How is YurPearls different from other online pearl retailers?
Pearl Quality
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It starts with the pearls. As you can see below, our pearls are simply better in quality:
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Now, pearl quality is a complicated topic, so let's just touch on some key points here. First of all, pearl quality cannot simply be classified using a series of A's (i.e. "AA" vs "AAA" quality). In fact, there is no agreed-upon, reliable international system to standardize pearl quality.
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However, pearl jewelers agree that the quality of cultured freshwater pearls does depend on a set of common (and intuitive) factors, including: 1) size, 2) degree of sphericalness, and 3) luster/surface quality. Since size is easily quantifiable, you'll see this being used as the main determinant of price on online pearl retail websites. But a pearl’s degree of sphericalness and surface quality need to be considered as well - these are often more ambiguous determinants of quality.
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In general, the more spherical the pearl, the better its quality and the higher its price. You may see other retailers simply list their pearls' shape as "round". Since all pearls can be “round” in some way, the shape of these pearls cannot be guaranteed. YurPearls, in contrast, distinguishes clearly between oval-shaped pearls and spherical-shaped pearls, and prices them accordingly.
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Surface quality is another determinant of pearl quality. From the photo above, you can see differences between pearls that have less luster and many surface blemishes, versus the pearls that YurPearls uses, which possess greater luster and do not have nearly as many blemishes.
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No pearl can be perfectly blemish-free or perfectly spherical (and if you find these pearls, they may not be real!) But with YurPearls, we'll make sure you get pearls that are high-quality across all of the above dimensions.
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Our Purpose
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Just as importantly as pearl quality, YurPearls also has a socially-driven company purpose. The main purpose of YurPearls is to help people in rural China improve their lives: save Mr and Mrs Yu's 30-year pearl business and help them provide for themselves, look after their ailing parents (who live in the same house as they do), and pay for their son’s education. Because of currency exchange rate differences, YurPearls doesn't need to make millions in order to do this. That is why we won't ever charge our customers excessive prices.
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Our Connection with Locals
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Finally, because Mr and Mrs Yu grew up with local pearl farmers, they know the industry and the local producers, and are able to source the best quality pearls at the best prices. This is hard for other pearl retailers to replicate: even if they flew to China and tried to buy the best local pearls, they would not be getting the same prices that Mr and Mrs Yu would be getting, due to their lack of connection with the local community.
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In summary, YurPearls prides itself on its reliable customer service and exceptional pearl quality. You’ll just have to experience it yourself!
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