Buying unheated Sapphires from internet

[baum]

Hello,
I am new to buying sapphires from the internet or in person. One internet dealer has an option where you can deposit 50% of the value of the stones and they will send you three stones to look at. After you pick the one you like you can return the others and your credit card will be credited. Does anyone have experience with this process? I am a little apprehensive, but the online the stones look nice and very reasonably priced compared to retail shops. Any advise will be appreciated.

 

[Edward Bristol]

How is the 50% deposit made?

 

[chrono]

Ed,
It seems like the deposit is done via credit card.

Baum,
Have you checked the credibility of this vendor? Is there any restocking fee or shipping & handling fee or other hidden fees? How long do you get to review the stones? In short, how are the policies of the vendor? Do the stones come with any proof or certification from a lab that the stones are indeed untreated? What lab is it?

 

[baum]

Hello,

The deposit is made via a credit card and there supposedly is no shipping and handling charge when looking at the stones. They have certificates for the Sapphires from RGL, UGL, ZG, and GIA that indicate that there is no indication of heat treatment. I don't know if these certificates are from independent labs or not. The Better Business Bureau gave them an A+. I have not found any horrible reviews on them on the web, but very little reviews. They have a 90 day return quality assurance policy. But I don't know if the quality of the stones are on par with what retail jewelers sell at 2x the cost.. The internet company seems to charge about $1000 per Carat for what looks pretty nice on the web nice deep/royal blue colors that they say are from Cylon or Sri Lanka. The reason for my trepidation is that someone said that there are internet scams where the dealer claims that the stone was not placed in the box when it was sent and takes your deposit.

Is this kind of internet buying, shipping out stones, common practice? How do people buy gems over the internet when you can't always trek across the country to see the gems?

thanks for your comments /advice.

 

[vinkalmann]

That IS an interesting question about what would happen if they said there was a stone in the box and they actually never put it in.

I would assume since the deposit is made with a credit card that you would have some recourse through the credit card company by doing a charge back. It might make sense to call your credit card company and ask them how they would handle this sort of situation.

What company are you dealing with, more likely than not someone on the board here has dealt with them already.

I would question the no shipping charge bit though. They might send them out to you at no charge, but I would bet return shipping would be your responsibility.

 

[chrono]

Do you mind sharing who this vendor is so that others on PS may check him/her out for quality of stones, review their policies and also do an internet search on their reliability? Out of all the labs mentioned, the only one I am familiar with is GIA, which is a reputable independent lab. Other reputable labs are GIT, GRS, Burapha, AIGS, AGL and I probably missed a few others. This is not common practice at all; I only know of memo-ing which is done between vendors and customers usually have to pay in full before the stone is shipped out. If the customer isn’t satisfied with the stone, then it is usually returned for a full refund. As always, I only buy from trusted reputable vendors only so there is no worry about a missing stone or not being able to receive a refund.

 

[baum]

Thanks..

the site is

http://www.gemsny.com/

 

[chrono]

Thank you for the link. I have to say the quality of the blue sapphires is terribly lacking. Many are inky, many have cut issues, and many have poor saturation.

 

[septemberbaby]

My boyfriend and I visited GemsNY back in May and looked at a lot of their blue sapphires in the 2-5 ct range. Here's our somewhat uneducated opinion about it:

The gentleman we worked with was very nice. However, the stones left us both very unimpressed. There were various issues: color, cut, inclusions, etc. None of the stones captured our interest, not even kind of. (We have seen stones in other places that were probably priced about the same, but more appealing.) If you are looking for a high-end stone, I do not recommend this place. If you have a tighter budget and can sacrifice on quality, then there might be something there for you.

I'll say this: Don't be fooled by all of their appraised value prices listed. I was drawn in by them, but upon seeing the stones, it was clear that no one in their right mind would pay what those stones appraised at.

 

[baum]

Thank you so much for the advice and opinions. With my untrained eye, and not having seen many stones in person, It is nice to have some guide as to what a nice stone should be like. I thought some of the inkyness gave it character.. but it is also what makes it not as valuable.


I would like to find a quality unheated stone for a special ring. Preferably cushion cut around 2 carats.. is 3500-4000 a reasonable budget for such a stone? Anyone know of a dealer in the west coast/northern california?

 

[vinkalmann]

My fiance's stone was a 1.8 ct cushion cut and fell in the budget that you described. It's a really beautiful unheated stone. In all likelihood you will be able to get a *much* nicer stone through one of the vender's online compared to a jewelry store. Just be patient and stick around here for a bit. Everyone is really helpful and will give you invaluable advice (I'm new and still learning).

I (like you) thought inky was what was desirable. Turns out we only think that because that's what we're used to seeing in jewelry store windows. Another reason to stay out of brick and mortar stores is that almost all the sapphires that you'll see are either heated or are lab created.

If I was going to give someone who is going through what I just did (finding a special ring) I would say start actively reading this forum and go back through a few months worth of pages in the colored section. All the questions that you'll have been discussed in depth, it just takes a little digging.

How much time do you have before you're wanting to propose? If you're not in a huge rush it's better, finding a quality colored stone is much more challenging than a diamond.

PS: Like Chrono said, the stones on the GemsNY site looked pretty gash...maybe there're some good ones in there, I just couldn't get past the first page of black/green stones

 

[chrono]

What you are looking for is doable; it may not be the finest blue sapphire but it will look a ton better than what that website is offering.