Gemstone shop insurance
(Protecting your business has never been easier)
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Paul Martin is the Director of Education and Development for Myron Steves, one of the largest, most respected insurance wholesalers in the southern U.S.
Gemstone shops sell a variety of precious and semiprecious gemstones to jewelry designers, jewelry stores, and the general public. These shops might also engage in cutting and polishing gemstones, lab certification, and shipping of gemstones to customers across the globe.
If you have a gemstone shop, your space is filled with small, valuable, and portable items that are easily lost, stolen, or otherwise damaged. What’s more, your shop can be damaged by a fire or a severe storm. And shoppers can get injured on your premises, leading to a drawn-out lawsuit and a large financial payout.
In any of these cases, your gemstone shop insurance is your first line of defense. You need a comprehensive set of business insurance policies designed for gemstone shops in order to protect you from a variety of potential losses.
A local independent insurance agent can help you get the coverage you need to protect your livelihood.
Why Do You Need Gemstone Shop Insurance?
Gemstone shops can be confronted with numerous adverse events that can impact your ability to stay in business. Your gemstone shop insurance is essential to protecting you from financial losses and allowing you to continue to operate in the face of devastating fires or storms, costly lawsuits, and destructive burglaries or thefts.
Without your gemstone shop insurance, even a small fire or a customer slip-and-fall incident could bankrupt you.
The specific gemstone shop insurance policies that you need depend on your unique risks, but at a minimum, your insurance should address risks to:
- Your commercial property (buildings, warehouses, or office space, if you own them)
- Your office equipment, computers, tools, and equipment
- Your inventory
- Your customers’ physical well-being on your premises
Most gemstone shops need to purchase several traditional business insurance policies that cover your physical assets, as well as your responsibility to pay financial damages to any person or business that you harm.
What’s more, you’ll probably need to purchase jewelers block insurance, which is a package of coverage designed just for jewelers, gemstone shops, and the like, in order to cover items and scenarios that are specifically excluded from basic business insurance policies.
What Does Gemstone Shop Insurance Cover?
Gemstone shops need several traditional business insurance policies that cover a variety of standard property and liability risks.
- Commercial property insurance reimburses you for loss of or damage to your physical assets, including décor, display cases, signage, cash registers, artwork, office equipment, and more. But it probably specifically excludes coverage for your gemstone inventory, which in many cases may be your most valuable asset.
Additional property coverage includes:
- Business interruption coverage reimburses you for lost income and pays for certain ongoing expenses if you must temporarily close to make repairs after a covered property loss (e.g., a fire, a storm).
- Equipment breakdown coverage reimburses you when an essential piece of equipment goes down. If equipment that you need for fixing, polishing, cleaning, or setting gemstones breaks down, it covers the resulting property damage and lost income.
You also need broad coverage for liability claims (claims of negligence on your part):
- Commercial general liability insurance provides coverage for a wide range of liability claims. It pays for direct expenses related to the claim (e.g., medical expenses for an injured party, repair costs for damaged property) as well as your legal expenses and financial payouts if you are sued.
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What Does Jewelers Block Insurance Cover?
Because you sell highly valuable and easily portable merchandise, gemstone shops face an increased risk of theft and loss. Most standard business insurance policies specifically exclude coverage for your valuable gemstone inventory, which can make it difficult to obtain coverage from a traditional insurance company.
You'll probably need to find coverage from insurance companies that specialize in policies for jewelers and similar businesses.
Jewelers block insurance is a policy package designed specifically for jewelry store owners, including gemstone shops. It protects against physical loss of or damage to precious and semiprecious stones, jewels, jewelry, precious metals and other related property.
Covered causes of loss include mysterious disappearance, store window smash-and-grab burglaries, breakage due to workmanship, and employee theft.
Jewelers block insurance also covers items that are in transit (e.g., items on loan to various parties, items being sold at trade shows or special exhibitions, items being shipped).
Talk to your independent insurance agent about your need for “wall-to-wall” coverage that protects your gemstones while they are in transit or being displayed or stored offsite. Your items need coverage while they are in the possession of freight forwarders, auction houses, storage facilities, or anywhere else they may be moved to or stored.
Items in transit must be protected whether they are on a truck, plane, boat or any other form of transportation traveling to anywhere in the world.
And remember to read the find print in your jewelers block coverage. Your insurance company will probably require you to follow strict security guidelines in order to avoid losses.
If you fail to follow the safety and anti-theft protocols outlined in your policy (e.g., keeping your watch inventory in a safe at night), your insurance company may cancel your policy.
What Additional Coverage Is Needed for Your Gemstone Shop?
There are several other types of coverage that you may need to purchase to protect your gemstone shop. These include:
- Employee theft and crime coverage may be included in your jewelers block package. A dishonest employee could embezzle large amounts of money or inventory from your store. An employee might also engage in illegal practices like undervaluing gemstones being sold to your business in exchange for cash, or overcharging customers and pocketing the balance. Crime coverage protects you from instances of employee theft, fraud, or other crimes against your business.
- Workers’ compensation insurance is typically required for any business that has employees, and pays for lost income and medical expenses for employees who are injured on the job.
- Employment practices liability coverage protects you from employee lawsuits related to discrimination and other employment-related business practices.
- Cyber liability insurance is necessary if you sell precious or semiprecious gemstones online. It helps you protect your business and your customer’s privacy by paying for investigative expenses, notification expenses (the cost to notify your customers of the breach), future credit card and fraud monitoring services for your customers, your legal defense, settlements and judgments, and even PR and other related expenses.
How Much Does Gemstone Shop Insurance Cost?
Selling gemstones can be risky business. That’s why your gemstone shop insurance may be more expensive than for other retailers of similar size.
Your insurance company will determine what to charge you for coverage depending on a variety of variables, including the size of your business, the number of employees you have, the amount and value of your inventory, the location of your business, and more.
An independent insurance agent can guide you though your options so you get coverage that meets your needs.
Find and Compare Quotes
An independent agent can work with you one-on-one to determine the types and amounts of coverage you need. Your agent can get quotes from multiple insurance companies so you can evaluate the cost and coverage options and make the best choice.
Benefits of an Independent Agent
Independent insurance agents simplify the search process for finding the right gemstone shop insurance. They’ll walk you through some handpicked policy options and explain the details.
Most importantly, they’ll be there for you when claim time comes. They know the ins and outs of the process and will make sure your claim is handled appropriately.
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Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.
The Lowdown on Online Quotes
Online quotes can be tempting. They are fast and easy to get—but are they accurate? And are you getting quotes for the right coverage? For business owners, choosing speed over accuracy can cost you.
Online quotes can’t and don’t see the whole picture. They can leave out important coverage that will leave you devastated if something unexpected happens. And they can leave out cost-saving opportunities that an agent can help you take advantage of.
Instead of getting an online quote, find an independent insurance agent now, and get one-on-one consultation and affordable options for the best coverage for your unique needs.