• Clean Your Diamonds

• Tend to Your Gemstones

• Safeguard Precious Metals

• Protect Your Pearls

• Keep Watches Ticking

• Preserve Vintage Jewelry

• Care for Cameos

• Find Jewelry on eBay

• Buy Jewelry With Confidence

Clean Your Diamonds

Clean Your Diamonds

Help your diamonds maintain their natural sparkle.

• Store diamonds individually: Although diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth, they can still chip. Store diamonds individually in soft cloth pouches that prevent jewels from bumping against one another.

• Clean diamonds regularly: Dust, skin oil, and other substances can cause your diamonds to lose their sparkle. Clean your diamonds regularly in soap and water. Air dry and polish with a soft cloth.

• Remove dirt from diamonds: Occasional brushing with a worn, soft-bristled toothbrush can help remove dirt from between crevices. For more resistant blemishes, use a weak solution of ammonia and water (about one part to four parts) and a soft brush.

• Protect metal jewelry settings: Treat metal settings gently as gold can scratch. Also, regularly ask your jeweler to make sure your diamonds sit tight in their settings to help prevent stones from falling out.

• Know the ins and outs of professional cleaning: A jeweler can clean diamonds with steam or ultrasound, though ultrasound can worsen internal fissures or flaws.

Tend to Your Gemstones

Tend to Your Gemstones

Take a few steps to help your gemstones maintain their color and clarity.

• Store your gemstones: Jewels need space to remain free of chips. Store gemstones individually in soft cloth pouches and prevent jewels from bumping against one another.

• Clean your gemstones regularly: Dust, skin oil and other unclean substances can cause your gemstones to lose their sparkle. Clean them from time to time in soap and water. Then let them air dry and polish them with a soft cloth.

• Remove dirt from gemstones: Occasional brushing with a worn, soft-bristled toothbrush can help remove dirt from between crevices. For more resistant blemishes, use a weak solution of ammonia and water (about one part to four parts) and a soft brush.

• Respect metal jewelry settings: Treat metal settings gently. Gold can scratch. Although four-prong, six-prong, and low-profile channel or bezel settings offer your gemstone more protection than other settings, you should ask your jeweler to make sure your gemstones sit tight in their settings to help prevent stones from falling out.

• Know when to have a pro clean your gemstones: Annual checkups with a jeweler help keep your gemstones clean and properly situated in their settings. A jeweler can clean gems with steam or ultrasound, though ultrasound can make internal fissures or flaws worse.

Safeguard Precious Metals

Safeguard Precious Metals

A lot can happen when you wear platinum jewelry, gold jewelry, and silver jewelry every day. However, you can do your part to keep your precious metals looking their best.

• Be mindful of where you wear precious metal jewelry: Avoid wearing scratch-prone precious metal jewelry during rough manual work or activities. Do not let metals come in contact with harsh chemicals or abrasive surfaces.

• Properly store your silver jewelry: Store silver in a cool, dry dark place. To slow tarnishing, do not store silver jewelry directly on wood or plastic.

• Regularly clean precious metal jewelry: Clean gold jewelry and platinum jewelry with soap, water, and a cloth or soft brush if needed. Wash silver with soap and water and dry it thoroughly with a soft cloth. Clean tarnished silver with a commercial polish, paste, or tarnish-removing wipe. Silver polish may remove intentional oxidation (shading of the metal), requiring professional re-oxidation.

• Look out for damage: Inspect jewelry regularly for damage or loosening, and have it professionally repaired if the need arises.

• Take precious metal jewelry to regular checkups: Have a professional jeweler regularly inspect metal jewelry to make sure prongs and bezels remain intact

Protect Your Pearls

Protect Your Pearls

Pearls have a classic look and you can help them keep their polish.

• Store pearls properly:Pearls are not as hard as mineral gemstones. To prevent chipping, pearl jewelry should be stored in soft cloth, away from other jewels.    

• Put on your pearls last: When dressing, put on pearls only after applying hairspray, cosmetics, perfume or other potentially harmful substances that might stain them.    

• Clean your pearls: Do not clean pearls with any type of solvent or abrasive. To best maintain your pearls, wipe them after use with a soft cloth, like those used for eyeglasses. Unlike chemicals, the oils from your skin actually help keep pearls moist, so even soapy water is unnecessary for cleaning pearls.   

• Restring your pearls: Professionals recommend that you restring pearls every few years as strings can wear down and break if not maintained.

Keep Watches Ticking

Keep Watches Ticking

Although nothing beats careful use, you can follow a few steps to make sure your watches live long and healthy lives:

• Watch the temperature: Never leave your watch in extreme hot or cold temperatures.    

• Stay away from magnets: Do not expose quartz watches to magnets.    

• Keep your watch clean: Clean your watch regularly to remove sweat, dirt, and oil. Wipe the crystal, case, and band with a soft cloth. Leather bands benefit from skin oil, but you still want to remove excess dirt. Clean metal bands with soap, water, and a soft brush if needed.    

• Take your mechanical watch to the pros: Take your mechanical watch to a professional when gears need cleaning and for regular gear maintenance every three to five years.

Preserve Vintage Jewelry

Preserve Vintage Jewelry

When you purchase vintage jewelry and antique jewelry pieces, you’ll want to preserve their beauty and value. A few quick tips will get you on the right track:

• Wear vintage jewelry with care: Vintage jewelry is difficult to repair, so wear it with care. Remove your jewelry when using household cleaners and when doing physical activities.   

• Store vintage jewelry separately: Store jewelry separately in soft, zipped-up pouches to protect your pieces from the elements and from dust, which is abrasive.

• Use a jewelry polishing cloth: Keep it simple: Use a special jewelry polishing cloth to keep jewelry dust-free.    

• Remove grime from vintage jewelry: Use a baby wipe or glass cleaner and a soft cloth to remove grime from stones.     

• Keep vintage jewelry dry: Never place vintage jewelry and antique jewelry directly under running water.

Care for Cameos

Care for Cameos

Cameos, and shell cameos in particular, can discolor and crack from drying and aging, and require special care. A few tips can help you keep your cameos clean and moisturized:

• Store your cameos: Store cameos in a clean, dry place.   

• Clean your cameos: Completely cleanse your cameos once or twice a year. Clean cameos gently with a soft-bristle toothbrush in a mild soap-and-water solution. Rinse the cameo thoroughly with warm water immediately after cleaning. Never soak shell cameos or “soft” stones in any cleaning solution for more than 30 seconds.    

• Prevent cameos from drying: Moisturize the cameo with mineral oil or baby oil. Apply the oil with your finger, a cotton swab, or a soft cloth. Let the cameo soak overnight.

Find Jewelry on eBay

Find Jewelry on eBay

Once you know what type of jewelry you want, go to the Jewelry & Watches portal and start searching on eBay.

• Categories: The primary Categories list holds links to all the major jewelry categories on eBay, including Bracelets, Charms & Charm Bracelets, Earrings, Hair Jewelry, Men's Jewelry, Necklaces & Pendants, Pins, Brooches, Rings, Sets, Vintage, Antique, Watches, and more. Additional Categories lists on the left side of each listings page will help you narrow down your items further by subcategory.    

• Product Finders: Certain categories within Jewelry & Watches have associated Product Finders. Choose options from the drop-down menus to narrow listings. For example, the Wristwatches Finder allows you to search by gender, condition, brand, and age.    

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a money clip, type "money clip" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, visit the eBay Bridal portal, shop eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Jewelry With Confidence

Buy Jewelry With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000.

• eBay Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.