Consumers commonly use the phrase "place an order", when they intend to purchase one or more items. As this is a normal, easily understood term, we too will follow with the terminology.
However, when consumer/buyer "places an order" with Crystal Exchange America, the customer/buyer is actually confirming an "intent to purchase" item(s) listed by a seller(s) assuming that the specified item(s) are accurately depicted by the owner/seller on our site. "Placing an order" is not a promise or guarantee that Crystal Exchange America will deliver product(s) at a specified price shown on the site.
Confused???? Some things can be better explained with case-and-point examples.
Nearly all items on our site are pre-owned. When owners/sellers have items to sell, they list them with our service 'for sale'. We rely on the owners/sellers and are at the mercy of the owners/sellers for accurate representation of the products that they have for sale.
Sometimes, sellers sell items privately, and forget to tell us. Though we do initiate and require updates from sellers twice a year, we do find that items are not always available from the seller who listed the item, and this may ultimately result in item(s) being deleted from the Buyer's Order.
Sometimes, sellers mis-identify items. This is more common when sellers are not knowledgeable about Swarovski products and do not realize the many sizes and variations of some Swarovski pieces. For example, a seller may list a "Large Mouse" for sale, and when it arrives here, we find it to be a "Medium Mouse". The Large Mouse may have to be deleted from the Buyer's Order since it was mis-identified.
Also, we find a number of items represented by the seller as MINT, will fail our inspection. Sellers do not always see nicks/chips that our trained eye will find. In this case, the seller has falsely represented the condition of the item, and it may be deleted from the Buyer's Order.
While we do our best to avoid these scenarios, they do occur. These scenarios are not isolated or rare; they occur frequently. If an identical product at an identical price is available from an alternate seller, we will quietly continue working on the order, with the buyer completely unaware anything has gone awry. This is very common.
When items are not available from the owner, the buyer is notified and advised of other products, if any, that are available at the time, most likely at higher prices (as the buyer would naturally attempt to purchase the least expensive one like it)
Naturally, a buyer will be disappointed, or even angry that they might have to make a decision to pay a higher price for an item(s), they believe was previously secured in an order. Buyers are not under any obligation to purchase a more expensive item....buyers can cancel if items are not available or are not accurately represented by the seller.
Whatever the reason (of those mentioned above), Crystal Exchange America reserves the right to delete items from the order or cancel an order when item(s) are not available or not accurately represented. Customer will be advised as deletions/cancellations are made.