How to trust/verify a wire-transfer transaction?

[dennis366]

I''m about to purchase a diamond from Al at jewelryzone.com, and I feel pretty good about the whole thing, but now I''m starting to worry about transfering over $11k which is considerably more than I''ve ever sent someone blindly in good faith. I haven''t heard anything negative about Al or any of the other pricescope vendors, but how have any of you gotten past the fear of wiring money over and hoping you''ll receive your promised diamond?

I could purchase by credit card, but then I''m taking a 3.5% hit, and I can understand vendors'' hesitations on taking the risk themselves w/ CC orders. Does purchasing by CC really give me much more of a guarantee to make it worth the $400 surcharge?

Thanks for the help!

 

[strmrdr]

It is up to 20 years in federal prison for fraud involving a bank wire transfer, on credit cards they often get by with it.
It is also much more likely to get investigated and prosecuted on that level.
Credit card cases are usually brought on a state level where wire fraud is a federal crime and the secret service and FBI have large teams of people that do nothing but track down this kind of crime.
You don''t mess with the banks and get away with it.

Which is more likely to have a problem?

 

[Rank Amateur]

I did it but I never felt good about it until I had the ring in hand.

Go with a vendor whom you trust, but I agree with Storm that if you screw a bank it might be your business' last transaction.

 

[strmrdr]

For smaller amounts postal money orders are better yet.
The postal service has its own investigators and they will investigate even a $5 case.
The charges are often federal if its out of state.

One local guy a few years back was riping people off online and he got by with over $200000 in credit card charges over 2 years then he made the mistake of cashing a $300 postal money order and not delivering the goods.
Within 2 months he was arrested and served 5 years for the money order and 2 years for the $200000 in credit card fraud.

 

[Gonzodogg]

I am really glad to see this thread because I am having the exact same worries. Everyone has nothing but great things to say about WF and they have been fantastic with me thus far, but transfering 13K with just the promise of a ring does not exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[strmrdr]

Id have no problem wiring money to WF.
Id want everything about the transaction in writing before hand but thats true with any vendor.

 

[mrssalvo]

I had no problem with my wire transfer to WF. I had everything in writing and talked to them when I returned home from the bank to verify they received it

 

[indecisive]

How long do bank wires take? We are going up to GOG and we are hoping to buy it that day if they have the right diamond so we can take it right back to Quest with us. Would we be able to pick a stone and then wire the money and take the stone the same day? Sorry I don''t know uch about these things!

 

[BrownEyes]

I''m by no means an expert, but it seems that e-vendors prefer (and offer a discount for) bank-wired transactions because they are tantamount to all- cash transactions ... credit card companies charge the vendors a service fee (typically 4% but sometimes higher such as with AMEX). Where the customer pays via bank-wire, the vendor saves the service charge, which it then passes-along to the consumer. PLUS, the vendors like the security of having their cash in-hand ...

If I''m reading your post correctly, you plan to make an in-person visit to GOG (lucky you!). I''d double-check with GOG, but I bet if you brought along a bank check or money order (again, tantamount to cash), you''d get the bank-wire discount.

Again, this is speculation on my part, but I hope it helps. Good luck with your purchase - you are so lucky to be making the trip to GOG!

 

[indecisive]

Thanks for the opinion Brown Eyes! We were thinking about having a money order but we don''t know which stone so we don''t know exactly how much it will be. I guess we could get a money order for the highest we can go and get change if it is less? That would keep us from going over budget I suppose

. I will have my bf ask them. He won''t let me ask the questions because I would keep the from getting any work done with all my questions!! I am too excited

 

[BrownEyes]

When we purchased our diamond from GOG, we had the option of keeping the $500 deposit on our credit card, and still getting the bank wire price ... so if your money order is within $500 of your target price, you may be OK.

Still, you should check with GOG about all of this ... and of course, let us know if I was even close to being correct!

Good luck ... and don''t forget to post every detail of your GOG experience! Lucky girl!!!!

 

[indecisive]

We will definitely make a post about the GOG trip! We are even giving up a paid for spa weekend to go... yeah we are crazy! The only downside is after we get the diamond from GOG I am out of the process and have to be patient... NOT my strong point!! Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Dennis, a third party independent appraiser would solve all your problems.

Vendor ships to appraiser.....appraiser verifies/appraises the diamond.....you make sure you''re satisfied.....you wire the money to vendor.....vendor gives release to appraiser.....appraiser ships you the diamond.

 

[solange]

Date: 2/13/2006 6:44:01 PM
Author: mrssalvo
I had no problem with my wire transfer to WF. I had everything in writing and talked to them when I returned home from the bank to verify they received it

We wired our bank transfer to Whiteflash and received the ring the next morning by overnight Fedeal Express.
I had previously had the stone sent to an appraiser where I could see it. I could have wired Whiteflash the money and had the appraiser release it to me but i was having him send it back to Whiteflash for setting.
No problems a all. I am sure you can work out a similar transaction with GOG.
I think you are safe with a bank transfer if you know the vendor.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/13/2006 7:46:10 PM
Author: indecisive
How long do bank wires take? We are going up to GOG and we are hoping to buy it that day if they have the right diamond so we can take it right back to Quest with us. Would we be able to pick a stone and then wire the money and take the stone the same day? Sorry I don''t know uch about these things!

have the cashiers check make out to GOG before you make the trip.