My next door neighbor had a Silpada party. Silpada is the name of a jewelry company and in the style of Tupperware offers home parties. Kelly, the representative, was very nice and very professional. I bought a pair of earrings that are heavy. She can’t bring all her items because there are too many so much of what I bought was via the catalog. Had I known how heavy the earrings are I wouldn’t have bought them.
I decided to have my own party with Kelly. She sent out the invitations. Other than making coffee and having some food I did nothing. She set up her table and took over. There was no hard sell. In fact there was no sell. She was there to answer questions. There is no question the items looked beautiful.
Depending on how much my guests bought depended on how much free jewelry I got. The person having a party gets 30% of the retail sales in free jewelry. I was able to order two pairs of earrings for my daughters, a ring I gave to my daughter, and two bracelets and a necklace for myself.
I ran into problems with three of the items. The ones I bought are sterling silver. Some of the items have brass on them. One of the bracelets has brass interwoven with silver. Within months the brass started to change colors. Within weeks the bracelet with a heart developed black spots on the heart. I called the number Kelly told me to call and there wasn’t an enthusiastic “Oh of course we’ll send you a new one.” I did get a new one, which has been fine, but I think exchanging the first one should have been easier.
The sterling silver necklace which was beautiful broke. I may have worn it twice. Perhaps I could have fixed but I gave it to someone who beads. The jewelry ranges from very inexpensive like $15.00 to hundreds of dollars.
I would not buy from Silpada again. The jewelry looks beautiful but in my experience it doesn’t hold up.My religious organization had a Sarah Coventry party. This is the same idea as a Silpada party. The biggest difference is that if you are under 40 you probably never heard of Sarah Coventry. The other difference is that although many of their items are pretty they can’t compare to how pretty the Silpada jewelry is. However I have had no problems with my earrings.
Another difference is that Sarah Coventry gives a lifetime replacement guarantee.
A very nice style consultant greeted us at our Community Center and had a table all set up. There were catalogs from which to choose items but she had several dozen items on display. The earrings I bought were on the table. I probably wouldn’t have bought something from the catalog after my experience with Silpada.
The prices of the items were very reasonable. Not everything was sterling silver; some items were costume jewelry. My earrings are sterling. I paid in the $20 range for them.
The biggest problem we had was the shipping charge. We each had to pay $5.95 to have our items shipped to our homes. That obviously didn’t make sense for $20 earrings unless I had to have them. We put the items on one person’s invoice and just chipped in for the $5.95.
My final thoughts: Silpada has prettier jewelry but I don’t trust their items. Sarah Coventry has a great return policy and I haven’t had any trouble with my item so I would buy from this company again.
