Santa Monica resident Jeremy Shepherd is the founder and head of PearlParadise.com which he has turned into the world’s largest on-line seller of pearls. In stark contrast to most of the economy, Shepherd’s company has grown in 2009: to date, their sales are up 10.28% as compared to the same period last year.
Shepherd has accomplished this by offering real quality for less – typically up to 80% less than his brick and mortar counter parts – and by standing by his product; he has a 90 day no-questions-asked, full-refund return policy, †with no loopholes,†says Shepherd, with evident pride. His pride is justifiable; Pearl Paradise hasn’t received one Better Business Bureau complaint in their decade plus of business and all of the on-line ratings I could find were stellar.
How do they do it?
“We’re able to
do extraordinary volume with 12 employees in our 3000 square feet offices. We have a walk in vault – our space used to be a bank. So everything is right here,†says the lovely Shepherd his warmth and passion for pearls evident from the start of our conversation.
Pearls are created in farms located in China and Japan. These farms produced some 1600 metric tons of pearls last year. Of those, only about one half of one percent of the pearls are of high enough quality for use in jewelry. While this still represents a lot of pearls, Shepherd’s discerning eye demands only the cream of the cream of the crop. Thus, he formed a partnership with a pearl farmer and so is personally involved in every aspect of his pearls’ creation which is, “better for quality control and for the consumer,†says Shepherd.
Shepherd combines a unique eye for beauty and for business. The most expensive strand he ever sold was a $250,000 strand made specifically for the client. A comparable necklace is still sitting in the window of Mikimoto with a list price of $1.2million. While $250,000 may not seem like a bargain, it is when talking about the lustrous quality that Pearl Paradise offers.
For those in search of beautiful, high quality pearl jewelry at bargain prices check out Pearl Paradise either on the web; www.pearlparadise.com or at their West Los Angeles showroom (by appointment only where you can comb through some of the more than 1,000 pounds (17,000 strands) of pearls in their inventory.
For more information: www.pearlparadise.com.
