Purchasing Diamonds Online

Considering the abundant potential for fraud concerning diamonds, purchasing a diamond online seems so risky as to be nearly unthinkable. However, given enough knowledge and caution it is entirely possible to purchase diamonds online without significant risk.

The first thing to think about is the reason for wanting to purchase the diamond online rather than making the purchase from a local jewelry store. Price is the most common reason. Online jewelers and wholesalers are able to offer lower prices because the lack of a storefront lowers overhead costs. It is, however, important to be careful--a price that is too good to be true is likely to be.

The big advantage of shopping for diamonds online is the nearly unlimited selection. When shopping offline, the selection within the local stores represents a significant limitation. But to reiterate, a great deal of care and consideration must be taken before handing money over to someone that cannot be seen, met, or verified.

It is critical to learn as much as possible about diamonds before shopping, especially cut, color, clarity and carat weights. Con artists find it far more difficult to rip off someone knowledgeable about diamonds. Once knowledgeable about diamonds, it will be safe to start shopping.

Equally important is to maintain patience while shopping. Don't purchase the first diamond that seems right or interesting. Instead, look for comparable diamonds for sale. This permits each deal to be examined, weighed, and analyzed in comparison to the others to find the lowest price, or best deal. Once the best deal is found the investigation can begin. Simply having learned about diamonds and finding a diamond that fits the bill at the best deal isn't enough.

Check out the seller's credentials, looking for details such as which (if any) professional jewelry associations they belong to. Read and print out a hardcopy the seller's refund, return, and upgrade policies. Also inquire about additional services, such as settings and mountings, sizing, and free shipping. Conduct a thorough Internet search for customer reviews on this particular company. Especially make sure to check with the Better Business Bureau Online to determine if there have been any complaints filed against the company.

Always request a diamond grading report from an independent laboratory such as GIA, EGL, HRD, or AGS. It's important to get this verification before making a purchase. Finally, if there is any doubt or the purchase will involve a high dollar amount, use a reputable escrow service, ideally one that will have the diamond appraised while it is in their possession. This way the diamond and the payment are sent to the escrow service, who then verifies the diamond matches the claims the online seller made before sending the diamond to the buyer and the money to the seller. This is the surest way to guarantee the financial safety of both parties. It should go without saying to be certain that a reputable escrow service is used.

By Patricia Brown

Diamond Buying: Emotional Experience Or Math Problem?

Professionals in the diamond industry hear warnings about "commoditization" at our trade conventions. We hear the warnings from traditionalists, from sellers and suppliers, from revered industry leaders. We hear the warnings from some of the most esteemed icons of our industry. But what does it mean?

It is about the reduction of an emotional experience to a mere set of numbers. That is the concern.

For many years diamond cutters were considered craftsmen and artists, like blacksmiths and carpenters (the best still are). As technology has moved forward, blacksmiths and carpenters have been replaced with automated manufacture. In diamond-cutting, auto-dialits and assembly line production have replaced the gray-haired cutter of old who took the rough through every step from blocking to brillianteering. However, the unalterable difference between 'smithing and diamond fashioning is that producing a diamond will never be like stamping out automobiles or pre-fabricated woodwork where pieces and parts are interchangeable. Our craft is unique.

Every piece of diamond rough took millions of years to form. Every diamond is a different story. Once mined from the earth each piece of rough is individually studied and analyzed. A different plan is developed for each piece to arrive at the shape, size and beauty that will be yielded. No two diamonds are perfectly alike; not in rough form nor polished. They may be comparable, but color, clarity and even cut differ from piece to finished piece. There are subdivisions within each color grade. There are microscopic elements of crystallization within each diamond that do not appear on a plot. There are aspects to the way the diamond was run on the wheel and took a polish that blend together to create its distinctiveness when finally viewed.

As we know, the cut of a diamond has the largest influence on its overall performance and can be expressed in differing terms. Proportions, cut estimators, 3D scans, natural reflectors and machines like Imagem and BrillianceScope can assign numbers. But numbers will never tell the story of the diamond's birth, its crystallization over millions of years and the blending together of distinctive elements WITHIN the numbers that make it one-of-a-kind.

Traditionalists emphasize that a finished diamond is both a snowflake and an artist's masterpiece. Its uniqueness is absolute; both in nature and in the treatment man has given it. It can never be replicated - and its singular, irreplaceable distinctiveness is the perfect expression for a giver, and the most its wearer could ever hope for.

The traditionalists are right of course.

Now there is concern among traditionalists that by reducing a diamond to a data stream we take away its romance. We remove its symbolic appeal, distinctiveness that can be measured only by the human eye and a history larger than life - and replace them with charts and graphs.

The information age has provided us with the ability to analyze the art of man and nature. We have powerful tools for measurement and analysis. We can place a number beside every facet. We can take analytic photographs at unreal magnifications. We have black boxes that assign values. For trade and factory analysts these things can empower more understanding and the ability to maximize beauty at the source. Certainly there are hundredths of degrees which can help our scientific understanding. However, any professional will tell you that once a diamond is within an acknowledged premium range the nuances of its specific appeal depend entirely on individual human taste and preference. To make such fine judgments, beauty can only be in the eyes of the beholder.

Let us consider the most important people, our clients: For those who will give and receive nature's creation, crafted into shape by man's hand, we should provide technical validation to put them at ease. But for the sake of our trade we have a responsibility to put less emphasis on a decimal point and be more sensitive to our clients' appreciation for the emotional aspect of the diamond - which was his or her motivation for purchase in the first place!

Let us not convert someone shopping for a work of art & love into someone shopping for a tenth of a degree on crown facet number 8. To do so reduces the emotional experience to a math problem and reduces the meaningfulness of the service our trade can provide to our clients.

A healthy marriage of lab grading, parametric data and direct performance assessment should be enough for even the internet shopper's desire for pedigree. By all means, provide validation our clients need to be comfortable in a purchase, but ultimate beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is important for us to remember that when all is said and done it will be sparkle, not statistics, which cause the wearer to love the piece.

By John Pollard

How To Buy Diamonds Online For Ridiculously Low Prices

Almost all of us will buy a diamond, a diamond ring or another kind of diamond jewel. Getting married involves buying a diamond ring for your fiancée, anniversary rings are also common, and let's not forget men's diamond rings - they are very popular, too.

In the age of information, it makes sense to consider the option of buying a diamond on the Internet. And indeed, mega sites like bluenile.com, diamond.com and more offer a huge selection of diamonds in all shapes and sizes to choose from. Many of the diamonds are certified so you don't risk getting a diamond that is less than promised.

The big diamond sites are a good option for getting a diamond, but in most cases the savings on the price will not be too great - in fact, you may get a similar price if you haggle a bit with a local diamond dealer. The best place to locate real bargains in the diamond field is ebay.com

There has been a lot of talk on buying and selling on ebay, and one ca find good advice about these subjects. Buy in this article we'll discuss specific advice about buying diamonds on ebay.

There are some very simple rules that need to be observed when buying diamonds on ebay. If you follow these rules you are very likely to find great deals on ebay.

Advice no. 1 - Search the right way. Go for the "advanced search" option. There will be an "Exclude these words" box. You want to exclude words like : "lab", "zircon", "enhanced". This will weed out the "wannabe" diamonds and leave you with the best ones.

Advice no.2 - Does the seller have a solid positive feedback? - check the seller's feedback and see that they have at least 50 positive feedbacks form selling diamonds in the past. Also note how many negative feedback they had. Strive for at least %98 positive feedback. In many cases it is tempting to buy a cheap diamond from a new seller, but this is in many cases a bad move, as you have no knowledge on this seller

Advice no.3 - Watch similar diamonds to the one you want and see how much the sell for. Don’t buy right away. Just watch a few auctions as they evolve. This will help you establish a range of prices you aim at.

Advice no. 4 - Go for certified. Again, it's tempting to buy an un-certified diamond but in many cases this will be a big mistake. Go for certified diamonds only and this way you'll make sure you get what you paid for, no less.

Advice no. 5 - Use ebay as a means of pressure. If you have a local diamond dealer who is trying to sell you a diamond, you may want to use the price levels you see on ebay as leverage in your negotiation with that dealer. You may get a better deal.

Going online to buy a diamond can save you thousands of dollars. Give this approach a try the nest time you go shopping for a diamond.

By Gill Reese