Shop details for Pandahall

PandaHall is one of the largest online shops specializing in beads, jewelry, and costume accessories. PandaHall offers hobbyists, arts and crafts lovers, and aspiring jewelers alike an incredibly large selection of everything from plastic beads and charms to crystal accessories and keychains. Buttons, costume jewelry, and watches are also available.

The Shenzhen, China-based web company was founded in 2011 and has proven popular with craft-lovers worldwide with over 5.5 million likes on Facebook and an Alexa.com ranking placing it among the top 16,000 most-visited websites in the world. Although popular in its native China as well as neighboring India PandaHall also enjoys a great amount of popularity in Europe and the Americas, with the site's largest customer base being in the United States.

Experience with PandaHall

I went ahead and made a few test orders from PandaHall to check out the ordering process and confirm the product quality. I was very happy with our experience there, overall. Check out a quick table of our observed pros and cons as well as an in-depth overview of our experiences below.

Payment

Upon Checkout, you have the option of going through the traditional checkout method of making an account, choosing your payment method, and selecting your shipping option or you may take advantage of PayPal Express Checkout if you are a PayPal user.

PandaHall gives you the option to pay with PayPal, Credit Card (Visa and MasterCard), Western Union, or Check/Wire Transfer. I always recommend using PayPal for online orders, as its excellent internal Buyer Protection Program makes it safer than using a normal credit card. It is worth noting, however, that if you are a professional jewelry designer (or you need to order products in bulk) PandaHall will give you a slight discount to pay for large orders via Bank Transfer or Western Union. This ranges from 1% off for orders over $2,000 up to 5% off for orders over $50,000. If this is something you'd be interested in taking advantage of, you can check out the overview of discounts in the screenshot below.

Shipping Costs and Delivery Times

As with many other Chinese web shops, the shipping options and prices depend heavily upon the Delivery Address, Order Weight, and selected shipping option. For shipments to the US, its cheapest to have your items shipped via USPS or Mail Post (12-15 business days), depending on the shipping address. You are also given a plethora of faster (and incrementally more expensive) methods to choose from as well. For our test order (seen below), the cheapest expedited shipping methods were "UPS-Economical" (5-8 business days), "UPS Direct" (3-5 working days), and "DHL Direct" (3-5 working days). This may be different depending on where you live, however, so make sure to look through your shipping options before deciding. PandaHall also gives you pretty much unique option of picking up items in person. This method costs nothing extra, but it does require that you make a physical visit to PandaHall's Shenzhen warehouse. Asia trip, anyone?

Our tip: We've noticed that the shipping costs depend more on the target address than the weight of the order, so we recommend ordering multiple items at once to split the shipping costs among them and avoid paying more for shipping than for the item itself.

PandaHall and Customs

None of our test order items had any problems getting through customs and arriving at our office in a timely manner. That being said, it is possible that even the most carefully-declared packages are stopped by customs because of random security checks or high price of contents. It is always a good idea to read up on your country's rules and regulations surrounding customs fees and import taxes.

For shipments entering the US, extra taxes and fees on your product are possible. Not every item is taxed when entering the country, and the majority are only subject to a nominal processing fee of between $2 and $9 in the case of a random customs stop. The amount to be paid, however, can vary widely depending on the product and how it’s sent. If you are concerned about your item, or are planning to order goods in excess of $500, it is worth it to check with the Customs Office at the port of entry to confirm any extra fees.

Any extra taxes or duties on your shipment will either be paid at your door when the mailman drops it off, or the package may be held at your local post office. In which case, you will need to go pick it up and pay any applicable fees in person.

Return Policy

PandaHall gives you the option to return items for any reason within 30 days of delivery. In the case of damaged or defective products, PandaHall covers all return shipping and replacement costs. In the case of items that are not damaged or defective, any return shipping and exchange costs must be covered by the customer.

Special Features

PandaHall has a significant social media presence and it allows you to log in via Facebook as an expedited account creation tool, if you prefer. 

The PandaHall website also features multiple "discount sections," which make it easy to find special or heavily discounted items. The "Promotion" tab highlights current sales and discounts while the "$5 Sale" section includes all items that sell for $5 or less. These make great tools for bargain hunters. 

Those interested in getting good bang for their buck may also want to check out the "Small Lot" section. This sections features items that PandaHall carries in limited quantities at a time. These are usually higher-quality, professional items such as professional jewelry-making tools and special jewelry.

Conclusion

If you're in the market for anything jewelry-related, you can't go wrong with PandaHall. This site features one of the largest available selections of beads, crystals, pearls, charms, pendants, and jewelry-making tools for designers, as well as an impressive selection of low cost pre-made jewelry and accessories items such as watches, necklaces, and earrings. As long as you can handle the shipping costs and don't mind waiting for your order, PandaHall is hard to beat.

Alternatives

PandaHall is the only site we've tested that is specialized in jewelry and jewelry-making accessories, but we have featured many sites that have large selections of jewelry and accessories. Some of our favorites for pre-made jewelry include FocalPrice, and SheIn.

Alternative 1:	AliExpress	HUGE product selections, including accessories for jewelry designers and aficionados alike. This is not a shop, but a marketplace where multiple vendors offer their wares (like eBay) so you should always be aware of individual vendor reviews.
Alternative 2:	Banggood	Large selection of pre-made jewelry with some Jewelry-designer tools available as well. Free Shipping is available!

PandaHall Coupons