Another question - choosing where to buy...

[Barticus89]

I thought I would ask another question in a different topic...

I have a friend of a friend who owns a diamond store in San Francisco at the Gift Center (it''s a jewelry exchange only for wholesalers), so I can get a "wholesale" price, and she said she would give me a "good" deal. However, I will still have to ay CA state sales tax.

The other alternative is a stone from, let''s say Nice Ice, where there is no sales tax, and the prices, at least on the surface, seem comparable. But I can''t look at it first, and it would need to be shipped.

Pros / Cons? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks for all your help with a newbie!!!
-Bart

 

[oldminer]

You have done a good job of looking at your situation. The diamonds from Nice Ice will surely be very lovely and properly represented. How does the wholesaler who is local intend to give you the stats on the diamonds you like? Are they GIA, AGS, EGL graded? Or not?

Be a careful consumer.....

 

[Barticus89]

Thanks for your reply David,

The wholesaler has the GIA certificate (it's what I'm looking at while I posted the info about the 1.51 SI1 F diamond my other topic). She does not have all the fancy Light Scope analysis, computer analysis, and Sarin analysis I have seen from merchants like Good Old Gold or Nice Ice. How important are these "extra" analysis reports? She is also not giving me clear information about whether it's a H&A or not, etc. (She's Asian and therefore her English is not that strong, so that may be why).
She also wants to show me a GIA 1.42 VS1 F VG/G for $10,400. Haven't seen it yet, going back on Monday.

Should I feel less comfortable about this? Should I run? How fast?!?!

Thanks again,
-Bart

 

[pqcollectibles]

Interesting Jim34.

You only registered today. Members of this forum do not know anything about your level of knowledge. Yet you are posting in many threads to contact an unknown vendor.

New members and visitors to Price Scope should use caution regarding this endorsement.

 

[dimsummy]

You really need additional information, e.g. angles, to get a complete picture of how good the cut is. Would your "friend of a friend" let it get appraised before you buy?

We had 2 different acquaintances in the business and decided not to go to them because it was just too awkward, e.g. asking or commenting about their stones, negotiating when we knew that we could have gotten a better deal, etc. We also then didn't have to worry about owing anyone a favor or have word spread to others about what we paid.