Jewelry reference55 terms, A to Z
Jewelry terms, explained
The words you meet on the piece, in the box and in the store (the chain, the metal, the platform), in plain language, with a link to the page that goes deeper.
B
- Bail
- The small loop on a pendant that the chain passes through, so the pendant hangs and slides freely. A nameplate has no bail; the chain is joined to its ends. Nameplate or pendant
- Bar necklace
- A slim horizontal bar hung from the chain at both ends, engraved with a name, a date or coordinates. The plainest engraved piece and one of the most gifted. Bar necklaces
- Base price
- What a piece costs you from the catalog, per version (chain, metal and length). Your retail price sits on top of it, and the difference is what you keep on every order. Profit and pricing
- Birthstone
- The gemstone traditionally linked to a month of birth: garnet for January, amethyst for February, and so on through the year. A birthstone piece is chosen by the recipient's month. Birthstones
- Blind shipping
- Shipping an order to your customer with nothing in or on the parcel that names the maker, only your brand. Every order here ships this way: your logo on the pouch and the card, and no mention of us.
- Box chain
- A chain of small square links joined into a smooth, four-sided line that lies straight and catches light on its flat faces. Strong for its size; one of the four chains in the catalog. Box chain, up close
- Branding
- The page in your account where you set the logo that goes on the pouch and the Thank-you card in every box. The piece itself carries your customer's personalization, not your mark.
- Brass
- An alloy of copper and zinc, warm yellow, easy to cast and engrave, and the base metal under gold, rose-gold and silver plating in most fashion jewelry, including our plated pieces. What gold plated means
C
- Cable chain
- The classic chain: uniform round or oval links, each turned ninety degrees from the next. Fine, light and quiet, and the usual chain under a nameplate. One of the four chains in the catalog. Cable chain, up close
- Catalog
- The full collection of pieces you can sell: every necklace and bracelet, with its versions and base prices. You pick from it, customize, and add to My Products. Browse the catalog
- Chain length
- The length of a necklace chain measured end to end, clasp included, without the pendant. Every necklace in the catalog comes in six: 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 inches. Necklace size guide
- Charm
- A small ornament (a heart, an initial, a star) hung from a chain or a bracelet by a jump ring, usually alongside others. A charm hangs; a pendant is the piece.
- Curb chain
- Flat, interlocking oval links that lie flush against each other in one plane. The figaro is a patterned curb. General vocabulary; the plain curb is not in our catalog. Chain styles
D
- Deep engraving
- Cutting the letters into the metal rather than printing or stamping them on its surface, so the personalization is part of the piece and does not wear off. How every engraved piece in the catalog is made.
- Dropshipping
- Selling a product you never hold: a supplier ships it to your customer when the order comes in. The model print-on-demand jewelry is usually compared with, and usually against, because the classic version means overseas transit, no branding and a stranger's packing slip. Print-on-demand jewelry
E
- Engraving
- Letters, dates or a design cut into the surface of a piece. On a personalized piece it is the name, the coordinates or the message the buyer typed on your listing.
- Etsy
- The marketplace for handmade, vintage and personalized goods. Selling made-to-order jewelry there means declaring a production partner and running orders through the Listing Kit. The production partner rule
F
- Figaro chain
- A flat curb-style chain with a rhythm (three short links, then one long) that is worn to be seen. Sturdy; the classic men's chain. One of the four chains in the catalog. Figaro chain, up close
- Font pool
- The set of typefaces a name necklace can be engraved or cut in. Each piece in the catalog carries its own pool, and your customer chooses one from it when they personalize the piece.
- Fulfillment service
- A company that makes, packs and ships orders on a seller's behalf. Here it is the whole back end of a jewelry brand (production, branded packaging and shipping) with nothing to set up.
G
- Gift-ready packaging
- Packaging a customer can hand over as it arrives. Every order ships in a pouch printed with your logo, with your Thank-you card in the box.
- Gold filled
- A thick sheet of gold bonded to a base metal by heat and pressure: by US rule at least a twentieth of the piece's weight. Thicker and longer-wearing than plating. General vocabulary; our pieces are plated, not gold filled. What gold filled means
- Gold plated
- A base metal with a layer of gold deposited on its surface by electroplating. The gold, rose-gold and silver pieces in our catalog are plating over brass, with the metal sourced from Italy. What gold plated means
I
- Initial necklace
- A necklace carrying a single letter (a first initial, or a loved one's) as a pendant or cut in the chain's line. The simplest personalized piece and one of the most searched. Initial necklaces
J
- Jump ring
- A small open metal ring, closed with pliers, that joins one part of a piece to another: a charm to a chain, a chain to a clasp.
L
- Layering
- Wearing two or three necklaces of different lengths at once, usually two inches apart, with the nameplate on the shortest. Layering necklaces
- Listing
- A product page in your store: the title, photos, description, price and personalization fields your customer sees. Pushing a piece from My Products to a connected Shopify store creates one.
- Listing Kit
- Everything needed to list a piece on Etsy by hand (title, tags, description, photos and the personalization field text), assembled per piece for stores that have no direct connection. Etsy SEO in 2026
- Lobster clasp
- The spring-loaded clasp shaped like a lobster's claw, opened with a small lever. The most secure common clasp on a necklace and the one on most chains in the catalog.
M
- Made to order
- A piece that is made after it is bought, not taken from a shelf. Every order here is made to order and shipped from the US, which is why there is no stock, no minimum and nothing to buy up front. How it works
- Margin
- The share of your retail price you keep after the base price. Set a price rule on top of your cost and it applies to every version of every piece. Margin math
- Monogram
- Two or three initials arranged as one design, usually with the surname's initial larger in the centre. Cut as a pendant or engraved on a disc. Monogram necklaces
- My Products
- Your selection from the catalog, customized: your retail prices, your photos, your titles. What gets pushed to your store.
N
- Nameplate
- A name cut from a sheet of metal in a chosen font, with the chain joined to its first and last letters so it sits flat on the collarbone. What a 'name necklace' usually means. Name necklaces
P
- Paperclip chain
- Long, open rectangular links joined end to end, like a row of paper clips. Worn alone or layered, with at most a small charm. One of the four chains in the catalog. Paperclip chain, up close
- Pendant
- A piece that hangs from a chain by a bail and slides on it: a disc, a heart, a bar. A pendant adds its own height below the chain's lowest point. Pendants add drop
- Personalization
- What the buyer chooses to make the piece theirs: a name, a date, coordinates, a font, a birthstone. Collected on the listing and engraved or cut to order. Personalization without mistakes
- Plating
- A thin layer of one metal deposited on another by electroplating. Gold, rose-gold and silver plating over brass are three of the four materials in the catalog. Materials and care
- Pouch
- The small fabric bag a piece is packed in. Every order ships in one printed with your logo, the first thing your customer sees.
- Print on demand
- A way of selling where the product is made only when a customer orders it and shipped straight to them, under the seller's brand. Born in apparel; here applied to jewelry, where the 'printing' is engraving and cutting to order. Print-on-demand jewelry
- Production partner
- Etsy's term for an outside business that helps make what a shop sells. A shop that sells made-to-order jewelry from a workshop declares it in Shop Manager; it is a fifteen-minute setup and a rule worth keeping. The production partner rule
- Push
- Sending a piece from My Products to a connected store, which creates or updates the listing there. Shopify stores are pushed directly; Etsy runs through the Listing Kit.
R
- Retail price
- What your customer pays you for a piece. You set it (per piece or by a rule on top of the base price) and you keep the difference. Profit and pricing
- Rose gold plated
- Plating with a gold alloy that carries more copper, which gives it the pink. Same process, same base, as gold plating; one of the three platings in the catalog.
S
- Shopify
- The store platform. Connect yours and pieces push straight from My Products; orders arrive on their own and are made and shipped under your name. Etsy and Shopify
- SKU
- Stock keeping unit: the code that identifies one exact version of a product: this piece, this chain, this metal, this length. Stores and marketplaces use it to match an order to what was bought.
- Sterling silver (925)
- Silver alloyed to 92.5% silver, hard enough to work and wear and the same metal all the way through. One of the materials in the catalog, with the metal sourced from Italy; tarnish-resistant. 925 sterling silver
- Studio
- The tool in your account that generates product imagery of a piece (on a model, in a scene, in your niche's light) instead of the same white-background supplier photo everyone else uses. Paid for with Tokens.
T
- Tarnish
- The slow darkening of silver as it reacts with sulphur in the air. Not wear: a polishing cloth brings the shine back. Our pieces are tarnish-resistant. Storage, water and perfume
- Thank-you card
- The card in every box, printed with your logo and your words. Set in Branding; part of what makes the parcel read as yours.
- Tokens
- The prepaid balance the Studio draws on, one photograph at a time. Bought in packs from your account.
V
- Variant
- One sellable version of a piece: a combination of chain type, metal and length, each with its own SKU and base price. A listing's options are its variants.
- Vermeil
- Gold plating over a sterling silver base, at a set minimum thickness (2.5 microns under US rules). Pronounced 'ver-may'. General vocabulary; our gold-plated pieces are plated over brass and are not vermeil. What gold vermeil means
W
- Word necklace
- A nameplate that carries a word instead of a name (mama, love, blessed), cut in a font from a fixed design rather than typed by the buyer. Statement pieces
Z
- Zodiac
- The twelve star signs, by birth date. A zodiac piece carries the sign's symbol or constellation and is chosen like a birthstone, by when the recipient was born. Zodiac collection
Kein Lager. Keine Mindestmengen. Keine Monatsgebühr.
Wählen Sie Stücke aus dem Katalog, setzen Sie Ihr Logo auf den Beutel und die Karte, und verbinden Sie Ihren Shop. Wir fertigen jedes Stück auf Bestellung und versenden es aus den USA.
Starten Sie Ihre Schmuckmarke- Keine Monatsgebühr
- Keine Mindestmengen
- Sie zahlen, nachdem Ihr Kunde bezahlt hat