When to Ask What: The Buying Questions in Order – Mapple Gems

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When to Ask What

The right questions are widely published. Which stage to ask them at is not — and asking late is how people end up with a ring they cannot change.

Written by the Mapple Gems workshop, Surat · Updated 7 October 2026

Short answer

Five stages, each with its own questions. Before you choose a seller: gram weight, shank thickness, a part-finished photograph. Before you pay: production and transit days separately, landed or not. At CAD approval: the side elevation and profile height — this is the last moment anything structural can change. On arrival: check against the written specification, not the photographs. At year two: prong tips and shank thickness. Ask the CAD questions late and the answer is a new ring.

Most buying guides list good questions in no particular order. But the questions have deadlines, and three of them close permanently. This is that sequence.

Everything about a ring is open until the wax is made and closed afterwards — and the CAD render people approve from is the one view that shows none of the things being closed. A ring is cast as a single body, so profile height, gallery architecture, shank taper, prong placement and total width across the setting are all fixed at that moment. Anything that is a separate piece of metal can be changed for decades — the stone, the head, the finish, the shank via a reshank — but nothing cast in one go can. The trap is that approval almost always happens from a top-down render, which shows outline, setting family and stone size and conceals every one of the permanent decisions. So a buyer says yes to a picture, and two years later discovers the ring sits too high, catches on everything, and cannot be lowered without being remade. The single highest-value question in the entire process is one sentence asked at one moment: “can I see the side elevation with the profile height in millimetres?” Asked before wax, it is a free revision. Asked after the ring arrives, it is a new commission.

The five stages

Stage	Ask	Closes?
Choosing a seller	Gram weight; part-finished photo	No — but it decides everything
Before paying	Production + transit; landed?	Yes — terms are set
At CAD approval	Side elevation; thickness	YES — permanently
On arrival	Check against the specification	Yes — report same day
Every two years	Prong tips; shank at the base	No — but wear is cumulative

Stage 1 — choosing a seller

Three questions, and the pattern of answers tells you more than the answers do.

“What is the finished gram weight?” Gold trades on a public daily market, so this is the one line of any quote you can verify yourself. “What is the shank thickness at the base, in millimetres?” — not at the shoulders, where a tapered shank flatters. And “can you send a photograph of a piece part-finished, cast but not set?” Nobody photographs a half-finished ring for a catalogue, so a workshop produces one in minutes and a reseller cannot obtain one at any price.

A seller who answers all three quickly made the piece. One who cannot is passing an order down a chain — which is not dishonest, but it means nobody in the conversation can change anything.

Stage 2 — before you pay

Production days and transit days as two separate numbers. A checkout estimate is transit only and omits the bench entirely.
Is it landed? Duties prepaid, or owed by you on delivery — the largest hidden difference between two similar-looking quotes.
What are the return terms on a made-to-order piece? Change-of-mind rights are usually exempt for goods made to your specification; faulty and not-as-described rights are unaffected everywhere.
What voids the warranty? Third-party bench work usually does, and you want to know before a local jeweller touches it.
What is your dispute window? Not a question for the seller — for your payment provider. Note the date.

Stage 3 — at CAD approval, the only real decision point

Six questions, and this is the stage worth slowing down for.

The side elevation, with profile height in millimetres. Shank thickness at the base — 1.8 mm minimum for daily wear, 2 mm for working hands. Is the gallery open, so the stone can be cleaned from underneath. Is there a prong over every point and corner — on the corners, not the flat sides. Total width across the setting, which decides whether a wedding band sits flush. And can it be cast with a euro shank, the anti-spin fix that costs nothing when designed in.

All six are free to change now. All six are permanent afterwards. If a workshop resists supplying a side view, that is worth pausing on by itself.

Stage 4 — on arrival

Check against the written specification, not the listing photographs. Metal stamp inside the shank, stone millimetres, shank width and thickness, girdle inscription against any report. Look at the stone row straight down in daylight — every table should sit level — and press each stone with a fingernail.

What is not a fault: a real ring correctly looks smaller and calmer than macro product photography shot at close range under directional light. And report anything wrong the same day; carrier and seller windows are short and weaken with every day.

Stage 5 — every two years

Two questions at a bench, and they take minutes. “How are the prong tips?” — a healthy tip is a rounded, defined lip; flattened or squared means re-tipping is due, and that is visible three to five years before a stone is lost. “What is the shank thickness at the base now?” — under about 1.5 mm means a reshank, which is ordinary maintenance rather than a last resort.

And one instruction rather than a question: “do not polish.” It is done by default at the end of most jobs, removes metal every time, and permanently softens hallmarks and hand-cut detail.

Keep reading

Frequently asked questions

What is the most important question to ask when ordering a ring?

“Can I see the side elevation with the profile height in millimetres?” — asked at CAD approval. The top-down render people approve from conceals profile height, shank thickness, gallery architecture and total width, and all of those are fixed permanently at casting.

What can still be changed after a ring is made?

Anything that is a separate piece of metal — the stone, the head, the finish, and the shank via a reshank. What cannot change is anything cast as one body: profile height, gallery architecture, taper, prong placement and total width across the setting.

What should I ask before choosing a seller?

The finished gram weight, the shank thickness at the base in millimetres, and for a photograph of a piece cast but not yet set. A workshop answers all three quickly; a reseller cannot produce the third at any price, because nobody photographs a half-finished ring.

What should I check when the ring arrives?

The written specification rather than the listing photographs — metal stamp, stone millimetres, shank dimensions, inscription. Check the stone row is level in daylight and press each stone with a fingernail. Report anything wrong the same day.

Ask us the stage-three questions before you approve anything.

Six questions, all free to answer, and all permanent the moment the wax is made.

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