First off, I''d like to thank everyone on PS, as well as the site owners, for the massive amount of knowledge I''ve gleaned from this place as lurker. I was turned onto this site, and the concept of pro-online, and anti-mall stores, from a friend who went through this same process a couple of years ago.
So my basic question is a bit of a subjective one:
Is the price premium commanded by top shelf retailers, such as GOG and WF, worth the extra cost?
I''d like to think that diamonds are a bit of a homogeneous commodity, but maybe that over-simplifies things. I mean, hypothetically I should be able to buy a diamond with the same basic 4 C specs, and same basic HCA results for the same price, correct?
Obviously, that''s really not the case.
I''m heavily leaning towards going through GOG, WF, etc. for peace of mind, and the mass of info they supply for each stone. However, the analytical, frugal side of me screams back in protest when I shuffle through the results I get out of the diamond search function here on the site. Diamonds from firms such as USA Cert, Dimend Scaasi, etc. seem to be DRASTICALLY cheaper.
So basically, what are the pros and cons to purchasing from a respected firm, versus one of these (guessing) wholesalers/brokers, and is the price premium/discount worth it?
So my basic question is a bit of a subjective one:
Is the price premium commanded by top shelf retailers, such as GOG and WF, worth the extra cost?
I''d like to think that diamonds are a bit of a homogeneous commodity, but maybe that over-simplifies things. I mean, hypothetically I should be able to buy a diamond with the same basic 4 C specs, and same basic HCA results for the same price, correct?
Obviously, that''s really not the case.
I''m heavily leaning towards going through GOG, WF, etc. for peace of mind, and the mass of info they supply for each stone. However, the analytical, frugal side of me screams back in protest when I shuffle through the results I get out of the diamond search function here on the site. Diamonds from firms such as USA Cert, Dimend Scaasi, etc. seem to be DRASTICALLY cheaper.
So basically, what are the pros and cons to purchasing from a respected firm, versus one of these (guessing) wholesalers/brokers, and is the price premium/discount worth it?