Frequently Asked Questions

About
Jewelscan

What is the difference between non-specified and specified or portable jewellery insurance?

Most standard home & contents policies insure jewellery to a maximum amount, with a ‘per item’ limit. For example, a policy may insure up to $4000 worth of jewellery, paying out no more than $1000 for a single item. Jewellery that falls under this category is classified as ‘non-specified’.

Jewelscan will provide you with a report of every item that is in excess of your policy limits under your Home & Contents policy. You can then decide if you require additional coverage and discuss this with your insurer.

Any items that have been valued and listed individually on your policy for a specified amount are classified as ‘Specified’ jewellery. Most policies require you to have an up to date valuation which is not more than 2 to 3 years old, depending on the insurer. This is costly, time consuming and eliminated with Jewelscan.

Jewelscan re-assesses the value of your items throughout the year to ensure that your Specified items are always covered by a current valuation. Jewelscan also eliminates the very common problem of being under or over insured.

How much does Jewelscan cost?

FEES & CHARGES AT July 2017

Subject to change

All transactions are processed in AUD

Yearly Membership Fee’s

Membership fee’s are $40.00 per year. Therefore it does not matter how many specified and non specified items are added to your file, your membership is still only $40 per year. You can arrange membership for any period from one (1) to five (5) years before you will need to renew your membership. You can also choose lifetime membership which gives you 50 years of membership a significantly reduced cost.

  • $40.00 Total membership fee.
  • No other membership fee’s apply. You may access your file as many times as you like.
  • The membership fee covers the cost of maintaining your information, producing monthly value updates and reports.
  • You existing jewellery items only need to be entered once. They are then stored and updated every year for the life of your membership.
  • The Lifetime membership fee is only $150 for 50 years, normal value $1,500.

Fee for your Jewelsure approved jeweller to list your existing items:

This fee is decided by your jeweller depending on the level of work to be done to determine the type of gems involved and other factors. Your jeweller will let you know the one time fee to identify, test and record your jewellery on Jewelscan.

This is a once only cost that never has to be repeated as long as you remain a Jewelscan member.

Self Recording Fee

You can self record your jewellery items on your file, providing you have the detailed information required such as existing valuations, or if they are simple items that only require a weight and do not involve gems. The cost per item for this is $20. Jewelscan will provide you with detailed instructions and assistance on how to record your own jewellery items.

Formal Valuation Charges

These charges relate to having your specified item jewellery formally valued and confirmed through testing proceedures.

Your jeweller may recommend that certain items of potentially high value be formally tested by a suitably qualified gemmologist to confirm gem details.

This process requires significant experience, state of the art equipment and detailed analysis. The charge for this differs according to the testing required and will be provided by your jeweller.

Once an item has been formally tested and/or valued, the process never has to be repeated once it is recorded on Jewelscan.

Refund Policy

Jewelscan does not offer refunds if you change your mind after the recording of your jewellery has commenced. The sole exception is if the system or service is different to the system or service described on the Jewelscan website. In these circumstanes, you can apply for a refund that is adjusted to time of membership already used. Example, if you applied for a refund due to non performance of the Jewelscan website and you have already been a member for six (6) months, your refund would be half of your yearly membership fee.

Do you have a jeweller in my area?

Jewelscan provides a nationwide service through approved jeweller locations. Use the Find feature to search for an approved jeweller in your area. Please call the jeweller in your area before you go in to make sure they have the time available to your jewellery recording while you wait.

If there is currently no approved jeweller in your area, call Jewelscan for further information.

Jewellers in different locations are being assessed and approved constantly to ensure complete coverage. Check back often to see new listings.

How do I communicate with Jewelscan?

All electronic communication is conducted via a secure server and recorded in our system’s contact log for future reference. We therefore encourage the use of the online communication as much as possible as it attaches directly to your file and provides you with the added protection of having a record of events and discussions.

Alternatively, Jewelscan can be contacted via phone or email.

We are always available for face to face meetings if you prefer at our office located at Unit 9 29 Mount Cotton Road, Capalaba, Queensland 4157.

I don't own any expensive pieces - I'm not sure if it's worth using Jewelscan?

Jewelsure is designed for all jewellery owners. Even if you don’t own any exceedingly expensive pieces, you may be surprised at the overall value of jewellery that you have collected over time. Chances are you own several items with a combined value into the thousands of dollars. It is not uncommon for someone with a $4,000 general insurance policy to lose $15,000 of jewellery in a single burglary.

In today’s busy world, consider the amount of effort, time and cost needed to produce a list of jewellery items after a loss has taken place. Combine this with looking for proof of ownership documentation, visiting numerous retailers to obtain quotes and then having to confirm the value of these items before a claim can be properly assessed.

If you need to make an insurance claim on your precious jewellery, you cannot afford to be without Jewelsure.

Is my information secure?

Your information and jewellery records are stored on a secure server located at Macquarie Telecom, Australia’s leading secure data storage and server location centre.

The Jewelscan system online system is encrypted to the highest standard. In addition to this, the server information is also encrypted for added security

The Jewelscan system allows you to set you own unique password. This provides 24 hour access to your information.

The only persons who can see you information are you, your insurer and the service administration.

Using
Jewelscan

How many items of jewellery can I list?

As many as you like!

It is important to consider the combined value of your jewellery as well as the individual value. The listing fee’s that apply are all one off charges that never have to be repeated. Therefore we encourage members to list all of their jewellery. This is the only way to ensure that you receive the full benefit of Jewelscan in the event of a loss.

Your yearly membership fees are $40 for unlimited items. You can continue to add as many items to your file as you like and the only additional cost will be the once only item recording fees that are charged by your jeweller.

What if I don't have access to a computer?

If you computer is stolen and you cannot access your file and produce police reports. Call Jewelscan and we will send a report direct to the police and inform your insurer of the lost item numbers so they can commence the claim process.

If you normally do not have a computer and therefore cannot access your online file, Jewelscan will provide you with an updated report of your jewellery at any time on request.

Can I Record My Jewellery Myself?

Once your file has been created, you can add jewellery items to your file yourself. This is designed for items where you may have detailed information already on hand, or they are lower value items such a light chains, non gem set earrings, watches and so on. Jewelscan will provide you with detailed information on what is required.

It is important to note that you should have jewellery items involving precious gems recorded by a Jewelscan representative at your jeweller.

If you do record any items where a value cannot be applied, Jewelscan will inform you of these items and recommend that you have them done by a Jewelscan representative.

Value
Assessment

I already have a valuation - Why do I need Jewelscan?

Unfortunately many valuations simply do not have sufficient detail to ensure your item can be properly described and therefore accurately valued at the time of your loss.

Many policyholders unfortunately forget to update their valuation every two years as required by their insurer. It is not uncommon for an insurance claim to be based on a valuation that is 15 years old and therefore it is of very little use at the time when the claim is made.

Valuations only record the value of the item at the time that it was valued. There is no scope for any increases in value unless constantly update your valuation. You therefore run a real risk of being underinsured, over insured, or simply in a position where a dispute is inevitable due to outdated information.

The Jewelscan system provides automatic annual updates based on current material costs, labour costs, production costs, international exchange rates and other factors. This ensures that in the event of a claim you can rest assured that your jewellery valuation information is current.

If you do have a current valuation with sufficient detail recorded on it your details can be quickly and accurately entered into the Jewelscan system at a reduced cost. You will never have to worry about valuations again.

How do I know that Jewelscan will apply correct values to my jewellery?

Jewelscan does not supply or sell jewellery, so we have nothing to gain from an inflated or understated value assessment. The value applied to your jewellery is a best assessment from the information and image supplied by your jeweller.

All jewellery values applied are on the basis of the wholesale cost of materials, labour and production, multiplied by a mark up that takes into account a number of retail factors.

Many manufacturers will have a published recommended retail value. In the event that your jewellery item does not have a recognized recommended retail value, Jewelscan will use the type of metal, the purity of metal, the type of settings, the number of settings, the type of manufacture, the branding, the colour, clarity and cut of any gems and the applicable weights of all materials used to determine all associated costs.

If the information submitted includes assumptions that have been made, these assumptions will be highlighted on your item report.

Please note that insurance replacement valuations are based on the full retail value that may apply for the item to be replaced. Therefore there are times when you may have purchased a discounted item and the valuation will show a higher price. If you are looking to insure such an item, always ask your jeweller if they can replace the item at the same price for an insurance company over the coming year. If the answer is yes, then the discounted price should be the retail value for insurance purposes.

What if I dispute the value applied by Jewelscan?

It is important to note that the value applied to non specified home and contents insured jewellery is based on a best estimate from the information and image supplied by your jeweller. Jewelscan will obtain as much information as possible to ensure that the value assigned is accurate.

Your jeweller will determine the value related attributes of your jewellery such as metal type, purity, colour, manufacturing type, gem type, size, weight, colour, clarity and shape by visual inspection, measurments and weights. Therefore some of the information provided by your jeweller will be a best estimate and the value applied will be based on that estimate. For certain items, your jeweller may recommend that you have attributes formally tested by a qualified gemmologist.

Jewelscan will send you a record of the complete descriptions and values attributed to your jewellery before your file becomes listed as active online. We ask you to review the information and make sure that you agree with the description and values. Once you have done this, you simply tick the ‘accept box’ and your file becomes active. If you dispute our description and valuation at the review stage, one of our experienced operators will contact you to explain how the description and value was arrived at.

If you are still not satisfied from this process, we are happy for you to obtain an independent valuation and will update our records accordingly.

The value determined by Jewelscan may be higher or lower than what was paid for the item, or what you expect the value to be. On request, we will provide you with the details of how the value was arrived at and request any further information from you that may allow alterations to be made.

It is important to note that if you purchased an item at a sale price, there is a fair chance that the Jewelscan value applied will be higher than the price you actually paid for the item. And alternatively, some ticket prices may be in excess of Jewelscan’s valuation.

There are many factors that contribute to the value of jewellery and these factors change constantly with market forces such as material costs, labour costs and exchange rates. If Jewelscan applies a value to an item at a value that is lower than what you paid for it, you must consider that we have valued the item as of that day, whereas the price paid may relate to the cost of the item when the jeweller first purchased it or made it.

What happens if the value of my jewellery increases and exceeds my insurance limit?
The value of your jewellery is reviewed and updated annually. You will receive an update report on all of your jewellery items with highlighted alerts for any items that may have increased in value sufficiently to exceed your insurance limits. You will then be armed with all the information you need to discuss updating your policy with your insurer in a timely manner.
What information should I obtain when I purchase new jewellery?

All jewellery purchased from a Jewelscan approved jeweller will be fully disclosed to you by the jeweller. The items purchased will be listed for you on Jewelscan at point of sale at no cost to you if you are a Jewelscan member.

It is important to note that there is the possibility that a non approved jeweller will not be willing to disclose the information we require to provide a listing and independent value. We therefore encourage you to shop at a Jewelscan approved jeweller whenever possible.

When buying gold chain, bangles or bracelets, it is important to know the weight of the item as this is how the value is calculated.

When buying gem set jewellery, ask to be provided with the weight of the item, the gem type, weight, colour & clarity.

Can I include other family members' jewellery in my Jewelscan account?

You can only include jewellery items owned by family members covered under your insurance policy. Items covered under separate policies will need to have their own file.

If you are not sure of your exact coverage, please contact your insurer.

In the Event
of a Loss

What happens if I need to make a claim on lost jewellery?

Contact your insurer to lodge the claim.

Some insurers can log on to the Jewelscan website and obtain all of the information they require for your claim. Your jewellery descriptions, values, images and proof of ownership are all listed for the insurance assessor.

Contact Jewelscan and let us know that a claim has been made. We will then make sure that your insurer has accessed your information and the process is underway. If your insurer cannot log on, we will forward your report for you.

As soon as you have your claim number, please email this to Jewelscan or call and pass on the number to one of our operators. This will allow us to ensure that the quoting proceedure is underway immediately.

The Jewelscan system will alert your Jewelscan approved jeweller to immediately produce your quote using your recorded jewellery details and submit this to your insurer. Your insurer may also request quotes from other jewellers that they work with.

In the event of a theft where you need to contact the police, you can access your file online at any time and produce a report of the missing items for the police, complete with images that may assist with recovery and investigation. If your computer is also taken, call Jewelscan and we will produce the police report for you.

Throughout the ordeal of coping with the loss or theft of your precious jewellery items, there will be no need for you to search through old records to describe your jewellery and prove its value.

You will not have to go through the time consuming, frustrating and draining experience of having to continually describe your jewellery to multiple retail jewellers to obtain replacement quotes.

The chances of disputes arising are removed because your jewellery has been accurately recorded and valued prior to any loss taking place.

The Jewelscan system provides your insurer with current valuations and all the descriptive details relating to your jewellery. This allows your insurer to discuss the most suitable replacement solution with you, and get the process underway in the shortest possible time.

Can I nominate a preferred jeweller to replace my jewellery?

Every insurer has different guidelines and requirements and therefore you should ask your insurer prior to any claim being made.

It is important to note that you cannot be forced to use a jeweller that you do not want to use. However, your insurer can limit the approved amount to what their preferred supplier has quoted to supply the claim. Please do not accept a claim settlement through the insurers preferred jewellery supplier with speaking with Jewelscan first. In most cases, we can speak with your insurer and make sure your settlement is for the correct amount.

If you insure your jewellery through the Jewelsure Jewellery Insurance Repair & Replacement Policy, you can return to your jeweller in the event of a claim.

Still need help? Send us a note!

For any other questions, please write us at admin@jewelscan.com.au or call us on
+61 7 3823 3646

022 041 041