of designers product, branded goods or other sophisticated and self designed items are not possible for us to source.

The cost of sending the item back to us is cost prohibitive based on the current buy-back conditions in Thailand. It is more practical to sell the item yourself on the open market or send the item to a US refiner to liquidate. This is especially true if the item is a recent purchase and has not appreciated in value. We partner with Manhatten Gold & Silver in New York for this purpose. https://www.mgsrefining.com/

World-wide if payment is made via bank transfer to our Wells Fargo account in the US or our Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. If Paypal is used we limit sales to the United States only. Customers in the UK, Australia and Canada are resonsible for any Customs charges when importing to these respective countries. However, we discount the total price by 5.7% to help with this cost. Any purchase outside of the United States must be paid via bank transfer,

Goldsmiths in Thailand will not accept an order for a specific link diameter. This because their focus is on using a specific gram weight to make a specific length of chain. The link diameter can also vary from maker to maker. The link diameter is not of particular importance in chain making in Thailand, however, the weight must be exact.

Yes, we do sell 24k gold. We have found through our own testing of 24k gold and 23k gold that both are of excellent durability in the link styles we offer. Information on the softness of 99.99% gold for use in jewelry is often misleading or just wrong on the Internet. Since 99.99% is "work hardened" many link styles are suitable for gold chains bracelets and pendants. For further reading research "Work hardened", "gold Maleability" and "gold ductility".

PayPal is accepted. Through PayPal, credit and debit cards can be used. A 2.5% discount on the total purchase price is available for payments sent via bank transfer to our Navy Federal Credit Union account in the United States or to our Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. We also accept payment through "WISE" and via BITCOIN.

An assay report/certificate is available from GIT, (Gemological Institute of Thailand), for the price of $55.00. GIT is a highly respected lab in Thailand and uses the latest technological methods regarding gold testing and utilizes XRF (X-ray Fluorescence). It takes approx. 3-days to obtain the assay report/certificate.

Our jewelry is stamped with the authentic Thai Baht purity of "96.5%". Beware of jewelry with the gold karat marking of "23k" or "24" gold since this is not the typical hallmark for high karat gold jewelry from Asia. Our jewelry also has the makers mark next to the purity stamp and the hallmark of the factory it was produced by.

When you accept our price quote and we can confirm the payment has been sent, we are able to lock-in the quoted price by placing the order with the gold shop. At that point we have agreed to have the item made at an agreed price. We can not change the price after that. We have three business days to pay for the order so it's important to send the funds as soon as possible after you decide on purchasing. Our price quotes are good for 24 hours unless there is a significant increase or decrease in the spot gold price or exchange rate that moves the price up or down by 2.5% in the Thai gold market. If this happens we will update the quotation if the lock-in has not occurred.

In order of quantity of sales, our TOP 5 most popular chain styles are:

1) 23k Polished "Aviator" style bar link (No diamond cut).

2) 23k Multi Diamond-cut Bar link

3) 24k Bamboo link.

4) 24k Polished "Aviator" style bar link

5) 23k Diamond-cut Rolo link

Such a high % of the price of the gold jewelry is fixed cost, we are limited to discount offers. So we do not offer a specific group a discount since we have our jewelry priced as low as possible. Discounts are sometimes offered on larger Baht weighs over 10 Baht unless we have a special promotion on our personal inventory items.