How Pearlpedia researches and compares pearls.
Retailer policy rankings, product comparisons and scored product reviews answer different questions. Product facts, editorial observations and retailer claims are kept separate.
Methodology updated .
What our published comparisons measure
The retailer return-policy ranking orders 20 retailers by their advertised standard refund window. The ranking page publishes the research date, official policy links, starting events, required actions and exclusions, with a downloadable evidence file. Equal windows share a rank; unconfirmed policies and defect-only coverage are kept unranked. These positions do not measure pearl quality or establish an overall best retailer.
Recommended Products compares dated product listings across pearl types and jewelry categories. Specifications and seller grades remain retailer claims; editorial notes explain comparison limits. A listing is not evidence of a purchase, laboratory examination or hands-on quality test. The scoring framework below applies to scored product reviews, not to these policy ranks or product-list positions.
Overall score
Each scored category uses a 0–100 internal scale. The final public score can be displayed on a 0.0–10.0 scale by dividing the weighted result by ten.
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Pearl quality | 30% |
| Craftsmanship | 15% |
| Value | 20% |
| Product transparency | 10% |
| Design & wearability | 10% |
| Warranty & returns | 10% |
| Service | 5% |
Pearl quality score
Pearl quality is calculated separately and then contributes 30% of the overall score. For the underlying gemological vocabulary, see The 7 Pearl Value Factors, Explained.
| Pearl criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Luster | 25% |
| Surface | 15% |
| Shape | 10% |
| Matching | 15% |
| Nacre | 20% |
| Color | 15% |
Size is not a quality bonus. Pearl size is recorded as a specification and price driver, but a larger pearl does not automatically receive a higher quality score.
Not applicable vs. not measured
Those states are deliberately different. A criterion that genuinely does not apply can be removed from the denominator and the remaining weights are normalized. For example, matching may not apply to a single-pearl pendant. A criterion that simply has not been measured remains missing evidence and prevents that section from being considered complete.
Evidence status
Each review records how the product was evaluated: desk research, retailer-supplied information, hands-on inspection, or a product purchased for evaluation. This status is stored separately from the score so readers can judge the strength of the evidence.
Retailer claims
Manufacturer or retailer grades, origin statements and treatment claims are recorded as claims. They are not automatically converted into Pearlpedia scores.
Price and updates
Offers include a price-check date. Reviews can also store the price actually paid during testing. This keeps value judgments tied to a specific point in time rather than implying that a changing retail price is permanent.
Source hierarchy
Pearlpedia uses different source standards for different kinds of claims. Pearl education prioritizes gemological laboratories, recognized jewelry-industry standards organizations, and government consumer-protection guidance. Retailer profiles use official retailer sources for facts such as assortment, services, warranty language, return policies and stated product specifications. Secondary sources can provide context, but they should not displace a stronger primary source when one is available.
Editorial independence
Commercial relationships are kept separate from editorial scoring. Affiliate availability is not a scoring factor, and compensation does not turn a retailer statement into independent evidence. Recommendation and ranking pages may contain outbound commercial links, but the presence or absence of an affiliate relationship does not determine a product's pearl-quality score or a retailer's evidence status. See the Affiliate Disclosure.
Updates and corrections
Pages use visible research, update or price-check dates where the underlying information can change. If a retailer changes a product, policy or price, Pearlpedia can update the corresponding record while retaining the date context that tells readers when the information was checked. Substantive factual errors should be corrected in the page itself and reflected in the update date rather than silently preserved as current information.
What the score does not mean
A Pearlpedia score is an editorial comparison tool, not a laboratory grade, appraisal or guarantee of future performance. Seller grades such as AAA or AAAA are not assumed to be equivalent across retailers. A desk-researched page is not a substitute for hands-on inspection, and a retailer's origin, treatment or quality claim remains a claim unless independent evidence supports it.
Machine-readable transparency
Pearlpedia uses structured data, canonical URLs, visible source links and an LLM-readable site index so search engines and AI systems can identify the publisher, page topic, source basis and update context. These signals are intended to make the editorial provenance of the content easier to verify, not to replace the human-readable methodology on this page.
Methodology last reviewed: October 3, 2026.