Comparing Internet Diamonds: Apple Versus Apples

When considering to purchase a diamond that meets your requirements based on the desired shape, size and specifications most first time buyers are thrown into a world of confusion.

Many online diamond vendors continually try to win you over with numerous lists of diamonds indicating their grade and prices, some certified and some pseudo certified.

Fortunately most buyers become curious and attempt to figure out the jig saw puzzle by researching the differences between competing diamond vendors.

This week I had one persistent client endeavouring beyond the call of duty to select a beautiful diamond for his chosen partner. His passion and curiosity trying to find this diamond revealed a lot more about the sort of people selling diamonds online and also jewellers’ abilities to explain to him why one diamond compared to another was priced accordingly. He quickly learned what certificates to trust.

I am inundated daily with telephone enquiries and I try to be as pleasant as possible within my limited abilities to do so because each potential client is different and has their own individual requirements based on their budget.

Females who telephone me are usually reminded it is lover boy, not them, who should be doing the research. This sadly reveals more to me about their future relationship.

Surprising the engagee by the engager is still the old fashion romantic way.

The other way appears as if the wife to be is ensuring lover boy finally makes an honest woman out of her and that he does not escape.

So gentlemen… get it right because it will be the last decision you will be ever allowed to make exclusively on you own ! and don’t be scared of rejection and yes we take Visa or Mastercard for your convenience.

But I transgress ~~~~~back to the pain in the @rse guy I wrote of earlier. The gentleman in questions was a Coffs Harbour recreational sky diver and it was imperative for him not to take any high risks when purchasing his diamond of choice. He needed to know the differences.

The requirement was a certified princess cut diamond weighing at least 1.00 carat costing approximately AUD$4400 GST inclusive in a very good cut.

After much diligence he was resigned to consider princess cut diamonds in ” H” (White) colour with Si1 (slightly included 1) clarity with a Very Good finish.

Without going into too many details I was,on paper, it appeared not able to match or compete. I could only offer him a GIA certified princess 0.91ct G Si1 Very Good for $4,400. The diamond’s millimetre size was however just under a standard one carat weight.

Once a diamond between 0.90 carat and exceeds 0.99 carat the diamond price increases since it falls within a new price category.

The measurements almost matched the measurements of the four other competing one caraters but it was not the magic one carat weight he desired.

He provided me with certificate data of the other four diamonds but at the end of the day despite my attempts to interpret the differences between all the available diamonds he had picked I sent my 0.91 carat princess cut diamond to him for his perusal.

I simply could not offer him a 1.00 carat princess H Si1 Very Good for AUD$4,400. I would be losing money and if I could match the price then the diamond’s quality grade would have had to be sacrificed some where along the way.This would mean the diamond would have been lower in it’s finish grade. As it became apparent I was correct.

When he received my diamond he rang me immediately to say the moment he opened the parcel and saw my 0.91ct princess cut diamond, the diamond’s appearance hit him like a thunderbolt. He did not realise yet why.

Diamond’s cut and proportions when cut properly by the diamond artist is very subliminal.

Without knowing why, our sky diver’s eyes were telling his brain that ” I like dis stone mun “. He now understood completely where I was coming from after numerous telephone conversations, including one where I may have become obviously annoyed and impatient by his badgering but the moment of truth was satisfying.

He said my diamond killed the others but it was still not the desired one carat. ” What are you going to do for me man ? I want to buy the diamond only from you. Nobody else explained or spent the time with me like you did ” he explained. Now that he made me feel like a complete heal for telling him that I thought he was a complete pain in the @rse and that most normal people do not take this long to buy a house at auction, I buckled and wilted to Sky Diver Man’s incessant demands.

He had me hooked. This does not happen often because I am usually under pressure , stressed and intolerant of those newbies who do not research their diamonds prior to calling me.

I remind them our website has a comprehensive diamond education section.

Register for free to Diamond Imports to obtain prices and make comparisons. It’s that easy.

The reason we do not show our prices is because a serious client will make the effort like Mr Sky Diver here who kept calling me in between jumps. When he said he wanted me to send the 0.91ct princess cut for viewing just before his next jump, he would provide me with his delivery details, he never called me back.It was the evening. Where was he? A whole week of being harassed and now my new diamond lover had deserted me!

Naturally I was worried and curious if he had survived so I called him back. Yes , he was alive but sounded tired and “yes please send the diamond “. I think he finally exhausted himself with diamond comparisons.

The end result was this. Our diamond was found. Fresh off the cutting floor, uncertified but looking for a good home.

A princess cut 1.11ct F Si2 pending DCLA certification with the price locked in at AUD$4,888 GST inclusive.It might even be upgraded to an E. We will see. The finish grade is expected to be Excellent bordering on Very Good. Dividing the weight into the price the diamond cost was AUD$4,403.60 per carat for an oversized carater compared to the budget Mr. Sky Diver was prepared to pay for a princess cut 1.00ct.

+ Amendment 29.02.08
Mr Sky Diver’s diamond came in certified as 1.11ct E Si1 Excellent DCLA Laser Inscribed #159957…a bargain!!!!

We both won. Mr. Sky Diver will have a superb diamond at a ridiculously low price ( estimated value approx AUD$5,300) because he locked in prior to purchase and I now have another happy satisfied client who will hopefully spread the word to others.

Let me point out this sort of pre purchase only happens occassionally and under our expert guidance it is the best way to buy.

We prefer to sell the diamonds we have in stock because the diamond has been certified and the fairest price given placed on the diamond’s cut and / or finish grade. When buying blind like this and because we can lock in the price based on the day’s USD$/ AUD$ exchange rate we are prepared to reduce our price by an average of 10% and pass on the benefit to the client since we will not have to hold the diamond for stock.

Let this be a lesson to all those diamond vendors.

Hiding behind your websites with your badly misrepresented diamonds and ill informed plagiarised information proves to me that most potential diamond buyers know more than most diamond vendors.

Part of the reason why so much diamond information is copied by most websites is because the outside website builders of these diamond websites are not diamond dealers and hunt down their information from other diamond websites.

Diamond Imports’website and it’s associate satellite websites have all been developed by Mrs Diamond Guru and we control the key to the store not relying on outsiders to make any daily changes as required.

We are constantly re developing and improving. Our latest addition is the online magnifier we call The Zoomer.

Proper diamond education and product knowledge can benefit the client which creates goodwill and confidence rather than relying on the diamond certificate as your supportive crutch.

Remember diamond certificates main purpose is to confirm if the diamond is natural or untreated. Everything else is secondary. The diamond certificate should never be used as a marketing tool. Buy the diamond not the certificate !

Looking at the facts, our buyer had to comprimise on the clarity grade which lowered the price but was not the issue. Size, weight, colour and finish grade was his priority.

The clarity / purity of a diamond effects the price of a diamond more than the colour yet it is the least visible attribute sometimes when selecting the diamond of your choice.

You often see online diamond vendors stating they have a price match policy.

In other words if one dealer’s price is supposedly more competitive the other diamond vendor will match the price for the same diamond.

This indicates two things

1) desperation and

2) no understanding of diamonds.

Rather than a price match policy on two virtual diamonds, remembering most online diamond vendors are drop shippers who do not carry stock anyway or have not even seen the diamond/s they are trying to sell to you, it should be a Quality Match Policy on viewed diamonds that can be physically compared against each other.

Of course this is difficult if drop shippers have no diamond in stock to compare against.

This is why Diamond Imports carries actual hard diamond stock. We ,unlike others, are unable to compare ” invisible diamonds ” like our drop shipping competitors.

If someone , possibly a fortune teller with a crystal ball, can show us how to do this we will give you the diamond for free. [ Fat chance ]

Apples may all cost a different price per kilo between your local fruitologists but you still have to view them to see the differences before you can make an intelligent comparison of size, colour, blemishs and of course taste.

Diamond taste is reflected by the varied cutting styles of diamond cutting artisans per their polish and symmetry grades.

The final differing prices of two similar diamonds is based on the cut and finish grades even if they are both the same in colour and purity, the transparency and most importantly the face up patterns with a combination of both light and dark contrasts that only the buyer can decide is attractive.

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Learn more about how to buy diamonds here

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Good Hunting and Hoooooroooo from De Guru

Daniel F Katz GG ( Graduate Guru)

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